Free Day through Friday

Wednesday was our free day. We definitely needed it since the concert on Tuesday was a little low on energy. Since I had stayed out so late on Tuesday, I slept in, wrote in the blog and watched German soap operas with Steffi. It's a great way to learn the language since the acting is so dramatic and obvious and the music also helps you to know what is going on.
Some people went on adventures hiking or to a nearby medieval village. I just wanted to stay and see what Stuttgart had to offer. I had thought about going to the Mercedes Museum, but didn't want to spend the money and I just didn't feel like going. I know Grandpa would be so disappointed. Instead I met up with Beth and Richard for a picnic in front of the Staatsopertheater. I stopped at the Netto to get some snacks that are German, though I think half you can find in the states. Christ joined us a little later and then more and more JSB folks found us. It's great that even though Stuttgart is a big city, we all travel the same paths between Konigstrasse and the Schlossplatz; we see familiar faces. It was a beautiful day, so while you back home are complaining about snow, I have sunshine and 70 degrees.

After the picnic a number of us went to the opera to see Verdi's "Luisa Miller". The opera house is beautiful, I took some pictures but they did not turn out so well. And the opera was very heart breaking, but what Verdi production isn't? We only payed 10 Euros for student tickets and we were up in the directors box with the big spenders. We all felt a little under dressed.

The soprano and tenor were pretty dazzling, their sense of line was gorgeous. This is one of the smaller houses in Germany, but the quality of the singers is better than what I usually hear in the states. The production wasn't too darkly German, but they still managed to fit in a dead deer. And they clearly are not scrambling for money like the arts in the U.S. The stage had hydrolics and I don't think a single character ever entered from the wings. They always came up from the floor.
After the opera some of us went to a very chic Brauhaus, way classier than Sofie's. And we caught the end of the Germany Cup (it went into a shootout!) while eating some very German fare: Käsespäetzle, which is the comfort food of this region of Germany (think mac and cheese but with real cheese).

While I didn't think staying up until midnight would be a problem. It has become one. I woke up in the middle of the night with chest congestion and a stuffy nose. My chords are so swollen that I sat out last night's lecture concert and will do the same tonight. I slept at least 10 hours last night, so I am waiting for my body to respond to that and my zicam. I feel very helpless but I'd rather sit out two lecture concerts than get burned out before the tour to Italy when we are actually doing full performances.

Bach's Birthday

Today I write you on the momentous occasion of J.S. Bach's 327th birthday. And boy oh boy, did we at the Bachackademie celebrate!
We had our second lecture concert last night in the Konsertzaal in the Musickhochschule. We performed the rest of the Gloria (Laudamus Te through Cum Sancto). It went well again, but I caught a few more mistakes than the previous night. Though, my voice was in much better health. I realized that the acoustics make it difficult for me to hear myself. We are very spread out and in front of me are bassoons and behind me are the basses and some tenors (they are not quiet). Last night I learned to trust how it feels to sing and not what I hear; my voice was more happy by the end. I almost fell asleep on stage. This concert had many more arias, solos. So the choir is just sitting there under warm stage lights listening to beautiful music: the perfect recipe for Sarah to fall asleep. I have thought about this problem before. What if I become an oratorio soloist? Especially for something like the Brahms Requiem: the soprano soloist sits on stage the entire concert and doesn't sing until the very end.
Before the applause erupted we even got a "Bravo!" from one gentleman. It is such a shock, you don't expect to hear that for Bach, and you especially don't expect to hear that from a German. They're a bit more reserved in their praise.
After the concert, we all went to the Bachackademie for drinks and food and a little soiree. I was able to briefly introduce myself to Helmuth. He can be intimidating, but wine makes everyone seem more friendly.
The salon, open mic, etc. began with the choir singing two pieces we've been using in warm-ups. And they are beautiful but very serious for our already 'let's get this party started' attitude. The evening had a lot of beautiful music, but we certainly had some more fun acts. A group of us sang "Chili con Carne" and some sang from Bach's Coffee Cantata. The best act of the night was the brass quintet. They did a slow salsa arrangement of the "Agnus Dei" from the B-Minor Mass. One of the most beautiful and sorrowful arias (I sang it for Stations of the Cross two weeks ago), somehow hilariously worked as a salsa with great improvisations on the flugelhorn.
The last act was "Immortal Bach" by Knut Nystedt. It finished exactly at midnight, and we were able to wish Bach a happy birthday in the first minutes of his birthday. Well, the party was just getting started. We were socializing and enjoying the free wine until 3:00 AM. In fact the employee at the Bachackademie tried kicking us out at 2:00, but it took a while to get everyone out, the entire choir and most of the orchestra was still hanging out. Sara and I were singing Disney tunes, but she sang in Italian while I sang the English (though I don't think the Italian version is an accurate translation). It was such a great social setting and many of us were saying we should do it earlier in the program. At least they didn't wait until the end of the program. But seeing how much we get along and enjoy the company, it's going to be a very long night in Naples, our last day... "Una notte a Napoliiiiiiii....."
The entire evening had many great photo opportunities but alas, I left my memory card in the computer. But I am certain some photos will show up on Facebook. Our lecture concert from Monday has already been put on youtube:



