January 25th Recital 1月25日リサイタル

First post of this year!!!!　2014年初です。

今年は午年で年男なのでお馬さんの様に力強く走りたいと思います。（歌うか？いや、お馬の様に歌いたく無い・・・ヒヒーン！）

今月25日に新橋アルテリーベTOKYOでコンサートをします。

今回は「悪魔と英雄の調べ」と言うかっこつけたタイトルをつけてしまいました。
ですのでそのテーマに則って選曲もメフィストフェレスとドン・キホーテをメインの役柄として選びました。
ま、曲目がそうなったのは後付けなんですけどね・・・（笑）
他にも何かとコネクションが曲毎に有ると言うちょっとしたネタも有りますので乞うご期待。

今日もリハーサルでゲストの岸さんとデュエットを初合わせして来ました。
あー、上手な人と歌うのは嬉しい事ですね。
彼女は素晴らしい声を持ってます、そして容姿端麗ですから目にも優しい。（え？セクハラ？）
彼女も2曲アリアを歌ってくれますがそれもとても良い。しかも自分が好きなアリア達。
本当はデュエットもフルバージョンをしたいのですが今回は色々と諸事情が有りまして残念な事に短いバージョンで。でも、是非次回が有るなら彼女と一緒にフルバージョンをやりたいですね。

そんな事で上のチラシでも書いてありますが楽しいショーを皆さんにお送りしたいと思います。

これからもう2回リハーサルが有るのでそれで本番に向けて調整したいと思います。
もしお時間有る方は是非！（って誰が読んでるかも分からんのに宣伝してどうする?!）




Of course 2014 has started 2 weeks ago...
But hey, I tried... Not quite successful with the whole "Continuing with my blogging habit" as often as possible.

I'm gonna keep trying though!!!

So...
Today, I would like to promote my upcoming recital here in Tokyo.

Songs of Demons and Heroes.
January 25th, 2014
at Alte Liebe TOKYO
Doors open at 18:00, curtain at 19:00
Ticket ￥7000(2 plates and 1 drink included)
Guest Soprano: Namiko Kishi

Singing selections from:
Gounod's Faust, Boito's Mefistofele, Ibert's Quatre Chansons de Don Quichotte, Verdi's Attila, Il Trovatore, etc.

The rehearsal has been going well.  This is gonna be a fun concert.

Well, that's all for today!

Getting close to Halloween... ハロウィーンが近づいて来たね・・・

Here is what I looked like last year's Halloween...
Well, for a concert so it's not like I went around town looking like this.
Though, come to think of it, this would have been AWESOME to go bar hopping here in Tokyo looking like this.  Alas...

I typically do NOT dress up for Halloween.
Yup, I am totally lame like that.
My excuse is thus...
I wear costumes and get made up on stage, why bother doing that on Halloween???
Well, knowing myself, this year's Halloween will not be different from any other Halloweens past.

Y'all have a fun and safe Trick-or-Treating this year!!!

去年のハロウィーンはこんな感じでした。
と言ってもこれはハロウィーンのコンサート使用で別にこの格好で町を歩き回った訳では無いのですが・・・（笑）
でもこの格好で飲みに行ったら楽しかっただろうな〜。
もう遅いけどね。

自分はハロウィーンの為に衣装を着ると言う事はまずしないので、
これは勿論仕事でしたから。
衣装を着ない理由はオペラ等でステージの為に衣装やメイクをするので何故それをハロウィーンの為にしなきゃあかんのかが分からん。と言うとってもくだらない理由があるのです。（爆）
今年もいつもと変わらず普通に過す事でしょう・・・

皆さん楽しいハロウィーンを!

Saturday

OMG... It's like the summer has returned here in Tokyo.
It is OCTOBER!!!! Come on!!! Can we go into a typical fall weather where it's nice and cool???
I mean really...

---

Since returning to Japan, I started working for a "Christian" style wedding service here in Tokyo.
The word "Christian" is very loosely used here...

Weddings are done in chapels at different hotels around town, along with many wedding banquets that are around.

The company, which I belong, provide a celebrant/pastor(some ordained, many are trained, you know like took an online course per se. But not really an online course, these folks go through a course given by the company). Many of these celebrants/pastors are foreigners, i.e. Americans,  English, Aussies, Spanish(I know there is one), etc., and of course Japanese.

It is quite interesting at first(to some extent, still is very much interesting) to see this "Christian" style chapel weddings and be involved.
Most of our customers wants that "feeling".  You know, that whole foreign feeling(I'm gonna omit the word American, because that's not quite right) of doing it the Western way.
Of course, even in America, not everyone gets married in a church.
But the tough part is, these folks want "Christian" style wedding in a chapel without so much of the "God" aspect of it...
I'm not gonna get into it too deeply here.

I am not completely a Christian.
What I mean is that I am not baptised.
But, I worked and attended churches when I was in US for many years(about 20 years).
The denomination I feel most comfortable is at an Episcopal Church, because I worked and attended it for the longest.
I enjoy the service, the hymns and anthems, the people, and of course learning and talking and practicing our faith and teaching of Christ.
But these weddings... Oy vey... I'm not gonna say it because God is everywhere and is in each one of our souls.

I digress...

