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.

At home...

It has been a day over a week since I got into Jakarta. It has been rather relaxing visiting my parents and at the same time a bit productive since I have been working on my music while I sit around in my room. So, since my parents no longer live in an apartment provided by the hotel, they live in the hotel. They have a suite in the building and it is very nice but being in a suite, I no longer have my own room, so I am staying in my own room across the hallway. Privacy is a plus and a bliss... I think a lot will change if I didn't have this. As I always think to myself. As long as I eat, sleep, watch TV, have Internet and practice singing. I can continue my general living. Only problem is that I don't have the use of cell phone here. So that would leave me no contact over the phone. I have not had the chance going out to buy a phone card so no connection via phone to people, well actually Ashlee.

Like I mentioned above, things are quite nice here. Not too bad of a weather, other than the fact that it is the rainy season right now. But it usually rain, hard, for a while but before you know it the sun is shining again. I rarely leave the hotel so I barely notice the fact that it is raining outside. That's one thing about living in a hotel. Everything is right there so you really don't have to leave the building. Which I have no problem doing... :-p Occasionally we do go 'out' to eat instead of using the facilities here. In fact my parents took me and Mona, our family friend from India. We went to a very fancy Japanese restaurant called "Koh". Now, the cuisine here is very traditional Japanese cuisine. The meal we had for dinner that night was in a style of "Kaiseki" which is a course meal where many different dishes are presented with such art and work in a manner that it is too beautiful to eat it. It is delicious to boot! These type of meals are created upon what is available during that season. Since everything that the owner/chef gets are from Japan, it is very fresh and good. The theme of the meal that night was New Year's so we got to have some special dishes. The specialty that the chef prepared for us was a congee(porridge) with red beans. Also, we had "Blow Fish" sashimi. That was a rare opportunity to have that outside of Japan. It's so hard to come by. Needless to say that dinner was AMAZING!!!

Today, Sunday January 28th, I actually spent the day with my father. I thought it would be nice to do a father-son activity. So what do we do? My father's favorite sport, Golf. Now, I mentioned couple days ago that maybe I'll go golfing with my father. So he set up to go today. Well, the last time I went out golfing was over seven years ago! So of course my father wasn't sure if I was ready to get out on the course. We got to the golf course around little after 8:00am. I got up at 5:00am, by 6:30am I had breakfast... This RARELY happens. Anyhow, we got to the course and we both head to the driving range. I need practice. I end of hitting two buckets of balls, most of them not very promising... The future looks grim. But actually at the end, I did pretty well. Now, usually if you go around 18 holes and score 133, that's nothing you want to broadcast. For those who play regularly! Yet for my case, over seven years of absence from any golf action, that was pretty damn good. Of course my hands, forearms, back are in pain and also got a nice burn on my face, neck, arms and legs from the nice warm sun of Indonesia. The best part of it was that I actually got to have fun. Who knows, maybe I'll pick it up when I get back to Chicago. Of course I got to wait for another four months or so until the ice melts...

As I enjoy my days here, I look forward to visiting Tokyo with my mother. We got some family business to do. My grandmother's, my mother side, first death anniversary is coming up on February 3rd. So we will be visiting her grave and give her our prayers and after that we have dinner with all our relatives. Now it will be great to visit Tokyo for the 10 days we are going to be there. Since I'll be going with my mother, without my father, we don't need to get another room. Which means that my mother and I will be sharing a room for TEN DAYS!!! I think it will be okay but then again, who knows... It will be interesting.

Before you know it, I will be getting on a plane to come back to Chicago...
Back to the freezing weather.

For now, I'm enjoying the tropical weather, mainly in an air-conditioned indoor! :-p