Supporting time....last part...

January is already over and I collected these pearls of wisdom that probably you have all already seen on social networks but for me to read them all together give, maybe, even a  stronger message...


( for a better view click on the first and then scroll)

Supporting time...first part...

A dear friend of mine, that I consider a brother to me, lately is sending me on a daily basis encouraging pills of wisdom that honestly could be helpful for everybody and I decided to share all of them ( the one I collected so far) here.

These little postcards are random thoughts...

( for a better view click on the first and then scroll)

HAPPY HOLIDAYS....little letter.....

I'd like to marry the Christmas spirit and don't want to talk directly and strictly about business .

It's Christmas time and like everybody it's time to write a letter to Santa Claus...I'm looking forward for his answer ;)

Dear Santa,

I know that, in theory for the Maya calendar, the world is ending today but I still wanted to write you and ask what I'd like to find under the tree for Christmas....in case of the fatal event you can apply my wish list for the next world: I guess it would work as well ;)

It's been quite an interesting year full of emotions and realizations for me: you know that 2011/12 has been tough but I've learned a lot.

My wish list is not that long, here it is:

- Health and Happiness for everybody I know and don't know

- Strength and courage to never give up and always keep going on their path to everybody is struggling researching their way.

- Peace to people that fight insecurities and jealousy: may this Christmas bring them serenity and balance.

- Sincerity to all the people that hide themselves behind passive aggressive behaviors: may Christmas allow them to be true to themselves and other people see who they really are.

This is my list dear Santa and I hope you will be able to put the right present under the right tree, that would be a great present for me.

Yours,

Leo

And to all you readers......

MERRY CHRISTMAS 

& 

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!

Happy Holidays and may 2013 be a healthy, rich and prosperous year for you and your beloved.

Ciao for now ;)

Don Giovanni Peabody Institute at Johns Hopkins University

Welcome to this blog entry that means a lot to me: I usually talk without filters here and this time it's very hard for me to put "on paper" all the emotions that overwhelmed me not only during the process but especially at the end so I'll try my best to write down everything. Probably who was involved in this experience will read more through the lines of this entry only because we shared the same things but I still hope it will be an enjoyable reading.

I feel the need to start this entry telling a big THANK YOU to JoAnn Kulesza, wonderful colleague from whom I've learned a lot during this process,  and the entire voice department including coaches for the marvelous job they have done preparing the singers for this Don Giovanni.

The Don Giovanni project started in June when I met the director, Roger Brunyate while I was in Vermont conducting La Boheme and we started talking about the concept involving the set designer Luke Cantarella and exploring the different possibilities. This gave me the opportunity to start working on the score highlighting the aspects we wanted to pop up during the process and I found in this group of artists a wonderful team.

October 1st: this has been my first encounter with Peabody Institute .
First time to work with the cast: since day 1 I saw a huge potential in this group and I already could sense how far we could go all together and the goal to aim for. Right away we got a very good feeling working together but I warned them I wasn't there on vacation and we had in front of us weeks of hard work and I was not going to spend time showering everybody with superficial compliments before the work was done first because Don Giovanni  is a huge masterpiece that scares professional singers and second because my standards are very high.

Then the real rehearsal period started on October 17th and as it always happens the "first day at school" was a situation in which we were learned about each other: for sure I tried to make everybody comfortable in making mistakes as part of the learning process  allowing them to explore their limits and challenging them showing they were able to do it.

This Don Giovanni had a lot of meanings to me and to all the people involved: on my part it was my first ever DG and according to my schedule the only production of my season. I don't know if these are the reasons or if there is something deeper into it but I approached this masterpiece with a big humility and religious respect feeling every time I was opening my score the bless to be able to work on something so sublime under every aspect.

Talking about "first time" of course for the majority of the cast members was the first DG but not only: I discovered that Mary Trotter had never played the harpsichord in a performance and Celeste Marie Johnson had never played an opera from top to bottom and guess what: they did it brilliantly!

On the other hand this was Roger Brunyate last production at Peabody after he served for 30 years as Head of the Opera Department: I have to tell you all the work this man has done in these decades and his legacy will stay forever: I never found a group of artists so supportive of each other, no fake compliments but genuine interest in helping each other and I think this has been instilled by Roger's attitude to work all together in harmony so I thank him deeply to have brought this kind of mind set to the school and surrounded himself with very valid member in the staff.

