In case you hadn’t heard, I am in the Case Western Reserve Music Department’s production of Dido and Aeneas. It is a baroque opera by Purcell based on book 4 of Virgil’s Aeneid.

The opera tells the story of Aeneas, who on his way to found Rome after the fall of Troy, comes to Carthage and falls in love with Dido, the queen. These two decide they will go against destiny and fall in love. Little do they know, the Sorceress is trying to ruin Dido’s life. She manipulates the two to help them fall in love and then reminds Aeneas of his destiny to go found Rome. When he leaves her, she is distraught and kills herself. Such a happy story !

I am the First Witch/Enchantress, meaning I am the right hand woman for the Sorceress. This is an exciting production because I have several solo lines, 3 duets, and I get to play an evil witch! All in baroque style, of course. There are many beautiful baroque dances interspersed throughout (as is traditional of the time) and the leads are phenomenal! The opera is this Thursday and Friday, April 3rd and 4th in Harkness Chapel @ 8:00pm. If you are in Cleveland, come see it!

So, it’s been a few months now and I feel like I should post again.

I am taking this amazing seminar course this semester titled “Roots to Rock”. It is basically a class the history or Rock and Roll in America. It is taught by a prof who wrote a book on Music and Fashion. She’s pretty amazing actually and I love the class.

Something I find extremely interesting is the amount we use YouTube in the class. I cannot count the number of occasions where either Dr. Davis or one of us will go up to the computer and bring up a video of a group to show the class. She literally imbeds the links to YouTube videos in her powerpoint presentations. Of course, some of the best ones come from the other 7 students in the class. It just shows you how much things have changed since my parents went to college.

Two recent amazing videos are as follows. We did a lecture on cover songs and how far they can be from the original. This is a video of Jake Shimabukuro playing “While my Guitar Gently Weeps” on ukulele!! Amazing

The second is pretty phenomenal as well. Take the zombie movie Night of the Living Deadand cross it with the Beatles Hard Days Night. Here is the Movie Trailer. Enjoy!

Well, it’s a Christian holiday, but it sure doesn’t feel like the right one when you walk outside here. I had to clean at least 6 inches of snow off my car to drive to sing at a church this morning, and it hasn’t stopped yet. Take a look!

I have about an 8 inch hand-span, so by my calculations, we’ve gotten at least 10 inches already. Places more in the snow belt already have nearly 2 feet!! As a friend of mine said, “Cleveland didn’t get snow for Christmas, so God is making up for it now.” hah!

I figured I’d post this for all to enjoy. These guys may well be one of my favorite quartets of all time. I’m not surprised that they were the 2006 international champs. Feel free to look around, but if you only watch one thing, it has to be the “Be Our Guest – 4/24/04″ video. The quality of the video is horrible, but that’s not what’s important. My only comment is that I wish I could do what that lead can do.

Click here and enjoy!

I have recently come to the realization that I have been extremely spoiled. Let me explain.

When I auditioned for the Opera Company of North Carolina my junior year, I wasn’t even expecting to get in. Not only was I cast in the chorus of their show, but I was cast in the chorus of one of the greatest Opera’s of all time: Giacomo Puccini’s Turandot. The last of Puccini’s operas, which he actually died before finishing, not only is the music beautiful and memorable, but the story is exciting. Who doesn’t love a tale of executions and unrequited love?

As a chorus member in an opera, I could have easily been in the opening, the finale, and maybe make a short guest appearance somewhere hidden in the middle of the second act. Not the case with Turandot. We were on stage for nearly 2/3 of the opera. Now, this stage time meant a large amount of music to learn, but I enjoyed ever minute of it (and sadly, I still remember it all). The entire opera was amazing and the finale even brought tears to my eyes at each performance. I thought all operas would be this amazing. However, recently, I have discovered this is not the case.

Over the last month I have seen and heard music from several different operas. These have been in different languages, from different time periods, and by different composers. I recently saw Eugene Onegin by the Cleveland Opera Company. It was performed beautifully and the staging was very impressive with full out ballroom dancing in some scenes. The story was a moving tale of unrequited love. However, it didn’t have the same effect on me that Turandot did. Maybe because it was in Russian so I relied heavily on the translation above the proscenium or because there was no striking musical theme throughout, I don’t know. But it wasn’t the same.

I’ve listened to many recordings since them and realized that I just favor certain composers. Anything by Mozart, Puccini, even Verdi or Strauss I can’t get enough of. But once you move into the more obscure operas, that magical effect diminishes. Sure, I appriciate the masterpieces that they are, but they don’t send chills down my spine.

But who knows, maybe with time and more exposure, the less traditional operas will have the same effect on me. Until then, I will stick to the greats. Turandot is being performed in early April here in Cleveland and I will be there, wrapped in every word. And you can be sure, when Calaf comes down from that high B in “Nessun Dorma”, tears will be rolling down my face. What can I say. I’m a sucker for great music. Until next time, thanks for reading.