I have worked with this company doing weddings over the weekend for the past year.
There are some crazy(and I mean CRAZY) times, to the point where I go "Really? REALLY???".
Of course, there are many beautiful moments(it is a wedding after all...) all fit in to a short 20 mins.
So short compare to what I am used to in real church weddings.
But, to see the faces of the bride and groom's parents... Their joy and tears, the bittersweet moment where the father of the bride walks down his daughter down the aisle.
To see both mothers of the bride and the groom crying.
Their family members, relatives, friends, coworkers, who came to celebrate their very special moment in their life starting together as one.
It is quite heartfelt and awe inspiring.
Not often but we are moved by seeing the happy couple and their loving family.

As much complaining I do regarding my weekend job, I enjoy it all the same.
One problem would be that, depending on a schedule, there could be upwards of 10 weddings in a day or more.
This can take some toll on my voice...
And doing that for two or three days, well that can be very tiring.
Oh well, I must do something to get paid.

---

I hope everyone is staying cool where ever you are.
I am praying here that the temp will go down a bit so that I won't be sweating like a whore in church...


May God bless you and keep you
May his face shine upon you and bring you peace...
Amen






P.S.
Wait, can do that after the whole "whore in church" phrase???
Bah! Who cares, I am an Episcopalian after all...

This is what is on the menu today... 今日のメニュー…

I'm gonna study this today!

今日はこちらをお勉強します。

Nothing too important...

Holy crap it was HOT today... This needs to stop.
I WANT AUTUMN WEATHER!!!!!

I have been teaching at an upscale kindergarten/day care school here in Tokyo since this past August.

I mainly teach 5 yrs. olds singing and also discipline/manners/etc...

Along with that, I get the little ones, they are as young as 6-8 months olds and up to 3 yrs. olds, to do English immersion.

No big news here other than these kids are SO damn CUTE!!!!

that is all...

That was today.

Well, Monday was a study session that happens every once in a while.

We have a Japanese Arts dealer who LOVES opera and classic music in general.

He rents a large studio for bunch of singers and make us sing in front of him and everyone else.

We all make comments/advice(mainly he and yours truly make comments/advice) to singers involved.

It is quite fun though because we all make improvements by performing in front of others.

These opportunities to sing in front of someone in a large space is hard to come by here in Japan.

We got some great singers in the group too!

So that is fun.

Of course, not always fun and games but nonetheless...

Thanks to this study session(or as everyone calls it "Master Class"...), I got to try out my new aria that I will be using for an audition.  The same one I mentioned few days ago.

It went alright for a first time with a pianist since last working on this piece almost 2 years ago.

Of course, there will be a lot of fixing to do in this piece to get it up to performance level.

We got one more class on Thursday so I'm gonna try again then.

Until then, I have couple other things so study... Like "La Boheme", "Kojiki"...

OH YEAH, I'll be doing a Christmas Dinner Show in Karuizawa in December!

I'll post more about it here.

秋らしく無い暑い日でした・・・

ほんまにやめて欲しいわ！

今日は夏から教え始めたちょっと(＝かなり)高級な幼稚園で歌を教えて来ました。

いや〜、小ちゃい子達は可愛いね〜〜〜。（笑）

月曜は数ヶ月前から参加し始めた勉強会が有りました。

今回はオーディションに使おうと思っているアリアを歌いました。

まー、1回目にしては上手くいった方かな？

でもまだまだ整えていかないとダメですね。

約２年ぶりに伴奏と一緒に歌ったせいか最初は緊張半分・興奮半分で力みなぎり過ぎちゃいました。（汗）

また木曜も有るんで、その時もう一度挑戦しようかな？

でもその前に他にも色々と勉強しないといけない物が有る・・・

「ラ・ボエーム」とか「ドラマチック・コジキ」とか・・・

あ！後１２月にやるクリスマスコンサートの選曲とか！

そうです、12月14日に軽井沢でクリスマスディナーショーをやります！

また詳しい事が分かったらここで書きますね。

Table Reading

Today was a table reading of the work I am doing in November called "Dramtic Kojiki".

It is a Japanese Mythology about how Japan was created by Gods and their story afterwards.

You may think that since I am an opera singer, this would be an opera. Well, guess what, it's NOT!

LOL

It is a stage work, with music, dance, narration, visual arts.
This may sound like a musical or an opera.
There are three characters in the show and two of them are dancers(one ballet and one Chinese tradition dance).
Of course, they dance their parts so no talking.
I sing(duh) my part.
And we have a narrator, who will... Well, you can probably guess what a narrator does.

It will be like a tableau of scenes depicting the dynamics of husband and wife Gods "Izanami" and "Izanaki", and also sister and brother Gods "Amaterasu" and "Susano-o"

I will be playing the part of Susano-o.
He is the God of Sea but being a bit of a childish and wild God(more on the childish side), he has been complaining and crying from the beginning because he wants to see his mommy...
So his father(God "Izanaki") got tired of his crying and ranting(which created all sorts of mess=natural disasters on the world his parents created) that he expelled him from his duty as the God of Sea.
Being set free he decides to go see his mother but before doing that, he thought to say hello to his older sister Amaterasu...