I'm very grateful for the relationship we established among each others during the coaching sessions and rehearsals: everybody got that I was going to work hard but in a healthy and fun environment with good laughs supporting everybody and bringing out from each of them everything they have inside, and believe me there was/is a lot there! Apart from this aspect I underlined the importance to be a good colleague because if you are one the other person will benefit of it and they got it!

During my day off I offered to coach individually the singers and according to their schedule, they show up and we worked finding details in the music and interpretation connecting the two things and bringing to life what Mozart wrote, or at least trying to serve his genius.

All the singers have been very receptive and eager to learn and I have to say during the entire period I noticed in some of them a true transformation changing their way and trying stuff: I was and still am blown away.

Here is the list of "my heroes" and some consideration about them below:

Don Giovanni: Jeffrey Gates

Leporello: Jeff Martin

Donna Anna: Huanhuan Ma

Donna Elvira: Alexandra Razskazoff

Don Ottavio: Halim Shon

Zerlina: Janna Critz

Masetto: Seonghyeon Park

Commendatore: Alex Rosen

Harpsichord: Mary Trotter

Director: Roger Brunyate

Assistant Director: Sarah Hayashi

Assistant Conductor: Stephen Mulligan

Music Staff: JoAnn Kulesza

                    Mary Trotter

                    Celeste Marie Johnson

                    John Wilson

                    Yunkyung Choo

Jeffrey Gates: he brought such warm voice and nobility to the title role and the use of the language in the recitativi underlined the intentions and the depth of his caracter.

Jeff Martin: Leporello has been a natural role for him: sung very well with great comic pacing highlighting the giocoso aspect without falling in the trap to become a caricature.

Huanhuan Ma: she brought such elegance and class singing and acting the role of Donna Anna, a role that rarely has the sympathy of the audience.

Alexandra Razskazoff: Alex brought to the role fierce and driven temper delivering performances that have been very intense and made everybody realize she a "stage animal"with singing and acting skills serving the music and staging.

Halim Shon: Don Ottavio is always a difficult role to display but Halim brought on the stage a sense of calm and nobility that a man of honor has and in his 2 arias he created a peaceful atmosphere through the melodies that Mozart painted and he enjoyed and make enjoy the audience every bar of that music.

Janna Critz: she worked hard and succeed showing the nuances of Zerlina threatened by DG and being in love with Masetto and what she accomplished in this run is remarkable.

Seonghyeon Park: he brought the temper and vocal quality to describe the jealous possessive peasant Masetto and I have to say also the acrobatic skills when he was beaten by DG ;)

Alex Rosen: despite the very young age he impersonated the role of Commendatore in a very believable way sung with charisma and weight in his voice.

I could spend tons of gigabytes talking about the singers individually but I can tell that you'll hear of them in the future. I felt lucky to have an ensemble of this quality, perfectly casted.  

Not only the principals but the cover cast did a terrific job not only during the rehearsal process but in  their own performance, being very supportive of their colleagues cheering them up, suggesting staging and prompting if it was necessary. And in all this a big help came from the Assistant Director Sarah Hayashi (aka Mizuko Woods, her alter ego!) that showed great personality and hard work helping Roger during the entire rehearsal time, "making everything pretty" ( ;) ).

Peabody Symphony Orchestra: what a pleasure to work with this extremely talented MUSICIANS!!!! Correct musicians not just players. I'm conscious of the difficulties to play opera if you are not used to and especially it can be very tiring if for 3 and half hours you find yourself putting down and picking up your instruments while not playing during the recitativo  but this ensemble showed not only technical skills but passion and commitment.
During rehearsal I interpolate a lot of descriptions of what was happening in the story when we were playing and the need to breath with the singers, the need to listen to each other in the pit and listen to the stage, and the fact that mistakes can happen not only because it's a live performance but because we are human with no one is going to be punished for it: it happens! At the end the main difficulty for a piece like this is to keep the focus and level of attention full steam on for a long time.....but they got all of the above and incredibly well!!!! 

