What’s New at the Zoo

 

During the aforementioned organized meeting with the mayor of Landau, Zach and I decided to forgo local politics and take a quick visit to the zoo nearby our host family’s house.

Sorry guys… didn’t have time to translate

 

Relative to the size of, say, the Houston zoo, this was quite a small collection, but I’ll always take the opportunity to take a gander at (mostly) exotic animals.  Plus, it was a perfect excuse to test myself on all of the German animals of which I have been singing in Die Schöpfung.

Apparently it was feeding time when we first arrived, and we caught the penguins being tossed some sardines. The leopards, however, managed to have a field day with a not so lucky pigeon not quick enough to fly away.  Even the tiny fox was chowing down on a little baby chicken (which, by the way, has been our nickname for the campers since back in 2010, so I wasn’t quite sure how to feel about this.)

Lovin’ them some sashimi

 

 

NATURE!

 

Givin’ me some sass.  (The baby chicken is behind and to the right)

 

One of the more surprising animals to be found at the zoo was a group of guinea pigs, as I can’t say that I’ve ever seen them at one in the states before.  When talking to our host father he said that often when families who have them as pets get tired of them they will donate them to the zoo to be used as food. (Shhhh… Don’t tell my mother this!)

Meerschweindschen! Though, why they are called “sea pigs”, I’ll never know.

 

And speaking of upsetting parents, nothing gets an Aggie more upset than the sight of some big ol’ horns:

Saw ‘em off!

 

One of the "interactive” sections of the zoo was a sanctuary you could walk into and see the birds up close. The following bird was labeled as a “Mexican fowl” if I remember correctly:

 

LEARN SOME ENGLISH!!

 

Though adorable, I’m not sure these ginger monkeys would be a big hit across the pond in merry old England.

 

Look at me!! … Mmmmk, thnx

 

Don’t think I didn’t get away without making an excuse to take a ridiculous picture of myself.  There were numerous metal statues of animals littered about the property, the largest of which was a bison and it’s baby.  Mind you, our first day in Landau was the hottest one they had in several weeks, so needless to say I only stayed on for the absolute minimum time needed to catch the photo.

Yee haw or ouchee?

 

Zach was even going to attempt it but, after touching the metal and nearly burning himself, decided to be the smarter of the two and abstain.  His inner thighs most definitely thanked him.  He did, however, find a smaller, shadier Simba to pose with.

 

Stop stealing my pose!!

 

And though it wasn’t in Eberbach, I couldn’t HELP but add one more Eber to my collection! This one’s for you, Sabrina!

 

Annnnnd finally, in the small gift shop they had some stuffed animals with oddly large eyes.  Perhaps I’ve been watching a little too much New Girl, but these things are giving some serious Zooey Deschanel realness, right?!

Who’s that giraffe… IT’S JESS!

 

Artists: Jule Styne, Betty Comden and Adolph Green / Album: Do Re Mi

The Representation of Chaos

 

Before leaving for the European leg of the tour, the choir, orchestra and soloists all meet at the Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp property in secluded western Michigan for what is affectionately known as “intensive week” for days upon days of rehearsals and meetings.  The natural, open setting seems even more appropriate this year as we are performing a piece directly centered around the creation of, well, nature itself. 

In the Biblical telling, God begins with molding heaven and earth and ends with humanity’s creation in the forms of Adam and Eve.  With all this maker-ism on the mind it wasn’t hard to start seeing things around camp through a similar lens.

A performers eye view from the stage of the Stewart performance shell during our 8am dress rehearsal

 

“And God said: Let there be Light, and there was Light. And God saw the Light, that it was good; and God divided the Light from the darkness.” (The Creation, movement 1a.)

A shadowy self-portrait on the steps outside of Merrick hall

 

“Outrageous storms now dreadful arose… By heaven’s fire the sky is enflamed, and awful rolled the thunders on high.” (The Creation, movement 2a.)

The night before leaving for Europe we had a mighty storm pass through western Michigan, as is evident by the lightning struck tree.  Mind you, this is in the middle of faculty village, where multiple cabins are located.

Donner und Blitzen, indeed!

 

“And God said: Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together under one place … and it was so.” (movement 3a.)

Admittedly, this is a bit of a stretch, but I couldn’t quite figure out the most organic way to work this picture into the post.

I’m pretty sure this is more acurately known as the creation of diphtheria

 

“And God said: Let the earth bring forth the living creatures after his kind … Unnumber’d as the sands in whirl arose the hosts of insects.” (movement 9a.)

 

Meet Theodore and Howard!  The former, Sabrina and I found while on a walk one morning and the latter landed on her leg during our dress rehearsal, hanging out for a good twenty minutes to enjoy the free concert

Unfortunately we did have one entomological incident during a rehearsal.  On the page directly after my singing of the “hosts of insects” I looked over and saw this poor little guy.

He’d be hard pressed to find a more appropriate page in the score.  HARD PRESSED, I SAID!!! *groan*

 

"And God created man in his own image. In the image of God created he him. Male and female created he them. He breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soul.” (movement 10a.)

So speeeaaaaking of the ‘breath of life’… I was wandering through one of the buildings one day and came across this myriad of lifeless bodies staring up at me.  They had been stashed in a side room in preparation for the regular summer camp’s health staff arrival but were quite disconcerting nonetheless.

 

I’m pretty sure that if they aren’t already, a group of CPR dummies should be known as a “chorus” … or maybe I just have a bit too much music on the brain

 

“And God saw ev’ry thing that he had made; and behold it was very good. And the heavenly choir in song divine thus closed the sixth day.” (movement 11a.)

Throughout the whole of my Blue Lake experiences I have had the great pleasure of becoming dear friends with Sabrina, Leah and Zach.  Without hyperbole I can say they are a large part of my continued return to this gem of western Michigan, and any tour without their involvement would be intensely diminished as far as I’m concerned.  Before leaving for the airport, it is customary for the parents and family members of the campers to see their children off, and I’m so glad that Leah and Sandy, one of the other international staff members, were there to act as our send-off squad!

And behold it was very good!

 

Artist: Joseph Haydn / Album: Die Schӧpfung (The Creation)

Back to Where I Was

 

Oh well HELLOOOO there ladies and gents!  A little over three years ago I set up this site as a kind of half journal / half repository for the myriad of interests which I find intriguing, enlightening and entertaining (you know, as opposed to all those other blogs out there that are nothing like that at all).  At times I feel as though I was quite successful and others, well, let’s just forget about those, shall we?

One of the greatest gifts the blog has given me is a detailed memory of my many summers working at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp and touring internationally as a soloist for their oratorios.  For those tens upon tens of readers who used to regularly check in, you’ve probably noticed I have been an abysmal failure at updating for nearly a year.  Well weep no longer, faithful followers: I am thrilled to once again be returning to BLFAC for another European tour and reviving the blog in the process!

With a little more than gentle prodding from friends and fellow soloists, Sabrina Laney Warren (returning this year as blonde) and Zach Vanderburg (promoted to soloist from his previous years as section leader for our Elijah and Brahm’s Requiem tours), I have decided to once again take up the mantle of mediocre travel blogger. Selfishly, it’s so I can have another great account of my travels, but I don’t have any problem fudging the truth and saying I’m doing it for you, the people.  YOU’RE WELCOME! :)

This year the orchestra, choir and soloists will be busing all throughout Germany performing Joseph Haydn’s masterpiece, Die Schoepfung (The Creation), which, as you clever people might have surmised, follows the Biblical story—with a little bit of John Milton’s Paradise Lost thrown in for good measure—of God’s creating light and darkness and heaven and earth and plants and animals and Adam and Eve and everything and everything.  Well, I say everything, but we all know that caffeine, carbs and chocolate are the Devil’s work, okaaaaaay!

Just sayin’

 

During the holidays of last year I had the pleasure of going up to Dallas and spending some good, quality time with my brother, sister-in-law, nephews and the whole Friess family clan, taking an excursion to the Fort Worth zoo in the process. I snapped the following picture and immediately sent it to Leah, my boss (and good friend) at the international program, joking that it should be used for the promotional poster for the Creation tour ‘cause it looks just so darned creationy.  *Shock and awe* they decided to go in a “different direction,” but I excuse it by telling myself that they couldn’t afford my royalty fees.  At any rate, here it is for posterity’s sake so that future generations can revel in it’s Instagramed glory.

Seriously, though… that zebra is rockin’ some creation realness

 

And for those of you inclined to hear a bit of the piece itself, here’s the prelude to the oratorio, entitled “The Representation of Chaos.”  This is, like, music history 101 right here for you peeps.

Also… puh-LEASE notice the zebras and rainbow at 4:40!

 

Artist: Eric Hutchinson / Album: Sounds Like This