L'amico Fritz

Well, nearly a week has past, but here it is!


Last week concluded a successful run of the opera at school. Dad and George came to town to see the show and a good time was had by all!

Dad flew in on Friday and we hung out during the day at my house. Friday night was my opening, and although it wasn't fantastic, it went very well.

Saturday, dad and I drove down to Sonoita to do some wine tasting. We started atDos Cabezas and then continued on to Canelo Hills where I gave my dad a tour of the grounds. Photographic evidence:








We concluded our trip by heading over to Callaghan Vineyard.

Full of wine tasting, we drove back up to Tucson to pick George up at the airport. Then it was dinner and off to the opera, this time to watch the other cast. You can see photos of their dress rehearsal here.

Dad and George enjoying coffee


Sunday morning Dad and George came to church we me, and then it was off to the opera again. Dad had to leave after the first act to catch his flight, but George was able to stay for the whole thing (Score: Dad 2 1/3, George 2). Sunday's performance went much better, and I was proud of everyone!

Back from Santa Barbara

First of all, many thanks go to Ken, Karen, Chris and Christine for making my trip to Santa Barbara so enjoyable! I had a great time!

First of all, my audition went very well. I really felt that I sang close to the best of my ability, and that's no small feat at an audition where you have 5 minutes to impress. Unfortunately I did not impress enough to get a call back! I did not get to sing for the fabulous Marilyn Horne, but Warren Jones was heard my audition. He didn't look bored during my audition, at least I had that going for me.

The rest of my time in Santa Barbara was spent hanging out with Chris and Ken. Ken gave me a tour of the town, and we had lunch outside. This was follow by a fabulous dinner cooked by Ken and a long evening in the recording studio with Chris.

I had a great time and I'm looking forward to tech week for L'amico Fritz. (Check out an article about it here. More about the opera to come.)

Here are a couple of photo from my trip. You can see many more here.

Off to Santa Barbara!

Greetings all!

Well, good news from the old pueblo (or Tucson, whichever you wish to call it). I survived my cold, countless hours of research and my audition this morning. The audition was for the University of Arizona President's Competition. Each area of the music department (voice, piano, strings, and woodwinds/brass/percussion) hold audtions to pick a student to represent them at the President Concert, held at the end of January. The winner gets to perform with the orchestra, so essentially it's a concerto competition.

So I auditioned with a set of songs by American composer (and native of Wisconsin) Lee Hoiby. And I won! It's very exciting, and I'm really looking forward singing the songs with the orchestra.

Now I'm in rehearsal for the opera, and will be flying to Santa Barbara for an audition with Music Academy of the West. My audition is tomorrow afternoon, and then I fly back Sunday for another rehearsal here in Tucson...

Busy me!

Voting Day

Yes! I remembered to vote today!!!!!! Of course, I would have totally forgotten if it hadn't been for my neighbor Rachel. As I was leaving for the day, she was pulling into the drive. I starting to pack my car, and she asked me if I knew where we were suppose to go to vote. I thought for a moment, and said, "I have it on my fridge!" And so I did. So, I was reminded to vote, and I even got a sticker for my time. I always feel really good after I vote, like I did something important. Which, of course, I did! I was sad to see all of the empty lines on the voter register. I hope everyone in Tucson gets out to vote before 7:00!

I'm happy to report that the concert went very well on Sunday. There was a great crowd and I feel pretty good about how I sang. Like I went 3-4 with 2 RBI and also drew a walk!

Sorry I don't have any photos, but if you go over to Canelo Hills Blog, you can see my ugly mug!

Upcoming Performance

When I started this blog last year, I intended it to be an account of my travels and performances. Sort of an open diary for my family and friends. In the past year, I think I have done a pretty good job at posting my whereabouts. However, I seem to leave out important information; the music I am performing, when and where the concerts are, and so on. I usually just post non-performance related things, like; "I'm in Somewhereville, look at the funny building."

I have wondered whether or not to start a separate blog, one in conjunction with my website I am trying to get going. For now, I'll keep it like this and if there is ever a time when I need to expand, I will!

So... that leads me to announce what I have coming up:



Yes! It's Gilbert & Sullivan with the University Community Chorus. Dr. Schauer was kind enough to ask me back to join the chorus and a fine group of student soloist to partake in this joyous occasion. "Trial by Jury" was Gilbert and Sullivan's first full collaboration, and started them off on their merry way as a librettist/composer duo. (if you haven't seen Topsy-Turvy and like G&S even a little bit, you must see this movie). I play the part of the Judge in this concert version and end up with the girl in the end!

I wish you could all be there to see me!

