Ciao!!

I’m long overdue for an update, but these past two weeks have been filled with many things everyday that it’s difficult just to keep up! But, I will try to fill you in on my weeks 2 and 3 in the program, mostly through me looking at my pics to remember what happened when, because it is all a blur ;) Most of this was written Saturday morning, July 18 :)

Program wise, these last two weeks have been very helpful! I am learning more and more about the Bel Canto style of singing. This is being taught to me through performance class, coachings, and voice lessons, which I have every day. The first week, I had performance class everyday (including Saturday and Sunday!) and a voice lesson Tues/Thurs/Sat, and a coaching Mon/Wed/Fri. This was very helpful and I am really enjoying being able to solely focus on one style of singing to really know the background, traditions, and reasoning of each composer for how to perform their music. The two pieces I have been working on are the song “Amiamo” by Donizetti, and the recit and aria “O! Quante Volte!” by Bellini. A very neat opportunity was provided by Jane Klaviter and the faculty here for myself and a few other people! Since this is not only a vocal program, but also accepts a few instrumental students so they learn the Bel Canto style as well, I get to sing with 5 instruments on the final concert! The Bellini aria is from an opera, and its style is accompagnato recit (so with orchestra, not harpsichord), and we have several instrumentalists who I am collaborating with to do the piece on Friday night :) It will be with Maestro Malouf conducting (I think), Mike playing French Horn, Margaret on the harp, Kai playing “cello” on his double bass, Levi playing double bass, and Maestro Morrison filling out the accompaniment on the piano. We’ve been able to rehearse twice already, and will rehearse again this coming Monday. What makes it doubly fun though is that another student, Ju Han, is also singing the same recit and aria and gets the same opportunity for the Monday night concert! It’s been fun hearing her interpretation and line to the recit and aria, and we have had fun rehearsing with each other and getting to know each other as well outside of rehearsal :)

Let’s see, what else… language classes continue to go well, with us passes the “first grade” book in two weeks, and now we are on to book two. We started to learn past tense this week, which was nice, seeing as everything before was always in the present tense when I talked with my host mom, lol. Barbara continues to be so kind and loving to Yuri and myself, and we couldn’t ask for a better host family!

In addition to all the school things that take up most of my day, I have been able to get out a little and do some personal interest and also some “touristy” things! One night during the second week, I went out to dinner with Yuri and another gal, Laura, to dinner in the city. We settled on a place near Il Trillo, the music school, and had our first taste of wild boar for our appetizer! Apparently it’s something you MUST try while you are here, so we did, and it was very tasty!



I have also gone shopping a few times, both for clothes (nice light dresses since it is so HOT!) and for gifts and souvenirs. I found some very nice shops just past the Ponte Vecchio bridge, and got a souvenir for myself while I was there too – a T-Shirt that says “Ciao Bella!” seeing as I get that a lot here, lol.



Some other interesting things I have done are seeing Michelangelo’s David (the perfect Renaissance man!!!) who was completely stunning and gorgeous. I also had my portrait drawn by an artist while sitting next to the Duomo! I decided that would be my souvenir while being here, as I really couldn’t think of anything else I wanted, AND my friend Sarah also wanted hers done, so we got them drawn at the same time. We are both very pleased with the way they turned out, as mine definitely looks like me, and, well, as Sarah herself put it, hers is the idealized version of her! But that’s ok, because it’s a gift for her boyfriend, so he will love it ;) On Friday of week 3 (so last Friday), I got a big workout! First, I climbed to the top of the Duomo dome, which was 463 steps to the top! It actually didn’t feel as bad as the climb to the top of St. Peter’s Basilica, and the view was gorgeous. You could really see all the orange rooftops and a 360 degrees view of Florence! I got some very nice pictures. After that I had performance class, and then walked with three friends to the train station to buy our tickets to Pisa for Saturday! Well, I wasn’t watching the time, and I was supposed to be at an internet place at least 25 minutes away to talk with Matt at 4:00. We arrived at the train station at 3:55, oops! So, we hurridly got the tickets, and I ran in 98 degree heat to the internet place, and arrived soaking wet at 4:15. Well, I felt good that at least I had gotten my exercise in for the day (or several). But there was more! This was also the night I had planned to stay in the city and go to the Piazza di Michelangelo and watch the sunset overlooking the city with a few girlfriends! So, another hike and many more stairs later, we got to watch a very nice sunset, and cool off in the large breeze that had come into the city. We went out to eat at a nice restaurant afterwards, and then headed home! This all took a bit longer time (as it always does in Italy) than we had thought, but I still got home before midnight, which was good.
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Ok, I will post more later (and include more pics), but today (Tuesday, July 21, 2009), I am about to go sing my first concert!!

Ciao!

~Heather