The surprise in his voice as I repeated the words: 'I am an Opera singer' was exactly what I expected. The offer of many pints of bier and a few shots, which I politely turned down, was not so much expected, it being a quiet Tuesday night in early January and Stuttgart not particularly being known as the party capital of Baden-Wurtemburg.....
You see, the Irish pub is the ideal place for a massive football fan like me to catch up, legally, on my team and on this occasion we were playing a third round FA Cup game against Everton. The game turned out to be a bit of a drab 1 -1 drawer but the evening was made more interesting by the two Americans, and one Canadian, I met there. These three generous men are in Stuttgart to deconstruct, ship to the US, and reconstruct in the US, machinery from the Mercedes factory. So whilst they were fascinated by what an English guy was doing singing Opera in Germany, I was also learning many details about the US car industry.
Generous Stuttgart
No one had yet told these Americans about the 'tipping' in Baden-Wurtemburg. I'm not sure what the situation is in the rest of Germany, but I have been assured that the standard 'tip' to give a waiter in Stuttgart is just the number rounded up. So for 8.70 you would pay 9, for 18.40 you would pay 19 etc. Someone particularly generous might pay 20 for a 18.40 bill but not many.
I took it upon myself to explain the local tipping tradition to the guys, as the barman shot daggers at me across the table. Fortunately for him, the American way is the American way, and my new friends gave a 20 Euro tip on an 85 Euro Bar bill. The barman left the table with quite a grin.
My new American friends also took my email address and have assured me that they will attend Monday's opening night of Nabucco 'as long as we can hug the soprano at the end'. We'll see about that....
Chalk and Cheese
Talking of Nabucco, this week rehearsals started for the revival of Rudolf Frey's WNO/Stuttgart production of Nabucco. This week rehearsals will also have finished for Nabucco. It being a revival, any new members of the cast are given DVD's to watch and then the lucky revival director has the enviable task of ensuring that everyone knows where they are meant to be and when over about 4 rehearsals, after which the Chorus join for a day, followed by two rehearsals with Orchestra and then its the first night.
Contrast this to the production of Jommelli's 'Il Vologeso' which also started rehearsing this week, and in which I am in the first ten minutes of. This is a brand new production with a rehearsal period of about seven weeks, including a 90 minute concept-introduction, a 6 hour read through of the libretto and the first two three-hour rehearsals allocated to just 8 pages of music.
The difference is quite stark.
For a revival like Nabucco, where each of my roles actions are very specific, the rushed process can be quite stressful. Only last night I was going through a scene for only the 2nd time ever, worrying about 20 army coats about to fall, from the fly-tower, inches from my head and trying to remember where and when I should kick the little chain in order to pick it up to give to Nabucco at the right time so he can sing his line, which lets face it is significantly more important than mine, in the right direction. Sure enough, such worries enabled the first time to be a bit of a mess, though I didn't have any coats land on me, but the second time was 'perfect', so Dimitri, performing Nabucco, said and he is a Verdi Baritone, no one is going to disagree with him.
Inspired learning
Being on stage with someone like Dimitri Platanias, the Nabucco who has also sung Rigoletto at Covent Garden, is what being in an Opera studio is all about. Standing next to world class singers, spending rehearsals noticing how much they sing out, how they deal with direction, with their strengths and with their limits. How they interact with other cast members and the conductor. Both Dimitri and Catherine Foster, a British soprano who has been based in Germany for 12 years or so and who sings Brunhilde all over the world, are also generous with advice. Dimitri gave me a little Verdi recitative masterclass on stage during a little break, whilst Catherine shared her experiences of being both Fest. (fixed to one opera house) and freelance in Germany along with many other bits of advice.
Its all good stuff, things I should write down and remember.
The most interesting and inspiring chat I had this week came at the end of last nights rehearsal and was with Brazilian Tenor, and member of the Stuttgart Ensemble, Atalla Ayan.
I have mentioned Atalla briefly before. He is the house lyric tenor, a guy who has had a huge amount of success very early on, including Rodolfo in La Boheme with Glyndebourne on Tour when he was only 25, lead roles at the MET and Covent Garden, and Nemorino in L'Elisir D'amore at LA SCALA later this year. I'm not sure he is much older than 30. He is singing Ismaele in Nabucco, and we bow next to each other at the end of the show.
I took the opportunity, whilst we were rehearsing the bowing, to ask Atalla about Ismaele, a role that I may well do at some point. After explaining his view that Ismaele is probably for an older, bigger tenor, we then discussed many more roles, he asked me about my singing, told me he had enjoyed what he heard so far. He also told me about his feelings about various composers, the differences between Verdi, Puccini and Donizetti for the young Tenor, the challenges he feels he has and son on. I ended up sitting in a dressing room with Atalla for about half an hour, chatting away as only Tenor's know how. It helps that we have a mutual love of the Bel Canto repertoire and that I see myself singing similar repertoire to him in the not too distant future, and also that Atalla is a really friendly guy. It also helps that he has an amazing voice and I am a sucker for a great Tenor. God forbid I should ever meet Jonas Kaufmann.
What else
Aside from the rehearsing of two operas and the talking with singers, I have also been preparing the music for next weeks Opera Studio concert in Ludwigsburg, just north of Stuttgart. In this I will sing a duet and aria from Lucia di Lammermoor by Donizetti, a sextet from Cosi Fan Tutte, some music from a Jommelli opera and the finale from Don Pasquale. Unfortunately, being the time of year, a few of the studio haven't quite been 100% health wise but I am looking forward to us performing as a group for once, as apposed to sing in separate operas and only seeing each other occasionally.
I have also been having a solid start to my health 'look like David Gandy - naked' drive. My Garmin Vivofit has, as predicted, encouraged healthy day to day competition with myself and my weekly count has just reached 137'500 steps, which Garmin reckons is 66.34 miles. I have also been running a few times and have invested in, and used, a few home gym things.
Light at the end of the tunnel
After tuesday's concert my schedule at Stuttgart suddenly eases up. Aside from the Jommelli, which premiers in February, I have a few more Ariadne performances, all the Nabucco performances, and am covering two roles. Compared to the madness of the first 4 or so months, which included many concerts and 4 operas, this will give me more time to focus on the German, really learn the roles I am covering well, and enjoy trying to get fit.
Wish me luck....
Tom
ps. As promised: health check down here. This week I am 2.3 % down in weight. Which at my weigh is not an insignificant amount. Only the odd lapse, must keep going!!
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