Big Island Fever

Grapes of Wrath

2009-08-25T01:00:00.004-04:00

This is the opera suite that the artists of HPAF performed as the culminating event of the festival. Such a great (and sometimes difficult) piece....it took a lot of work, but it was a wonderful concert. Ricky Ian Gordon is an amazing composer.

Singing Highlights - Working with Ricky

2009-08-25T00:13:00.005-04:00

The remaining performance highlights are from my audition for & masterclass with the AMAZING American composer, Ricky Ian Gordon. I had one other small performance in a songs & opera scenes program & then the Grapes of Wrath opera suite by R.I. Gordon.

First of all, I was soooo excited to be able to just meet Ricky. I had been singing one of his songs since my Jr. or Sr. year in undergrad, so I didn't need to do research on who he was or what his accomplishments were. I introduced myself to him in the library of HPA & the first thing I thought was that he had a funny speaking voice...kinda like a cartoon. But it grew on me & I can't imagine him sounding any different! LOL....anyway, the day came for the audition for the masterclass on his music. I've never been in a situation were I had the opportunity to sing for a composer of this caliber and it was such a surreal experience... I walked into the audition room and Ricky looked so pleasant & cheerful that my nerves & jitters were calmed. I started singing "Joy" and I could see from my peripheral vision that he was satisfied and I right before I finished my high note, I made eye contact with him & smiled (while singing) just to let him know that I enjoyed what I was doing. When I was finished singing, Val Underwood, the artistic director said that it was beautiful & Ricky agreed. It was a wonderful audition...

The audition was on a sunday I think, so the list for the masterclass wasn't posted until Tuesday. Everyone who auditioned waited patiently for the list of singers to be put up. Unfortunately, everyone was not able to participate, but I am thankful that I was chosen to sing.

So, not only once, but TWICE, I got to sing for Ricky!! This time was different - in a good way. I always feel less nervous & jittery when the audience is larger as opposed to 3 or 4 people staring in my face (hence the reason I don't like auditions - but it's a major must in this career). But my singing was fine...Ricky wanted me to reconsider my approach to the interpretation of the poem by Langston Hughes. And I guess now that I look back at it, I can see the wit & humor in the poem...I took the interpretation a bit too literal & made the song into a sweet love song. But when Ricky finished explaining & I sang the song for the 2nd time, it made much more sense. It was such a wonderful experience & this blog cannot express that enough.

Oh yeah! I also had the chance to chit chat with him & a few instrumentalists from the chamber ensemble at lunch one day. Really cool!!!! I wish all the excitement that I still have could be translated to your screen...hope you get the jist.

Here are a few pics from the small performance I did and the rest from Ricky's masterclass.

Me & Sam Fu in "Music of the Night" Me singing in masterclass

Discussing Langston Hughes Finished our collaboration

Me & Ricky - such a cool guy

The Bulk

2009-08-24T23:49:00.004-04:00

So I decided that I do not want to go into detail about why the first Friday of the festival sucked...I don't want to relive that moment in time ever again. If you ask me in person, I MIGHT tell you.

Anyway, the first concert was great! It was titled "Canciones del alma"- a concert full of songs from Spain & Latin America. I sang La Campesina, Jota, & La Chacarera. It was held in Hilo (the east side of the Big Island). The drive there from Waimea was really pretty - lots of greenery & flowers & water. Just gorgeous.

Prior to the concert, we had our run thru & then went out to search for food. It was sooo hot & humid and the sun wasn't setting anytime soon - but there was a Thai restuarant across the street from the East Hilo Cultural Arts Center so I just got some Fried rice with basil & tofu and a Thai iced tea. It was good & light.

I was happy that the concert went well & that it was over....I learned a lot about myself and what I am capable of doing under intense stress.

(Picture was taken right before the performance)

The night before & Orientation

2009-08-02T01:25:00.004-04:00

When we arrived in Waimea, we registered at the office and then I got dropped off at my host family's home. They met me outside, took my bags in, we ate dinner, and then the 3 of us went to bed because we all had jetlag.