Verstehen sie Deutsch? Nein? Then skip to 55:00 to just listen to the concert and skip the lecture in German.

First Concert with Helmuth

We had our first "Lecture Concert" where Helmuth Rilling lectures about a movement from the B-Minor Mass and we perform excerpts throughout. If anyone has been to the Discovery Series Concerts at OBF, it's the same thing. Tonight we sang Movements 1-5: Kyrie, Christe, Kyrie, Gloria, & Et in Terra Pax. Lots of applause, lots of funny faces from Maestro Rilling, but not a lot of voice from me. It was very warm and dry up on the stage, so my throat started to hurt and I really didn't have much voice even though I didn't sing in the morning rehearsal. I probably should have also refrained from singing in the afternoon.
I found an actual lounge in the Musickhochschule that is partitioned off and has four lounge chairs, like for the poolside. These are intended for people to take naps on. Steffi said that it's for people who don't want to have to run across town to their home to take a nap. Imagine if every music school had this! I remember wanting to nap but needing to decide if it was worth walking back to the dorms to do so. I took a nap at each of our two hour breaks. I felt so low on energy, but each nap was helpful enough to get me to the end of the next rehearsal.
Being without a voice is so frustrating for me. Obviously not singing, but the worst is not being able to interact with people who I only have two more weeks to hang out with them. I've run out of my homeopathic drops for hoarseness and will need to swing by the Apotheke. Meredith said that Germans are all about Homeopathic remedies, so I should have no problem finding a refill.
With that I must call it a night and get more than 8 hours of sleep.

The Church in Germany

Think of a town in the Mid-west. When you ask their religious affiliation, their response will either be Lutheran or Catholic. Same thing goes for Germany: Evangelische or Katholische. The only thing is that Evangelische looks very little like the Lutheran church I know in the states. If my German history is correct, a while back some king brought all the protestant denominations together and they became a hybrid of the reform church from switzerland and Lutheranism. They held to the Lutheran teachings, but catered to the Reformists by eliminating any decorum that would be reminiscent of Catholicism.
With that in mind, the Catholic church has clearly been influenced by such cultural standards. The Cathedral, where I went to mass today, was very stark. Not what I expected from a European Cathedral. The music was very intellectual. The organ is clearly central to German worship, and I think it's great. So much counterpoint. Though the counter point today was more in the style of Schoenberg than Bach, but such unsettling tones were fitting for Lent. They also had a children's chorus visiting and singing for mass. Very good little singers! Homilies can always feel long, though they are even longer when they are in German. The one thing that was very Lutheran and not so much Catholic was in place of saying the Creed we sang a hymn. Also, we sang the magnificat after communion.
My morning was with the Katholische and my evening was with the Evangelische. The JSB Ensemble sang in an evening vespers. Once again there was a sermon, and once again I realized how little German I actually know. We performed Cantata 29, because the first chorus is used throughout the B-Minor Mass. The whole church also sang a hymn and each verse came at a different time during the sermon. I lip sang through that, I've pretty much lost my voice. Nothing was coming out during mass in the morning. Kathy, our chorus master, directed the Vespers, but we could see Helmuth and Martina up in the balcony. Kathy got rather emotional, because we were singing in the church where she directed the choir 35 years ago when she was a very young musician. Here is a link to pictures from the Musikalische Vespers
For the remainder of the evening I have done my best to not talk. We went to dinner, but at least it was an empty restaurant, so nobody to talk over. My one frustration is that water is not free at restaurants. No wonder everyone orders a beer at every meal. You get three times the amount of the water glass for only 2 more euros. I learned that beer is a food group.

