Jena, Leipzig, Dichterliebe…
Hi there! This week was a good one, I continue with rehearsals of Massenet’s Thérèse in Jena with the very nice team. I am glad I have met these colleagues, conductor and stage director. I feel really good about singing this production, the role fits me really well and also the temperament and character of Armand and how is written.
After rehearsing few days in Jena then I came back home and started focusing on my concert for next week. I will present together with my Japanese friends that come from Japan a small concert with Piano and Saxophon and then I will sing Dichterliebe. It is a nice dynamic concert and we will present it with a lot of love. They arrived today and we rehearsed Dichterliebe. Sakichan is the pianist who is accompanying me. We already did this Schumann in December in Nagoya, Japan. I really enjoy making music with Sakichan because she is a musician and we both speak the same musical language. My intention is to bring her also to Mexico and both work as a team to present different lieder concerts and keep developing a working relationship as well as private relationship. I am really looking forward to our small concert next week. It will be in Leipzig and it is a small experiment because we do not know anyone there and no one knows us, we want to see how it will work with very unknown musicians, and we decided to do the concert for ourselves.
I also went yesterday ( Saturday) to see the premiere of Rossini’s Il viaggio a Reims. It is not so much to my taste the whole opera. I find, it has nice moments and it is definitely really important that the quality of the singers must be high and really belcantista. Unfortunately, it was not the case in Leipzig Opera. The level of singers was very different and some were good, some ok, and some definitely not up to a professional theatre of that reputation. Nevertheless, the staging was good and I am glad I went there.
Going back to the concert, here is the link to find the location and the tickets: https://www.edvard-grieg.de/events/musik-fur-saxophon-und-bariton
I specially enjoyed Today not only rehearsing Dichterliebe but, cooking for friends some Mexican food and just spend time together with them. It is the first time we meet in Europe. Both Pianist and Saxophon player studied in Europe and it has been almost 10 years since they last were here.
I keep doing my exercise routine 4 times a week, and I keep also reading my daily R. Holiday and Tolstoi. Also keep reading Juvarra and his opinion in the singing treatises through history. It is really interesting and definitely I recommend to read him, whether one agrees or not, I find his opinion and the historical research really interesting.
I hope you are well and please take care.
