Tamino, Opera gala, Japanese...

Hi there, this week was a busy one. I had a performance of Magic flute (Mozart) on Tuesday and Friday and Saturday an Opera gala of Italian arias and duets at the beautiful Residenz here in Wuerzburg, a beautiful palace where at some point in history Napoleon I stayed for a night. You should google this Wuerzburg Residenz, it is really a beautiful highlight of the city. Singing Tamino on Tuesday was really nice and it was a good performance, we had a new Sarastro which was done by a bass colleague of mine with whom I sang my first Tamino back in 2015. It was great to see him again and to share the stage after 8 years. Akiho sang Pamina and she did really well.

For the Opera galas (two concerts), we had orchestra rehearsals on Thursday evening and Friday morning before the first concert in the evening. It was a really challenging program for me and I sang duets and arias I have not sang in a very long time and in this order. I sang "Una furtiva lagrima",then the duet "Caro elisir sei mio" from L'elisir d'amore, then Duca aria from Rigoletto "Parmi veder le lagrime" plus the Cabaletta, that was the first half. On the second half I sang "Parigi o cara" from la traviata, then " O soave fanciulla" from La Boheme, and at the end " Nessun dorma" from Turandot. Afterwards we sang two more pieces, "Libiamo" and "O sole mio". Both nights were really good and the public was really warm to us and also literally we were melting on stage, it was so warm here in Wuerzburg and Yesterday there were from what I heard, 2 incidents with people because of the heat. I am glad Akiho was there for the second gala, she was in the front row. She was also busy jumping in at Meiningen Theater and singing for the first time with orchestra the Messiah from Handel.

I am so happy that I could managed with these galas and my voice responded the way I expected. I still want and need to improve and these concerts represented an opportunity for me to check and keep developing. I recorded on my mobile phone my numbers so I can listen to them and keep improving the corners where I get tight or not free enough, so to balance more the whole voice and also check where I get too piano or I come off the voice. Because there are things I cannot listen while singing, exactly because I am singing. One most hear himself as little as possible, I know this is so hard because we have to self monitore through a performance to keep the voice on the right track. While acting an opera and also dependinng on the shape or your voice on a certain day, it is so important to self check and keep singing smartly and beautiful, however we must try to not listen to ourselves, cause many times when you hear yourself then you fix the sound by instinct and then you start to tighten slowly or quickly. Anyways this is a very interesting topic, cause we must have both the ability to self monitore and at the same time trust the sensations and just focus on making music without over loading your brain while singing.

This week besides singing, I managed to keep learning Japanese and I am making slowly some progress but it will take me years at the speed to get beyond basics. But I am positive that I will get there one day. I just need ot keep learning and practising. I watch some Youtube videos which are about learning Japanese, as well as I am learning the 100 most used verbs, I am in nunmber 50 this week. Also their conjugation and how to apply them in sentences, as well I keep asking Akiho a bit of how to use them in a real situation. Also remembering Hiragana and Katakana and learning just some Kanji basics, but is all complicated but entertaining.

Take care and see you here next week.