"Poised to become the world's reigning Salome, with any company lucky enough to get her"
Archive
Flipside archive
8 August, Airbus 380 from Sydney to London.
I am once again caught fascinated by the turns and developments, or in the case of the past few months, the subtle shifts that can occur that simply alter the entire landscape of one’s life. If you had asked me when I wrote last – from my horizontal position on my mother’s couch – what is your focus, where do you see yourself in a year, how do you feel about work and career, and most of all, how do you...
Stockholm, May 5, 2010
Yup. I’m still sick. In fact, as soon as I thought I was out of the woods, it got worse. And I can’t even really claim ash-cloud asthma or three-day train rides through Europe as my excuse. I drove and flew, and arrived in Stockholm for concerts – just in time for strep throat and a relentless fever. Canceling. Hm. I’ve never done that before, and frankly, IT SUCKS LEMONS! And I’m not just...
Venice, 11 April, 2010
The sun is shining! That’s always a good sign, isn’t it? I am battling through what must be the worst cold and flu season to date. It’s actually easier to count the weeks I’ve been well than those completely dominated by my runny nose, achy body, hoarse throat and complete lack of momentum. I’m sure there are people out there who know how to push through these kinds of things – I am just so unused to being sick,...
Venice, New Years Day, 2010
I am appreciative of the simple and gentle things! It’s been an extremely challenging and trying final month of the decade, and I am ever so glad to have come through it, with relative sanity intact and what I hope is not too many nasty or lasting bruises. I write this as a commentary on my first ever experience of being booed. The recent production of Verdi’s Macbeth at the Vienna Staatsoper was no hit with the premiere audience or with...
Venice, December 31, 2009
New Year’s Eve Blue Moon 2009 from Cathy Towle Intuitive Earth www.cathytowle.com I think it is rather significant that we have a Blue Moon tonight as we ring out the old year and ring in the new. And it is a wonderful time to partake in some Blue Moon magick! The chart of this full moon, as well as it’s other magical correspondences, makes it one that can help us manifest changes in our lives that have been brewing since August 2007. Plus there...
Wien, 2 November, 2009
There are lessons in life that seem to come back over and over again. Not sure if that means, by definition, that I didn’t get it the first time and the universe is patiently and stubbornly committed that I do… Or if it’s simply that all things of substance have layer upon layer of truth to them, and that I simply could not learn anything that was beyond where I was at the time. Being an irritatingly impatient person...
17 October, 2009
I just finished my first Tosca with Nashville Opera. What a joy it was to work with my dearest director, John Hoomes, again! After doing Salome with him 18 months ago in Milwaukee, I knew that I wanted to work with him again. And when he offered me Tosca, he made this season a completely happy one ~ regardless of what comes next! What a character she is, Tosca! And Puccini’s music is so spectacular! It’s...
12 June, 2009
Once, about six years ago, I had an epiphany while brushing my teeth. I was brushing along, worrying about how to kick start a career singing, and I was looking at myself in the mirror of my bathroom. Somewhere in my head, or in my ears, I heard a thought, or a statement, that said: Just do your part! Practice! Study! We’ll take care of the rest! We, who???? Anyway, it is very clear to me now, that nothing...
31 May, 2009
I have been blessed with a career that not only has taken me to great places, and introduced me to great people, but that gives me a chance to regularly express myself through the medium of my talents. Often I am reminded by people I meet that this is not something most people get to do – certainly not at work. I am sitting on the train leaving Gothenburg after one of the most intense and awesome five days of...
16 April, 2009
Welcome address to freshman parents at Boston Conservatory, given by Karl Paulnack, pianist and director of music division at Boston Conservatory. “One of my parents’ deepest fears, I suspect, is that society would not properly value me as a musician, that I wouldn’t be appreciated. I had very good grades in high school, I was good in science and math, and they imagined that as a doctor or a research chemist or an engineer, I might be more appreciated than I...
15 March, 2009
Life is pretty awesome! I think I am finally finding a little bit of perspective on this crazy life style of mine. It’s still crazy and terribly overwhelming at times, but there are also insights that pull the plug on some of the nerviness of it. Here are some silly ones: When you travel to an unfamiliar place, loaded with luggage, dog, and pre-rehearsal or performance nerves… I tend to be uneasy about the practical things. Where do I get my...
