Just Visiting...

Andrew and I are feeling the pains of transitioning back to our former lifestyle. My snow shoes have been officially swapped for high heels and character shoes; my feet are paying the price with the blisters and sore arches. We drive everywhere and Andrew has been known to mutter from the back seat, “Mom, I wish we could we walk today?” His scooter riding has been isolated to one slow bout around the block with a few spins up and down the street in front of our house. Our living-room picture window now presents a view of John and Shirley’s house. John’s, pansies and manicured lawn are no match to the magical images of Icy Straight.

One evening, I feebly chased a sunset through the town of Ashland. Every attempt at taking its picture was marred by modern buildings or telephone phone wires. In between rehearsals, I longed for some fresh air. I went to my favorite park, but it felt crowded and overly-groomed. I tried to chat with a plump Robin, who was looking for dinner in the newly air-raided earth, but no twitter or tweet did he shared with me. Finally, I closed my eyes and took in the sweet cherry blossom air, let my bare feet walk over the dirt clods and soft grass, and allowed the cool Spring air to remind me of my place in the world; a temporary visitor.

HIghlights of our Week

Swing Batter!

Spending time with Grandma

Catching some air -- scooter style!

Signs of Spring

Meeting my mom and Jackie Hoover at Tinseltown to watch "The Audition," a Metropolitan Opera documetary about the MET final auditions in New York. A truly inspiring movie.

Homeschooling Week 1

We started homeschooling this week. The first two days were great. We went on a bike ride, had a long stay at the library, finished up Harry Potter book six, continued with math, science, writing, had a piano lesson and played a baseball game. Tuesday afternoon he had a raging fever and only today, Saturday, has the fever finally broke. I have never seen him so sick and for so long.

Schooling took a hiatus and he spent most of his time resting and reading, but he also chose to complete beading his Tlingit Eagle medallion; a project that was started before he left Hoonah. He enjoyed this work so much that he said on several occupations that he wants to do more “sewing.”

Ah, Musetta!

I have never been happier working on a show. It is a joy to be apart of this glorious, musical creation. I have been in rehearsals all week, with two preview concerts, a photo shoot and interview for La Boheme squeezed into the schedule as well -- loving every minute of it.

Here is a picture of my faaaaabulous costume. It comes from San Francisco Opera Company and I would wear it everyday if I could!

Below is a picture of our very Elvis looking leading man (love the wig), Rodolfo, played by Joe Meyers with Mimi by his side, played by Misook Yun.

It is truly and exceptional cast; all very professional and kind singer/actors. It makes the process truly enjoyable and the finished product will be a joy to share with audiences. We open next Sunday!



This shot is from the preview program we did at the Rogue Valley Manor in Medford.
Pictured from left to right; yours truly, Joe Meyers (Rodolfo), Michael Flaherty (Marcello) (Marcello), Laurie Hunter (assistant music dirtector, pianist), Misook Yun (Mimi), Willene Gunn (director) and David Aks (conductor).

I worked with Joe, years ago, when we did Die Fledermaus together. I was Adele and he was Alfred. Joe has an amazing high "C" and a sense of humor that keeps us in stitches. Michael and I have done lots of gigs together. He sang at Steve and my wedding and we were Musetta and Marcello over 10 years ago in the last production Rogue Opera’s Boheme. I worked with Willene on some opera scenes last year and am so enjoying working with her again.

For those of you who want to know more about those involved in La Boheme I have included their bios.

Artistic Director - Willene Gunn

Willene Gunn served as a member of the faculty of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music for 30 years, as Director of the Conservatory Opera Program. Upon her retirement in the spring of 2005 the Conservatory conferred upon her the honorary degree of Doctor of Music.

Ms. Gunn taught voice at the University of California at Santa Cruz, and staged operas in workshops at the University of California at Berkeley and the University of Nevada. She directed over 80 major works by Mozart, Verdi, Puccini, Bernstein and other major composers for Nevada, Sacramento, Arizona Operas, the San Francisco Opera Center and other companies in the San Francisco Bay Area.

A graduate of the San Francisco Opera Merola Program, Ms. Gunn performed extensively on the West Coast as a dramatic mezzo-soprano with the San Francisco, Portland, Seattle, Oakland and Nevada Opera companies in Aida, Falstaff, Peter Grimes, The Medium, The Consul and numerous others. Her symphonic repertory included Verdi’s Requiem and Beethoven’s Ninth symphony. She performed in operetta, musical comedy and legitimate theater, in roles ranging from most of the mezzo-soprano roles in Gilbert and Sullivan, to the alto leads in The Sound of Music, Carousel, and South Pacific, and as Hecuba in The Trojan Women.