Sarah meet Wall, Wall meet Sarah

I have definitely found my limit for lack of sleep and have once again come to the understanding that my body is not invincible and its health does determine my singing. Last night was fun. So much fun that in the moment, such fun outweighed the consequences of the next day.
Last night after rehearsal I ended up walking down Königstraße, the main shopping street, with Steffi and Andrew to get some bubble tea and kill time before the concert. With such nice weather we have been having, I start to realize how many people actually are in Stuttgart and what a big city it is. Everybody was out in the parks and down the streets. Andrew and I grabbed a noodle box for dinner, once again I have yet to eat actual German food, and then headed to a concert at the Stiftskirche (pictured below). Kelley also went to the choir concert with us. It was a group of singers from the region where Essen is. I do not remember the name of the ensemble, but we went because there were at least 4 singers from the JSB Ensemble singing in the group. It was pretty good, I especially loved the Bach Motet BWV 227. They also sang Eric Whitacre, took it too fast, and it was funny to hear the really bright vowels. For an encore, Bleib Bei Uns. Schön!
After the concert I met up with Rachel (UK) and Ulrica (Finland) at the Musickhochschule to grab a beer. We ended up finding Tim (Canada) and Chris (Canada) along the way. We could not decide where to go and just kept walking down Königstraße until we ran into Sofies Brauhaus. It is just the JSB Ensemble regular hang out I guess. Not long after Richard (Wales) joined us and Sara (Italy) and Liz (Atlanta) a bit after that. We tried Banana beer, where they add banana flavoring to the beer. Odd, but not bad. Anneke and Rebbekah from Germany told us that Banana beer is what the 16 year olds drink. Don't worry, it was only a sample and I stuck with the Schwarzbier and a hefeweizen.
I got to know a few more people. I had not talked to Sara yet. So we got to know each other by impromptu opera aria sing a longs. She's from Sicily and is just starting her opera career. The group started to dwindle but a few of us stuck around. We didn't leave until after 1:00 AM. As I was leaving, Steffi came around the corner from K-strasse. She had been looking for me. When I apologized that I had made her worry, she said that she didn't care and was glad that I stay out late like her.
Then today, I hit the wall. I didn't go to bed until after 2:00 and woke up at 9:00 for a rehearsal at 11:00. My stomach hurt, I was sleepy, and my voice was very weak from talking so loud the night before. The whole day I was just in a funk. I haven't been able to pray lately, so I think tonight is going to be a night in. A group was going to the museums tonight (16 E) for 8 different museums that are open all night. I don't have the money, nor the mindset to do that right now. Hopefully mass will be a good pick me up tomorrow. I'll need it for our performance of the cantata tomorrow night.

Sunny Day in Stuttgart

Today was a rather exhausting day. We ran through all the chorus movements in the mass... twice. Once without orchestra and then with the orchestra in the afternoon. My day has been fairly low key other than that. I enjoyed lunch with Michael, a tenor from Ottawa. He's a professional translator for English, French, and Spanish. While there are certainly singers here with "day jobs" it has also been very encouraging to meet people who are professional singers. Yes people, you can survive as a professional musician, though you may have to seek another continent.
I've had to force myself to drink more water. I normally don't have this problem, but I normally don't only have mineral water to drink. Germans love their sparkling mineral water, and that's all the school provides when they provide water bottle. You have to request stillewasse if you want what we call water.
Today was such a sunny warm day! It was 20 degrees... celsius. It was so great that our afternoon rehearsal room had a balcony for us to go on and overlook the city and bathe in the sun during our rehearsal break. And afterward to soak in what was left of the sun, Nicklaus, Kelley, Andrew, and I went for a walk and just sat in front of the Staatsoper. Kelley and Andrew are from the twin cities and Nicklaus is from Essen. Here's a little joke we Americans came up with. Essen means "dinner" in German. So there has to be an Essen in Germany because there is a Hamburg(er) and a Frankfurt(er).
Nicklaus made me self conscious when he said my birkenstocks are house shoes and Germans don't where them out. But they make my feet happy. The other funny thing is that everything Nicklaus has learned about America, he learned from The Simpsons. Which actually has taught him a lot. We were talking about the Scopes Trial and he was like "oh yeah they talked about that on The Simpsons". There are a lot of American shows in Germany. In fact, Steffi and I watched How I Met Your Mother our first night here. Since I've seen every episode, I should be able to learn German because I already know what is going on.
Tonight there is a get together at the upstairs lounge next to the hotel: Sofie's Brauhaus. It's American night, so cheap beers and ribs! Many of the choir members are meeting there tonight.

