Lille

So, we travelled to Lille, where my fabulous husband and my dear friend Tamas met up with me. All was well and good, despite the cold,

as Lille looked magical! In the center of town (right outside the opera house), there was a carousel. Everyone was in Christmas shopping mode. 

Tullio and I had a beautiful walk in one of the parks in town, where there was even a little zoo!  Here he is with the kookaburra, and a picture of their red panda!


I was able to work on my music for my Los Angeles concerts with a pianist who took a train in from Brussels especially for me.   Yay!  We worked for hours and hours in the foyer of the opera house, until I decided I might not have any voice left to sing the Messiah that night if I didn't shut up!   But luckily, I finally felt like I had the Zerbinetta aria under my belt.  It's so weird to sing a different version of something you already know.   Since this version is even higher, it took a lot of adjusting - everything just felt weird for a while.  Now I think it'll be weird to go back to the "lower" version!   ha ha!   This version has a f# or two, a few f's, a bunch of high e's but it all makes the high d's passing tones, so they're all much easier, strangely enough!   Go figure.  I actually like it better, even if it does go on a bit...

Bad new is that Emmanuelle's little girl did NOT get any better (had pleurisy in her lungs and pneumonia!), and even though she desperately wanted to do the Messiahs with us, she needed to stay with her baby in the hospital until she got better.    So we rehearsed with Paul Agnew, and he did a great job with the concerts!   It was as if he's been doing this his whole life, not singing!   He did get on the tenor's nerves, though, understandably, as he brought him in for extra sessions, etc...  If the tenor had ASKED for that, it'd be one thing, but to bring him in as if he's remedial and try to teach him the way YOU used to sing the Messiah is another. John Tessier is a fine singer and artist and didn't need it.  Oh well.  We missed Emmanuelle, but the concerts were still a success, because of Paul's doing.  

I have come to conclude that I really don't like the Messiah that much for my voice.  It just never FITS.  I like pieces of it, but harumph.    Maybe I should just enjoy it from the audience.  Everyone always says "it was sooo nice" the way I sing it, but I really don't feel like anyone goes away CHANGED by my singing in it.  There are other pieces through which people say I truly touched them - maybe I should concentrate on those...    It probably didn't help that I felt I was not quite over my flu/cold from Frankfurt and/or coming down with another cold.    Grrr.      Since we flew back through Charleroi, we spent our last day in my old stomping grounds of  BRUSSELS, which is a hop, skip and a not even a jump from Lille by train.

Here's a picture after our concert.  Please do not comment on the cow patty on my head.  It was an unfortunate hairdo decision and it will not be repeated.  Ever.     ;-)