She has produced and directed over 35 productions at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and in 2000 the Conservatory awarded her the Sarlo Award for Excellence in Teaching.

Conductor - David Aks

David Aks received his Master of Music degree in orchestral conducting at Oberlin College where he also earned a Bachelor of Music degree in cello performance. Additionally he studied at the Minnesota Opera Institute, the Conductors Guild Summer Institute, The Academia Chigiana in Sienna, Italy, and the Tanglewood Conducting Program with Leonard Bernstein, Seiji Ozawa, Colin Davis, Andre Previn and Gustav Meier.

Mr. Aks has a wide range of operatic, choral and orchestral experience. He served as Assistant Conductor to Seiji Ozawa for Tosca at Tanglewood, and been Music Director for numerous productions including The Marriage of Figaro, The Impressario, The Magic Flute, Cosi Fan Tutte, The Coronation of Poppea, Trouble in Tahiti, L'Enfant et les Sortileges ,Sweeney Todd, Into The Woods, The Tender Land, Suor Angelica, The Mikado, Amahl and the Night Visitors and The Medium. He has conducted several highly acclaimed Opera Highlights programs as part of the Concerts-in-the-Park series in Los Angeles. For many years Mr. Aks has taught at the prestigious OperaWorks summer workshop where he has coached, conducted and taught classes in conducting and dramatic scene analysis. He has also taught at the Altenburg Musiktheater Akademie in Germany. Mr. Aks has held professional conducting positions in New York, Florida and Colombia, South America. He is currently Professor of Music at the California State University, Northridge where, in addition to his duties as head of the opera program, he is the former conductor of the CSUN Symphony, instructor of cello and chair of the string area.
Mr. Aks' guest conducting appearances have included the American Youth Symphony, The Fresno Philharmonic, The Black Sea Philharmonic (Romania), The Nashville Symphony and The Antelope Valley Symphony. In addition, he has conducted the orchestras of Bogota, Medellin and Cali in Colombia, S.A. Mr. Aks also served as Assistant Conductor to Seiji Ozawa for Tosca with the Boston Symphony.

As a cellist, Professor Aks has played with the Minnesota Orchestra, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, American Symphony, Brooklyn Philharmonic, Los Angeles Opera, American Ballet Theater and has toured Europe, Russia and the U.S. with the New York Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra.

Professor Aks has guest conducted the All-State Honor Orchestras of Kentucky and California (twice) as well as the CODA (California Orchestra Directors Association) Honor Orchestra. He has served on the faculty of the ASTA Summer Institute of Chamber Music. He is a past president of The American String Teachers Association (ASTA) Greater Los Angeles Chapter. He has previously taught at the University of South Florida and the College of St. Catherine.


Assistant Music Director and Pianist - Laurie Anne Hunter

Laurie Hunter is a native of Pasadena, California and received a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Winnipeg and a Masters degree from the Juilliard School in New York. She spent five seasons as an Assistant Conductor and Vocal Coach with the New York City Opera, making her conducting debut there in 1992. Guest conducting appearances followed with the New England Lyric Operetta, Skylight Opera Theatre in Milwaukee, and the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony. She was Associate Conductor of Phantom of the Opera in Toronto and Show Boat on Broadway. She has served as Assistant Conductor and Vocal Coach for many regional Opera Companies throughout the U.S. and Canada including Seattle Opera, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Augusta Opera, Mobile Opera, Boston Concert Opera, Banff and the Metropolitan Opera Guild. Oregon Shakespeare Festival brought her to Ashland as Musical Director and Pianist for Enter the Guardsman in 2001 and she is currently on the adjunct faculty at Southern Oregon University. For Rogue Opera, Laurie has been the Coach/Accompanist for “Voices from the Valley Concerts”, the first Rogue Opera~SOU Opera Workshop and Opera Scenes Concerts, and for “The Complete Singer Training Series” with Ann Baltz of OperaWorks.

Mimi - Misook Yun

Misook Yun, lyric soprano, is a native of South Korea. As an active recitalist and soloist, Yun has performed in Italy, Austria, South Korea, and the United States of America. An accomplished operatic performer, Yun has appeared as the title roles of Tosca and Madama Butterfly, Violetta in La Traviata, Micaela in Carmen, Santuzza in Cavalleria Rusticana, Nedda in Pagliacci, Adina in L'Elisir d'Amore, Suzel in L'Amico Fritz, High Priestess in Aida, and Mimi and Musetta in La Bohème.