The tough part about this show is that no music is written!
Like I mentioned earlier, I will be singing all of my part(and some dancing).
I come to find out later was that most of the part, except for the very end where I will have an aria(solo), I will be doing a recitativo(a dialogue put to pitch to be sung but not a definite melody, it is used for conversation like situation outside of arias and other ensemble pieces) throughout the show.
Well, this is ok but what I am having the hardest time is that I am doing this pretty much ad lib!
Being an opera singer, I am not good at coming up with stuff on a spot...
I am not clever like that, so hopefully this coming two months until the performance, with the music director we can come up with something that is more solid.
Because let me tell you, what I came up with was pretty lame...

Wow, this post has gotten longer than I first intended.

For those who like to read up on Kojiki more, click on the link below.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kojiki


Well, this is all for tonight.

Good night y'all!

Next aria on the docket. 次のオーディションで使うアリア。

I'm applying for an audition in November and one of the companies will be doing Attila! So, I thought to work this back up to a performance level. This is such an exciting aria and yeah, it's tough... But what's new?
Here is the great Nicolai Ghiaurov's dramatic portrayal of the aria.

来月に有るオーディションでAttilaをやる劇団が有るのでこのアリアを歌おうと久々に準備しました。レッスンでは勿論、コーチとも練習をしましたが1年は経っているので久しぶりに歌いました。オーディション目指していい具合にチューンナップして行こうと思ってます。
今回はレジェンダリーなバス歌手ニコライ・ギアロフ様の素晴らしい歌声でお届けしたいと思います❢

Enjoy!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WKIcElfgMU&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Let's try this one more time...

So...

It has been, how long now? since I wrote my last blog update.
Well, I have definitely neglected my duty as a "blogger"(not much of one to begin with).

I would like to resurrect my position as much as possible from now on.

Much has changed in my life, yet again, for the past year.

Last place you have seen me was in sunny Florida.
Well folks, I am now back in my home land...
Where I was born 35 years ago...
The land of the rising Sun.

Yes, I am in Japan. Back in Tokyo and I am actually living with my folks for the first time since I left for high school.

I hope to write in both English and Japanese.
Perhaps it will be confusing, mainly for me, at first but hope y'all will enjoy as the time goes.
Then again, I'm sure no one is reading this anymore so I don't really have to worry about what I am writing about.

Some new and exciting things are happening from now till end of the year.
I am involved in a show that is taken from an ancient Japanese mythology called "Kojiki"(Ancient Tales) is completely brand new(we are creating everything from scratch as we speak!).
We will be performing in Miyazaki, where the story is originally from, in November.

Also, I will be doing a Christmas dinner show in Karuizawa, December 14th.

And one or two more events are in planning.

I'll try and update as much and often as I can!



To be continued...

The "Arctic Express" has left Southern Florida...

The title came from Weather Channel's headline last week when we were experiencing a rather freezing weather here in the Southern Florida. Yeah, it was pretty damn cold since I've been enjoying the 70s, 80s and even a few 90 degrees weather until about couple weeks ago. Of course, I have lived in Kent, CT., Cleveland, OH., and Chicago, IL., where it gets disgustingly cold at winter that I thought 30s and some 20s weather would be nothing. Well, folks, I was wrong! I come to realize that my apartment has no heat, or not even an insulation to retain heat inside the room. This with my floor being stone tile and no carpet made my life here for the past week and a half a living hell.

I got many comments of "you are a wuss" or "stop being a baby! it's negative 10 here in Chicago!" etc., etc. I'm sure you get the point. But let me tell you something. It's still cold when the temp drops about 30 degrees over night!!!

Of course, I thought about going out and buying a space heater when this whole cold spell started but at first, I tried to "tough it out". Silly me, I slept with three layers of clothes and two blankets for about 5 nights. By the time I caved and decided to go seek out a space heater it was ALL SOLD OUT!!! Of course, in a place like Florida, any store won't carry that many space heaters so as soon as this cold weather came about, every one went out to get one like gang busters.

Needless to say, I missed my chance...

I ordered a space heater on Saturday from Bestbuy online. Well, guess what? I got it yesterday, I got to use it last night and it worked so well that I didn't have to wear my fleece sweater to bed. Hooray! Of course, starting today the temp will go up and the cold weather is over but you know what? I know with my luck, we're gonna be getting another cold front soon. When that comes, I'll be totally prepared.

New year, new beginning...

So it has been since 2007 since I last posted or even thought about looking at my own blog site until today. After watching "Julie and Julia"(Yeah, yeah, I know... I love food and cooking so sue me), I decided to find the blog Julie Powell did with the whole Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child. Well, I am really enjoying the whole thing and that lead me(sort of...) to get back on the blog horse and update my life to whoever that is still out there that wanna read it.

So here goes...

Since my last post, I have been busy somewhat with opera gigs here and there but I have come to hit a wall vocally and was struggling. No huge problems but at the same time, I was being haunted by the possibility of "what if there is a problem with my singing..." and decided to do something about it. This thought started at the end of 2008. Well, this came full circle when I met my current teacher in June of 2009. Long story short, he has changed my life. I put this in bold because that is the exact words my friend Chuck S. said when he told me about this said teacher. See, Chuck and I have known eachother for about 10 years now. Since my conservatory days in Cleveland, we got to know eachother, sang few shows together, drank many booze together, and of course, sang many arias after the said drinking of booze at his house. He has always been one of my few friends I can go completely "singer geek" with whether sober or not. So when it came to singing he was always searching for the "technique". Well, after his comment of "he has changed my life", I realized that he has found that technique.

