I am just back from a lovely walk in Degaloch, up hill in the South Eastern part of Stuttgart, Three colleagues of mine, from the Opera Studio, and I spent an hour or trying to get away from the traffic noise filled centre.
Despite the traffic, Stuttgart is growing on me as a town. The relatively small nature of Stuttgart means that the surrounding forests are easily accessible, and 15 minutes after Dominic, Eric, Karin and I (check us out on the Opera Studio website.. http://www.oper-stuttgart.de/musiktheater/opernstudio/ ) had left the Opera House canteen we were already strolling amongst the trees.
LONG rehearsal
The idea of going for a walk together was mine. I have always enjoyed walking, it helps me relax and if I had a dog here I would be even happier doing so. It is also obviously great to get outside for a bit, particularly this week when we had the technical and lighting rehearsal for Khovanshchina, Wednesday afternoon/evening.
My initial call was at 1530, for make up. So as one is expected to be in costume for the make up I was getting ready at 1515. I was released from the rehearsal after receiving some notes just before 2300, almost 8 hours later. During that time we of course had a break and I wasn't on stage the whole time, but it was tiring. Waiting, like a coiled spring, to jump into action is quite draining. Also, however nice a theatre is, being stuck inside for 8 hours can turn you a bit crazy.
The scale of the rehearsal was quite remarkable. With all the chorus, extras, childrens choir, principals, the director and her many assistants and assistant-assistants. The conductor, chorus master, assistant chorus master, repetiteur, head of props, costume supervisor and assistant, the dressers and make up artists, stage manager and assistants, the stage crew, the designer, the lighting guys and more people I can't think of. It really is a huge team and that is before the orchestra have turned up. One can see why Opera isn't cheap to put on.
Orchestral boost
Earlier in the week, on Monday and Tuesday, we had the Sitzprobe for Khovanshchina. Literally translated as seated rehearsal, this is the first time the singers and orchestra meet and work through the piece, having to this point relied on the skills of a repetiteur to accompany us in rehearsals. I love these sitzprobe, and I get the feeling most singers do. Any chance to sing with an orchestra is enjoyable and, six weeks into rehearsing a piece, the change in musical colours and textures always tends to bring out the best me.
One is also nervous on these occasions, of course. Being faced with a huge hall filled with orchestra, chorus and fellow soloists can be a daunting time. Not only for me. I had a momentary lack of consideration for a colleague when I complained about the apparent change in tempo for one of my sections. I should have remembered that it is also a daunting task for a conductor, to bring all these musicians together for the first time and, in this case, to get through a 5 act opera in a couple of rehearsals.
This morning it was all change again as the orchestra accompanied us for the first stage and orchestra rehearsal. The moment of tempo change had happily settled down and I am fortunate enough to be stood down stage centre (middle at the front) for the whole overture, which sounded stunning.
Chalk and Cheese
The orchestra we have here is extremely good. In addition to the Mussorgsky, I am very lucky to hear them during Ariadne auf Naxos, which I wrote about last week and for which we had the opening night on Sunday. Having enjoyed so much my experience in the dress rehearsal the opening night was even better. Some of the singing on show was truly world class, I can say that since I only sing one line, and the audience lapped it up.
In stark contrast to the Strauss, I attended a performance of 'Jakob Lenz' by Wolfgang Rihm the night before on Saturday. Written between 1977 and 1978, the opera focuses on the mental struggles of German Poet, Jakob Lenz, played by Georg Nigl. In addition to Lenz there are 6 solo voices and only two other named roles, performed by fellow British singers Henry Waddington and John Graham-Hall. Having got to know both Henry and John over the last couple of months it was great to be able to watch them on stage. It goes without saying that they both sing extremely well, but more than anything they are both top class singing-actors, inviting the audience into their characters worlds as any great actor does. Such performances are a masterclass for young singers.
'Jakob Lenz' is not really an enjoyable opera to watch, it is intense and challenging, not just in subject matter. The music is difficult to access at times and the moments of beauty are more so because of that. I was glad to be able to watch it. If we only allow opera to be music written hundreds of years ago the art form will die and it is great that a house like Stuttgart are performing Lenz.
The future
This week I have started to plan properly for aspects of my time beyond Stuttgart. I have some exciting plans for a potential debut solo CD, which I will keep you all informed about as they develop. I continue to knock on doors both here and further afield and am assessing the various options that I have as I look to establish my career properly. The ever allusive 'artist manager/agent' is still to be nailed down properly and I look forward to, once an artist manager is in place, developing my career as a team.
My German is improving. Helped in no small part by colleagues who have put up with my slow sentence composition. I have been challenged by one of these people to only speak German here from January onwards. It is a good aim to have, though I will miss having almost every single one of my terrible English jokes being laughed at...... Better learn some jokes in German, if there are any.
This next week brings the Dress Rehearsal for Khovanshchina, more performances of Ariadne, and some space in the schedule to go on some more walks I hope.
In the meantime, hope you all have a good week!
Tom
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