Windy

Well, my heart goes out to all of the people in Southern California, especially my friends Todd, Nishi, Tim and Karen. I spent some down time reading about the fires, hope you and your friends make it through okay!

On a lighter, but not completely unrelated, note; here are two silly videos from my trip to Wilcox. You can't hear a damn word either Kathryn or I say, but you can see you beautiful it was there, and see how windy it was.


I explain of the varieties of pumpkins:


Kat's Southern Arizona inspired version of Oklahoma:

Hard Day on the Farm

There comes a time in a man's life when he must brave the elements. When he must roll up his sleeves and get his hands dirty, enjoy the dirt under his nails, the sun on the back of his neck... yes; a man must break a sweat to find find nourishment. Or go to Trader Joe's, whatever is easier, really.

Today I wanted to investigate where the food actually comes from, and have a bit of fun picking my own! Kat and I drove to Wilcox (about 90 miles) today to visit Apple Annie's Orchard and Produce Farm (which are actually located in two different places!). Despite the windy weather (dust!) and the crowds, it was a great day. I came away with a big bag full of apples (about 4 pounds of mostly Fuji and Granny Smith), one awesome pumpkin, and bag full of tasty looking fresh veggies.... so many photos!!!














Some more photos here.

Done!

Wow,
Done with Lucia in Pheonix! It was a great weekend. Click here to see photos of costumes. I'll bother you once more with opera videos:

This is a video of the baritone who sang Enrico in our production, great guy and incredible baritone:

Weston Hurt sing "Cruda funestra smania"

AZ Opera in Phoenix!

Well, the weekend is here, and I'm enjoying my working vacation! I'm up in Phoenix singing in the chorus for Arizona Opera's production of Lucia di Lammermoor. We have four performances this weekend (Thursday through Sunday) and the opera puts us up in the Wyndham in Downtown Phoenix. It's not too shabby, and it's a pretty exciting place to be, with the Diamondbacks in the NLCS and the happening downtown PHX nightlife... (it was impossible to find food last night after the performance!).

If you are interested, here are some clips of the opera from youtube:
First Act by the Fountain:

The Mad Scene


And a couple of photos: (I promise to post more!)
Adam enjoying our bus ride with only 1 near death experience (thanks to our attentive driver Dan!)

Jay, how did he get the good wig?

Christopher and I

Winner! And Canelo Hills Wine Opening

Wow... I am a geek. Proof:


CBS was nice enough print a story on the league home page! My team was the Geronimo Catchers (named after the street I live on and the position I respect most!), and as you can see, I finished second in my division. However, the top two teams in each division make the playoffs, and I made the push to the top!!!! In case you are curious, here was may line up for the last week: (this was an American League only league)



The other recent big event was the Canelo Hills Grand Opening. It was a great success, and tons of people joined the Muellers this past Saturday. We sold a lot of wine and people loved it!!!!
Photographic evidence:
HERE

Wine Country

In anticipation of the Canelo Hills Grand Opening next week, I took my friend George (Visiting from St. Louis) to Sonoita for wine tasting and then to Patagonia for a picnic and a tour of the Nature Conservancy Bird Sanctuary. The weather was great (most of the day) and all of the wine was amazing!!!!

First we stopped at Canelo Hills to visit Joan and Tim. They were busy getting ready for their opening (which I will be working at!) and getting ready to harvest the grapes. Tim let us sample a Syrah that had just finished fermenting and was just about to be put into barrels for aging.
After getting the tour of Canelo Hills, we moved next door to Callaghan Vineyards to sample some wine. Then it was on to Ranco Rossa, and finally to Dos Cabezas Winery.

Photos:
George and I

View from Rancho Rossa


Then it was on to Patagonia. First a picnic (I made a quinoa salad and a garbanzo bean sandwich salad, it was so yummy!), then walking around town (we got espresso!) and then to the sanctuary. Unfortunately, the weather turned on us, so we didn't get to hike, but we did see hummingbirds!

Photos:







Because the lunch from the previous day was so awesome, we decided to have it for dinner with our favorite wine that we tasted, a Viognier from Dos Cabezas.



Doesn't that look yummy?

All Homemade and Fat Free!

What? Is this a food blog? :)
No, here's a non-food picture:


Last week I remade a 'refried' pinto bean recipe from the New McDougall cookbook and decided try a version of homemade enchiladas with a sauce from the same cookbook. They were pretty yummy! I served them with a great coleslaw. (from the same cookbook)

I'm lazy and I am not posting the recipes, and besides, I did them by the book, so that would be copyright infringement or something...
The stove:

The Sauce:

Finished:

Plated:


I wish I could figure out how to photograph food!