Time was running fast (time flies when you have fun) and  because of school schedule we never had time to run the show top to bottom until.....the final dress: sounds scary doesn't it? ;) My only concern was that we had to run a marathon having been trained for 100m and even if I knew that it was possible there was no guarantee about it and counting only on the youth it wasn't an option: so my purpose for final dress was to build up the stamina needed in the pit and on stage to run a marathon with every resources I had and the result was encouraging looking forward to the performances. 

And here we are at opening night with only one real run through under the belt: I felt so confident about that evening because of the work everybody has put during rehearsals both stage and pit and I was sure it was going to be something special and surprisingly amazing and I was happy that I saw it correctly: everybody rose to the occasion  (and I'm sure they surprised themselves as well) and delivered an A class performance rewarded by the audience standing ovation at the curtain call.

The second and last show was even better: the orchestra sounded magnificently and the cast just made that Sunday afternoon something that for sure will stay with me as one of my best memories. What made me very happy for this second performance, especially under the educational point of view, was that I empowered the orchestra and stage to make the piece their piece: I tried to not interfere with their desire of expression, "driving the car", yes but without micromanaging, making it a chamber music moment long 3 and half hours where everybody was collaborating: exhilarating experience!!!!

It's hard to describe, as I said at the beginning, all the emotions that overflew during this process and during the performances, maybe it's something that I want to conserve jealously or maybe it's just something that it was needed just to be witnessed in person while it was happening so I hope everybody got a picture of this Don Giovanni through my words.

I'm very grateful for this experience and grateful that Peabody Institute brought me in to collaborate on this gigantic masterpiece that Don Giovanni is: it's unbelievable to think what we achieved and I'm very proud of the work we all have done together, working as a team and enjoying every moment.

What else can I say: I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!!

Ciao,

Leo

As requested....

.....I'm reposting my first blog entry as requested by some students at Kansas University after a wonderful week as artist-in-residence, and it's about what to do, in my opinion, before you start singing.....

Here it is, enjoy it!

.....I always treat the musical rehearsals like a collective coaching session, analyzing first of all the text and then the music.
But before the musical rehearsal starts we need to prepare the piece so I'd like to point out some steps I think are always indispensable when we start studying a new piece.

Here is a list of things we should do before even we start thinking to sing a role:

1) who is your character: most of all psychologically in the contest of the opera or at least have a strong idea ( even if wrong but AN IDEA!) about who you are going to be on stage

2) where in the opera the piece is placed in terms of before and/or after a major event

3) what is the message you want to deliver with your interpretation

4) Analyze/translate if needed the text you are going to sing putting effort on the key words/adjectives present in the aria.

5) Analyze rhythmically the piece

6) Analyze the way the composer and the librettist composed and matched the text with the music (i.e. different rhythm with different words....this can change the meaning the author wanted)

7)Analyze the phrasing lines in the piece: in every aria usually there are long phrases and these phrases at the same time have sub-phrases. Very important and helpful can be to follow the punctuation used.

8) Analyze the dynamics and articulations written.

9) Sum up the points 4-5-6-7-8 to have clear ideas of the picture of the piece

10).....now you can start warming up meanwhile thinking about all the information you got from the score.

As you can see, in the ideal world, there are a lot of steps to climb before start singing. I know it sounds like a long process but I believe that if you want to deliver a message you have to use all the instruments that the composer gave you in the score. Maybe all this can sound weird because in opera text and music are the tools to make music, but not always these tools are used properly and this effects the production of the sound we need.

Ciao for now.....

USC...University South Carolina

I was thinking if I wanted to post pictures about my little trip to Columbia, SC, but I think that words might be a better tool to describe what has been an exciting and productive experience.

Fasten your seat belts it's going to be long and hopefully interesting!

Last week I've been a guest teacher at University of South Carolina School of Music invited by the director of the opera program, the dearest colleague Ellen Douglas Schlaefer with whom I collaborated this past summer in Vermont producing La Boheme at Green Mountain Opera Festival, to work with her students on DON GIOVANNI.

When, during the Boheme period in June, she asked me to come to work for five days on Mozart's masterpiece I accepted with no hesitation because, as I expressed multiple times on this blog, I just love to work with singers and share ideas and trying to be helpful to them in what they need plus I was/am preparing this piece to conduct at Peabody-Johns Hopkins University so it was the perfect opportunity.

I have to say: these five days have been very intense, full immersion and I don't deny that I ended my days pretty exhausted but for the most wonderful reason: GIVING!

