What's Up! - September 2007

I'm sorry that I haven't written an update for such a long time. I ended up doing a lot of singing and teaching during the spring and the summer was just about as hectic. Now, I am finally ready to tell you about everything that's happened since you last heard from me.

After singing the Radames in Aïda last February, I went back to Frostburg to teach my second semester. I had been informed in early January that the small production of Bellini's Norma that I was supposed to conduct had lost their tenor. I was also informed by the director, that if I didn't take on the Tenor role of Pollione, they would probably have to cancel the production (Pollione is a very hard role to cast, let alone find someone to sing it on short notice). I learned the role in SIX WEEKS, but more about that to come.

In early March, I made a quick trip out to Sacramento to sing in the Sacramento Choral Society and Orchestra's production of Verdi's Requiem. I also got to see some friends who had just moved to the Bay area. It was a quick four day trip as I left on Thursday and was back on Sunday. It was a great production.

Two weeks after the Requiem, I found myself on a plane ride to Palm Beach, Florida to sing in South Florida Opera's production of Norma. I had the role down pat by that time, so I was very relaxed. Besides rehearsing the opera, I had time to have lunch by the pool (not quite as nice as it sounds - but it was spring break in Florida), hit the gym and to go out with cast (dinners by Ocean, two trips to South Beach in Miami and several other outings). It was a fun cast to work with. Kathleen Halm, who played the title role of Norma, is a long time friend from my Indiana University days. It was great seeing her again (I was best man in her's and Todd Simons' wedding) and a lot of fun playing the Roman Pro-Consul (I even got my hair cut short for the role).

Although audience sizes were small, they really enjoyed it and we got good reviews. The morning after finishing Norma, I headed to Asheville to rehearse their production of La Traviata, I was only there for a week, as I had to get back to the Frostburg to teach. A week later, I conducted the one week tour portion of the production in Tennessee and New Bern, NC.

I returned to Frostburg on Sunday and left Thursday to sing Beethoven's Ninth Symphony in Colorado with the Boulder Philharmonic. It was a fun production as I got to sing and work with several friends from Indiana University who I haven't seen for over ten years. The audience went nuts and it was just a great experience. It was made all the better as my family could come hear me sing and I had a few days at home.

I returned to Frostburg and was there for the remainder of the spring semester. We concluded the semester with a concert of Haydn's Lord Nelson Mass. All in all, it was a good first year, though I think I learned more than the students did. As soon as the vocal juries were done, I took the train (yes a train - the auto train) down to Orlando, Florida.

After getting my car off the train, I drove down to St. Petersburg and began rehearsing La Boheme. Jacqueline Quirk was my Mimi which was fun as I just had conducted her in La Traviata in Asheville. I also became close friends with several of the cast members.

We all had such a great time. The company put me up at a beach house (someone who had left Florida for the summer) and I had the Intercoastal as my backyard (the view from my deck was 99% water. Unfortunately I had a full TWO-MINUTE walk to Gulf of Mexico. It was really a tough three weeks.

We ate out a lot (gained some weight which I'm now trying to loose), went to the movies and went to the beach many times. The cast was just excellent and they had a wonderful chorus, orchestra and crew. I predict a strong and successful future for the company.

After the Boheme, I made the drive back to Colorado (from Florida), trying to make the week-long trip as interesting as possible. I first drove to Orlando and visited Christa Depenthal and her family (friends from Valparaiso days). I then drove to Savannah where I stayed the night. The next day I took a tour of the city (which is just as beautiful as they say). After the tour, I drove up to Asheville and stayed with the Starkeys for the night. The next day, I drove to Bloomington where I stayed with the Schaefers. After church and a coaching, I went down to Orleans (1:15 south of Bloomington) and had dinner with Phil and Heather Ross. Phil took me for a ride down to French Lick to the West Baden Springs Hotel in his 1960's (don't know the exact year) Ford Mustang convertible. Boy was that fun. The Hotel and it's dome date from the 1920's and was once one of the seven wonders of the modern world (I'm sure). They have done a beautiful job restoring it and it's open to the public. Go and see it as it boggles your mind why they built it in Southern Indiana.

