Germany, Erfurt, Boheme…

Hi there! This week I spent few days in Erfurt because Aki made her debut as Mimi at the Dom Festival. I still have jetlag from Japan but now is getting better. We just came back from her debut and she did great. The staging was very good and she really has the role of Mimi, the more she sings it the better it gets. This season she debuted the role at Theater Chemnitz. She has sung several productions of Boheme but as Musetta, now she is growing into more lyrical soprano and now is the time for her to do Mimi and she has delivered.

I am now practising the rep for the wedding of a dear friend of mine, she asked me to sing at her wedding, and I do it gladly. This is the 3rd time I will sing for a friend’s wedding and it is always very nice. This time I will sing something from Sonnambula and some from Falstaff plus a Mexican song in a beautiful Castello in Italy.

I enjoyed very much this week, at the beginning with the few coffees I hand brewed from Lilo Coffee Roasters from Osaka, Japan. A very nice Colombian Coffee and a fermented coffee from Fuku Coffee Roastery in Kyoto. I bought the beans and I am enjoying them very much. Tomorrow we go back to Chemnitz so I look forward to keep brewing my beans and having some nice memories of my incredible time in Japan this summer. Every time I go there I have such a fantastic time and full of many things that interest me. Thank you people from Japan for making every trip so special.

This week we had Utako, a friend of us who came to audition to Malta for a choir position and she came to Germany to see us and, to watch Aki’s performance of Boheme. It was great to have her here. I stayed with her in December in her flat in Nagoya few days, when I was preparing for the Dichterliebe concert at that time. She was really welcoming, and we get along really well. This time was nice to have her for the first time in Europe and I hope she gets the position in Malta so she can finally come back to Europe after many years. She studied in Rome for a while but had to go back to Japan. Now after many years she has done all possible to save some money and search for her path in Europe and Malta was the possibility she found, and I hope she gets to come here. We had several nice conversations and walked around Erfurt and watch some crazy Japanese series on Netflix during some evenings.

I kept doing my daily reading, morning pages and exercise routine for times a week. As I always mentioned, it is difficult to exercise while travelling but I do my best to keep it going.

I am glad Today I finished reading “After the quake” by Murakami. Every time I read him I go to his world, it is amazing how I identify with the way he writes, and I also enjoy so much his words. This time this book reminds me of “After dark” another book by him similar in title and content but different context and stories. To those who have read both books know what I mean.

I am now back in Europe and I will start planning my 2nd season as a freelancer. It has been tough but also full of activities and learning, lets see what this coming season brings. I will keep searching for connections and opportunities while improving my craft and getting better.

I hope you are well and take care. See you next week.