Mission accomplished

The Moravian Masterclass is over! Thanks to everyone, especially Tim Cheek, pianist, coach and personal savior. I accomplished my primary goal: master the Foreign Princess in Rusalka. I'll work on shaping it a bit more, and maybe give it a little more repetition, but once I get back home I'll be moving on. Probably Sieglinde next, or maybe Brünnhilde in Walküre. I had a wonderful time, made at least one new friend, and met some great people. If I'm free next year (and not still recovering from the debt of THIS trip!) I might even come back to work on Milada in Dalibor. The aria is sitting really well, and B and C just keep getting better and better (thank you, Sheri!) Pantelis Polychronidis, a friend from U. Michigan, is apparently playing masterclasses in Vienna--so I need to find out more, and maybe I can go see him! I'm currently in Kroměříž, which after two days I can ALMOST pronounce correctly... almost. I think it's the proximity of ř and 'sh' that makes it so hard. Small failure in the plan to trace my ancestors (it's raining like mad), but I'm hoping I might make it back in between the Salzburg Festival and meeting Graham in Vienna. Tomorrow: Mozart Requiem at the Karlskirche. I am really, really looking forward to it. Also, I'm open to the fact that I might cry. Another wonderful thing, and also slightly torturous: drafts of the headshots are finally online, and I have to pick the finalists for retouching. Almost as bad as going through recordings. :) Absolutely loving this trip, and the Czech Republic. It's a beautiful country, full of rolling hills and a patchwork of lush green fields. After seeing the land in Moravia, I instantly understood the appeal of Central Texas to so many Czech immigrants: it probably looked just like home. So excited about Austria! I might even look around for a coach to work with while I'm there. Need to keep working on "Pleurez" and polish it up some more. I'm kind of irked I didn't bring the Amelia scene with me, but I can probably dredge up all the words if I listen to it again and just write them down. I don't think I'm very far from having that and "Jak je mi" ready for auditions; maybe a month of working through it with my awesome coaches. Thank you, life and friends and Graham, for getting me here.