Now of course, for those singers out there, I know that everyone has their own opinions of what works and what doesn't. I agree, just like religions. I got no objections to your God as long as you believe in them. Yes, yes, I got a little theological but singing technique for us singers is like a bible to the christians/catholics. And technique really make or break your belief and the confidence as a singer. So, I had to see for myself what this teacher is all about.

So I feel that up to last year June, I knew a lot about singing. I've been learning, hearing other singers, and worked with other singers to understand the art of singing. Well, I guess I was wrong since within my first 20 minutes of the lesson, Maestro F was very clear(more towards blunt) that I did not know how to sing because I had no technique to speak of. Pretty devastating since I felt like I have wasted the past 8 years of conservatory work studying.

The first lesson pretty much did it for me because after that initial 20 minutes, he completely changed my vocal production. I sounded completely different. Not different in a way that I didn't sound like me, but more like I am actually singing fully without forcing or trying too hard. I was convinced, he changed my life.

I am taking out a lot of the other crap here since it gets pretty boring with the pedagogy lingo and I want to avoid that unless it's necessary. Anyhow, after having three lessons in five days, I decided that summer while I was doing Bonzo and Yamadori with Music by the Lake's "Madam Butterfly" that I am moving to Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

So...

That being said, I dropped everything I had going in Chicago and relocated myself to sunny Southern Florida(not so much today but I'll get into that later) September 2009.

A lot has changed, needless to say

One being that I have ended a 4 and a half year relationship with my then-girlfriend(which did not end very well, but it really was for the best I promise you), left my friends, my favorite restaurants, my teacher and coaches, my little gigs, and my little studio apartment in the beautiful Gold Coast. Haul everything in the U-Haul trailer that was attached to my Wrangler and drove my ass down to Florida.

It was and still is a huge change. But I needed the frest perspective in life. I was unhappy with my singing and something was definitely wrong and lacking from it. I needed to do something. When I am unhappy with my singing, I am unhappy. I needed to change that. So with fresh mind, new technique, and new location I decided to make the big move.

I got many "what? You're moving to Florida???", "Are there any work down there???", or my favorite "What are you doing there?" from my friends up north. I told them, "I found an amazing teacher, so I decided that I am going take a step back and go back to learning the basics". It didn't go with few people but hey, afterall, it's my life. If the result brings me singing and for a long, long time then who fucking cares???

I never driven down that far in my life by myself so of course the person most worried about this trip was my mother. She thought that I will either: get lost OR fall asleep on the road and get in an accident... Thanks mother, I got here safe and sound 3 months ago.

It was fun though. I made a little 5-day vacation out of it by visiting few friends I have not seen in years. One being my Chamorro bro Paul S., who lives in Indianapolis. I used these friends also to make a mark point in my trip to get free night stay also. Hey that's what friends are for right? It was nice to hang with him for a day, in fact I could've used an another day at each locations. Because after that, I went and got a hotel outside of Chattanooga(no friends there...), then went into Atlanta to see my friends Wade T. and Magda W. I stayed with Wade which was nice since I have not seen any of these people for quite sometime(except Magda, I see her occasionally). Again, I wish I could spend another day in Atlanta but I had to get my ass in Florida. Once I left Georgia, the next person I was going to see(and crash at the house) was my old voice teacher from Cleveland, Beverley R. She "retired" outside of Orlando area and enjoying teaching and singing. Well, I have somewhat miscalculated my distance and my own endurance from driving that sadly, I never made it to her house. I found myself a Holiday Inn Express(here we go little blog name dropping/product placement. And it was very nice when I had to stay outside of Chattanooga. Thanks to my parents for paying the hotels...) to spend the night and decided to meet up with Bev in a morning for a breakfast.

After the fun filled 5 days drive to Ft. Lauderdale, I have finally arrived. Stayed at a friend's house who is also in the studio Phil A. and his girlfriend Caitie G. They were kind enough to let me live there(I paid rent) for month and a half. But any of you who know me, I have not lived with a roommate since I was sophomore in college. I needed to find myself an apartment. Living with other people, as nice and lovely as they are, really started to drive me crazy. Also there was the whole "I don't got a visa to get me a day job" situation so I was at home ALL THE FUCKING TIME! Unless I had a lesson, a choir rehearsal, a grocery shopping to do, or an occasional outing with few friends that I have here, I never really left home...

So thanks to them for giving me roof over my head but at the same time, THANK GOD I have my own place. I'm sure they feel the same way.

It's been 3 months now since I moved here and things are going very, very well on the singing end. Maestro and I have come to a huge discovery before Christmas and made some huge break throughs on my singing. At first he thought I was actually a tenor. Then it became, "well, you are either tenor or baritone". But after one lesson of break through, it became "You are either tenor or bass"

...

What???

Tenor or BASS???

