In bocca al lupo...

Hey! So I'm back from Italy! Yeah...I know I should have posted on this ole blog while I was over there, but our wireless was shitty and I was too busy living to actually write about it.

Anyway, it was awesome. I worked a lot, learned a lot, made some mistakes...you know, my usual agenda. My costume was pretty fancy. The costumers who worked on the most recent Tosca production at the met designed it. It's ok if you're feeling a little jealous right now...completely natural response.





I'll post more later...

It's been a long time since my last post. That's because my life has become a giant shit show in preparation for this Italy experience. If I were doing anything short of fulfilling my life's dream over there, I'd have said F*%^ Italy weeks ago.

However. Today...the new Renee Fleming "tape dropped". Praise Him.
She's singing songs by Deathcab For Cutie, The Mars Volta, Band of Horses, Arcade Fire, Muse...and it really doesn't suck at all. Of course, she could record a cd of herself sneezing and I'd probably think it was high art because, you know, it's Renee Fleming.

I'm currently looking for an accompanist for my Arkansas fundraising recital...it's not going terribly well. Unfortunately.

Goddamnit, I'm stressed.



This is a picture of my niece, Molly, last year being cute with a kitty.



And this is me in Boston one day last year when singing wasn't the most anxiety-inducing activity in my life and I wasn't trying to raise $6,000 to make it happen.

I'll dress my family in corduroy and denim.

Tomorrow, when I'm hanging out with David Sedaris*, I really hope people aren't too jealous of me.

* operative name drop

Sometimes I think to myself, "I wish I had My Little Pony hair."
Lady Gaga is pretty lucky.

Don't waste your time or time will waste you...oh, whatever.

Assignments I DO like in grad school:
1) Song Lit presentations (especially featuring animated clip art)
2) learning in my 20th Century Music History class
3) singing

Assignments I DO NOT like doing in grad school:
1) anything for French Diction class...I have a minor in French. How is it possible for me to be so shitty in this class?
2) studying for my 20th Century Music History class
3) learning complicated and confusing Poulenc songs 36* hours before I perform them

Assignments for which I choose to procrastinate instead of doing:
1) All of the above

*So, let's make that 20 hours before.


This photo shoot (which later features Lady Gaga as the witch) must have been inspired by the Hansel and Gretel that the Met staged in 2007. It's probably my favorite opera production.



And this cat is obese.


And I sure do wish I owned this fancy dress. I think about it every single day...

lovely, dark, and deep

After about 3,007 edits, I've just finished my website. It was quite the undertaking...and I haven't even posted (or created, for that matter) any videos yet. I probably ought to get some of those soon since this is my "publicity"/ opera singer Nancy site to help me raise money for La Musica Lirica.

I have to thank my roommate, Lance, for helping me set it up. Also, for the new bath towels upon the unfortunate Easter-break forgotten laundry mildew situation.

BTW, I'm getting super pumped about being Flora. She's just so fancy...and a courtesan (wink, wink). I would like to think that she would be a highly illustrious and awesome at life courtesan. We'll see. Hopefully, she won't be a "Shit, I don't know my music" courtesan.

This Robert Frost poem is constantly running through my mind these days. I even typed it on an ipad at the Apple Store today:

Whose woods these are I think I know,
His house is in the village, though,
He will not see me stopping here
to watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
to stop without a farm house near.
(That's all I can ever remember until the last stanza...)

Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark, and deep
And I have promises to keep,

It felt so crystal in the air

Lately, I've been reminiscing about all of the awesome bands and performers I've seen this year. So far, these are my top picks (MGMT would have been in here, but they put out that new album and have been cut from the list).

Lykke Li- I saw her at All Points West in Jersey City last summer. Tim and I were like, "Who's this Mary Kate Olsen chick?"
Then we realized what was up. Stellar performance and some really worthwhile songs.



The xx- These kids are REAAL good. I started listening to them when NPR kept playing their tracks as interludes and transitions during news casts. I was looking at tour dates to find out if they were playing anywhere in the south. Um, they were playing at the Spanish Moon here in BR...tickets were $12. Amen. This is why it rocks to live in a college town sometimes.



Ghostland Observatory-If Michael Jackson, Geronimo, and Freddie Mercury had a baby, the lead singer of this band would be their love child.


I'm not going to bother to describe them. I'll just use this picture for explanation:
These people are warming up and stretching before the show began... I think the awesomeness of Ghostland Observatory has now been sufficiently explained.

Something pretty: