I have begun my musical preparation for two roles I will be performing with Summer Opera Lyric Theatre (SOLT)this summer. I have been cast as Æneas in Purcell’s Dido and Æneas and Ford in Verdi’s Falstaff. I have three and a half weeks till this summer program starts, and I am feeling good about how both of these roles are going.

I have had two coachings so far, both have gone very well, but there is still a lot of work to be done.  I am scheduling time to practice most days, and I have also been spending about an hour and a half daily doing work on these scores. Reading through the text in time, as well as starting to memorize the words and music.  I have also spent a bit of time mapping out what work I have to do each day in order to be ready for the first music rehearsals that start the second week of June. That is where the felt pens and Moleskine come in handy.

Æneas, though a title character in this opera is quite a short role. I really enjoy all of the music that I sing in this opera… and although there is not very much to it, I think the role suits me quite well. In my last coaching I discovered that I have almost the whole role memorized. So over the long weekend I am going to memorize the last recit/duet and then all I have to do is run it regularly, to keep it fresh, while I continue to work on Ford in Falstaff.

Ford offers it’s own set of challenges. This character is quite angry and spends a lot of time running around the stage yelling. I started with Act I, part 2, which is a duet with Falstaff and Ford’s Aria. I know this section quite well now, and just need to run it and memorize it. At my last coaching we worked on Act I, part 1 and Act II. These ensemble scenes are quite tricky, fast and wordy. They go by in a flash, but require a lot of practice and repetition to get them in your body. This next week will find me doing a lot of slow repetition and reading  the text out loud.

I have a feeling this summer workshop is going to be challenging and rewarding. I just wish there were more hours in the day to get all of the work done. I need to be mentally fresh to be able to focus on this complicated, late Verdi opera.

- Daniel Vila, Extermination Music Night

- Jonny Dovercourt, The Music Gallery

- Stephen Michalowicz & Jerad Galliger, Torontoist Futurist Project

- Claudia Dey, author of Stunt

The invitation said 7:00pm, so we left with plenty of time to take the subway to Union Station and walk down to Steam Whistle Brewery at 255 Bremner Boulevard. We arrived just before 7:00pm.  The venue opened at 7:00pm, but the actual event was set to start at 8:00. When we walked through the doors there was a large table piled high with copies of the book for sale.  We had picked up a copy of the proof this book at the launch of Hamish Hamilton. The completed hardcover book looks great (!) and was the reason for the night’s festivities! This was my first visit to Steam Whistle Brewery and the venue works well for this sort of event.

The book is about twelve-year-old T.S. Spivet, a wunderkind cartographer, and the event had a map theme.  There was a couple of tables set up with displays of maps created by various artists/ writers/ musicians/ engineers/ etc.  These maps were a lot of fun some of the mapes included, ‘The Map to True Love’, ‘My Childhood Trick-or-Treat Route’, and “My Survival Guide to Antwerp’ to name a few.  This display of different types of maps created by a wide range of people was just a small clue into what this non-reading would be.  Around 8:00pm the real festivities began.  The first ‘Lecture’ was by Reif Larsen, a 29-year-old graduate of Brown, and author of the book being launched.  Mr. Larsen went up to the microphone and with his MacBook started the nights cartographic journey.  He had several examples of ‘maps’ and diagrams that we use to get through our daily live.  One insight he made was that quite often what is left off the map and the information this is assumed in a graphic instruction can be quite interesting. He showed a classic map of the United States showed population by by dots of light, both how the dark and light places on the map can be both intriguing and scary.  He also had a map of the United States that was cut up into hundreds of tiny squares, Reif asked the audience to guess what information this un-labeled map was giving.  There were a few guesses; a county map, a map of gun or pet ownership, it was actually a map of cases of stomach cancer, how could you know? And what is going on in Florida and Kansas to has so many cases.  The author also had several diagrams that are found in the seat pockets of airplanes, shown first without captions and then with comic captions added.

After Reif was done his “lecture” on the effects that maps have on his life, work and art, he introduced the first of the guest ‘cartographers’.  The first person the present was Claudia Dey, author of Stunt.  I have not yet read Ms. Dey’s novel, and in all honesty this ‘performance art’ run-on-sentence style poem/map/lecture presentation, does not inpire me to read Stunt.

The rest of the presentations seemed to lose a bit of steam after Reif had given such an ingaging performance and explination of his view of the world and maps.  But luckily there was beer to be purchased, and that made the rest of the evening run along more quickly.

I have only been to a few conventional readings, so it is difficult to compare this event to other book launches, but I would have liked it if Reif had read a section from his book, or at least discussed the book a little.

It was a fun night and I hope I get the chance to attend more events like this one.

In a couple of weeks we will be able to start planting on our balcony. I love having fresh mint for mojitos and herbs for cooking!

Happy spring!

I tested 3 or 4 flavours (green apple, coconut, bacio…) before I choose a medium cup with half coconut half bacio (hazelnut & chocolate). This sweet treat hit the spot on a nice warm afternoon.

Four of us shared 6 items from the Aperitivos/Tapas section of the menu (Tortilla chips con guacamole – tortilla chips with guacamole; Camarones fritos – deep fried shrimp lightly coated in coconut served with a spicy salsa; Calamari – served with two dipping sauces and lemon; Yuca con Mojo – potato-like, white root vegetable served with a garlic & onion mojo; Tostones Rellenos ‘green’ plantain cups stuffed with picadillo). Everything we had was quite tasty, and was washed down with a frozen margarita and Mojito Cubano. We ended our meal sharing the two desserts that were on offer, a key lime pie and a layered creamy banana parfait, and a cafe con leche.

The food was great as was the company. I hope to find more off the beaten track restaurants, this summer in Toronto. Visiting this “snack bar” also makes me think I should visit Cuba sometime soon.

This was not a bad place to spend a Friday night.

End of Season One

We have now finished the First Season of Torchwood. This is an original BBC series by Russell T. Davies, he is the man who revived Doctor Who, and this is a spin-off from the new DW.

Torchwood has not disappointed!  I am excited to start Season 2.