2005

The real stuff going on behind the scenes!





2005

Well, this summer has been a wonderful experience.

with Joyce DiDonato

It was old home week in Houston. They kept us up at the Four Seasons, where Tullio had an entire chaise longue (or chaise lounge, as we call it in English) to himself. During a walk in the park across from our hotel, I noticed a cute little West Highland Terrier and her mistress. As I finally turned my attention to the mistress, I realized she looked very familiar - it was Fredericka von Stade! As gracious as ever, this wonderful singer promised to come to my San Francisco concerts, which she did. At the Houston Gala, I was so touched by her rendition of "Send in the Clowns" - there was not a dry eye in the house, I'm sure. In the halls of HGO, the whole gang was there - it felt like I had just left town. I'm wont to just say "Oh, hi!" to someone I haven't seen in ages, because it feels so familiar there. (And I have a warped sense of time, but we won't go into that... )

Cast of Rossignol

After all that excitement, I was overjoyed to work with one of my all-time heros: Pierre Boulez... and in Stravinsky, no less! The man does not give out compliments lightly, but after the last performance, he said to me, "That was beautiful, simply beautiful! Truly singing of the first rank!!" I was blown away. As he walked away, for once I was speechless and a little teary-eyed. Teary-eyed happens to me sometimes; speechless, for those of you who know me well, does not happen very often.

I stayed at the Ritz-Carlton in Cleveland, where they welcome dogs with open arms. They even volunteered to walk him when I didn't have time. As one day I was running off to rehearsal with little time to walk him beforehand, I took them up on their offer. I asked them to put him back in my room when he was done. When I returned, there was no dog in the room. So I went downstairs and asked them if they had kept Tullio behind the counter with them, which they sometimes do as a courtesy to guests. But Tullio wasn't there, either. They told me, "But we put him in your room!" They then checked, and to their chagrin, they had put him in SOMEONE ELSE'S ROOM!

Well, to preface this, let me say that when I was a sophomore in college at Southern Methodist University, I was horrified to see an incoming freshman on my voice studio roster; horrified because her name was Laura Beth Clayton. I was sure we were going to get mixed up for the next three years of my college career! Luckily, she went by "Beth" instead of "Laura" and we never got mixed up, even once, during college. We became good friends and even roommates on choir tours. Fast forward to nowadays, when my friend Beth also travels with a dog, her little poodle, Sapphy, and... was also singing on the Stravinsky program in Cleveland. They had gotten confused and put Tullio in HER room. When we arrived to the room, there was a sheepish-looking Tullio and a very flustered Sapphy, barking at Tullio as we left to say, "Well, THERE, you Usurper!" and jumping up on her little divan, to say, "This is MY room!" (Tullio knows he's not allowed up on the furniture unless invited, so must've been rather jealous.) The staff was extremely embarrassed, but relieved that this guest just happened to be an old friend! All's well that ends well!

The longtime love of my life was able to join me in Cleveland, and we finally made it to see the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. This is my third trip to Cleveland to sing with the Orchestra, and I still hadn't seen the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. That's a lot of guitars! Of course, my favorite part of the exhibit is all the wild costumes. Very fun. We also tripped through the lovely Cleveland Museum (right next door to Severance Hall) and caught some beautiful exhibits before they close for renovation. I think Jan was a bit shocked at Middle America (he'd only ever been to large cities or the Republic of Texas before), but he enjoyed it immensely. I think the serving sizes at restaurants were what shocked him the most!

It was also a treat to meet up with old and new friends in all three places. In Cleveland, I also got to see colleague Laurent Naori (my "Bottom" in Midsummer Night's Dream last December) and new friend Susan Narucki, a fascinating artist doing beautiful and interesting work; in Houston, in addition to Flicka, Joyce and Renée, I got to see Patricia Racette (an old San Francisco friend), college friends and lots of family. What a treat!

with Beth Clayton

San Francisco was a dream of a collaboration with such an insightful musician as MTT, and I was sorry to see it end. We are now dreaming up future projects back in my first home-away-from-home, San Francisco. I'm hoping to do some more Krenek with SFSO. Or some Hindemith! These and Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco are just a few of the composers I am obsessing about at present. Someone needs to! My next scheduled San Francisco appearance is next year in the San Francisco Chamber Music Series.

Tullio is doing fine, and enjoyed visiting with my friends Dick and Samira's cat where we were staying. I'm sure he enjoyed Dick and Samira, too, I might add! They allowed us to invade their home for the concerts and my latest recording. I can't thank them enough! Tullio spent lots of time holding down the armchair in my room, the official "Diva Room."

I am also recording a new album with my dear friend guitarist Marc Teicholz. We had many adventures with this recording up at Skywalker Ranch. On our first day of recording, my producer and I (the fabulous musician Peter Grunberg) were driving to the sound stage, when we came upon a big turtle in the road, which I got out and put back next to the creek. But not before he peed all over me... The second day, we had to hold off recording for about an hour because there was a FIRE in the soundboard! The firemen came and put it out, and then they had to redo a section of the machinery and redo the circuits. ...Then we have the pictures of Peter walking on my back to try and pop it back into place... They're threatening to make that the album cover. (And of course coming up with hilarious titles to fit the picture, but most of them are not suitable for a g-rated webpage!) There's never a dull moment with us! Anyhow, the Skywalker Ranch is pretty plush - - it is where they recorded the soundtracks to all of the Lucas films, and probably 80% of all the blockbuster films coming out of Hollywood. There is a baseball diamond, stables, canteen, fitness center, pool... you get the picture. The technical building where we are working looks more like a winery than a sound studio! Lucky us! We'll be back in August to finish up the remainder of the recording. Stay tuned for news on the album!

I'm currently in New York, getting ready for my concerts with the Phil, and enjoying lazy New York in the summer. I'm hoping to get in touch with all my friends while I am here. Drop me a line if you're in town!

No other big news to tell... except that even ELTON travels with his dog, a little cocker spaniel, who was ready offstage for a quick cuddle before the legend himself went onstage. I'm in good company!