Wednesday morning was a lazy one, sleeping and taking it easy after the show the night before. 'Ariadne' is a much shorter role than many I sing, particularly some of the Wagner roles, but it's still a performance which takes energy, so I try to take it easy the day after. When performing 'The Ring' I always tell people that I never plan to do anything the days in between performances. Brunnhilde is in 3 of the 4 Ring operas, and when they are done as a cycle, means you are doing a different 4 hour plus opera every other day. If I am feeling fine then sometimes I will do some shopping or meet a friend for coffee, but I never plan anything. Keeping fit and getting enough sleep is vital and that is always in my mind.
On Wednesday evening I gave a Masterclass for some of the young artists in the program here. As they are all in 'Ariadne' it was a strange experience to give a Masterclass to collegues, but I tried to just make it about giving some advice to friends. I have done several Masterclasses over the last couple of years and enjoy it very much. I am so lucky in that I have had one singer teacher since I was 17. His name is Joseph Ward, and I don't believe I would be here today but for him. He knew how to teach my voice from being young, right through its developement and still now I work with him when I can. I have always wanted to pass something of that on, and through teaching and Masterclasses I can. All the four singers who sang in the class were excellent, and the things I talked about were all just trying to put the icing on the cake. I am sure all of them, as with all the young artists here, will go on to have great careers.
After the class Christopher Hahn, took Brian and myself for an excellent dinner. Nothing like good food and conversation!
Thursday turned out to be a very different day from how we had thought it would be. We had planned several weeks ago to go to Frank Lloyd Wright's house Fallingwater, which is about an hour and half's drive from Pittsburgh. As this was really the only possible day to go, we booked tickets and reserved a car. We managed to get up early, and luckily I checked my email as Brian's sister is in our home and had got a message to say that Fallingwater was going to be closed due to downed trees and bad weather. We were very disappointed but at least found out before we left.
We decided we would go to Kentuck Knob, another Lloyd Wright house, so went to wait for the car. We were told it would be 10 mins late, but after 45 mins, we decided we had stood in the cold long enough, and starting the trip over an hour later than we had planned would make it all too rushed, so we cancelled the car and came back to the apartment.
We thought we would go to the Frick Museum, but after waiting for 10 mins on hold for a cab, Brian and I decided we weren't meant to go out today, so we read, and I worked and took a nap.
We were sorry to have had our one day out disappear, but hopefully we can come back to Pittsburgh and see those things then. So often you spend time in cities and see nothing, so we are used to it, but it was a shame nevertheless.
My husband cooked a delicious dinner, so the day ended nicely!