Dallas - house!

After Cincinnati, I went to go visit my folks in Dallas for a week.
It ended up being perfect timing, as my Mom ended up having some
surgery and I was able to play "nurse" that week. So, sorry again to
all my Dallas friends I didn't get to see. I'd planned to hang out a
bit more, but alas, it was better that I stayed at home with Mom and
kept her company. Keeping her IN BED was hard enough! She doesn't
know what REST means.
But it was great to just have a week of "down time" with her and Dad.
My last day, I got a facial peel, thinking it would be no big deal. I
was majorly out of it for the plane ride home and looked like a
scalded lizard for a week at home. Nothing like arriving home to your
newly-wed husband and telling him "don't touch me!" Poor Tullio!
But I look fabulous now - no more old icky skin and sun damage! And,
yes, I am now being even more religious with the sunscreen. The
Italians don't understand us melanin-deprived people... They just
think that if I TRIED HARDER, I'd eventually tan. ;-)
Off to educate the Italian public...
Oh, and one of the best things I've done these past few weeks was - I
signed on a new home!!! I've bought a big apartment built in 1899 in
the Citt' Turin part of Torino and occupied by only one family. It's
a total re-do, but we're looking forward to the renovations! Can't
wait!! Wish us luck!

Sin City Carmina Burana

I arrived in coooold Cincinnati to find out that no four star hotel in town had ONE teensy room that hadn't been decked out in plumes and feathers and fluffed up real' good so there was lots of dander in the air for years to come. I will never understand why upscale hotels are so obsessed with luxury that they lose sight that some people are allergic to feathers! It's not enough to come in and cart away the

offending pillows, duvets, etc... if they've already been fluffed a gazillion times and released more dander than a chicken farm into the room! So I ended up at the only place downtown that had *A* room that had never had feather pillows in it. So they tell me. It was fine and the staff nice, but seemed pretty empty. Maybe because they don't have goosedown in every inanimate object? ;-)

Anyhow, we had a fantastic cast for Carmina Burana - Larry Brownlee was (again, as in Tanglewood last summer) a fantastic roasted swan; Stephen Powell was the most character-ful baritone soloist I've ever encountered and had the chops to back it up, and then me. Side note: I haven't seen Stephen in over 10 years (since Glimmerglass Don Pasquale) and it was like we'd just stepped back into each other's lives after 5 minutes. He's great and I've missed him! What a voice, too! He sounds better than I've ever heard him. Go, Stephen!! We played off of one another in the last big ensemble "oh oh oh totus
floreo..." - it was a bit more -ahem- earthy than you usually hear
it. Great stroke of genius from Paavo.. 

We had one audience member comment to us - "Well, here I thought it
was a family show, and then I started reading the supertitles, and
then you two... I wouldn't have brought my granddaughter!" I must add
this was said with a laugh, thank goodness!!

Paavo Järvi was a revelation - - I love how he makes music, I love the
humanity behind what he does and of course, the musicianship is
fantastic! We got along wonderfully, and I hope he will ask for me
again to do some other fun projects. I don't think I've ever sung
Carmina so well in my life! As he conducted, you felt such a
complete sense of mastery and control that you knew he could play with
the music in the concert, not just do it by rote. I think we all felt
that sense of ebb and flow of creativity, and his smiles or jokes with
different players during the concerts only added to that great play
between freedom and control that made both evenings so special. I
told him later myself that it reminded me of one of the most
remarkable traits of the late Richard Hickox - there was a humor and a
joy in making music that is rare to experience and needs to be
cherished when it is found. I hope Paavo can keep that, despite more
and more fame and acclaim.


The orchestra didn't have one weak section - and played beautifully in this HUGE hall.  I think it's the biggest symphonic hall in the U.S.   So-called "regional" orchestras in the U.S. continue to astound me.   Bravo, Cincinnati!

On the first half of the program, the orchestra played Les Nuits d'Été with Measha Brueggersgossman.   She is a force of nature! What a beautiful girl and a beautiful artist.  Listening to her, you realize how many colors and nuances we normally miss in vocal music.  I hope to hear a lot more from her.   And to stay in touch with her - - Measha, write me an email sometime, silly!