It made no sense but he is my teacher and he knows what the hell he's talking about so I pretty much listened and did what he asked me to do. I had two more lessons after that and now it has been confirmed that I am actually a bass. This really brings me full circle since when I started singing I was a bass.

He even gave me a first aria to learn! Not that I was unhappy with vocalizing and vocalizing only. Yeah, I did get to sing Angelotti in Tosca but really, no arias??? But I had to be patient. If I didn't know how to sing then what's the point of learning a song or an aria???

So I am learning Gremin's aria from Eugene Onegin. We are doing a Tchaikovsky concert in March. And if I am doing well and not fucking up or going crazy, he may give me another aria to learn for another concert. If ALL of these things go well along with my lessons, I will be singing Sparafucile in the upcoming summer production of Rigoletto. Pretty exciting.

But for now, more vocalizing...


I am mainly writing about singing and sorry to say, I can't help it since this is what I do. But I will be writing other mundane shit that happens in my day here in sunny... Wait, not sunny, it's gloomy and FREEZING Fort Lauderdale.

I mentioned earlier and just now that it's been freezing here. Now, I've already gotten some angry messages and Facebook posts from few of my northern friends that I am a pussy. I know, I know... It's only 54 degrees but it's 54 fucking degrees outside AND inside!!! I have no heat(because we're in Florida and I live in a nice but crappy old apartment with no insulation) and all the space heaters are sold out in, what I came to find out, 10 mile radius from my apartment. I called everywhere and everyone is out. I guess I was a bit late on the uptake with "oh, I should get a space heater for my freezing cold apartment with stone tile floor". Don't worry, I ordered one online it will be coming next week. Although by then, I'm sure that the weather will look on the brighter( and warmer) side. According to the forecast, it will stay cold for a while. I hope it was worth spending the money to buy the heater...

I don't know who's out there reading this but hopefully it's somewhat enjoyable to read this.

Demo CD!

For those who actually do come by and occasionally check out this blog, I would like to share my demo cd that I recently made for audition purpose. I do have few tracks that are multiple and still trying to figure out which track I am going to use. If you happen to have the time to listen to them and want to leave me some comments, I would very much appreciate it!

It's summer time

The summer has begun here in Chicago, actually it has been summer for a while here in Chicago... Sadly, I've been sitting at home working on some music, trying to look for a part time job teaching voice, but most of the time, I do a lot of sitting around at home.

It has been quite nice though, last week has been a bit cooler, which I like. I went to NYC for an audition almost a month ago and it was chilly! Such a weird weather we have been having so far this year and also this past year.

So, I got to experience my first "Taste of Chicago" a week ago. I have been here for almost three years and I have yet to experience the culinary extravaganza. It was a zoo! There were so many people(of course going on Sunday didn't help...), a lot of food from many different vendors. Actually, it was great to try out these places since some of the places are not so easily accessible, or just plain expensive to just go there to have some food. But of course with any outdoor festival-like situation(like Rib fest), it is bit of a costly business to hang out for the afternoon. I did have the turkey leg! It was HUGE!!! Too bad, I was a little too full to finish the leg since I have already tried many other restaurants on the way... All in all it was a great afternoon of culinary adventure.

I love the summer but at the same time, I wish I was working... Oh well, the time will come, soon. As I tell myself quite often nowadays.

Skype-tastic!

I have recently joined Skype. Feels as if I am a bit behind the technology today. I am totally hooked on this. I can't believe I didn't jump on this sooner. The fact that I can talk to someone for free, or at a very low rate, anywhere in the world! In fact, I just had a conversation with my old choir director's wife who is also on Skype. We got to catch up on few things before she had to go on an errand. It was so convenient to make a call as well. Although I have been trying to get a hold of my parents this way, they have not answered... It is definitely cheaper to call this way than using my phone card through my cell.

I say, once this catches on, maybe we won't need a land line. Almost everyone that I know has high speed internet nowadays. Hell, even my girlfriend's parents have one, and they live in a more rural area. It's free to join with an option of paying $30 yearly fee to have a phone number attach to your account to have unlimited calling out and receiving calls in US and Canada. The international rate is quite low as well. Before I start to sound like a commercial, everyone should check this thing out. All you need is a microphone and your computer speaker to talk to someone, anywhere in the world!

I give two thumbs up for Skype!

Summer is beginning!

So I have finished my run of Don Giovanni and it has gone well. Well, it went well in a musical way... As I mentioned in a post earlier that we have been having a problem in the set department. Well, we still had the said problem on our opening night. But the show must go on. We did the show without the complete set. Actually I felt better doing the show that way. We had to not deal with the extravagant scene changes that we were suppose to have if we did have the set completed. Even the set not being finished the show went quite well. We had a first rate cast. Even the review that came out after the opening night mentioned that the show was carried on by the music. Yeah, the set was not completed but who cares, we sang the show like we meant it. By the second and the last show we have finished the set, which became more problem than we expected. Having all the stuff we were suppose to have created such complication that the show got delayed every scene changes we faced. Anyhow, at the end we finished the run of Don Giovanni on a high note.