Yun's competition winnings include first prize of the Metropolitan Opera Competition of the Oregon District, finalist in the Classical Singer Convention Competition, and first prize of the Paul & Lillian Petri Scholarship Competition which enabled her to study in Italy and Austria during the summer of 1998. In the summer of 2004, she was one of the twelve National Association of Teachers of Singing interns chosen throughout the North America. She is an Associate Professor at the Dana School of Music, Youngstown State University.

Rodolfo - J. Raymond Meyers

J. Raymond Meyers has sung on many of the major stages across the country. Recent roles include Rodolfo, Duke, Belmonte, Ernesto, Hoffman, Pinkerton, and Alfred. He was Tenor Soloist with the San Francisco Ballet in last season’s West Side Story Suite, and toured China this summer as Tenor soloist in Carmina Burana with Ballet San Jose. Other performances include leading and character roles in the opera companies of Anchorage, Tampa, Grand Rapids, San Jose, Portland, Santa Barbara, Sacramento, San Francisco Lyric, Utah Festival, Sonoma City, Pocket Opera, and two seasons with San Francisco Opera covering roles in Carmen, Butterfly and Falstaff. This fall he’ll make his Toledo Opera debut as Borsa in Rigoletto.

Mr. Meyers made his motion picture debut last November portraying, if only briefly, an opera singer in the Gus Van Sant/Sean Penn movie Milk.
Musetta - Patricia Pine
Patricia Pine, soprano, has starred in many operas, operettas, and musicals theater productions and was a member of the Actors Equity Association. She has performed leading roles with Rogue Opera, Rogue Music Theater and Independent Minded Productions including Julie in Rogue Music Theater’s Carousel, “Maria” in West Side Story and at the Britt Festivals in Swing!, an I-M Production. With Rogue Opera, she sang “Josephine” in H.M.S. Pinafore, “Mabel” in The Pirates of Penzance, “Gretel” in Hansel and Gretel, “Cunegonde” in Candide, “Musetta” in La Bohème, and “Adele” in Die Fledermaus. Patricia has appeared as a soloist in Japan, Austria, and England. She has a Master of Music degree from the Manhattan School of Music. While living in New York City, Patricia performed various roles throughout Manhattan, Long Island, and Rhode Island. Patricia is a former Miss Oregon and second runner-up to Miss America 1997. She worked in Medford as a morning weather anchor and entertainment reporter for KTVL television station. Patricia and her family have spent the last nine months living in Hoonah, Alaska and she is happy to be back in her home town of Medford for the summer.

Marcello - Michael Flaherty

Michael Flaherty, baritone, has been praised for his “first-quality instrument...[a] rich, agile and powerful voice” as well as his “commanding stage presence.” Mr. Flaherty has sung leading and supporting roles for several Northwest regional opera companies. Recent performances include the role of Man #2 in the Craterian Performances production of Songs from a New World and an appearance in concert at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles in a program which included the premiere of a song cycle recently completed by esteemed composer Mark Saya.
Mr. Flaherty made his Portland opera debut in the 1997-98 season and has since performed many comprimario and featured roles for the company as well as preview performances and outreach programs. These have included Baron Duphol in La Traviata, Geolier in Dialogues des Carmelites, the dual roles of Morales and Dancairo in Carmen, Wagner in Faust, Marullo in Rigoletto, Captain Tarnitz in The Student Prince and Gregorio in Romeo et Juliette.

He has also performed leading roles with Eugene Opera, Rogue Opera and Opera Theatre Corvallis, including Ping in Turandot, Marcello in La Bohème, Germont in La Traviata, Escamillo in Carmen, King Melchior in Amahl and the Night Visitors and the title role in Gianni Schicchi.

Mr. Flaherty also enjoys an active concert and oratorio career, appearing with the Central Oregon Symphony as baritone soloist in Orff’s Carmina Burana and, more recently, with the Rogue Valley Symphony in the Fauré Requiem. A Montana native, Mr. Flaherty has called Oregon home for nearly a decade. He received his B.A. in Music from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles and trained in the Thornton Opera Studio of the University of Southern California graduate program in music.

When not performing, Mr. Flaherty pursues a second career as a landscape designer. He makes his home in historic Jacksonville, Oregon with his wife Katherine and two children, Aidan and Sophia.


