My Under the Tuscan Sun Moment!
/So a lot has happened since my last update so I am going to cleave this into two parts. Italy and London and the end of University and where I am now, sunny Brisbane at the Lisa Gasteen National Opera School!
The end of La Boheme was such a joy and it was a real shame to leave the production behind as it headed down to Wellington for the rest of the season. I was up the morning after closing night, ready to head to Italy. I arrived in Rome after 30 hours of travelling feeling like an absolute zombie. To make matters worse, I arrived at 7.00 am and had to wait until 3.00 pm to check into my airbnb, so I stored my luggage at the station and headed out into sweltering Rome. It really is an amazing city and walking around so early in the morning meant I escaped the heat and the tourists which was marvelous. Much like Brisbane is now, traversing Rome in the middle of the day involved playing a fun game of find the air con or find the cathedral in order to escape from the heat. But I persevered and made it through, just, collapsing on the bed of my airbnb as soon as I could. The next day I headed to the Baths of Caracalla before meeting wonderful Ben Reason, my fellow singer back at the airbnb before we headed out for some more exploring. Over the next couple of days we were tourists supreme, with highlights being the Palantine Hill and Roman Forum. It is remarkable how much has been preserved and it is always so incredible to think of how people were living all those years ago. It was then time to meet up with all the others in Florence before heading to our home for the next week, Villa Petrolo in Tuscany.
The others I speak of were my fellow singers, Elisabeth Harris and Joanna Foote, and Natalie Gyles, Patricia’s assistant and all round wonderful human being. Arriving at the villa was the most surreal experience. I’ll be honest, most of the week I felt like I was destined to wake up from this crazy fever dream. The villa had about a million rooms, with a central hall where we would work with Wyn Davies and hold one of our three concerts. Looking out from the top of the villa, we were greeted with the sight of the rolling hills of Tuscany covered with vineyards, some of them belonging to Petrolo! But enough about going on about this portal into another world, we had work to do! Mornings were devoted to the study of La Bella Lingua with our amazing teacher, Giancarla. Giancarla was bright and bubbly and by the end of the week had us conversing for most of the class in Italian. She taught to everyone’s differing levels and gave us all such confidence to really try and give it a go. One little victory for me was talking to my taxi driver, who spoke no english, for the whole ride back from one of our concerts to the villa. Both the taxi driver and I had so much fun and I really loved having the chance to try out my skills.
Afternoons for us singers involved working under the cruel and demanding tutelage of Wyn Davies. I jest of course because although he may be demanding, Wyn might be one of the most kind and delightful human beings on the face of the planet. And for those that know me and my slight tendency to call everyone a delightful and wonderful human being, I do mean it! With Wyn we coached Italian repertoire which lead to the development of a recital programme involving all four singers, with solos and duets and ensembles that were a joy to sing. The concert took place in a small town 20 minutes drive from the villa called Montevarchi. The second was on our home turf in the villa and it was great to meet everyone afterwards over dinner. There were so many Kiwis and Australians who now live in Italy who came to watch and it was so wonderful to have a chat to all of them.
I will get to the third concert, which spelled the end of our Italian trip, but first I would like to talk about two things that made this trip so memorable. The first was an experience that we had on day one. We were invited to the festa celebrating the end of the grape harvest. This was a celebratory lunch where everyone who was involved in the harvest got together to celebrate, from the workers in the field to the accountants to the local police and the mayor of the small town. Top shelf wine flowed and it was an honour to be caught up in their celebrations, to be a fly on the wall in this yearly ritual where they come together as a family to laugh and celebrate. A lively band played with everyone singing and dancing along. There were awards, though I couldn’t tell you what they were, but prizes included wooden spoons, tiaras and other such ridiculous things. It is a moment I will cherish forever.
The second thing were the people on the course. By this I mean Patricia, Natalie, Wyn and my fellow singers, but also the touristi! For those who are unfamiliar with Patricia’s tour, one of the things that sets it apart is that whilst we are working hard at the villa, tourists also stay at the villa and go on expeditions around Tuscany, seeing the sights with Patricia. Every night we would meet for drinks and nibbles before sitting down to eat vast quantities of some of the most delicious food I have ever eaten. But each and every one of the touristi were so supportive and caring and it was a real treat to spend a week in Italy with this group.
After a week it was time to say farewell to the Villa as we headed to Bevagna, a small walled town, where we would spend our final few nights together as a family. The concert here was by far my favourite. If I can attach images from IPad I will but if not pop over to my Instagram, the little image of a square camera at the top right of this page, to see some photos. Bevagna has the most gorgeous little Teatro that we performed in with a phenomenal acoustic. We also performed to a relatively full house and it’s always a joy when Italians compliment your Italian! Just a little humble brag!
From there we all parted ways and I winged my way to London for a week of exploring and catching up with old friends and new. I managed to see three different performances while in London; Handel’s Solomon at the Royal Opera House, Company at the Gielgud Theatre on the West End and La Traviata at Glyndebourne! All were fabulous, though it was particularly exciting to be able to make my way out of London to Glyndebourne with the wonderful family I was staying with. Other highlights include having dinner at the pub Ian McKellan owns, The Grapes. Unfortunately he wasn’t there but boy what a cheep and delicious feed! Also delightful was heading into the Guildhall to catch up with some Kiwi Colleagues and running into a large portion of the hoarde that are currently studying there! It’s a really special thing to be able to watch your friends doing what they love and doing it so incredibly well!
But unfortunately the looming threat of unfinished university assignments called me home. It seems surreal that all of this happened over a two week period. Writing this has made me realise how incredibly lucky I am. These are oppurtunities that in all honesty I had never imagined would happen and none of it would be possible without all of the generous support I have received, so from the bottom of my heart thank you all once again. It takes a village to raise a baby, and this baby is blown away by all of you!
This got much more long winded than I had anticipated, so when I return home from the Lisa Gasteen National Opera School, I will do another pre Christmas update to share with you my Five weeks in Brisbane!
Until then,
Harry