I just added these pictures. They are from our sunny lunch on top of the MusickHochSchule, the music building where we rehearse.

First Impressions

I am finding that keeping up with this blog is a more difficult task than when I was in Salzburg in 2008. But that is a good thing. The reason it is so difficult is because I'm having way too much fun and that I am working just as hard in rehearsals. As I learned yesterday "Die Probe ist anstrengend" or "The rehearsal is exhausting". This has also been a better experience because I am learning more German words. In Salzburg I was only with Americans and here I am with Americans and Canadians but many of them speak German so I get to hear more of it and that's good to just be around and I'll ask my roommate Steffi for certain words, just like she will when she is speaking English. She only gets hung up on a word here and there, but she says she's not very good: a very different definition in Europe than in the States.
So much has happened but I will have to sum up my experiences so far for the sake of time and your sanity.

The Music
I am starting to understand what a big deal this is. Singing Bach's B-Minor Mass or H-Moll Messe (auf Deutsch) for the first time is a very memorable experience for any choral singer and certainly something that will go on one's life timeline. And what an extraordinary way to experience B-Minor Mass: in Stuttgart, with really wonderful people, and then taking it on tour through Northern Italy.
Singing alto is such a happy place for my voice and I think the altos sound so beautiful in this ensemble. We actually have a very dramatic sound, bigger voices, so it is difficult to try an create that childish baroque sound. Kathy, our chorus master, the one running rehearsals, is wonderful. When I was afraid I would have to change the technique I had just learned in NC in order to sound more soprano like, she simple just moved more voices to the alto line any time the mezzos go to the top of the staff. Brilliant! I have never had directors do that in the past. But I have also never been in such a choir with adult voices.

The People
It really is a small world, after all. But it's an even smaller world in the choral world. There are three Oregonians singing in the ensemble and our chorus master is from Eugene. Almost every American, even the one Welshman, knows somebody I've sung with or went to school with. Ulrica, the one girl from Finland, knows my one friend that lives in Finland. The only people I don't really have a connection before now are the Germans, but that won't last for long. My roommate Steffi (ShtAY-fee) is a proud Bavarian from right around Bayreuth. So she loves her beer, schnapps, and Wagner. She's been such a good friend and was here last year so she was able to show me around and I've been able to meet her friends from last year. This has been a much more inclusive group of people than when I was in Salzburg, but I think that speaks to the ensemble mindset.

The Food
Bread, Beer, and Cheese. All good, all things I should avoid in the states, but my acid reflux hasn't been a problem. The cheap beer here is what you'd pay a pretty penny for in the US. And they take their beer seriously, only three ingredients: malt, hops, water. Anything else, Steffi says is not beer. The bread is also something you'd have to get at an "artisan" bakery, but here it's the cheapest thing to buy and it's so good. Also, our hotel is like a four star hotel. The breakfast is free and offers champagne every morning, but my favorite thing to order is cappucino. It is unbelievably good. I would have to walk all over the city in US to find a cappucino this good. My new favorite is Ruhrei, scrambled eggs, but they add cured meat and chives.
There are a variety of restaurants, cuisines. All are good, except Mexican. Laura and Jason, who now live in Leipzig, were very jealous when I mentioned that I went to Qdoba last week. I've had delicious sushi and last night pizza, we were all thinking that it won't compare to Italy, but it's still very delicious especially with a pils.

I will have to start revising my thoughts into smaller posts, not enough time to post because I'm enjoying what time I have here with my new friends in such a great city.