Bargemusic is a real gem of a venue, and its title says it all.  A retired and restored coffee barge, it sits docked in the East River at Fulton Ferry Landing in Brooklyn, just below the Brooklyn Bridge.  This “floating concert hall” has been hosting chamber music programs year-round since 1977, and many of my instrumentalist colleagues have often played there over the years.  In the vocal music world, however, it seems like Bargemusic is still fairly unknown; I’ve been fortunate to perform there a few times in the last couple of years, and I hope that more and more vocal recitals will be happening there in the future.

A word to the wise, however: performing on the Barge is not for the faint of stomach!  You are literally afloat IN the East River, one of NYC’s busiest waterways.  I have yet to discover whether the river is more busy during the day or during the week, but all I can tell you is that when you see a big boat go by, you’d better hold on to something.  As a singer, especially, who is not grounded at a piano or in a chair, you really have to keep your knees bent and your poise intact, and remember that the piano is your best friend, for the occasional lean or grab.  The small stage has windows at its back, giving the audience a terrific view of the river and the lower Manhattan skyline, but this means that while you’re performing, you’ll be facing the other way, and will have no warning when a large wake approaches!

Last night, pianist Martin Katz and I performed Schubert’s Die schöne Müllerin on the Barge, and, as I expected, such distractions were not absent from the experience.  Of course, at the center of this song cycle is The Brook (read: East River), a central character that sees The Miller all throughout his journey, and many of the songs took on additional meaning in last night’s performance.  In fact, some of the most pronounced rolling occurred during the final song, where The Brook is cradling The Miller in its waves, and several audience members commented on the visceral poignancy of the moment!  Even going to sleep last night, I definitely felt like I was still rocking in gentle waves, but I suspect that was only because I spent over three hours there.  I would guess that most audience members get their land legs back pretty quickly.

Tomorrow night we return to the Barge for more Schubert, this time with Winterreise.  Unless the forecast changes dramatically, the East River will not be appropriately iced over and covered in snow.  We can only hope that this time any disturbances of balance will only serve to enhance the increasingly fractured mental state of our protagonist…we’ll see how this goes.  But if you’re looking for something to do in NYC tomorrow night, come join us for some great music and a friendly float!

Mint.com Personal Finances

During this past summer, I was on a contract in scenic Logan, Utah.  For those spending the long summer days in rehearsals and performances, I thought I’d share three little apps that were invaluable to me in helping me through June, July, and August.

The most important one by far is the NYTimes app.  It’s been free, but is about to switch to a pay subscription in the coming weeks.  I’ll certainly sign up, since having daily access to the Times is invaluable for keeping au fait when I’m on the road.

The silver medal goes to the MLB.com app, which ran me about $15.  This is absolutely useless to anyone who couldn’t care less about baseball, but worth its weight in digital gold for those who do.  It lets you listen to the live radio broadcast of every single game of baseball of the season, including spring training and playoffs.  I like baseball on the radio, and nothing makes you feel more at home than local commercials when you’re sitting on a park bench 2,000 miles away.

The bronze goes to the ol’ Facebook app.  Love it or hate it, the book (as the kids are calling it) is a way of life in the constantly-connected milieu of the 21st century.  And even if you never update your status, you’ll find you have a greatly augmented interest in your friends’ posts about their day-to-day mundana (Your daughter finished her spinach at dinner?  Hooray!) than ever before.

I’ve got the tools to survive and thrive, thanks to my iPhone.  Summer 2011, bring it on.

When on the road, one of my greatest joys is getting to work with an old friend, or to make new good friends, with whom I hope to work again in future shows. I live to make music with people I care about. And the people I care about, themselves care about making music and theater and seeking truth, and are interested in learning and growing (and having fun) on stage and off. Of course not everyone is going to be your Best Friend Forever, but being thrown together into the musical deep end, it is amazing the kindred spirits you can find out there, and the better art you make as a result of those encounters. I’m continuously amazed by the quality of people I come across in this business, and am often grateful I chose to pursue a communal art.