Schaunard - Scott Ingham

Scott Ingham has been present in the Corvallis / Albany acting scene for several years, playing such roles as the Pirate King from Pirates of Penzance, the Dentist from Lil Shop of Horrors, the Wolf from Into the Woods, and Eddie from the Rocky Horror Show. Scott was most recently Ko-Ko in OSU's 08’ production of The Mikado. Scott was also Captain Corcoran in OSU’s 07’ production of H.M.S. Pinafore and Jabez Stone in the production of The Devil and Daniel Webster the year before. Scott has won the NATS competition several times. Scott has recently graduated from OSU with a degree in Vocal Performance and continues to study under Richard Poppino. His next endeavor after La Boheme will be OSU’s Pirates of Penzance.

Colline - Robert Stafford

Robert Stafford is a San Francisco native who sang his first operatic lead role at age 12 in Gian Carlo Menotti’s Amahl and the Night Visitors. After studying music synthesis, music production, and jazz piano at the Berklee College of Music, he received his Bachelor of Music degree from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Vocal Performance. Returning to California, he sang leading bass-baritone roles at Opera San José, West Bay Opera, Pocket Opera, Pacific Repertory Opera and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where he completed his Master of Music degree. A love of 18th Century music has since led him to sing concert solos with some of the country’s leading Baroque orchestras, including the American Bach Soloists, Apollo’s Fire, Musica Angelica, and Magnificat. Recent engagements have included the title role in Don Pasquale with Sonoma City Opera, Jupiter in Rameau’s Castor et Pollux with L’Opéra Français de New York, Pandolfe in Massenet’s Cendrillon at the Manhattan School of Music, and a concert of Buxtehude cantatas and Vaughan Williams’ Fantasia on Christmas Carols with Jeffrey Thomas and members of the American Bach Soloists at U.C. Davis. He has been a Vocal Fellow at The Tanglewood Music Center and has performed in Germany and The Netherlands.

Home at Last

Our first week back home has gone by in a flash!

Andrew has had two baseball games already. His team, the Royals, have won both games. The most exciting moment was in the last game. They were in the last inning, his team was up to bat and down by three, with two outs. Two team mates were on base and Andrew hit a double, bring the two on base in. The next person up to bat hit the ball and got out, but not before Andrew made the winning home-run slide. It was so exciting!

I started rehearsals for La Boheme. (The picture below is of me at my wig fitting. Ohhh, how I love big hair!) We did a musical run-through on Friday and the cast is magnificent. I feel very honored to be apart of it. Many times during the rehearsal my eyes teared up --- Puccini is a genius. The lady playing the lead role of Mimi is superb. All the male leads are great. The tenor, Joe Myers, has those golden high notes. (Joe and I did “The Merry Widow” together years ago with director Doug Nagel.)

It will be a fast and furious rehearsal schedule. We open in Grants Pass on May 3rd and then perform two shows at the Craterian in Medford; one on May 8th and the other on May 10th. Oh yeah…I have a fabulous costume up from San Francisco Opera. I loooooove it!

Steve is still in Hoonah and will be until June 1st. They have kept him busy all week. Every night, except Thursday, he had evening meetings; emergency board meetings, band concerts and budget meetings -- he was on-call all week. We miss him terribly and with an empty house he has resorted to eating school lunches and Romen noodles for dinner. I am counting the days until he is home again.

I hope you enjoy this week’s blog postings….it holds our last memories of Alaska.

Have a great week. Love Steve, Andrew and Tricia (a.k.a. Musetta)

Andrew's Perspective

Wednesday evening, before Andrew and I flew out of Hoonah, I asked Andrew if he would be willing to let me interview him. I wanted his perspective on our Alaskan adventure. He eagerly obliged, and as I set up the video camera, he said with a giggle, “Mom, I feel famous.”

He sat crossed legged in the dining room chair, with his back straight and at the ready. He began immediately by describing a typical day, “Playing, school and sleeping.” He then elaborated, “In Hoonah we spend a lot of time looking out the window, playing in the snow and walking to school.” He admitted that walking to school everyday was like a half and half fraction, “On a rainy day, oh yeah, I wish we had a car, but when it’s sunny," he nodded, " I’m fine with walking.”

