BLondelOG

Honestly - I found this by searching on Medieval Song...

Note the costumes...

I've been meaning to make this since I first read the post. I even went so far as to go out and buy the TJ's beans Brandon likes to use, but one thing or another came up and I never quite got around to it. Well, last night I just wanted something quick but comforting and warm, betwixt library musicology/analysis session and torturing Maddie with my vocal meanderings... So, beans just seemed the thing. However, I'm not a fan of spicy things and I wanted to use what I had in the house, so I did a bit of my own doctoring... and boy was that a tasty dinner! Rich, but not too heavy, a dash of chocolate (you're not really surprised are you?), a few sprigs of Cilantro, Roasted Garlic Chicken Sausage (also TJ's) some Fage yogurt and some crusty Viennese Bread. Nearly a hobo's dinner, but a hobo with foodie leanings. The presentation was even pretty! I took a picture, but I ran out of batteries (and time) so I'll have to post that later.

Oh! you want the recipe? Silly me... Here you are Beans a la Orangette a la Boblette.

Olive Oil
1/2 a medium red onion, chopped
1 small clove garlic, crush and coarsely chopped
1 Trader Joe's Roasted Garlic Sausage
1 Can Trader Joe's Organic Black Beans with juices
1/2 tsp dried Oregano
1 tsp Cumin
2-3 Tbs Roasted Garlic Salsa, medium
~1/4 cup dark chocolate. (I used 72% Ghiradelli Fondue chips -it's what I had...)
2 tsp Fresh Cilantro chopped
Fage 2% Plain Greek Yogurt

Heat olive oil in a medium sauce pan over medium heat. Add onion and cook until a bit browned and tender. Add Garlic and sausage a few minutes before the onion is done. Next add the whole can of beans, juices and all. Toss in spices, salsa and chocolate. Let that get 'bubbly' , then reduce to simmer for a few, stirring occasionally,  while you chop up the Cilantro and slice up some bread and cheese to serve along side. Make sure the chocolate is all melted, remove the pot from heat , transfer to your dish of choice (I went with the classic Campbell's Soup mug) and top with a spoonful of yogurt and a sprinkle of Cilantro (to taste). Serve with the bread and cheese. This would, of course, be great with a beer too, or a nice deep red.

Eh "Voyla"! Enjoy.

So... lately they've been complete terrors... well Madeleine anyway, Louis is near saintly in comparison... but these are some great kitty shots, so I thought I'd share..

http://www.flickr.com/photos/20952063@N02/sets/72157603226976651

One might think that after all the opera madness last week between BEMF and the OperaHub inaugural production of Idomeneo, I'd be completely opera-ed out. But Nay! In-fact I am strangely energized and looking forward to and for future operatic adventures... or ventures as is the case with OperaHub.

The only bad thing in all of this is that the two happened in the same week so my BEMF 2007 experience was rather limited (Fantastic! -but limited)

Idomeneo went off marvelously. Not without flaws, mind you. However, for an inaugural production on relatively few rehearsals with a mesh of pros and amateurs... it was really quite something. We 'sold out' (tickets were free) both nights, and people actually came and filled all but maybe 5 seats each night, and we were turning people away initially. (crazy!)Sometimes having so many people so close to the action caused a bit of a traffic jam in getting in to places, but that was something we could only find out by doing. The musical aspect was really quite good and got better by Saturday - we had some Doppler-esque issues on Friday, but they seemed to have resolved themselves by Saturday. Thank goodness for good ears and self motivation! The leads were pretty amazing in their own right - my stand out favorite was Elettra (Natalie Polito)- the girl is going places.

In stark contrast to the chicken wire, 4x4, white sheets, 'bloody' t-shirts, and blue war paint of the OperaHub production (on a $2200 budget) was the BEMF production of Lully's Psyche; in which any chicken wire (if it was used) was well covered under layers of silks, chiffons, rhinestones and satins...etc etc - all the opulence one would expect from a fully staged Baroque opera on a $2 million dollar budget... not exactly shoe string eh?

The evening began with me running around picking up my dress from the dry-cleaner's ~ 10 minutes before I had to get in my car and go downtown - but that all worked out and I ended up having a bit of time to breathe as I waited for rogairedubh and K*r*n of VIINaCl fame to arrive from their own fringe concert (and a brief pint at the 7s). And I just have to say, people in Boston really are very nice, if you give them the chance. I stood there in the middle of the common, swathed in my black satin gown, all done up and very obviously waiting for someone. People kept stopping, even pausing cell phone conversations, to tell me how nice I looked. =D Not a bad way to start the evening. AND rogairedubh, knowing I had planned on the gown, even arrived in a tux! just to 'match' me. What a gentleman!

