This mouse is from a storefront in Bern, Switzerland. I didn't snap the photo today, of course, but I figured I'd "cheat" and use it anyway since I don't have a satisfactory picture from this weekend. Which is not to say that I shouldn't have one -- it was gorgeous weather, especially today. There was a beautiful blue sky that perfectly set off the emerging fall leaves. The 70 degree weather was also a terrific complement to the sleeveless dress I wanted to wear for this afternoon's donor event.
Today, I attended the voice and opera preview for our voice department donor group. This lovely, lovely set of people gave me two grants last year. They are warm and enthusiastic individuals who truly adore the students. As the head of our department said today in his opening address, not only do they provide monetary support; they are also often our "family away from home", the warmest and most supportive audience members you could ever find. I was priviledged to be part of that audience today, watching my wonderful colleagues stand up and perform in a sunlit atrium with a grand piano. Clad in lovely formal and semiformal attire, they sang everything from arias from Florencia en el Amazonas or Cosi fan tutte, to semi-staged excerpts from The Secret Garden, our fall musical, to beautiful "audition arias" from the opera in which I'm cast: The Impresario. Even with a warm audience like these folks, it still takes a lot of courage to stand up in front of 200 people without the glare of stage lights blocking their shapes and faces from your view. My fellow singers were amazing!
It was truly a weekend filled with performances. Last night, I went to the master's recital of a harpist here. This was her program:
Sonatine, Op. 30 by Marcel Tournier (the Allegrement, Calme et expressif, and Fievreusement movements): This was tremendous, a great opener - accessible, interesting, and technically virtuosic without being scary for the harpist (I imagine, seeing as I'm not a harpist. Yet. ;) )
Prelude No. 10 by Edward McGuire: Very interesting. Modern. Odd intervals and tonalities in parts - not what you think of as "typical harp music".
Gems of Verdi, Op. 149 by Charles Oberthur (umlaut over the u in Oberthur): This was a setting of "Si, la Stanchezza m'oprime" and "La Donna e Mobile", two opera arias. The harp functioned like its own orchestra with one hand plucking chords and the other playing melody in bits. A really interesting arrangement.
Spanish Dance No. 1 from La Vida Breve by Manuel de Falla and Marcel Grandjany: This was basically a Spanish guitar piece played on a harp. I didn't really think about the harp being in the same broad family as all plucked instruments, but it is. So you can transfer guitar pieces to harp in a really neat way.
Sonate pour flute, alto, et harpe by Claude Debussy (Pastoral, Interlude, and Finale): Quite a gorgeous soundscape pervaded this one. Here, the harp functioned as the underlying land, a blanket woven of many threads on which the viola and the flute glided. It is such a French piece with all its odd yet tonal and strangely beautiful, ethereal intervals. It made me remember how much I am in love with Debussy and how much I really ought to listen to his complete works.
If you ever have the chance to see a harp recital, take it! It's gorgeous and completely worth it.
In the meantime, with all of these performances and my own practicing, I haven't had much time for the other more intellectual pursuits that I need to be doing this weekend, like crafting my proposal for some outreach work I'll be doing. That's why the neon green brain mouse is up there. I'm hoping it will give my fingers some inspiration to magically click my proposal onto the screen. I'll let you know if that works...
~Hope
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