We had two great performances of Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi over the weekend. We being the “Winter Opera St. Louis” or perhaps the New Opera St. Louis, but I think we’re officially supposed to go with Winter Opera. It was fun! The best part was that the entire opera was in one act and took about one hour to perform. Usually it is performed with two other one act operas, but I’m glad it wasn’t. It was great fun to play and the singers were fantastic, particularly the man who sang the lead. Instead of performing at Missouri Baptist University, these shows were at St. Ambrose (on the hill). My boyfriend was finally able to attend (he had always had his own performances during previous shows) so I was glad of that! I certainly see him perform enough 😉
The Suzuki workshop at Webster was just great. I learned so much watching Gabe Bolkosky (and a few other teachers, including my trainer, Vera McCoy-Sulentic–then again I always learn a lot from her 😉 ) teach a bunch of group classes. As readers of this blog know, I get very stressed about group classes. The best part was, a few days ago, I dreamt I was teaching a group class, AND it went fantastically! The children were well behaved, and I had all kinds of fantastic new ideas. Unfortunately…I woke up and didn’t remember any of those ideas. Oops. But back to the workshop–as with all Suzuki events such as this, I left feeling very inspired and full of new ideas! I’ve decided to attend the Ottawa Suzuki Institute in June to finish my training (I’ll be lacking book four), and I know that will be fantastic as well.
Performance wise it has been a busy few weeks, and there’s still more to come! Our quartet concert went wonderfully, and now I am in the middle of rehearsing for a concert Thursday night at the Contemporary Museum of Art with Chamber Project St. Louis. I’m excited and honored to be playing with them!
I am currently making a delicious loaf of bread for a potluck tomorrow. Tonight was the first time I was able to use my Christmas present of an AWESOME Kitchenaid Stand Mixer. Right after I got it, I went on a diet 🙁 but finally I used it! It’s a bacon, egg, and cheese bread, and no, it’s not in the least bit healthy. I can’t wait!
I have been trying to practice more, but unfortunately today my darn index finger started acting up (again) at the base. I don’t know what I’m doing wrong. My good bow is currently in the shop, so I suppose I’ll take it easy until I get that back, and hopefully the finger will heal. This is why I can’t have nice things 🙁