the squirrels are in the tree
Jun. 29th, 2025 00:03![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ursamajorhyounpark and I wrapped up our extremely concert-filled June last weekend with two shows in Wine Country, backing up Andrea Bocelli and friends. Three rehearsals in ten days with almost entirely new-to-me repertoire - it felt good to have that kind of intensity of practice again. It's different from regular rehearsal, where we have a month, two, sometimes even three to slowly, steadily polish a single piece. Harder to cram into daily life, but always worth it.Saturday was also Hyoun's birthday, so I was highly amused when the sound check opened with La donna è mobile from Rigoletto. Because I originally learned that melody in fourth grade as a birthday song!
Birthdays are always fun, joyful for everyone
Friends come and sing to you, presents they bring to you
This one is best of all, calls for a festival
This is no common fest, this one is special
Sound the trumpets, send the flowers
This is for a friend of ours
Happy birthday,
Three cheers for you!
Hip hurray! Hip hurray! Three cheers for you!
Hip hurray ... and many happy wishes for BOM BOM!
Setlist (YouTube links for the songs where we accompanied Bocelli, though alas not our actual performances. That would be amazing turnaround time! I do hope they get published someday :) )
| Saturday: | Sunday: |
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(Yeah, I should tag all the songs we sang, but I am starting to approach the tag corpus limit, with 1724 tags defined out of a max 2000. Note to self: file feature request?)
Random things I will remember:
- If I'd pursued conducting more seriously, I think I would have ended up conducting like Steven Mercurio, our conductor for these concerts. At least I hope I would have developed some of the flair in his movements to evoke the right feel. I felt so physically awkward in Conducting 101, because I've been singing for so long I can't remember a time when I didn't know how to make my voice convey emotion and story. Despite six years of childhood ballet and gymnatics, though, I never really became more graceful. So trying to translate that into arm movements to make other musicians emote? A challenge. But jumping up and down in time with the timpani, looking like a spry leprechaun while conveying the urgency with his entire body? Oh, yeah, totally me 😁 Boston friends, if you're interested in seeing Bocelli perform at the Garden, Mercurio will be the conductor for that concert in December.
- It's been awhile since I've done opera music, and I'd forgotten how much fun it is to just be melodramatic and belty in concert. And we got most of an album's worth! Bouncing back and forth with the bari soloist Edward Parks during Toreador (I may not drink much, but drinking songs are always the most enjoyable); tongue-tripping over the rhythms of the Libiamo; evoking our most '80s cheese for Canto della terra (I think I told my sopranos we were trying to channel Michael Bolton). Hilarious revelry, all.
- We were professional and didn't look back at the movie and light show accompanying our performance, but based on the reflections I totally want to see what it looks like!
- Questions I want to ask Andrea Bocelli that have everything to do with music: his breath control. How. Just how. Clearly the bar for my note-holding goals has been raised.
- Adorable things I got to see/hear Andrea Bocelli do backstage: play with his puppy! play the flute! Warm up to his own opening movie music!
- Question I want to ask Babyface that has nothing to do with music: seriously, where did he get his sweats that he did sound check in? Those were the most nicely-draping clothes made of sweatpant material I have ever seen on anybody.
- Apparently when the tech crew says "the squirrels are in the tree," it meant the choir (us!) is backstage, in line, ready to load.
- THE RISER BENCHES WERE SO NICE. THEY WERE CUSHIONED AND THEY HAD CUSHIONED BACKS. The risers we can rent at the Paramount are more like bleacher stadium seating, so a number of people will bring little black cushions to sit on if we're going to be onstage but not actively performing for an extended period of time.
- Really, my only complaint about the staging as a Short Soprano (TM) stuck in the first row of choiristers (but behind the orchestra - specifically, behind the percussion section that had two gongs) was that I couldn't see what was going on very well when it wasn't our turn to be standing and singing. But when we were sitting, my sitzbones were content. I just wish we could've been maybe another foot higher.
- The first and second rows come on- and offstage from opposite directions, thanks to coordination between stage crew on each side (thank you, Ken and Jack!). So of course on our final exeunt after the second show, we were grinning at each other, and then we all ended up low-fiving each other with "good game, good game" the way you do after friendly sports games, hahaha.
- Hanging out outside our tent after the sound check, when a driver runs up to us, panicked: "Have any of you seen Veronica?" ... he meant Veronica Bocelli, as in Andrea's wife. None of us had any idea who he was talking about or what she looked like, we were like the least helpful bystanders ever, sorry driver!
- The portapotties had air conditioning. Me to H: "The portapotties are nicer than our bathroom!"
- During the post-show celebration, one of the choir members - whom I originally met through biking and then connected her with the chorus - came up to thank me for letting her know about the chorus in the first place, which resulted in her getting to sing in this concert. The best kind of cross-pollination.
- Drinking champagne with my fellow musicians in a St. Helena parking lot after a successful concert weekend, probably breaking Napa Valley noise ordinances.
- We had to carpool up from the East Bay both days, which was a bit of a hike, but it had the side effect of people getting to spend time with each other outside the direct context of rehearsal, and I think that cemented some bonds this weekend. It can be hard to find that kind of time outside rehearsal, so I'm glad we had the chance!
- When we couldn't get our regular rehearsal spot for the extra rehearsals, I appreciated Paulista (an awesome Brazilian spot in Glenview) being right up the block from the temporary rehearsal space. Feijoada, bobó de camarão, washed down with suca de maracujá, and I always love a good flan which was true of their pudim.)
- The Bocelli crew fed us Saturday, on our really long day (left the house at 9:30 am, didn't get back home until 11 pm), and while the mains were good, the desserts were a top-notch banana pudding and sticky rice with mango. Two thumbs up.
- The modern miracle of sending in an order for a pineapple teriyaki burger at Gott's Sunday afternoon while we were still half an hour south, then having it ready to pick up by the time we got there. :)
And now, my Wednesday nights are free for a (very) few weeks! (Summersings start July 23, and then after that we're right into rehearsals for Verdi; I hope I'll be able to cram in one or two Wednesday night Friends With Bikes rides during the time off, but we'll need to see.)
