This is beauty, and that’s all I can say. Just breathtaking.
I’m enjoying my time so far here in Eugene for the Oregon Bach Festival. We just do our two performances of Haydn’s “The Creation” this week. This was my first time to perform this work, and I have to say - it’s probably not my favorite piece of music. The opening of the oratorio is SPECTACULAR. It’s so exciting to hear the overture and then the “big bang” happens. What follows shortly after is also quite thrilling. After that, I think Haydn lost steam a bit. There are some beautiful arias and choruses, but in general, there’s just not as much drama as one might hope for. Regardless, it’s worth it just for the opening of the piece!
In other news, I will performing a few solos while here at the festival. I’ll be singing the tenor solos in Cantata #6 of Bach’s “Christmas Oratorio” and a little part of Handel’s “Messiah.” Yay!
Speaking of “Messiah,” we are now working on a new work by Sven David Sandstrom. It is a new setting of the “Messiah” text. I’ll have more thoughts as we get further into it, but I think it’s going to be REALLY cool. The music is edgy, energetic, and takes lots of risks. One thing is for sure - it will not be boring! Here’s a little preview video about the work:
Oregon Bach Festival performas in Portland
Tattoo, originally uploaded by Behold How Free.
My new tattoo is a Mandarin Chinese symbol. It has two meanings: “wild” and “field.” I chose it for both meanings. “Wild” is fairly self-explanatory, and “field” is based on an incredible Rumi poem I came across recently. This is the poem:
There Is A Field
Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing,
there is a field. I’ll meet you there.
When the soul lies down in that grass,
the world is too full to talk about.
Ideas, language, even the phrase each other
doesn’t make any sense.
- Rumi
At the laundramat. This woman is loudly reading the Bible to this old man. He doesn’t seem very interested. I love doing laundry…
swimming pond, originally uploaded by Behold How Free.
In less than 24 hours, Abby and I are leaving to go to the ranch. Our very sweet and generous friends Michael and Laura have offered for us to have some time away at their awesome East Texas ranch. I’m counting the hours…
Leah playing live at TSC
Our final performance of The Daughter of the Regiment
Enjoying some great blues at Grooves. Performance went great!
Here’s what’s going on:
1. Singing tonight in “A Celebration of the Blues,” a collaboration of Houston Grand Opera, The Blues Society of Houston, and SugarHill Studios. I’ve really enjoyed the music and I think it will be a great event. It’s at 8pm at Grooves. More info on my performances page or the Facebook event.
2. Tomorrow is the very last day of Opera to Go! We will perform The Daughter of the Regiment at 10:30am and 2:30pm at Houston-area libraries. See my previous blog post for more details.
3. Musician friends from Tulsa are doing a show in Houston on Saturday night. The “All In One Car” tour features my dear friend Leah Hugon and two other great songwriters. The show is Saturday, 7pm at Taft Street Coffee. More info on the Facebook event.
4. Next week, I’m helping Abby with a massage open house at our place, then we’re going off to a friend’s ranch for a few days. Then I’m leaving on Sunday, June 21 for the Oregon Bach Festival!