February 8, 2009
Finally starting to catch up to date with my website entries, I now must share about the most amazing change in my life…. The last week of September I brought home my newest family member, a little Miniature Pinscher, named Maestro! Actually, being part of the M-litter at the Bellocean Kennel, his full name is Bellocean’s Marvelous Maestro. I can’t help it, I have to share a whole bunch of pictures, because he is soooo adorable, and he is growing up...
February 7, 2009
Cardiff It’s Sunday in a very gray and misty Cardiff. I am halfway through the rehearsal period here for my second production of Salome. It is such a joy to be back on the horse singing this incredible music. It is difficult to find a more perfect score, although going to last night’s performance of Marriage of Figaro one finds a great contender… Good thing there is no need to choose. I marvel at these wonderful...
7 September, 2008
Most of the past few months has gone by in a 100 mile/hr haze. What is it about deadlines and expectations that makes 24 hrs seem like not enough? And it’s always the alarm clock in the morning that is too early… I’m in Malmö at the theater where I made my professional debut exactly four years ago, and I am actually even staying in the same building, except I’ve graduated to the top floor apartment… The...
22 March, 2008
Salzburg Easter Festival Once in a while you have one of those experiences that palpably heighten your quality of life. The kind where you can feel everybody around you respond and shift. The kind when it’s really difficult to just sit still, rather than leap to your feet and shout, “YES, YES, YOU GOT IT!!” Tonight I had the immense pleasure of taking my mom to hear the Berlin Philharmonic play at the Easter Festival in Salzburg. It’s part...
3 February, 2008
The past few weeks have been nothing short of extraordinary! All opera roles are clearly not all created equal… Salome is the role of lifetime for me. It is as if it was written for my particular set of talents and sensitivities. And I guess I have known that intuitively for quite some time, but it was nevertheless shocking to see it materialize inside of three weeks in a very snowy Milwaukee. I was once again...
12 January 2008
Every year for the past many years, I have sent out a holiday letter – a summary of sorts – about the past year, to my friends. In certain ways this letter is “normal”, but I also have used it to express my thoughts about life as it seems to me, as I experience it, and as it challenges me. It started out going out to a small number of close friends. People I shared my thoughts with...
31 December 2007
Christmas! It’s always been a special time of the year for me. Never because of presents and parties – although I enjoy a good bash and a well-thought-out present as much as the next person… It’s always been about atmosphere. About slowing it down, and taking stock. About coming to the end of something by accepting the truth of something new. I do see the religious meaning of Christmas as a symbol for how...
3 December 2007
Singing in the solo quartet of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony is a strange experience. It is probably one of the shortest and peculiarly demanding in the repertoire. After days of light rehearsals and hanging out in hotels, waiting through an hour or two of other repertoire and the first three movements of the Symphony, one is suddenly called upon to sing a few minutes of furiously fast and exposed high phrases. One would think it could not be...
3 August 2007
I am traveling the South Island of New Zealand in between concerts with the Auckland Philharmonia. Wow! This is a spectacularly beautiful place. Rich in dramatic scenery and stark contrasts. Inhabited by some of the most geneorus and friendly people I’ve ever met. There is this closeness to nature here that seems to drive each person. Very immediate, and very unadulterated. I just spent four days in Queenstown and Glenorchy. The land of The Lord of the Rings…. ...
12 July 2007
I was listening to Caroline Myss yesterday, and she said something that flies in the face of what we are constantly told in our romanticized western culture. She said, the most important thing in life isn’t love, it is choice! Love can be many things; obsessive, clingy, demanding, self-centered, heavy and down right abusive. Or it can be light, generous, respectful, admiring, affectionate, and with no concern for the fulfillment of selfish needs. It can be freedom. A...