Now to the opera --- WOW - first and foremost - I have to get that out of the way. Louis XIV would have been fully approved. The costumes were positively sumptuous, the orchestra was fabulous, of course, the singers were wonderful (Carolyn Sampson (Psyche) is quickly becoming one of my favorite sopranos) and to top it all off - I actually knew some of those people! To include the first voice we heard: a certain T*ss W*k*m. Brava! It was agreed that the whole situation really quite suited her.

So - highlights: The little magic they did with Mirrors in changing Amour from his immortal form to his mortal form. Carolyn Sampson - just amazing, as I think I mentioned before. The two sisters at the beginning - great voices and so much fun to watch - they really brought in the comic aspect. Seat belts on the flying thrown... too funny. The Dancing Devils. Cute Cupid Girls (the children in this production were really quite talented). The Marital quarrel between Venus and Vulcan. Oh and the Cyclops - funny little fellas!
And 'The things that made you go hm...' Well part of this can be attributed to being up a bit high in the balcony - but the dangling serpent... seems he could have been a bit more menacing and less like a recently caught garden variety. Bored Trumpeters... though really someone should have warned them. The 'Boogie Board of Destiny' REALLY... with a $2mil budget, THAT's what you come up with to shuttle Psyche off to the River Styx? The set up of the program could have made it a little easier to figure out who was who. In most cases I was able to sort it out based on my fascination with Greek/Roman myth at age 10, but an 'in order of appearance' would have been good, if they were going to bother to list them all by scene anyway.

All in all though - I was thoroughly impressed and even after 3+ hours pressed against the netting of my dress, I was sad it came to an end.

2009 is so far away... At least there won't be opera going on at the same time. I talked with the OperaHub folks and that won't be a conflict anymore... thank goodness.

Well - work beckons... Adieu..

Someday I really need to learn how to do all the fancy formatting that you folks do.

Anyhoo... I was apparently too good of a QA engineer last week and now have nothing to work on, because I found bugs in all of my projects and delegated all the other work, which previously I didn't have time to do, to my guys in Minsk. SOOO... here I am posting..

The choral season is finally coming to a close - which is a welcome relief, though I know I will soon miss the regularity. I'm HORRIBLE about practicing on my own... yeah yeah I know... I'm working on it. I'm making a commitment to do fewer choral ensembles in the fall, so I really need to get off my duff and get a regular practice schedule going here.

Oh - which reminds me - I'm hoping/planning to do a French themed recital in the early fall. I'm open to anything there - so if you have some ideas, shoot em my way. I'm still learning how to find new rep... so suggestions are most welcome, if pointers towards other new stuff if nothing else.

Now - to my subject - This week is all opera all the time for me - and I'm absolutely loving it! Who knew? And what a combination - Lully and Mozart - I'm a happy Soprano/Opera audience member.

First - Mozart - There's a new kid in town, or on the opera scene to be more precise.OperaHub is a new chamber opera group here in Boston and I'm performing in the chorus for their inaugural production of W.A. Mozart's Idomeneo. Now when I first got in with this group, I wasn't sure precisely if this was going to be something I'd really want to be telling y'all about, or even continue to particpate in. As it turns out - I'm really enjoying myself. The musicianship is really quite good (aside from the occasional bass or tenor who loses all sense of tonal and/or rhythmic center... men! what can you do? ;~P ), the staging is certainly non-traditional, but really well designed for the space and the goals of the company. Our director is a bit of an up-and-coming in the staged theatre/music world and the leads are all really good. They really understand what they are singing and convey, not only the meaning, but the intensity (in all it's Tragic Greek glory) to the audience. I'm really quite impressed. And all this after having only put it together for the first time (and not even in its entirety) on Saturday. Anyhoo - if you're not busy on Friday June 15 or Saturday June 16 - it's definitely worth checking it out. And the best part (well for the audience) - it's FREE! Though - do be fore-warned, we just had a big write up in the Globe and ticket reservations (it's a small space so we're asking that people email to reserve their tickets, even though they are free) are really going quickly. So act now!

And for the Grande Fete this week... The BEMF 2007 opening night (!) production of Lully's Psyche. This was my birthday present to myself, and I just can't wait to take off the wrapping! I've decided to go all-out girlie and pulled out the black satin ball gown that's been hanging in my closet for 6 years - never worn. I got it tailored and cleaned (one simply can not show up to the opera in a dusty gown)and now just need to figure out the hair. No prom hair though... I promise. And no tiaras... I'm just not that kind of diva. I feel like a 16 year old the night before prom... it's sorta fun. rogairedubh will be my obliging escort for the evening, after performing in his own BEMF fringe Concert. This shall prove to be quite the music filled evening, me thinks. Now if only it wouldn't rain...
I will be sure to fill y'all in on all the splendidly Baroque details!

Well - I suppose I should do something work related... I'll edit a test plan or something.

