Shifting Gears

From carefree student to harried freelancer in just a week! I've been spending most of my nights in rehearsals for 'Boheme' and 'Cenerentola' (chorus, of course). 'Boheme' doesn't provide too many challenges since it's only about ten minutes of music. The tricky part with Puccini is knowing exactly where to should "Andiam!" or something similar, because you're often sitting around for ten minutes with nothing to sing. 'Cenerentola', while the music is easy, has SO many words! I've really got to get going with my memorisation since I am not the world's fastest memoriser. Especially with choral music. I feel like with solo music I can get in touch with the meaning of a poem and really get inside the construction of the words. Opera libretti (9 times out of 10) do not typically offer the same riches that Goethe or Verlaine can provide...

I'm also trying to get all of those fun "getting established" things sorted (cell phone, bike, health insurance, finding grocery stores, etc.). It's nice to be back in Philadelphia with all of its gritty quirkiness. I'm definitely missing the UK though...