On tour with Les Violons du Roy!
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Hi all!
Haven't blogged lately because I've mostly been studying the past two weeks (what a luxury *that* is, especially after such a busy year) and didn't want to bore everyone with, "Got up, had 2 and a half hour lesson, took nap, studied, ate dinner, slept" for days on end. When I study I generally can't do much else, no puttering around the house, no gardening, so there's nothing to blog about! I did take Sundays off (except for a short trip to Köln/Bad Ems for a concert with Concerto Köln which was really fun- they're such a fabulous group to work with! Plus, it was my first concert without a conductor; when they work with a soloist they are led by their concertmaster, and it was a great experience)
Saturday involved a dress-fitting appointment with Fausto Sari at 9AM, lesson with Ms. Pinza from 9:30 to 11, then a coaching with Gianni from 11-12:30 on some new Handel rep possibilities. By that time I was pretty much worn out, went home and had a *humongous* piece of watermelon (I'm theoretically allergic, but once in a while I splurge anyway!) followed by a great lunch prepared by Hubby. Then a good nap before getting to work on my suitcase. I think I'm getting better at packing for short trips; this is the first season that I have a lot of concerts, meaning you're traveling anywhere from 3 days to a week. Normally I'm on the road for 3 months or so at a time, so packing attempts for my first concerts this year were really hilarious! For the trip to London and Madrid, two concerts in 5 days, I had an enormous suitcase with two carry-ons... *no* idea what I was hauling around, but obviously way too much!
So, now I'm in Santiago de Compostela (with one suitcase and one carry-on!) where it's pretty much raining (surprise, surprise... the last time I was here for a recital with Craig Rutenberg it was raining for 5 minutes, sort of vaguely sunny for 3 and then back to rain again) I arrived Sunday and spent most of the afternoon resting (having been up at 5AM to get to the Venice airport for my flight and arriving in Santiago around 2:3oPM), studying, and catching up with computer maintenance (my old notebook computer keeps shutting down because the battery overheats constantly- better that it shuts down rather than bursting into flames, but it was becoming impossible to work with, so I ended up buying another one and have been transferring files and installing programs whenever I get the chance) My big coup yesterday was figuring out that the instructions they give you on how to set up your computer to synch wirelessly with your cellphone are incorrect and how to work around that. By the end of the day I managed to get them to talk to one another!
Actually, my second coup was in researching mp3 players with line-in and record-volume controls, finding out there is nothing out there except for the iRiver H340 (which I have but was thinking of replacing because *that* battery is shot, too) finding out that the H340 is now discontinued, but that you can actually replace the battery in the unit! (there's even a tutorial video that shows you how to do it: http://www.viewdo.com/now_viewing.php?id=198
Too cool! That will *definitely* be a blog entry when I get my new battery- I should make my own do-it-yourself video!)
Anyway, I love my H340 because you can record rehearsals/lessons in mp3 format directly onto the hard-drive, using a microphone plugged into the line-in jack. The big difference with the H340, however, is that you have a record-level volume control, which is *really* useful when you're recording opera singers/orchestras in a smaller-sized rehearsal space and want to record something other than just distortion! I'm sad the unit has been discontinued, and wish someone would put something comparable on the market, but at least I can now repair mine.
So, enough technical talk (and parenthesis) I guess! Monday I have rehearsal with Les Violons du Roy, afternoon and evening, preparing for Tuesday's concert and the rest of the tour (Amsterdam and Wiesbaden). We have travel one day, concert the next, then travel again, so this is the longest I'll be in one place this week.
More later!
Hi all!
Haven't blogged lately because I've mostly been studying the past two weeks (what a luxury *that* is, especially after such a busy year) and didn't want to bore everyone with, "Got up, had 2 and a half hour lesson, took nap, studied, ate dinner, slept" for days on end. When I study I generally can't do much else, no puttering around the house, no gardening, so there's nothing to blog about! I did take Sundays off (except for a short trip to Köln/Bad Ems for a concert with Concerto Köln which was really fun- they're such a fabulous group to work with! Plus, it was my first concert without a conductor; when they work with a soloist they are led by their concertmaster, and it was a great experience)
Saturday involved a dress-fitting appointment with Fausto Sari at 9AM, lesson with Ms. Pinza from 9:30 to 11, then a coaching with Gianni from 11-12:30 on some new Handel rep possibilities. By that time I was pretty much worn out, went home and had a *humongous* piece of watermelon (I'm theoretically allergic, but once in a while I splurge anyway!) followed by a great lunch prepared by Hubby. Then a good nap before getting to work on my suitcase. I think I'm getting better at packing for short trips; this is the first season that I have a lot of concerts, meaning you're traveling anywhere from 3 days to a week. Normally I'm on the road for 3 months or so at a time, so packing attempts for my first concerts this year were really hilarious! For the trip to London and Madrid, two concerts in 5 days, I had an enormous suitcase with two carry-ons... *no* idea what I was hauling around, but obviously way too much!
So, now I'm in Santiago de Compostela (with one suitcase and one carry-on!) where it's pretty much raining (surprise, surprise... the last time I was here for a recital with Craig Rutenberg it was raining for 5 minutes, sort of vaguely sunny for 3 and then back to rain again) I arrived Sunday and spent most of the afternoon resting (having been up at 5AM to get to the Venice airport for my flight and arriving in Santiago around 2:3oPM), studying, and catching up with computer maintenance (my old notebook computer keeps shutting down because the battery overheats constantly- better that it shuts down rather than bursting into flames, but it was becoming impossible to work with, so I ended up buying another one and have been transferring files and installing programs whenever I get the chance) My big coup yesterday was figuring out that the instructions they give you on how to set up your computer to synch wirelessly with your cellphone are incorrect and how to work around that. By the end of the day I managed to get them to talk to one another!
Actually, my second coup was in researching mp3 players with line-in and record-volume controls, finding out there is nothing out there except for the iRiver H340 (which I have but was thinking of replacing because *that* battery is shot, too) finding out that the H340 is now discontinued, but that you can actually replace the battery in the unit! (there's even a tutorial video that shows you how to do it: http://www.viewdo.com/now_viewing.php?id=198
Too cool! That will *definitely* be a blog entry when I get my new battery- I should make my own do-it-yourself video!)
Anyway, I love my H340 because you can record rehearsals/lessons in mp3 format directly onto the hard-drive, using a microphone plugged into the line-in jack. The big difference with the H340, however, is that you have a record-level volume control, which is *really* useful when you're recording opera singers/orchestras in a smaller-sized rehearsal space and want to record something other than just distortion! I'm sad the unit has been discontinued, and wish someone would put something comparable on the market, but at least I can now repair mine.
So, enough technical talk (and parenthesis) I guess! Monday I have rehearsal with Les Violons du Roy, afternoon and evening, preparing for Tuesday's concert and the rest of the tour (Amsterdam and Wiesbaden). We have travel one day, concert the next, then travel again, so this is the longest I'll be in one place this week.
More later!
posted by Frogge at
10:36 PM
1 Comments:
Dear Vivica:
How hectic!
It has always been a wonder how artists can avoid jet lag and travel fatigue, and things of that sort, if it can be done at all.
Thank goodness for good old fashioned talent!...and of course "art for art's sake" which goes a long way when the road seems less travelled by.
Best of luck with the King's fiddlers, and mainly, with that "rain in Spain" (on the plain).
Cheers!
Mario.
By
Anonymous, at 7:31 AM
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