tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-49848736598482932472008-08-29T17:16:10.606-05:00A Voice, a Vision, an Adventure! Welcome to the ramblings of an international opera singer as she travels the world, searching for beauty and possibility on the world's stages.Yankeedivahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01582739956422004397noreply@blogger.comBlogger231125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4984873659848293247.post-16600883015081187352008-08-29T16:57:00.003-05:002008-08-29T17:16:10.655-05:00

I'm grateful for getting in the mood! I don't know if folks in the last row of the Royal Opera House can make out the hand prints that will populate the giant wall of the unit set of this "Don Giovanni", but up close, their presence is quite ominous and moody to say the least, giving me a healthy dose of motivation and excitement to see how all the pieces of this Mozartean puzzle will come

Yankeedivahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01582739956422004397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4984873659848293247.post-37186207994486920122008-08-27T18:50:00.007-05:002008-08-27T19:14:11.059-05:00

I'm grateful for simplicity. "Simplicity", however, is not the first word to come to mind in an attempt to describe my schedule these days, so if I happen to see a sign of it lurking around me, I welcome the reminder with open arms as an invitation to take a deep breath, relax, and settle a bit. My hours here in London are jam-packed leading up to the big opening(s) next (NEXT!) weekend, and so

Yankeedivahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01582739956422004397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4984873659848293247.post-33645252449602131502008-08-25T11:16:00.004-05:002008-08-25T11:46:06.846-05:00

Picking up where I left off, as promised: I'm grateful for fabulously real colleagues that bring flesh and blood humanity into the rehearsal room and onto the stage! It is quite easy in this business to let the stage become your life. Now, perhaps this is a long, complex discussion, and most likely one which merits a separate entry (or 10!) all of its own; because in one way, I do "live"

Yankeedivahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01582739956422004397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4984873659848293247.post-9552190218058801492008-08-24T09:58:00.004-05:002008-08-24T10:23:37.796-05:00

Truth be told, I miss being in school just a little bit: in years past, the annual mid-August schlep to the department store to buy new school shoes, pencils, a new notebook (just begging to be scrawled on with things like "Joyce & Eric 4EVR"), and a new stockpile of white anklets to match my school uniform and those shiny new saddle shoes was always an event that signaled a new start bursting

Yankeedivahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01582739956422004397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4984873659848293247.post-25960493688189365042008-07-31T16:44:00.004-05:002008-07-31T16:52:50.749-05:00

So, my last day of gratitude before hopping a plane to a long, wonderful, delicious vacation. You won't hear much from me for the next few weeks - my computer needs a vacation as well, but I'll catch up where I left off (day 150 when I return!), probably with a ridiculous number of photos of beaches and landscapes and blue sky, wine bottles and grapes and olives, and sunscreen! Thank you all so

Yankeedivahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01582739956422004397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4984873659848293247.post-59505115467848729692008-07-31T16:34:00.005-05:002008-07-31T16:44:01.787-05:00

I'm grateful for ITALY! I'm grateful for being given the chance to have spent so much time here. I'm grateful for their influence on the world of their culture, food, wine, art, and fashion. I'm particularly grateful this time around.... ...for their hats, ...their shoes, ...their artists, ...and their cherubs!

Yankeedivahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01582739956422004397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4984873659848293247.post-24097648038741655102008-07-31T16:26:00.006-05:002008-07-31T16:33:23.312-05:00

I'm grateful for people with amazing spirits! This project, like all projects, takes so many people to bring it together and breathe life into it. You have the orchestra players (and this bass player is a dead ringer for Pete Sampras!), soloists, sound engineers, and in this case even a video team! I cannot stress how beneficial it is to me to have people that are positive and involved with

Yankeedivahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01582739956422004397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4984873659848293247.post-33858630308038133522008-07-31T16:07:00.003-05:002008-07-31T16:25:37.902-05:00

I'm grateful for the brilliance of the Europa Galante Orchestra, under the direction and inspiration of Fabio Biondi. We all met up in the HEIGHT of the HEAT here in Florence, Italy - our first meeting; there's truly nothing quite like jumping into the fire and making glorious music together from the very first downbeat! However, I will say that trying to find inspiration to sing about cool

Yankeedivahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01582739956422004397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4984873659848293247.post-89186052018469835012008-07-31T15:47:00.000-05:002008-07-31T15:49:17.170-05:00

I'm grateful for a safe arrival in this amazing, inspiring, breathtaking, Hotter-Than-Hades, hotbed of beauty and renaissance, Florence.

Yankeedivahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01582739956422004397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4984873659848293247.post-68350648662316168952008-07-27T20:46:00.005-05:002008-07-27T21:10:20.887-05:00

I'm grateful for an unexpected, yet perfect "oomph" of inspiration. Tonight before my last show here in lovely Madrid, I'll admit it - being the last show and so close to vacation, it was challenging, shall we say, to keep focused on the task at hand, and for Mozart, you pretty much have to stay focused on every little semi-quaver, or else... Well, in addition to all the amazing people I meet

Yankeedivahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01582739956422004397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4984873659848293247.post-73857692751957233802008-07-25T18:58:00.002-05:002008-07-25T19:24:42.808-05:00

I'm not really sure how to categorize this feeling of gratitude today, but I think perhaps a day like today is exactly why I need to always search for the little gifts - or, as fate may point out, the big gifts as well. This morning I woke up in a really bad mood: I'm tired from a long, hard season, my mind is already on vacation (am I there, yet?) while my body sweats in these hot costumes, I

Yankeedivahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01582739956422004397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4984873659848293247.post-27949164323213752042008-07-23T19:21:00.002-05:002008-07-23T19:31:05.169-05:00

I'm grateful for bold, uninhibited displays of sheer joy. This little energy bundle, belonging to a fellow cast member, rarely stands still for a single, solitary second, so actually capturing him in a non-blurred moment was nothing short of a miracle. (I'm not kidding - I probably took close to 80 shots, and got this ONE good one! It was exhausting!) However, this expression seems to embody

Yankeedivahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01582739956422004397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4984873659848293247.post-83035920346183758902008-07-22T19:08:00.001-05:002008-07-22T19:11:48.631-05:00

I'm grateful for my husband, who celebrates his birthday today. Sadly, he is celebrating it in another part of the world tonight, but I thought it a beautiful moment of serendipity running into this place in the hot sun today. Happy birthday, Amore Mio - how much more beautiful the world is because you were born!

Yankeedivahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01582739956422004397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4984873659848293247.post-15194228284162892682008-07-19T16:27:00.002-05:002008-07-19T16:31:17.677-05:00

I'm grateful for faces that light up everyone around them! After our opening last night of Idomeneo we celebrated in a nearby restaurant, Gastroteca. If my dish of risotto with virgin olive oil and carpaccio di pulpo was any indicator, they've found the recipe for perfection. I'm pretty sure it's all this man's fault! I walked in the door, and was just immediately lifted up with his smiling face

Yankeedivahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01582739956422004397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4984873659848293247.post-15131793503134927122008-07-18T20:23:00.003-05:002008-07-18T20:46:44.294-05:00

I am breaking my rule by posting a "gratitude photo" that I didn't actually take, but I made the rule, so, what? Who's gonna tell? I'm just so darn grateful that I know Josè-Manuel Zapata. Truly, he is one of those people that makes my life SO much better and brighter and more beautiful. He makes me laugh with his sardonic wit, cry with his plangeant voice, and love life all the more by his

Yankeedivahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01582739956422004397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4984873659848293247.post-19683914374155854412008-07-17T18:42:00.002-05:002008-07-17T18:48:17.611-05:00

I'm so grateful to have met this guy - he redefines the words "joy", "unbounded", "free", and "ADORABLE"! But sadly, I don't think he could fit in the overhead compartment.....

Yankeedivahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01582739956422004397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4984873659848293247.post-79227250507069049252008-07-15T19:32:00.001-05:002008-07-15T19:57:48.716-05:00

I'm grateful for the Teatro Real (especially in this RIDICULOUS LIGHT! I mean, seriously, are you kidding me with this?!?!) It's a truly lovely place to work for a number of reasons, but really the only one I need to list, is the amazing people that make up the staff here. It's a relatively "new" theater, in that it re-opened just over (roughly) 10 years ago as an opera theater, and so all the

Yankeedivahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01582739956422004397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4984873659848293247.post-74038948456395170142008-07-14T19:28:00.006-05:002008-07-14T19:34:31.548-05:00

I was minding my own business taking in the AMAZING light (once again) here in Madrid, and as the sunset was unfolding in front of me, I turned around just to see what was happening behind me (a tip from some admired photographer friends of mine: be sure to look behind instead of exclusively in front of you, to catch the unexpected) and lo and behold, this shot jumped out at me. It's only now

Yankeedivahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01582739956422004397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4984873659848293247.post-19764100213287245562008-07-11T17:16:00.004-05:002008-07-11T17:24:53.571-05:00

I'm grateful for unexpected reminders that life is BEAUTIFUL, and that we must never stop living in the NOW. I was enjoying amazing weather (and breathtaking light) in front of the Royal Palace here in Madrid, just snapping the random photo here and there, when these two angelic creatures bounded in front of me (a total stranger) and begged me to take their photo - no barriers, no fear, no wall

Yankeedivahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01582739956422004397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4984873659848293247.post-1997009548530786152008-07-10T19:28:00.001-05:002008-07-10T19:30:27.538-05:00

I'm grateful for those moments when everything seems completely, utterly right with the world.

Yankeedivahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01582739956422004397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4984873659848293247.post-87117555118424365052008-07-09T16:04:00.012-05:002008-07-09T18:10:02.592-05:00

I got a most interesting email from a dear friend of mine who happens to be a stage director hard at work staging various scenes for a summer program in the States. As sometimes happens between us, one of us throws the other a curveball question that opens up a sometimes monstrous discussion, and always serves to be interesting food for thought for yours truly. I thought I would share the latest

Yankeedivahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01582739956422004397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4984873659848293247.post-5627967871281442222008-07-09T15:59:00.005-05:002008-07-09T16:03:03.640-05:00

I'm grateful for beautiful views from my window at sunset. The bonus is that this building is the side of the Teatro Real, and that means I have about a 30 second walk to the stage door, which in this heat is a decidedly beautiful bonus!

Yankeedivahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01582739956422004397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4984873659848293247.post-41469224692377093512008-07-07T16:35:00.009-05:002008-07-07T17:45:18.914-05:00

I'm grateful for amazing experiences. One such event, which I sadly don't have a picture to help illustrate, was watching the MOST astonishing tennis match I think I've ever seen (and I even remember those epic McEnroe/Borg marathons) yesterday on a backstage monitor during our piano stage rehearsal. I'll tell you, there is nothing like watching those monstrous battles for every single point in

Yankeedivahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01582739956422004397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4984873659848293247.post-1211213179544275312008-07-06T16:06:00.002-05:002008-07-06T16:18:20.117-05:00

A question that often pops up in conversation with various people is, "How do you stay so grounded with everything that's happened to you?" Well. This should pretty much sum it up. This kind of thing happens to me ALL the time, so even if I took the opportunity, every ONCE in a while to feel the least bit grand, the universe pretty much slaps me right back down - so it all evens out. I'm

Yankeedivahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01582739956422004397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4984873659848293247.post-89706307522559660502008-07-04T12:57:00.008-05:002008-07-04T13:12:53.418-05:00

I'm grateful for holidays that involve FIREWORKS!! Even if I had to work today because I'm in Madrid where they don't celebrate Independence Day (the nerve!), I'm glad for the rest of my compatriots who get the day off and can indulge in hot dogs, ice cream, potato salad, bike parades, dives off the high dive, painted faces, sunburns and block parties! This lovely sight greeted me last Sunday

Yankeedivahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01582739956422004397noreply@blogger.com