Peru, Indiana was next on the list and my once a decade visit with Thea Scheblo (a friend from Valpo days). She took me to Cole Porter's birth home which has also been recently refurbished. The same day, I made it to Valpo where I got to see my niece, who is studying to be a nurse, and Carmine and Lisa Polito, long time friends. I also had breakfast with Al Jackson and Eldon Balko, two music friends from Valparaiso.

After a tour of Valpo's beautiful new award winning library and a visit with University President Alan Harre, I drove to Chicago and had a visit with my 90 year old voice teacher from many year ago. We had a great time together during our two hour visit and I will cherish the memories. After leaving Chicago, I drove to Iowa City for the night and crashed on the couch of Roger and Chris Christian (brother of my brother-in-law). Who answered the door, but my Alicia Christian who was on her way to live in Colorado. I also briefly saw David Christian who was on his way out the door. So here is the run-down...I went via Savannah, GA, Asheville, NC, Bloomington, IN, Peru, IN, Valparaiso, IN, Chicago, IL, Iowa City, IA and finally into Denver, Colorado.

I finally got a little R&R in Denver, and made use of the time spending it with family. We went to the beach a lot and as it was hot, just tried to keep cool (even went to Water World for a day). We had a great 4th of July, as Ron, Gail and Andrew came for a visit, as did one of my new friends from Florida, Elizabeth Claxton. I took her to Estes Park (where my department head was vacationing) and up into Rocky Mountain National Park. It was great having someone in Colorado to show around. Most of July was spent getting to know my new Iphone and celebrating the three family birthdays.

Somewhere in the middle of July, David and I went to the Cheyenne Frontier days in Cheyenne, Wyoming. We had a great time at the fair and heard Reba McEntire and Trisha Yearwood in concert together during a lighting storm. It was a great concert. I took a great picture of my brother. He in turn took a terrible one of me I had to share (that is a Diet Coke).

At the end of July, some of David's friends from Minnesota came to see him perform the role of Jesus in Jesus Christ Superstar. The production was fantastic. We ended up going with them to the Denver Museum of History to go see the Titanic Exhibit. It was really cool as they had a chunk of the Titanic that you could actually touch. They also gave you a card with a name and class on it. At the end, you found out whether or not you died on the voyage. It really brought it into perspective. If the exhibit comes to your town, I highly advise a gander

Then at the end of July, my brother and I flew to California to spend time with Ron and Gail and to go to Disneyland Resort for a day. We actually made the trip as we had tickets to Club 33, an exclusive club at Disneyland with five star dining.

It was just fantastic! A great treat for everyone who went. We also went to California Adventure, rode all the thrill rides and took pictures in the letter "O" of the CalifOrnia sign.

We went sailing once and then it was back to Colorado. A week later, I was in Breckenridge rehearsing for the Cabaret concert on the fifteenth. It was a lot of fun working with all my friends that I got to know last year, and I got to spend five nights in a wonderful condo in the mountains of Colorado. It was a great end to a wonderful summer.

I'm going to end this as I started the blog last February...Well, I'm back in Frostburg after the twenty-seven hour drive back (over three days). There was one casualty though this time, as my green Dodge Stratus didn't make the trip back. I loved my car, but after 155,000 miles and ten wonderful years, we said goodbye to each other. Believe me, it was difficult.

I did get a new car though, and am enjoying getting to know it. It's a Ford Fusion with most of the bells and whistles (the color is Merlot - a sparkly marroonish red - kinda hard to describe). Anyway, it's brand new and because of the drive from Colorado, it already has 2,000 miles on it. It's good to be back and I'm already enjoying the semester at hand.