A Sort of Homecoming

 

One of the parts of the whole tour I was looking forward to the most was the return to Ann Arbor for a series of concerts appropriately entitled “Experience Blue Lake.”  An overwhelming swath of campers for the program comes from a 100 mile radius of Ann Arbor and one of the feathers in the tour’s cap are the performances at gorgeous Hill Auditorium. This was my first time being back in my home for four years since I moved last August and it was a treat to be back.

 

Just like last year (LINK), the Brahm’s Requiem was broadcast live on Blue Lake’s very own public radio station (LINK) for the entire WORLD to hear. 

The back of Hill with the satellite and equipment trucks parked in full view (with a bit of bell tower in the background thrown in for good measure)

 

Joining us once again to conduct the Requiem was Carole Dr. MaestrA Ott.  She had the thankless task of preparing the choir and orchestra for the European tour without the benefit of actually getting to conduct us while overseas.  Needless to say it was an immense pleasure to get to work under her baton again, not only because her musicality and expression were unrivaled by any of the guest conductors in Europe but because I consider her a dear friend as well.  Even though she conducts and teaches in North Carolina I am dependent upon the very small musical world that we live in to bring us back together collaboratively in the future. 

Three very content divas

 

Sabrina and I were also joined by a very special guest in the audience in the form of John Nevergall, who long time blog readers will remember was the tenor soloist in last years Elijah (broken glass during his aria, anyone?!).  Though he lives in Ohio he drove up for the concert and I am so grateful to have gotten to see him, if only for a short time after the performance.

“Bist du’s Elias?!?!?!”

 

I also must give a special shout out to my host “moms” for this portion of the tour.  Mom of course being in quotation marks because they were actually my friends Kristin (who, though a mom in her own right, is absolutely nowhere near near near old enough to claim that title over me) and then later Cynthian. 

Like John before, some of you may remember Kristin from our sharing the stage in Le nozze di Figaro, Armide, and Albert Herring as well as, you know, being kind of a kick ass friend.  Unnnnnfortunately I was stupid and failed to get a picture with her and her darling Alyssa before getting away so I leave you with a picture I pilfered off of her facebook profile. 

 

Cynthian and I have also had the pleasure of performing together in Albert Herring and Eugene Onegin and is also a member of that wundermusical family the Brundages—as in, Julia of the Singing Seargeant’s fame and Mary Anne and David of my utterly fabulous vacation weekend to Washington D.C. this past February.  Cynthian actually commented that I had basically seen everyone in her family more recently than I had seen her, so I’m glad we could rectify that situation!

Enjoying sangria at Ann Arbor’s popular summer drinking destination, Dominick’s

 

Artist: U2/ Album: The Unforgettable Fire

Somewhere That’s Green (Reprise)

 

By the time you are reading this I will have already spent TWO nights in a cabin at the hallowed grounds of the Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp. *pause for shock and awe*  That’s right, folks, this summer I’m headed on another European tour and will be singing the baritone solo in Johannes Brahm’s German Requiem—with the return of Sabrina Laney Warren as the soprano soloist!  I don’t think I’ve mentioned it before on the blog so… there ya go.

My previous post on the first time I went to the camp grounds can be found here, but I thought it would be fun to put up a couple of pictures to remind everyone about how beautiful (and rustic) the setting for this weekend and then intensive week in June will be.

The mystical Blue Lake

 

 

My cabin (That would be the Beaux cabin of the Sienna unit for those of you who care to know)

 

The Stuart outdoor performance shell

 

My sanity will be lost somewhere amongst these trees next month

 

It’s definitely going to be a surreal experience going back, but very different this year as well.  For one thing, last year I was able to throw whatever I needed into the back of the General and drive—I don’t have that luxury living in Houston and have had to be a veeeerrrryyy careful packer.  I’m also sad that some of the other staff members won’t be returning (that means YOU Mason, Ellen, Emily, John and Zach !!) but you’ll also be seeing some familiar faces on the blog in posts to come.

 

Artist: Alan Menken/ Album: Little Shop of Horrors

The Lass from the Low Countree

For the first time I was able to go to the orchestra concert put on by the Blue Lake International Youth Symphony Orchestra.  They are the group that plays for the Elijah concerts and, like the choir, they also have an independent performance outside of the oratorio. In attendance was the Cultural Ambassador to Germany from America and I made a point to introduce myself during the intermission.  This is basically what our conversation entailed:

Me: "Hello, Mrs. Johnson! I just wanted to introduce myself.  I am not actually in the orchestra but am a soloist for the Elijah performance tomorrow night.  Do I understand correctly that you are a Texan?"
Karen: "Yes, and you are as well?"
Me: "Oh just from a small town in east Texas."
Karen: "Me too!! I'm from Port Arthur!"
Me: "Uh oh, you're gonna get my accent coming out!"
Karen: "Do me a favor... count to five for me."
Me: "Ummm, okay.  One two three four five."
Karen: "There it is!! The *i's* always give it away"
Me: "Exactly!  That and saying the word 'oil'."

We laughed a bit and I had half a mind to say: "Hahahahah... but no, seriously, though, are you hiring?!?" but I thought perhaps intermission at a youth symphony concert wasn't exactly the most appropriate of times to job hunt.  Oh, don't get me wrong... she will be getting an email upn my return to the states!