First full day in Waimea:

Woke up on Thursday morning, unpacked just a little bit, and went to the festival orientation at 8:30 AM, all the singers and faculty introduced themselves, we signed up for our private lessons, etc. - that went on for about an hour. I can't really remember what happened between orientation and the first beach trip, but I do remember the beach very well.
Amazing warm blue-green water, clean sand, perfectly clear skies....I couldn't ask for a better view (and the views just got better). I can't even remember the last time I went to a beach, so I enjoyed every single moment of it. I even got to see the overly tanned "beach stud muffin" taking an afternoon jog along the shore.

Hapuna Beach

After spending a about an hour laying out & splashing around, we (festival people) ate dinner in the little hut nearby and then headed back to the campus for the opening faculty concert.

It was a great day.....Friday begins singing....(this was probably the worst day of the 3 weeks) - between now and the next post I'll decide whether I want to share why Friday sucked.

Until then....

Moving Day-July 8th

2009-07-19T19:18:00.001-04:00

Pretend it's July 8th...(these are back blogs remember?) :) So it's 2AM and I just started packing because I spent the day before watching Michael Jackson's memorial...then I was too lethargic to pack... PLUS, I HATE PACKING. I had my list already made of what I wanted to take so that helped, I guess (not really). I had to leave @ 5 for the airport & it took all 3 hrs to pack because I'm slow and then my sister took me to airport to catch my 7AM flight from Philly to LA. It was a long flight but I finally made it there safely. *Disclaimer* AVOID SWITCHING AIRLINES MID TRIP UNLESS YOU HAVE AT LEAST...AT LEAST 3 HRS TO SPARE!!!
I had a two hour layover at LAX - an hour and 45 minutes of the 2 hours was spent rechecking/repacking my luggage - leaving me with about 15 minutes to get through security & get to my gates. Thankfully, a strong, tall-ish, dark, & handsome TSA guy saw me struggling with my bags and carried them down the escalator through the MOB of people for me to the check-in counter. I was sooo hot & tired. Anyway, I'm glad that I was in Zone 3 boarding! I crashed when I got on the plane....5 hr flight to Kona.

There were sooooo many kids on the flight AND they stayed awake...argh! Long flight short, we arrived in Kona and it was cloudy & muggy outside, and the baggage claim belt for my flight was broken. We had to wait for a truck to arrive with our baggage and then finally head to the car rental place & drive to Waimea, were the festival was. (We, meaning my car mates, Alysia & Chris).
(Kona Baggage Claim)

Finally done flying....off to the festival.

So....who goes to the Big Island for 3 weeks?!?!?

2009-07-19T18:27:00.001-04:00

Ok, so when I found out that I was coming to Hawaii, of course I thought it would be in the heart of Oahu or Maui at a fabulous resort, where I would wake up to fresh flowers & pineapple smoothies every morning.....but then I actually read the program website and saw that the festival location was on the big island and I was kinda sad....only for a few minutes though. No one really vacations here (well nobody I know) so I just wasn't sure to expect....and so 3 weeks of unknown big island activities made me a little sad. NONETHELESS, it's Hawaii and who wouldn't want to be here, right?

In a nutshell...

2009-07-19T00:08:00.000-04:00

Aloha folks...welcome welcome...

Soooo.....I probably won't go into extreme detail right now about how I got the opportunity to come to Hawaii for 3 weeks to sing because I want to catch you guys up on the more interesting details of my trip.

In a nutshell, I am a singer (developing artist) in the Hawaii Performing Arts Festival because of one of the voice faculty members who found one of my youtube videos "Joy" by Ricky Ian Gordon, and contacted me about applying to participate in this year's festival. I am assuming the voice teacher youtube-stalked Gordon and not me, but according to some colleagues, my video shows up 3rd in the list, so I guess that's where I became relevant. You're probably wondering what Gordon has to do with any of this...well he is going to be the Composer-in-residence at the festival this year - working one-on-one with singers at some point and coaching & directing his new opera Grapes of Wrath (concert version, I think). So I checked out the program details to see what else there was to do here - it's quite a musically versatile program so I decided to apply in Jan or Feb...I was accepted with scholarship and now *poof* here I am in July on the big island singing my little heart out. That's the nutshell...

Scoop on my flight over here, first few days, etc. to come shortly. (I'm debating on sharing a secret that I would like to keep suppressed, but it plays a big role in some events that took place...so we'll see).

Mahalo for reading!!

aloha.