I Talked with a Worldclass Counter-Tenor

10-9-2008

At Life today I began probably the biggest project I’ve worked on yet. It’s an audio story telling of different cultures' Diwali celebrations. The Brent Council and I are producing these story tellings to be played at the annual Diwali celebration in a couple of weeks. First, I spent about 3 ½ hours in the studio with a fabulous story teller and her friend who served as the music consultant. Truthfully her voice didn’t need any music behind it. She’s just that captivating. But the music does fill in a lot of gaps.

We got all the music and narration in place. Then we went through the script with a fine tooth comb and they told me where they’d like effects to enter in, where music should fade in a fade out, and the like. After another 3 hours of editing, I have half of it done. I’m pumped to go into work Monday and finish it.

I had to leave work right at 6 in order to make it to the English National Opera in time. My flat mate Luke is interning there and he scored me a ticket. He told me the other day that while he isn’t getting “paid,” he has been compensated in the form of opera tickets to the sum of £1,200. Once I saw where we were sitting, I completely believed him. We were in row K of the stalls (the main floor). A brilliant seat for a contemporary / 1950’sish take on Handel’s Partenope, a ‘comedy’ about a queen which basically everyone is in love with. So a massive love triangle.

The set was very modern. The first act took place in a large white room where the lighting really played with shadows. The second act was outside a building, and a bathroom on the outside of the building carried most of the action. Finally in act three, the cast is in one room where a photographer, who has been taking pictures throughout the whole show, is combining his pictures into a massive collage.

During the two intermissions, Luke was able to get us into the press lounges where we enjoyed free wine and bumping elbows with London's press. After the show Luke’s leverage worked to our favor again as we went to the after party with the performers in the sky bar at the top of the Coliseum. There I was able to chat with pit conductor Christian Curnyn, soprano Rosemary Joshua, and countertenor Iestyn Davies. Mr. Davies was awesome. I had a good conversation with him about how to develop a countertenor voice. He was truly down to earth.

Luke and I were also interviewed for an ENO promotional video:
http://www.eno.org/video/main.html
We're at the end of the Audience Reaction to First Night of Partenope video.

An amazing night to say the least. An opera at the Coliseum and got to talk with world class opera performers. Oh and all the drinks at this after party were free…..