Friends, this one is going to be short. I am just too tired.
It’s mostly good tired — lots of exciting things have happened in the month since my last dispatch. The Kronos Quartet retrospective that nearly gave me an ulcer dropped online, and the stress was absolutely worth it. I also remembered that translating libretti and making supertitles is actually pretty fun, and I was reminded why I quit orchestral library work.
Most excitingly (and time-consumingly), the choir I sing in at Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church recorded an album — my first professional credit. It was a wonderful, fascinating, absolutely draining experience, and I can proudly say that my voice will soon appear on the market’s only album dedicated entirely to works of Canadian composer Ruth Watson Henderson. The music is really lovely, if punishingly difficult.
I spent the entire recording week stockpiling quotes from our British producer, Adrian Peacock. (I don’t know how to put this, but he’s kind of a big deal.) We saw Peacock and his partner engineer David Hinitt for fifteen minutes at the beginning of the first session, and again when they showed up for post-wrap drinks on night five. Other than that, the duo hid in an upper-floor loft, relaying notes into our recording studio (the sanctuary of Midtown East’s Church of Our Saviour) via microphone.
It was almost always Peacock’s voice — at one point, the British choral scene’s go-to for low-low-low bass notes — that crackled through the speaker. “I’m hearing a lot of expensive singing lessons, but very little text.” “Basses, that E was less of a note than a zip code.” He was just snarky enough to keep us entertained, and his blunt diagnoses always came with eloquent solutions. I’ve never been asked to be “circumspect” about the way I tune a chord, or to consider how a faster tempo “flusters the music.” What a technician, what an ear, and what a precise way of talking about music. I envy him.
Of course, I caught a head cold right before the week we were recording 7-10pm every night. And of course, that was also a show week at the day job, and a week where I had edits due on a piece for Chamber Music magazine. I got through that week by the grace of honey-lemon-ginger tea alone.
And that was just one week. If you asked to see me last month, I probably replied, “Not until February 25, check back after that.” (If I said that to you, this is your reminder.) I was too busy running around to write a February mid-month roundup — PR friends, if I’ve taken a ticket from you in the last six weeks, I promise a review is coming. Eventually.
In this line of work, it’s feast or famine, and February’s spoils were just a touch too rich. This past week, I finally got to breathe a bit. I cooked something more interesting than eggs for the first time in weeks. I picked up my cello to sightread some Bach, though my arms started to burn after just ten minutes. And I didn’t see a single concert — though I’m probably breaking the fast this Monday for Lise Davidsen’s Forza at the Met Opera. In just a week and a half, it’s back to rehearsals, but I certainly can’t complain about singing eight hours of Renaissance polyphony per week. (Hear me sing some Byrd or Marenzio this month!)
But still, I feel this nagging impulse to do less. Time for a cleanse, perhaps, lest burnout come a-knocking…
What’s On
(note: all concerts are in the evening unless otherwise noted)
Met Opera: La forza del destino
Fri Mar 1
Mon Mar 4
Sat Mar 9 (matinee)
Tue Mar 12
Sat Mar 16
Thu Mar 21
Sun Mar 24 (matinee)
Fri Mar 29
The Metropolitan Opera House
note: Lise Davidsen is leaving before the last three dates
Met Opera: Roméo et Juliette
Thu Mar 7
Sun Mar 10 (matinee)
Fri Mar 15
Tue Mar 19
Sat Mar 23 (matinee)
Wed Mar 27
Sat Mar 30 (matinee)
The Metropolitan Opera House
Vienna Philharmonic
Fri Mar 1
Sat Mar 2
Sun Mar 3 (matinee)
Carnegie Hall (Stern/Perelman)
International Contemporary Ensemble: Anthony Davis & Leila Adu-Gilmore
Sat Mar 2 | NYU Skirball
Linda May Han Oh: The Glass Hours
Sat Mar 2 | Miller Theatre, Columbia University
Igor Levit
Thu Mar 7 | Carnegie Hall (Stern/Perelman)
Celebrating 90 Years: Christian Wolff
Sat Mar 9 | Judson Memorial Church
Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra
Sun Mar 10 (matinee) | Miller Theatre, Columbia University
Escher Quartet: Complete Bartók Quartets|
Sun Mar 10 (matinee) | Alice Tully Hall
Experiential Orchestra: Julia Perry Centenary Celebration & Festival
Wed-Sat Mar 13-16 | various locations
NYO-USA All-Stars
Thu Mar 14 | Carnegie Hall (Stern/Perelman)
JACK Quartet: Beautiful Trouble by Natacha Diels
Fri Mar 15 | Roulette Intermedium
Mark Padmore & Mitsuko Uchida
Fri Mar 15 | Carnegie Hall (Zankel)
Talea Ensemble at 15
Sat Mar 16 | The DiMenna Center
Daniel McGrew, tenor
Wed Mar 20 (midday) | Morgan Library
NY Phil: Mendelssohn, Tan Dun, and Joel Thompson
Thu/Sat/Sun Mar 21/23/24 (Sun matinee) | David Geffen Hall
Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Choir: Renaissance Reflections
Fri Mar 22 | Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church
(If you must hear me sing, Byrd and friends is the music to hear!)
American Symphony Orchestra: Schoenberg’s Gurre-Lieder
Fri Mar 22 | Carnegie Hall (Stern/Perelman)
Kirin After Hours: Carrie Frey
Sat Mar 23 | Kuro Kirin Coffee Shop (Inwood)
Mali Before 1800
Sun Mar 24 (matinee) | Corpus Christi Church
Midtown Concerts: Theotokos
Thu Mar 28 (matinee) | St. Malachy’s Church (and livestreamed)
(Speaking of dream jobs — I somehow landed a gig singing one-on-a-part polyphony!)
Why is everyone sick? :( Congratulations on all these accomplishments, though!
Wonderful post. Thank you.