I know it's been a long time (not that anyone has been holding there breath) but life's been a bit busy as of late... though rogairedubh seems to have found time to write... ok so maybe I'm just lazy, or negligent. Anyhoo.. moving along

The reason for this brief post is to announce to the world (Hello World!) that I have 2 new kitties! Madeleine Peyroux - a 6 month old little muted calico kitty (actually she looks a bit like the kitty in my user pic... weird) and Louis Armstrong - a 10 month old black and white tuxedo kitty, with a black nose and goatee. Pictures will have to be posted later as I'm still doing battle with my new PC, sadly infected with the annoyance that is Vista... but that's a whole other topic. So! Kitties!

So there you are - perhaps I will find a moment to write more later... once I get over the urge to run whenever I get within 2 feet of my PC at home.

Revels season is behind, before and definitely upon us... or me at least. We opened on Friday to a full and enthusiastic house. We sang songs of Christmas trees and Holly, we danced to the pizzacato base lines of a certain Renaissonics Violone player (apparently this is a secrete talent of his...), we ate (well pretended to on stage anyway) and were generally merry German folk; and for an extra special treat, a certain blonde understudy was called up from the chorus to sing Mut! throughout the weekend.

G**rg* had asked me on Tuesday last if I would be the understudy. I, of course, agreed. Just for good measure, I even scheduled a lesson with M*r** to go over pronunciation, staging, phrasing...etc. We had a fantastic lesson - I should have tight deadlines more often! Still after all of this I figured I would not be singing this any time soon.

Friday afternoon rolled around and I had just laid down for a wee winter's nap, when my phone rang with an unknown number. I almost let it go, but curiousity got the best of me - It was M*rsh* (the stage manager) calling to inform me that J*n*n was not coming that night and I was on. (EEK!) We had a few run throughs with the band pre-show, flubbing some words, and shaking like a leaf, but it went alright - and then we were on! It actually went fairly well. I flipped a few word orders, and was more nervous and reserved in my performance than I would have preferred, but all-in-all it was ... well exhilerating. 1200 people in Sanders theatre... pretty cool.

J*n*n ending up skipping out on the rest of the performances over the weekend as well (though no one told me until I got to the theatre...) so I was able to try new things and settle into it a bit over the next 4 shows. Luckily my Dad came to one of those performances, so someone got to see it - well someone in addition to the ~5000-6000 attendees. Supposedly J*n*n will be back on Thursday, though I'm hoping not... rogairedubh is coming on Thursday , as are two of my best friends... So here's hoping the diva wants one more nights rest before embarking on 11 more shows.

Yesterday I auditioned for Boston Cecilia at All Saints Church in Brookline. This was my third audition for the 2006/2007 choir season here in Boston and over the summer I had begun to feel a bit discouraged about my whole grand scheme of moving to Boston 'for the music'. I had begun to wonder if I should indeed heed the old adage and not 'quit my day job'. Well that may still be the case, but at least it would seem people might be interested in my musical endeavors after the day job.

I sang Music for Awhile - an oldie but goodie and knew something was at least ok - as one of the fellows sitting at the table across the piano from me was smiling rather pleasantly as I hit my second note. Always an encouraging sign. Plus an appreciative audience is so much easier to sing for. So after a few sight singing exercises (Thank you Bill Kempster...)they ushered me out into the hall and asked that I wait there while they discussed - I was going to get an answer that night! And really don't you think all auditions should be like this? No waiting by phone or email wrought with doubts and self criticisms, or perhaps false or misplaced elation. Just in and out, yes or no. It's so much more brutal I suppose, but in away more humane. So long as they don't cut you off after two notes (la la .. yes thank, thank you, that will be all) it can't be that bad.

At any rate - D****d T*****s came out and informed me that they would be 'delighted' if I would join the group. Which would have been all I needed to hear to make my night, but he continued! He said after hearing me sing he knew I was 'a perfect Cecilia soprano' and went on to compliment my tone and pitch. Always nice to be flattered! Now I don't know how much Cecilia matters on that grand stage that is the Boston music scene, but for a moment there in that staircase landing I felt like a star; like maybe 'moving to Boston for the music' was going to work out after all. And who knows the vast majority of that remains to be seen, but for now I'm one happy soprano.

This fall and winter are going to be just mad with rehearsals and performances (Revels has a knack for sucking up what free time one finds during the holiday hustle and bustle) but at least this year they will all be taking place in the same state, where I will also be sleeping. Now if I could just find an apartment...

OK so after months of lurking about on here I was told that I had better get an account or quit lurking. So here I am emerging from the shadows, and writing into the great ether of the web...

It's a gorgeous day here on the Seacoast of NH; the sort of day that makes me wonder why a person wouldn't want to just stay here forever... but so far this has been my home 'forever' so I think maybe it's time to stretch out a bit and explore something new. (yes I'm aware that the 'HUB' really isn't all that new in comparison, but what can you do? ...baby steps)

I'm not really sure what else to write in here just yet, and I'm feeling a might guilty for doing this at work - though there is nothing else going on - so I'm off for the night. There is laundry to be done and a biking to do on this fabulous day.