Since I have finished my first production of 2007, I now face the bitter fact of unemployment... Sadly, the few auditions I sang for this past fall came up quite unfruitful. So now, I go through the bitter life of jobless singer. Which brought this thought to my mind. How about getting a job!? Well, I have been having this thought for quite a while and finally decided that I will go seek a teaching job in this area. Now, of course the teaching thing have been on my mind for a while. But I was reluctant to go through with it. I just don't feel confident enough to teach someone else how to sing when I am still learning. Now, I know people will say that one can learn so much from teaching others. I have a feeling that I can teach someone what I know already(little bit that I have learned so far). Yet, I still feel the fear of teaching. I think everyone goes through this. I was talking to a good friend of mine who teaches and does the singing thing for a living. He told me his first experience of teaching. He was so clueless, he didn't know what to do in the middle of his lesson! Of course, this does not make me feel better to face teaching voice. It has so much more commitment. Someone is actually going to rely on my knowledge to learn something. That's given that I will find somewhere to teach. I will figure this out throughout this summer. But the time is always against me, and I must prepare for another season of audition in the fall, not to mention perspective job offers that might come my way. Needless to say, things will be interesting...

Other than that, I am getting ready for couple auditions in the next few weeks. First, I have couple auditions here in Chicago for the local companies. Hopefully I can get some gigs through them. Second, I am flying out to New York City for Hawaii Opera audition. Now how awesome would it be to get out to Hawaii to work! I am quite excited to have an opportunity to sing for them. So cross your fingers for those auditions for me!

I recently sang for a competition. It was my first one for a major international competition. It was just a preliminary but they are expecting about 1000 singers to hear during the preliminary round. The main part of the competition takes place in Germany late October. So far I am on a wait list but as you can tell there will be quite a few singers I will have to beat out to get into the 40 chosen for the main rounds of the competition.

Life wise, outside of singing, my life is quite dull. I look at music to see what other repertoire I should look at. Deal with some e-mail stuff, keeping in touch with my friends. Of course spending time with my girlfriend is in that as well. Looking closely to my life, most of my time really rely on what I am doing with my singing. Let me tell you, it gets quite boring to know that I have one thing to look forward to, and that is when I am working. I realized that as I was in a production. It is refreshing to hear that other colleagues of mine have day jobs and keeps "normal" life. From other's point of view, I am one of the few special people who does not have to deal with a "day" job. Again, going back to the whole teaching thing. If I can get a "day" job, I would love to do it. But due to my visa status, I must seek a job in my field: Singing.

Hopefully over the summer I can find myself a "day" job where I will get some financial support. It is great to have a huge support from my parents but now being 29, I should be able to support myself somehow. I know full well that I will not be able to make a living teaching or by singing, yet. But it will definitely help, and also show my parents that I am making the best out of the situation I am in. Let's see how things will be in the very near future.

Don Giovanni

I have been in a rehearsal for my upcoming production of Don Giovanni with American Opera Group. It's a company out in Oak Park, IL. The production has been going through some ups and downs from the beginning but despite that, I myself and the whole cast have been having a great time working on this great work.

It's my third Mozart opera that I'm doing a main role, and at first I wasn't sure if I can pull off the Don knowing his character. Well, simply put, I'm not quite the "Don Giovanni" material in real life. But I feel that I have shed a new life on the legendary Libertine. This particular view I have taken has been working quite nicely, also thanks to my director and his kind sharing of my ideas and also his. I am quite enjoying the role for my first outing as the Don. Musically I have no problem since it is not as challenging or taxing(or so I feel) as Figaro, Count, Guglielmo or Don Alfonso, which are all the Mozart roles I have challenged thus far. The main challenge of being Giovanni is his inner person. Sadly in the opera, one can never really see him succeed in what he is well-known for. As he says himself in the middle of the first act; "Mi par ch'oggi demonio si diverta d'oppporsi ai miei piacevoli progressi... Vanno mal tutti quanti", "Today must have been cursed by the devil just for me so that I will not succeed in ANY of my business... Everything is going wrong". He gets almost all of his conquests foiled by several different people throughout the show. Even if he gets somewhat successful, one never really get to observe his art at it's best. You do get to hear him re-tell his tale to his faithful servant. Which Don tells with greatest pleasure.

I always saw this character one-dimensional for some reason. What you see on stage with him is quite simple, and one pattern. Quite frankly that gets boring... He LOVES his women. He likes to pursue them, conquer them, and when he is done, he leaves for the next game. It is a hunt. He lives for it, for the fact that women are more important than the bread he eats, the air he breathes. Yet, everything goes wrong from the very beginning. I saw that there is a growing change in Giovanni's own perspective.

In different literary examples on Giovanni, or Juan, he is written as this raping murderer. The lowest of the lows in human behavior. I couldn't portray him like that. Simply being that I don't really know how to tap into my own resources of character development. I would be lying if I say that I can really put myself into that shoes.

I wanted to do something different in a context of the story. He is opening people's mind, well actually women's, to a different light. One that is not acceptable in a stuffy class system, not acceptable in what society would call "decency". He is, in his own mind, doing the right thing for the world. Liberating people. Now of course, by "loving" many women, he feels that he is sharing this huge love that he has, which is not the most common way of seeing how a relationship should be. But if you got it then why not use it. I see my Giovanni as more smooth seducer, no need to use force, if in need of force he will use it but with women he can charm them, lure them, or convince them by his class, power, charm, charisma, money, or of course his strongest suit, sex.