I was curious as to what "playing"meant to him. Without a breath, he launched into the many details of his Star Wars Lego creations, “I play with Lego’s all the time.” His feet suddenly hit the ground and quickly left the camera's view. He returned with three Lego models that he built last week. Picking up the black and yellow aircraft and turning it in front of the camera he added factually, “I can make this Anikin’s ship in about two hours, but for someone like you, it would probably take a whole day.” He gave me a side ways glance, making sure I wasn’t offended. He went on to describe the “Spiderwalker” and the “Clone Ship,” and asked me politely to move the camera to get them all in the shot. He then demonstrated the missile launching capacity of the Clone Ship; the tiny bomb grazed the side of the video camera.

For fun he also loves snowballs fights…anywhere, anytime and with anybody who is up to the challenge. Stealing icicles off the neighbor's roof line and using them as swords and then eating them like a popsicle ranked high on the list of cool things to do. He concluded his fun list with the “how-to’s” of snow fort building. “Building a snow fort with my Dad was great.” (This is this first time that Drew called Steve “Dad.” He does it twice during this interview.) “You need a metal shovel and a pick to hammer away things off the edges. Soft snow is the best so you can shape it over your head and then over night it freezes into solid ice.” Asked what you do in a snow fort he replied, “You know, lie in there and read, oh and load it up with snowballs for your next attack.”

He stopped for a moment, distracted by something outside, “Kitty Patrol,” he said, “lots of cats out there that run around the streets, but let’s get back to the talking about the playing.” Andrew filled me in on the games he played at school with his friends. Ultimate Dodge Ball and Army were his top choices. His classmates were described as being “active,” an important recess requirement for his choice of game playing. I asked Andrew what his most fun subject was inside the classroom. Before I could even finish the question he said, “Math. Math is my favorite. I like the brain challenge it gives me.”

It was obvious that Andrew was not at a loss for excitement in Hoonah, but I wanted to go a little deeper and get a sense of his before Alaska and after Alaska. “I didn’t really want to come to Alaska. It was small. Eight hundred people, and I was leaving my friends and family.” Andrew's first impression of Hoonah didn’t help his apprehension of moving, “When I first got here – whoa, this was one of the messiest town I had ever seen.” He points out the window, “There’s two houses that we can see right now that, in my opinion, should be broken down. Someone would build a better house.” He paused for a second and sympathetically added, “But it is a little hide-out for the kitties…so I guess it’s ok.”

Surprisingly, now that Andrew has lived in Hoonah he isn't keen on packing up just yet, “ I would have liked to live here longer – three or four years and then move on,” He paused for a instant and then added with a smile, “move on to Hawaii if I could.”

Was he afraid of anything in Alaska? “ Just bears." he said, "they give me the chills.”

Highlights of his six-and-half months in Alaska were snowball fights, catching a fifty-three pound halibut and, “I liked walking to the Cannery with my mom and dad. That was fun.” (This is the second time he calls Steve “Dad” and the fact that he liked to walk to the Cannery was news to me…every time I wanted to go he would complain, roll his eyes and ask me if we could call somebody for a ride. But like clockwork, once the walk started and he had a snowball in his hand, not another negative word was spoken. )

When he gets back to Medford, he is most excited about seeing his friends and talking his First grade teacher, Mr Blaydon, into letting him join his “Cream Ball” (dodge ball with a twist) P.E. class, “Since I’m bigger, I’ll be on the girls team…they need my help because they usually loose. Plus then I could cream Mr. Blaydon,” he gave a sinister laugh.

When I asked him what he was going to miss about Hoonah, Andrew began to get a little melancholy. He solemnly said, “I am going to miss my friends, everybody I know.”

He became more serious when I inquired if he had learned anything about himself while living in Alaska. “Yes, I have -- that I shouldn’t be afraid to go new places.” Then he addressed me with sweet honesty in his eyes. “I was afraid before I came here. I started crying when I knew we had to move to Hoonah,” he gathered himself in, “Now I am going to cry because I have to leave.”

Looking at him and watching his eyes start to tear up, I let a few moments pass and then told him how proud I was of him. It is true. He made the best out of the cold, the dark, the wet and extreme change of environment. He was the light in the cloudy days. He was a good friend to his classmates, great student and loving son. He shared his enthusiasm and energy with everyone. His curiosity and bravery made our traveling to the last frontier a blessed adventure.

He wiped away his tears. I gave him a big hug, “Mom,” he said, “There are so many things I want to do before we leave Alaska; crabbing, seeing my friends and building another snow fort.” He paused with a innocent smile, “I guess we will have to come back.”

Two World's Unite

Andrew took this picture. I think it is beautiful. There are so many things I love about this picture; the eagle's eye, the bare wooden pole and the shocking contrast of the electrical cable to the stoic beauty of the great bird.