I was asked to focus on the Italian in the recitativi  and work musically on the arias and ensemble pieces. We all know that recitativi are more exposed than an aria because you don't have the foundation of the music unless the recitativo is accompagnato by the orchestra so all is left to the performer to make sense out of the text.

I personally think that to deliver a good recitativo is way more difficult than delivering an aria and request more work and I've heard from young singers debuting on professional stages   that they've never done a recitativo in their career life: scary! At the same time the sound is produced by the way you say the word so if math is not an opinion both recitativo and aria are equally important. On top of that, as audience, if the recitativo has meaning it creates interest for the following aria ( hopefully!).

I saw in these days how much these students have accomplished and how much they were eager to learn:the level of preparation was good I have to say and I could tell that they were like sponges trying to absorb the million information I was throwing them: in 1 hour coaching for each students the amount of notes I gave  were probably overwhelming especially coming from a totally new place, speaking a musical language they were not used to, but they worked so hard and I'm happy (and proud!) to see how far they went.

The surprise came, a good surprise, on day 4: it made me so happy to see that something clicked and everything was there. All the things we talked about were applied to their singing and was fantastic to witness that. There were moment that they needed to be reminded some things but overall I was so impressed.

Since the beginning (and I usually do when I coach singers) I asked them if they could feel the difference in what I was asking them to do because I believe that if they feel it, hopefully, most of the things we worked on will stay as part of them otherwise if they did only because I asked probably they already forgot everything in the moment they leave the studio.

On top of the hours of coaching there were couple of more events to attend.

I've been invited to talk to Dr. Exner class about Don Giovanni and was interesting to share ideas and to see this masterpiece under different angles and prospective and see how much questions a plot like that still raised after couple of centuries and books written about it.

And the masterclass where students presented arias from Don Giovanni in front of their schoolmates: ask me how much I love masterclasses and my answer will be: A LOT!!!!!

Not only to work with the singer on a piece but to see his/her colleague reaction-validation-enthusiasm that what they are doing has a meaning and they are doing well, supporting each other...and have a good laugh to put everybody at ease: no one feels judged and we are all working to make everything better and shiny.

At the end it was great to interact with these students and talk about how to present yourself in the outside professional world and be exposed to art as much as you can even if nothing is available nearby and the only way to reach information is through Internet. Interesting observation was about how insecurities get in the way ( HELLO!!!) creating a certain attitude that blocks and/or stops you to learn and even create a distortion of the perception of what is around.
My little piece of advice was to be always open to any constructive criticism because you can learn from everybody and then you are your own teacher and choose what is better for you. Insecurities caused by different reasons ( more common, for example, the sense of  entitlement)  are probably the worse enemies because when you think to have the truth in your pocket you stop learning and you stop improve your skills ( and become bitter probably and more insecure). We arrived at the conclusion that it's hard to trust people because everybody want to be in a good place with everybody ( aka yes people) but instinct is a great tool and when you feel that someone is being helpful than it's a good start.

I probably sounds like a broken disc but I don't apologize, I've learned so much in this trip and it's been a fulfilling experience.

Bottom line and personal consideration: USC you are very lucky to have a person like Ellen Douglas Schaefler as director of your Opera Department because she wants the best for her students that are the priority especially in a scholastic environment, she's passionate in what she does, she's true to herself and she speaks her mind....in one word she's a giver!!!

And at the end is (or should) all about LEARNING and GIVING, isn't it?

Until next....

New season, new challenges new experiences.....

Here we are: season 2012-13 is starting!!!!

Summer is almost gone and it's been a period of big thinking, summing up the past year (especially concurrently with my birthday!) and starting planning for the upcoming season!

Speaking honestly and straight forward, at the moment, there are few (only in terms of numbers!) exciting conducting projects but not a full season and the scenario in front of me it's been to decide what to do with the "forced" free time.

During all the posts here my key words have always been work hard and be true and honest to yourself, so the option to sit in front of the TV waiting for a phone call that might or might not come is out of discussion and actually would be very depressing and not pro active, so....

.....someone said one day "rather than a king sometimes it's better to be a king maker" and considering how much I love to work with singers (and I guess I said that a lot of times during our "conversations" here) I decided to serve music offering my services as vocal coach for singers that need to work on repertoire and coach to instrumentalist that would like to have an opinion from a conductor.