So I thought, if I portray him as not-so-conventional, I will have to go for the route of being the most gentleman known to the society. Polite, treat people with utmost respect, never had to seduce women by force, or even had to harm or kill anyone to achieve his goal. I felt that that would bring a totally new meaning to the very opening scene. Where he happens to end up killing the father of a woman he just try to conquer. The director thought this very interesting because it is different from the norm. He refuse to fight him because it is not respectful, yet the battle begins. He gets overpowered by this old man and ends up shooting him. Not in the nasty, "stabbing in a back" kind of way but it was either himself or the old man. He had to go to his final solution, kill or be killed. This affects him deeply. The story from then on spirals down each scene by scene. He is stunned with the fact that he had to "kill" someone to get out of a tight spot. Yeah, maybe twist some arms and sneak away with his cunning skill but never to imagine that he will have to pull out a gun and shoot someone down to his dying breath. As the show goes on the life style he leads finally begin to catch up with him. Things start to get out of hand, mostly in his mind. I think he doubts about it himself, is it wrong what I'm doing? No it can't be. I know I am right, this is what I am suppose to be doing. But his action begins to change. He is forced to be more aggressive. He is not afraid of doing so anymore, he killed someone already. Yes, it is not gentleman like to beat someone down but if it needs to be then why hesitate. His ego, his courage(or is it just his ego) drives him.

In the second act, he beats the living hell out of Masetto. He is like a mad-man. Something that shows the audience that he has changed since the beginning. He might be going crazy. At the end, it's not really the ghost of commendatore that brings him to his end. The "Hell" that opera refers to exist in this world. The "Hell" Giovanni sees, is his life without women. And that collapses him, literary. He can't be alone, yet he will never settle with just one person. The death, in our version, is caused by heart attack. A massive stroke. I think it's a fitting end to his life. Well, also the fact that the director didn't really wanted to do all the supernatural ordeal that happens in the show. The commendatore's statue and him talking, coming to dinner are mostly Giovanni and Leporello's figment of imagination. Do with it what you will. But they have experienced something out of the norm that day. They are both paranoid for the fact that they were pushed to the limits. It's fear that truly brings Giovanni down to his final breath.

I thought to share what I have in mind of this role, to the best of my literal ability.

Now, if that is all I have to worry about then this show is a piece of cake. Unfortunately we have been having some misfortune in other aspects of the production. Well, the main concern that we have right now is the set. We came upon this understanding that this wonderfully elaborate set that our director concocted has been the vain of our existence. The people who were supposed to build it has pretty much quit. So, our Masetto kindly offered to finish the task. Well, we realized tonight that it is much bigger fish to fry then I myself imagined. Fortunately we had some great help and some last minute ideas. Hopefully we can bring our director's vision to reality but we have much work to do about that. Other things, compare to the set business, that I thought was a mess now seems like a joke. In fact, despite what we have been going through, this show is coming along so greatly that I know it will be a great show. Thank God we have a wonderful cast, very talented and each one of us bring new and fresh ideas to the show. I'm glad to be a part of it.

So, we have a week until our opening(yikes!). Hopefully we will finish the set so there is something on stage... I know we will, just a bit stressful I guess. I can't imagine what's going on our director's mind, I know he must be frustrated. For those who will get to come, I hope you will enjoy this production of Don Giovanni. Maybe you will see something that's little different from the conventional portrayal of this opera. As for myself, I have got to get some rest so I can help out building this set, oh yeah, and rehearse too!


American Opera Group presents:
Don Giovanni
by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
At Oak Park Arts Center(same place as Hemingway Museum)
200 N. Oak Park Ave.
Oak Park, IL
May 13th and 20th at 5:00pm
May 18th at 7:30pm
for more information, cast bios etc., please visit:
www.americanoperagroup.org

I will survive

I will survive

So this is what is missing from the business of Classical Music. They are still very much accomplished, talented, well-trained musicians who are trying to spread the art to a whole new group of audiences. Why not do something they love and enjoy it! There are few more videos. If you are interested go check out www.igudesmanandjoo.com

Would you like to have a landlord like her???

She is a very fierce landlord. She will do anything to get her rent.

It's April, what's up with the freezing weather?

I shouldn't be surprised with how the weather is going so far. Being in Chicago for the past two years and on top of that in Cleveland for the 7 years before that, being in a lake effect area comes with a price of weird weather. Knowing all the odds and yet I would like to just put it out there that it is so COLD!!!! I mean it's not normal to experience the winter chill in April. I've seen snow around end of April several times, which is odd on it's own.
For a brief moment, I thought that Spring has truly come to Chicago. But it was a wishful thinking... Usually the weather goes from Winter to Summer. Maybe a little Spring-like temp but other than that the season changes in a blink. I am so looking for the summer, or I should say a "warm weather".



So on a more personal note. I have been working hard on Don Giovanni for the past month or so and I feel pretty good about it. I have the last two scenes of the opera to memorize and hopefully I can do a couple of run of the show before I go into rehearsal April 21st. I am so excited about doing this role that I want to make this go really well. Of course, I've been working on my arias as well for my audition repertoire. In fact I have an audition tomorrow for Chicago Opera Theater, then next week I head out for New York City to sing for Lake George Opera's 2008 season.