1 July 2007
Sometimes life gives us lemons so that we’ll have the opportunity to learn how to make lemonade. That’s something that I’ve noticed over and over again in my own life. And let’s face it – nothing wrong with lemonade! I believe that it is practically impossible to distinguish between the things we really desire and the things to which we have just simply grown accustomed without the forced experience of contrast. How would you know light if...
10 May 2007
What strikes me today is the enormous sense of gratitude that I feel for all the things that I am priviledged to experience in life. Having now finished my run of Turandot at the Met, with a great sense of completion, pride, and such fun, I am struck by the enormity of getting to do such a show. It is a spectacular production. Probably the grandest opera production of its kind. Tuesday night I was standing in the...
14 April 2007
Yesterday in the Greenroom we were having the greatest conversations. All the Turandot cover-guys and myself. We were talking pretty extensively about death and dying. (As one does while covering a show where heads are being chopped off!!) About medical treatment and final wishes, and particularly about amazing and funny stories in the context of terminal illness. I spoke about my friend Harvey, about the way that illness changed him and gave him a chance to...
8 April 2007
New York I love new beginnings! Spring is almost in the air here in New York, and there were actual little shoots on the bushes in the park this morning. I can’t wait for all the green, and the cherry blossoms in Central Park. Last week I jumped in on short notice and sang my very first Turandot at the Met. It was soooo much fun!! I just can’t get over that I get to go on stage with all...
March 2007
New York The beginning of this year really was fun, and so exhausting. I am certainly on a major learning curve, and one of the things to get under my belt is how to pace myself and how to make sure I stay healthy through stressful periods. Tosca in Malmö was a complete delight! My singing colleagues were wonderful and inspiring. Working on-stage with Tito Beltran was a treat, as both he and I are pretty comfortable improvising,...
28 January 2007
Sweden Outside my train window is a pristinely snow white landscape. The sun is at about a 30 degree angle off the horizon and it is just about Noon. There is hardly anything as beautiful as Sweden in the middle of winter – when there is snow and sun too. I’m on an amazingly civilized train ride to Malmö, where I will do my first ever Tosca’s. In concert. You even get free internet with your...
7 January 2007
New York Today my flip calendar says: “Until your knees hit the floor, you’re just playing at life, and on some level you’re scared because you know you’re just playing. The moment of surrender is not when life is over. It’s when it begins.” So profound. I’ve heard that so many comedians are privately very serious and philospohical individuals. That makes sense. It’s as if, if you don’t “know” life at its most serious and base, then you...
21 December 2006
New York I can’t believe it’s been three months since I last updated this page. Time is flying by, and though much of it has been fun, some of it has also just been “hold tight and wait” kind of material. On the fun side, I did a few wonderfully fun performances of Die Zauberflöte at the Met in October. My fellow Ladies are just about the nicest and most diligent and talented people I’ve ever worked with. I...
9 September 2006
New York I’m back in New York again, after three months of traveling. It’s been an amazing summer. Challenging, fun, successful, thought-provoking, exhausting, and hot, hot, hot. I did my first radio show in Sweden. Hosted an hour and a half of talk and music. What would you say and play if you had the opportunity? Tough question, I found. In the end, it was hard to narrow the script down. There is...
23 June 2006
Tokyo So much has happened since I last wrote anything for this page. Some of it very well publicized, but most, especially the things that are most important in the greater scheme of things, are very much still private and “local”. I am overwhelmingly happy, of course, for the unbelievable explosion that happened in my career on April 1st when I made my surprise early debut at the Met. The press and the acknowledgement I have enjoyed have been amazing....
March 2006
This month I am reaching a couple of really big milestones in my life. One is turnng 40. How did that happen, anyway? It’s so surprisingly soon… :-) The other is starting work at the Metropolitan Opera. I sort of like thinking about them together – the latter makes the former seem much more palatible… Somehow, turning 40 isn’t as scary once you have something to show for the first forty years of your life… And,...
June 2005
I have had the great fortune, although I have not always appreciated it as such, to have a very long period of my life be outside of music, aspiring towards a career, but needing, for practical reasons, to engage fully in other jobs and activities. Although I have known since my early twenties that I wanted to sing professionally, a long series of events and obstacles have led me down a rather slow path toward making my living singing. It is...