After our first concert, we  all went out until 1 or 2 am with Paavo to his favorite Italian restaurant in the main square downtown. We closed down the place.  Luckily, they gave us private room, as we got rather bawdy and loud.   VERY fun!   The next night, there was a party afterwards at a patron's apartment overlooking the whole city. Luckily, he was a FUN patron, and we closed down that party, as well.  Here are Measha and I, teasing Paavo, as well as our lovely patron (can't remember his name, but he had to kick us out with Carol Burnett's "I'm so glad we've had this time together" song at the end of the evening...)



The best part of the evening was that one of my best friends, Roger Roe, came down from Indiana to see the concert and to spend the evening with me! Unfortunately, all I have of him is VIDEO, which doesn't show up on this blog. SOOOOOOOOOOO happy to see you, Roger!!! If I can somehow extract some pictures from the video, I'll add them up here. What a TREAT to get to hang out with Roger and have him be my date! I know Tullio wouldn't mind...

christmas/natale/new year's/capo d'anno 2009-2010

Not much to tell here - we've had a fantastic Christmas "giù" in
Martina Franca with Tullio's family. We don't do much of anything,
but have scrambled to find presents for everyone, eat and sleep. Ah,
and the nightly or afternoon passeggiata... We've been able to visit
with friends and family, and had a great time. A distant cousin from
the U.S. came to visit along with Cousin Geraldo (Gerry for us!), so
we got to introduce this "giant" to the rest of Puglia. We forgot the
camera at his parents' house, so no pictures, darn it. I may update
this eventually with some great pictures. wish us luck...
We drove home to Turin from Puglia a few days before New Year's,
toting along Tullio's sister Rita and her friend Zelinda. We drove up
into the mountains around Turin to meet our friend Matteo for New
Year's. We had made the rounds of all our winter clothes, Tullio's
dusty skis, Tullio's friends who had ski clothes, etc... before
leaving - And as we drove up, we were glad we had - - you could feel
the temperature drop perceptibly! His grandmother's place was
nestled in the mountans, a few houses up from his neighbors who threw
a big party for New Year's. We had met them in Turin, and I didn't
realize that they all knew each other from their mountain houses!
Anyhow, it was a very laid-back party with everyone about 5-10 years
younger than us. Our hostess, it turns out, is actually a national
champion sprinter (or runner, in any case) and she had some
interesting friends at the party. We all tumbled outside into the
snow to watch all the home-grown fireworks displays at midnight. Very
fun, a bit out of control... After that, the tradition is to go
bobsledding down this one incline behind Matteo's house, but we
declined and trundled off to bed. We noticed a red light we hadn't
noticed before on the side of the house, but didn't make anything of
it and went to sleep. The next morning, Matteo awakes us to tell us
that the red light means the propane tank is out of gas, and we are
without HEAT! YIKES! So we quickly call our friends Martino and
Katia who were planning to come up that day from Turin, and asked if
they could round up a heater or so before they came. Matteo somehow
magically found one heater and we scrounged a bit more firewood from
someplace. Tullio's cousin and a far-removed cousin from the U.S.
joined us for a day of skiing.
Have I mentioned that I have not gone skiing since college, when I
went on the easy slopes of Santa Fe one Christmas for some reason? I
thought it'd be like riding a bike. Except a lot more falling down.
It's not. My calves still hurt, even thinking about skiing. There
are muscles in my butt and legs I didn't even know existed that are
still complaining. We arrived off the lift to a "muro" - a straight
drop down on what looks like ice. And this is supposed to be an EASY
SLOPE? What the hell?? So after painstakingly making my way down
this so-called "easy" slope which had another three or four drops like
this on it - an HOUR LATER, I find myself at the lovely lodge,
drinking hot chocolate. When they say hot chocolate, they basically
mean they've melted a candy bar for you and put some whipped cream on
top. I have never had such a thick soup of chocolate in my life. And
I deserved it! Happy New Year, indeed! Looking out over the Alps, I
could only conclude that life is indeed magical. Tullio then informed
me that he had discovered a REAL easy slope, and we skied down to take
the lift up, only to discover it was closed. grrrr. or BRRRR, as the
case may be.
We got back to our chilly abode, to warm up with the fireplace,
heaters, etc... and had a great evening around the fire, playing a
great board game that right now I forget the name of, of course...
Taboo! Hilarious. The NEXT day, the propane guy could come, and
fill us up. It was fun to "rough it" for a day, and it will be a New
Year's we'll never forget! Thank you, Matteo!!!!!