Now, not that I didn't have enough to work on at this time but I came up with a possible program for a recital I can do sometime in a near future. Not that everyone of y'all care or not but I would like to post it up here.

Three Concert Arias by Mozart
Cosi dunque tradisci... Aspri rimorsi a troci
Io ti lascio, o cara addio
Mentre ti lascio, o figlia

Three songs by Duparc
Phidyle
La vie anterieure
La Vague et la Cloche

Three songs from Des Knaben Wunderhorn by Mahler
Revelge
Der Tammbourg'sell
Lob des hohen Verstands

Let us garlands bring by Finzi
Come Away, Come Away, Death.
Who Is Silvia?
O Mistress Mine.
Fear No More the Heat o' the Sun.
It Was a Lover and His Lass.

Five Japanese Songs by various composers
Kujyukuri-hama Kujyukuri-beach
Marumero Karin-Fruit
Kibou Hope
Hatsukoi First Love
Sen no kaze ni natte On Thousand Winds(Do not stand at my grave and weep)

I think if I have the chance to do it, it will be a nice recital. Very diverse, hopefully it will be a possibility. Perhaps I can get someone to sponsor it. Oh well, we will see.

Back from the land of Rising Sun

My trip to Jakarta, Indonesia and Tokyo, Japan ended before I even realized... I am back in the grind of memorizing my next gig which is Mozart's Don Giovanni(I'm doing the title role!)



This trip actually went really quickly, in fact, it went right by me. When I arrived in Jakarta, I felt that things are just crawling by. Had a great time(surprisingly...) with my parents, playing golf, going out to eat and just spend some time at the hotel(YES, they live in a hotel!).



Well, when my mother and I got to Japan... Well, that's when the trip went to warp speed.



So, I was looking forward to this trip to Japan, visit my relatives and also to reconnect with some of my classmates from Guam that I have not seen for over a decade. Oh and to meet up with two of my friends from San Francisco who are in Tokyo to do some opera stuff. But the biggest part that I was worried about was that I am to share a room with my mother...

But, actually as soon as we arrived, we had so many things to do. We barely had the time to breathe. The funny part was that we didn't do anything out of ordinary. All we did was to have lunch or dinner meeting up with my mother's friends, or I go out to meet up with my friends, we had our family business to deal with for a day so we spent the whole day with our relatives. Yet the eight days just blew right by us. My mother and I looked at each other the day we left for a hotel closer to the airport saying, "that was entirely too busy for eight days in Japan, we should have stayed longer..."



Which was true.



I have never had a lot of fun spending time in Japan. I never felt like I belong there. Not much has changed, I still feel a bit odd being in Japan. As if I am seeing it through the eyes of an outsider. I am technically a foreigner. Have not lived in Japan for almost 18 years. Yet, for this trip, I got to hang out and go have fun with people my age, my classmates from the past.



By the way, I did meet up with my friends from the past and we had a great time. It's funny, there were four classmates of mine that showed up to have dinner together. All of them, I have neither seen nor heard from in the last 15 years!!! Yet, we all sit together catching up on what has been happening with each one of us. All of them have very nice jobs in Japan getting great pay(well, it's pretty easy to say that they get A LOT MORE than I do-Yes, that's what I get for being a singer). Two of them got married and one of them have a child, this would be one of the married one... In fact, the one with a kid happens to be a buddy of mine back in a day in Guam. As we remember our time in Guam, we realized that we were pretty close. He told me that I actually shed some tears when he and the family were moving back to Japan. Now, he is proudly married with a son. I even got to meet them and hang out for a day. Here is the picture of my buddy Yudai and his son, Taiga(who is obviously not happy... He was sleeping in my arms earlier)

It was too bad that I couldn't be there much longer to hang out with my new-found old friends. But with a promise of returning to Japan to have another reunion, I bid them a fond farewell.

Other than that, I actually sang for a dinner show. There is this A Cappella group consists of five Japanese gentlemen singing "Enka" which is a Japanese oldies style music. My parents grew up with it. It's kind of like country music in US, not the style of music, by comparison. Anyhow, this group came to a dinner show that I did a year ago. Now they have a regular spot at the hotel we are staying every month and to celebrate/thank them, my mother decided that I should sing couple arias. So I called up my pianist and she obliged to my last minute request with no pay but only with free dinner.
The evening went very well. I am actually a fan of a Cappella music, for I am experienced with an a cappella group thanks to my high school life in Kent, CT. This group was excellent! In fact two of my friends from San Fransisco came to the show to see me were so impressed with what they did. They were also stunned because they have never heard of this music so it was new to begin with.
The customers were surprised that they not only heard the "Enka" music but some opera as well that evening. All in all, it was an interesting but fun filled evening. I wish this group good luck in their future.

That pretty much sums up my stay in Japan. Lots of eating, some shopping, more eating, visiting friends, but the real reason I went was to visit my grand mother's grave for her one year death anniversary. This was nice. I got to give my prayers, pay my respect and my good bye to my grand mother.

With that said, my long-winded blog comes to a close. Until next time.