On the Elijah front there were a couple of fun things that set this performance apart from the others.  Lübeck is home to our maestro and so he got to perform on his own turf which was very exciting for him.  Unfortunately, though, we were performing in yet another gymnasium.  At least this one didn't have carpeted walls!  Thought we didn't have an American diplomat in the audience, we were graced by the cultural minister for the region of Germany which was fun. 

Apparently the flag in the middle is Michigan's flag.  How did it take me four years and another country away to finally see this? 

Maestro and soloists post-performance!

Also, click here to view some pictures that were taken by a local photographer and then later posted online!

You know how you hear those stories about opera singers breaking glass while singing high notes? WELL it kinda actually happened.  John, the tenor, was singing his first aria and I kid.you.not a window pane shattered from the balcony.  He and maestro were a pro and just kept on going until the number was done and then we had a brief pause.

Get it little Elijah tenor soloist!

If I Were a Sailboat

On our free day in Stockelsdorf I was able to go around with John and his host family and do a little more sightseeing in Lübeck.  The first stop was nicknamed the Seamen's church and is where all of the sailors in the olden days (whenever that might have been) would go while in the city. Inside a small room to the side were the remains of a life boat from a crashed ship that held the only eight survivors of the catastrophe.

Replica of the crashed ship

The actual life boat

Across the street was the lodging house for said sailers, and though it has since been turned into a restaurant they still maintained the original interior, including replicas of all the chips that once sailed from the city.

Lodging house exterior and...

interior

Speaking of lodgings, Lübeck is home to the oldest old folks home retirement home youthfully challenged home assisted living facility whatever-the-appropriate-word-is in the world.  When the powers that be decided to turn the building into a museum they simply told the current residents "good bye" (or more likely "auf wiedersehen" a la Heidi Klum) and sent them on their rickety ways.

Small replica of the building

Interior hallway

The bedrooms.  Daisy would NOT fit :(

We then went to the largest church in the city for some more sightseeing and attended the noonday service.

So these are remnants from when the church was destroyed at some point and the bells fell.  The church decided to leave two of them as they were

At noon the clock went to WORK!

This is on the outside of the church

He's such a jolly looking devil! Oh, and the statue is cute too.  (Wah wah)

John, his family and I then gravbed lunch at a nearby outdoor cafe where I had some yummy curried wurst and even yummier beer!

John and I and our best friends.  And no we did not call each other and both decide to wear red.  .  . maybe

To end our day in true sailor fashion we took a boat tour through around the city.  In walking to the harbor we even passed the music high school that Maestro Christoph works at when not heading the Blue Lake choir during the summer.

This boat's name is ELLEN... just like one of the other counselors!

In case you had forgotten who she was.  (Shame on you!)

The Frederick Chopin!

Gah, look at those silly people burning calories!

Lübeck at a distance!

And up close!

Fill a Glass with Golden Wine

As I mentioned in an earlier post, the Alsace region is very well known for their wines (whites mostly), and my family took me to a winery just down the street from their house where I got to taste all of the different varieties that are typical for the area.  Oh were I not a soloist so I could have "tasted" more and more and more!

At the winery

Besides wine, one of the other local gastronomic specialties is something called tarte flambee, which is dough, creme freche and pork baked in an oven. We went with another host family and their campers one night to a local restaurant and chowed down on tooooo many of them.

Before

After

With Ellen!

The whole gang!!

The Movie in my Mind

Our second (and last) stop in France was the supremely picturesque Alsace region-- heretofore to be known as "where the wine comes from"!  The region is made up of several smaller villages, including Barr (where our concert was held) and Obernai (where my host family was located).

The crest of Obernai

The first day we walked around the town, which was so beautiful that I felt like it was straight out of a movie set!

The outer walls were built in 1282!!!!!

My host family lived on the outskirts of the town and across from their house was a large corn field situated between two other houses. Apparently every spring they sit in their front yard and toast a drink to the corn because, luckily, no one has mowed the field down and built a house on it.

View of the field from my window

The husbad was also in the process of making stone steps for the entrance of his studio (he is an artist) and the stone mason was over one morning carving out some of them.

The Elijah concert went very... ... ... interestingly to try and chose a polite word.  the conductor, Maestro Jean-Jacques Werner is a big name in the area from what I understand.  A tip to future singers: if you ever hear the words "I will follow you" from him it most likely means "I will drop beats, give you false entrances and conduct in patterns so fast even hummingbirds will have a hard time distinguishing three from four." Or perhaps something just got lost in the translation?

Unfortunately our concert was held in a gym. Waaah waaah

The nice thing is that I still feel I sang well and we were lucky enough to have the performance broadcast on the radio across the entire region, including Strasbourg.  Funilly enough the review in the local paper didn`t have a word to say about the choir, orchestra or anz of the soloists.  For all you Werner fans, though, don`t worry, they didn`t fail to mention the Maestro`s "magic baton."  And by magic I mean wonky.  Bitter soloist much? :)

As is often the case after a big performance, some of the other soloists and counselors decided to go out to a bar and have a little adult time away from the campers.  Following is the resulting revelry!!!

Mason, Emily, Sabrina, Zach (lookin all cray cray) and Ellen

Sabrina and John... Soprano and Tenor.  Get it high voices!!

YAAAAAAAY no campers!!

Representing U of M with the highest amount of dignity and class