Jürgen Flimm gave the master class yesterday afternoon. He was director of the Salzburg Festival from 2002 until 2004 and has worked in many opera houses around the world including the Met, Royal Opera House, and the Bayreuth Festival (where Wagner built his opera house and houses the Ring Cycle). Only two singers performed. It was Regine Sturm (soprano) and our favorite deep bass Andrè Schuen. They performed the first part of act I Le Nozze di Figaro by Mozart. It was wonderful to watch them and see what Flimm wanted them to do with their acting in the scene. They sang through Figaro’s aria. We were all melting a little as Andrè sang.
After the master class we met back at the school to then go as a group along with the faculty to the Augustiner Brewery for dinner and their wonderful beer. We all had a lot of fun. The food was wonderful as was the beer. One group of us stayed for quite a while outlasting the entire faculty. We were just having so much fun talking and trying the different pastries. Some of the faculty came over and asked if there was a sign somewhere that told us to be a loud table. We were just laughing a lot and a couple of us had a loud “soprano singer laugh.”
I got home around 8:30 thinking I’d call it a night and go to bed early. However, as soon as I got home, Martina, Julia, and Edith wanted to play rummy. They had been waiting for me to get home. It is much more fun to play with 4 people. I started to teach Julia and Edith how to shuffle cards creating the bridge. We played and short game and I was able to get to bed around 10.
This morning our German class went to the market to look around and ask questions about how much certain things cost, where they’re from, and what different things we could find in the market. We then went to McDonalds to be inside out of the rain and in the warmth. There some got coffee and pastries (the McCafe is much nicer than ours, McDonalds in general is a lot nicer and the food much better). We then discussed what we had found in the market.
We came back to the college and headed up to the library where we sat on the couches and watched Puccini’s Tosca. After we watched the opera 5 of us walked to the music store where Aaron had purchased the DVD of Tosca. We had a lot of fun walking around town despite the rain. We got back to the college just in time to head to lunch.
Gwen and I ran to Getreidegasse to go to Mango or H&M right after lunch. (The Getreidegasse is a famous shopping street in Salzburg; it is also where the house Mozart was born in is located.) She needed to find a skirt and shoes to wear for the concert in the Marble Room at Mirabell Palace. It was the concert for the competition winners and as it was in the Marble Room we were told to dress up. A few forgot and went to get cheep skirts/dresses. We got back to the college with just enough time to change and be ready to meet Dr. Hardenbergh to walk over to Mirabell. Julia, Edith, and Laura also met me at the school to join us on the walk over. I knew Julia and Edith were coming to the concert, but did not realize Laura was coming. Lisa was home about to go to bed and Martina and Martin were going to see the dress rehearsal for Norma.
The room is gorgeous and it was a very live room, wonderful for singing. The concert was really good. Everyone sang really well. Debra started to get choked up on one of her spirituals (“Were You There When They Crucified My Lord” arr. Moses Hogan). She got through it and sang beautifully, but everyone in the audience was crying by the end. Laura behaved very well throughout the concert. She was quiet and sat on my lap for most of it. She was a little squirmy, but all in all for a 5 yr old, she was wonderful. All the singers loved her thinking she was so adorable and well behaved.
After the concert, Julia, Edith, and Laura went home while I went out to dinner with some of the crew. We went to a little Italian restaurant on the Getreidegasse and enjoyed a nice meal together. Afterwards most went to Murphy’s (the Irish bar just down the street from the college). I realized on our way over that I needed to get home. My house keys were in my computer bag, which was currently locked in the library of the college. I needed to get home before everyone went to bed so I could get in. It all worked our in the end.
No comments:
Post a Comment