I never thought I would have thoughts on ERWARTUNG -- but I do!

I want to share something I worked on in April and May, ahead of my debut of ERWARTUNG with Peter Sellars and Essa-Pekka Salonen in San Francisco. I wrote an essay on my process around understanding the role of THE WOMAN in Schoenberg's ERWARTUNG. 

Preparing Erwartung: Interpretive Notes and Translation

This piece is special to me, because in writing it, I realized how much thought and research I put into each role I sing...even the ones I have sung many times (a post on AIDA is coming soon)! 

I'm fascinated with yin-yangness of it all: The pull of the music and the push of the words; The black and white of the notes and words on the page and the rich colors of the emotions behind them; The echo of past voices singing through (but hopefully not drowning out) mine. I like the confrontation. I need the contrast. It turns out, there is contrast even within me: the words I write are the counterbalance to those that I sing...and it's time that my words had their time on stage.

Reclaiming my space

I love writing, and I always have. But something about modern technology, and the ease of publication, cheapened the process for me. A little voice inside my head said "Why add your voice to the noise? Why create more linguistic litter?"

For many years, the little voice won--which is why this blog went silent. I still wrote, but I never shared. I've decided to reclaim this little corner of the internet to keep an archive. The fact is, I have lots of thoughts, and some of them are worth sharing; maybe If I take the time to write them down, I'll sleep better! It's worth a try. 

So, here I am again. Thanks for reading.

--ME