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.