Autumn in New York
Hello all. I am home here in the city and off the road at last. I have just come from a very successful and enjoyable Figaro with Opera Southwest in New Mexico(I sang the Countess) where I made new friends that I already treasure, and just after that a fundraiser with the Durham Symphony in North Carolina. The benefit was for The Center for Child and Family Health associated with Duke University. Last year a smaller benefit raised enough to start a Fund called the Healthy Futures Fund, which is designed to help families with insurance get a little help when they need it for a visit or a monthly payment. Last year 91 children got healthcare because of this fund. This year the event was three times as effective, so who knows what will be accomplished by these amazing people? I have to say that it may be my proudest professional achievement to date. Applause and a good review is one thing, helping a family and a child in need, very humbling and deeply exciting. My thanks to The Center for allowing me to participate in such extraordinary work.
The weather is turning winter chilly and rainy, but the city is, as always, full of life and possibility. I have been having a wonderful time visiting with my “singer family” which consists of friends I have made on the job all the way back to college. One of the things that makes the travel associated with this career bearable is the recurrence of colleagues in your life from job to job. For Thanksgiving I will be splitting my time between my singer family and my actual family and that for me is the perfect combination. Then of course, crack that whip and get back to work. I have a little hiatus now to deal with the business side of the career and then after the first of the year I am off to the races with lots of increadible rep, Mozart Mass in C, Mahler 4 and the Canteloube Chants D’auvergne, Berlioz Romeo and Juliet, Bruckner Te Deum, and in the spring, my first little attempt at Butterfly (gasp). What an increadible year is on the horizon.
I am so blessed in my friends, in my family and in my work. That, along with my diabolical little pork bellied dog are the things I am most grateful for. Happy Thanksgiving to all!