And this is going to happen in New York where there is, during the year, the biggest concentration of gifted musicians eager to learn and the place where mostly all the auditions for opera companies happen.

So I'm going to use this post to make good advertisement for what I like to call "New Your Coaching"(NYC).

I'll start my presence in NYC from September 10th and will keep going during the season unless I have an engagement that bring me out of town and usually I let people know through my website or through my fan page on Facebook.
 
So this is the time to be more practical than philosophical and I found a picture that sums up this idea and I find very inspirational....and however there is always philosophy in every choice ;)

Back to business:  I can be contacted over e-mail or you can book your sessions with a simple click below.
 
Ciao for now and don't forget to book your appointment ;)

Green Mountain Opera Festival: flashback....

To come back in a place where you have already worked is always great because you know your way around and when location and people involved are wonderful.... well.... then is very special.

I worked at Green Mountain Opera Festival in 2010 on Lucia di Lammermoor and it has been a fantastic experience at the time and I was looking forward to be back to work on La Boheme.


I have to say Taras Kulish, Artistic Director of this gem of a company, has all my admiration for a lot of reasons: starting with the fact that he created this opera company believing in a project with music integrity and high moral, because of the genuine enthusiasm for opera and for the demanding of high music standard, last but not least the ability to put together first rate casts and orchestra and chorus.

BRAVO TARAS!!!!!

And now some information about the amazing cast I've had the pleasure to work with:

Mimi: Mary Dunleavy
Rodolfo: Richard Troxell
Musetta: Natalie Polito
Marcello: Jordan Shanahan
Shaunard: Philip Kalmanovitch
Colline: Erik Kroncke
Benoit/Alcindoro: Geoffrey Penar

One statement to start: this cast has been sublime to work with!!! All beautiful artists, delightful people, hard workers that on a daily basis weren't afraid to take notes, correct, improve and grow all together with the piece in a great atmosphere created together with wonderful director Ellen Douglas Schlaefer.

The very important thing for me, as I always say, is to create an ideal atmosphere during the rehearsal process and with this group it has been an immense pleasure to work because we had a lot of laughs and a lot of very intense moment where everybody was into the drama of the piece....and considering that some of our rehearsal were open to public everybody got the sense that this was going to be a special run of La Boheme.


Plus there were other reason to make this run special for me.

On a personal note I finish a year journey started in Santa Fe with La Boheme and ended with this run in Vermont that has meant for me a lot: sort of leaving behind a year of big learning through difficulties and I'm very grateful for the experience I grew.


Then, this was the first Mimi for Mary and let me tell you she was (and is) an amazing artist: total commitment with the character, vocally very genuine and with a type of voice that I like to say "belong to the past" and with this I mean "so real and without imitating soprano of the past" but making her own role.

Richard has been so much fun to work with: I met him years ago but this was the first time we worked together and his voice, high energy and intensity has been spectacular.

With Jordan was the second experience after the Lucia 2 years ago still here in Vermont and was so much fun to work with him again especially having the knowledge of what I'd like to achieve and how can I suggest him things knowing his voice. Same thing with Erik even if 2 years ago he was in the chorus but he delivered a convincing Colline in the run.

Natalie, Philip and Geoff were emerging artists of the Green Mountain Opera Festival but believe me they worked the stage like consumed professionals: keep an eye on them!!!

It's been fantastic to work with the orchestra and chorus: it's been like to share music with a group of friends and it seemed like we saw each other the week before... everything seemed so natural and organic and there was no need to talk much but just a look and a smile to feel each other and create music.....I have a big smile on my face now that I'm surfing through memories.....

The audience really enjoyed the run: the enthusiasm was great inside the theater and outside as well with people talking and sharing what they felt during the show.
It's a big satisfaction to see that when you put together a very good show you can touch people souls.

I know that this entry sounds very sharp, but closing cycle is like to read a book: once you are finished you move on and wait to see which one will be the next one.


In conclusion photographic story of this experience....enjoy it!!!!


....talking about location.....

                                          ...view from rehearsal space...

 

                                          ...refreshing day off...

 













          ...even more refreshing ;)  




                                                         

                                          the Opera House