Hi! I’m back in New York after a very refreshing trip in Wyoming!! Never have I been so close to nature, and far from urbanisation haha. But being away from cellular network, traffic noise and smelly subways have done me a lot of good and I’m starting to think that city-dwellers need these getaways every once in a while to detox. Anyway, this post gives a pictorial overview of what happened in the last few weeks of this semester!
Concerts
Domingo – ’nuff said. He was amazing in Verdi’s La Traviata! Also, the MET production features an interestingly modern and minimalist set.
The soprano (in white) – Olga Peretyatko – was a last minute replacement for Carmen Giannattasio who was ill. She did AMAZINGLY despite being asked on the day-of if she could sing the title role. She had to go through a bout of costume fittings, briefings and rehearsals, but nonetheless she came out a shining star that night!
One of the operas I was most excited about this season was Richard Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier! I was also very glad that I could watch Renee Fleming sing the role of the Marschallin and Elīna Garanča as Octavian. The MET orchestra was also phenomenal on this one (horns!!)
And the final opera that I watched this season was Richard Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman. It is such an interesting opera because it is one of the few operas based on mythology, and it also has much symbolism in it! The MET’s incoming music director Yannick Nézet-Séguin led the orchestra in this opera and he is a really exciting musician (:
I hang out a lot with pianists in MSM (V and D I’m looking at you two) therefore I inevitably learn a lot and listen to a lot more piano music than I used to. This semester I discovered the godlike-ness of pianist Marc-André Hamelin. He played two concerts in Carnegie, the first a duo-piano concert with pianist Leif Ove Andsnes who by the way is also very god-like; and the second in replacing Yefim Bronfman with the Emerson Quartet for Brahm’s Piano Quintet.
Birthday
It definitely felt a little strange to not be in Singapore on my birthday – I don’t think I’ve ever been overseas whenever it came round. But thank you friends for remembering and celebrating with me hahaha
Thank you Jesus for giving me this life and friends to share it with!
Jabez came over!
The thing with LDR is that Paktor (physically, that is) doesn’t happen for many months, then suddenly when the two people are together it’s paktor on steroids. So we were tourists for those 3 days when he was here, and then he left and he’s now in some corner of the Earth being a farmer.
Bonus Picture
Are you hungry now?
OK the next photo-dump will feature snapshots of Wyoming!
“And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” Colossians 3:17
Charity Kiew 