All is well in Pittsburgh. The piano tech rehearsal last night was exactly as it should have been, that is, hectic for everyone, as all the massive work from all the different areas of this production of "Ariadne" came crashing together on the stage for the first time. I really admire everyone involved here. Piano tech rehearsals can become crazy, and that is because suddenly all the cast, crew, staff and assistants are thrown together, with very hurried introductions. Like, "Hi! I'm Gary, and I'm your wardrobe dresser", or "I'm Pat, I'm one of the off-stage assistants", etc. Last night really was such an experience, and the names I just mentioned are actual people I met. Everyone is so dedicated to their jobs and it's always a pleasure to be working with such motivated, positive professionals. I never get tired of such collaborations.

For the role of Bacchus, one interesting aspect of preparation for the role, is the inevitable "sound check"... You see, the first lines that Bacchus sings in "Ariadne" are actually off-stage. It is supposed to sound like the voice of Bacchus on a ship, as he is arriving to the coast of Naxos. Yet it is supposed to sound "heroic" as he is successfully escaping from the clutches of Circe, a sorceress. At this point, Bacchus, the god of Wine, does not yet even know that he is a god. It is only through his experience with Ariadne that he realizes he is a god. But I digress... Because of these first off-stage vocal entrances, there is usually much discussion from all the artistic parties, about using a microphone to create a "god-like" or ethereal effect, or to position the tenor just offstage, near an entrance, and to sing without the aid of a microphone, in hopes that the entire audience will be able to hear him! Now, in this case, I've heard the Benedum Center for the Performing Arts is 2,800 seats- not the largest opera theater in the USA but certainly not tiny. Last night, the stage management had set up a single microphone, pretty far offstage, with a tiny "x" taped to where I was to stand. So we tried it out once, me singing the opening lines while watching one of the offstage monitors... (Definition: Off-stage monitors are actually TV's on rolling stands that are hooked up through closed-circuit, showing the conductor on the conductor's podium. There is a camera trained on the conductor, and the feed gets sent into the televisions. Sorry if my technical description is a big archaic, as this is an area I know little about!) Using a microphone to sing is not always a good idea when singing in the full-voice manner that opera singers sing. After the first take, I walked on-stage and asked the conductor, John Mauceri, if he would consider having me simply stand (hidden) on the other side of the sets, just inside one of the entrances, but close enough to be able to be heard throughout the house. Last night it worked and they have decided to have me sing without the aid of a microphone. (The last time I sang this role, in Montreal with the L'Opera de Montreal, we did it this way and it worked fine.)

It took another day of work, but I was finally able to import my computer's browser bookmarks from an online server, back into my browser, so all my bookmarks and RSS feeds are back to normal. This was a huge relief to have them all properly backed up. It would have taken hundreds of hours to duplicate the bookmarks again... I'm a bit of a news junkie, and I love keeping the websites to hundreds of local newspapers in my bookmarks, so that I can go to a particular website if something news-worthy is happening in some far-off city.

Tonight is the first orchestra dress rehearsal. A similar night as last night's, with the major difference being, that we'll be singing with the orchestra instead of that lonely piano in the orchestra pit. Therefore, the general focus of the rehearsal changes drastically, such that there will be much fewer stops-and-starts and instead, a chance to run the opera for the first time, on the stage, with the sets, in makeup and costume, and with orchestra. We will have two such nights like this, with tomorrow night being the same, which will be what is called the "Final Dress", and I've heard there will be an invited audience for the Final Dress tomorrow.

Now I'm off to take an afternoon nap before tonight's rehearsal, to catch up on some sleep that has been lost due to the late nights!