Sometimes the “small world” of opera has its drawbacks I’m sure, but we have such a quality pool of colleagues to enjoy, and from whom to learn – how lucky are we, who get to make music with friends for our living?

Southbank Centre, London

So, I’m just about done with a three-week stay in London, and I’ve barely ventured north of the Thames.  Full disclosure: I’m here to perform at the Southbank Centre and am staying in a hotel near Waterloo.  But still, it appears that London’s South Bank is the place to be these days.  The Southbank Centre itself boasts the Queen Elizabeth and Royal Festival Halls, the Hayward Gallery, and at least ten mostly affordable restaurants.  On any given evening there are hundreds of people gathered at the terrace bar outside Festival Hall, in a sort of unofficial happy hour for the masses.  Many seem not to be there in connection to any cultural event, but merely to meet friends and enjoy the view.  If you face the river and turn left, you’ll hit the tourist favorite London Eye; turning right will take you to the British Film Institute and the National Theatre, all without crossing a single street.  Just a bit further is the Tate Modern and Shakespeare’s Globe, but you never have to leave the river to get there, and you’ll also encounter many more places to eat, drink, and shop along the way.

The London Eye, on the river Thames

This American lad can’t stop wondering why we don’t have a place like this in New York City.  Lincoln Center, even with its many recent improvements, still feels somewhat isolated.  And when was the last time you saw hundreds of people gathered outside by the fountain, drinks in hand?  Oh right, that privilege is restricted to ticket holders – never mind…  Furthermore, who can really afford to eat at Lincoln Center area restaurants?  Certainly not the throngs of young people I’ve been seeing outside Festival Hall.

OK, time out:  I know what you’re thinking.  There is all sorts of government funding here that we don’t have back in the States.  I will not even try to argue this point, because it is absolutely and sadly true.  But we seem to have it backwards in New York – we try to lure people to extremely expensive cultural events and then hope that they’ll patronize the similarly expensive restaurants and shops in the vicinity.  Why not bring the cultural attractions to places people already want to (and can afford to) be?

Time out #2: The second batch of naysayers will undoubtedly argue that NYC just wasn’t built this way – there is simply no room to spread out, and the city doesn’t have a central riverfront like Paris or London.  Well I think Brooklyn and Queens residents would beg to differ…and everyone knows they’re the ones with the best views of the city!

I do think we’re making slow progress.  DUMBO and Fort Greene are already great cultural destinations, as is Long Island City.  And the ongoing restoration of Governor’s Island looks very promising, not to mention the increasing popularity of our water taxi system.  Maybe there’s someone out there willing to take a giant risk and dream up a new cultural mecca for NYC.  My guess is they’d be substantially rewarded, both in profits and by history.  Are you listening, Mayor Bloomberg???

I just spent the afternoon celebrating the 4th of July with many other Americans, at a Democrats Abroad party along the Danube river. We spent the afternoon sharing travel stories, drinking Austrian wine, and making s’mores. From there, a small group of us went to the “Badeschiff“, which is swimming pool aboard a ship in the Danube river, with live music, fantastic cocktails, and lots of Austrians (in various states of undress) crammed into a small but lively swimming pool.

After watching the sunset, we made our way over to the Rathaus, where a Lang Lang solo piano concert was being broadcast on a huge screen in between two of the most amazingly beautiful buildings, the “Rathaus” and the “Burgtheater.” Being an audience member is always a welcome change, and I plan on doing lots of that in Vienna this summer, since there are so many wonderful opera companies, theaters, and dance companies in this culturally rich city. It doesn’t get much better than Vienna in the summer, although I will admit to missing air conditioning on hot days like today. Happy Independence Day!

Enter the glorious independent coffee shops of the world! They are, often as not, run by fearless entrepreneurs much like ourselves and staffed by, run by, frequented by artist types too. They have good atmosphere, good coffee, comfortable chairs, wifi and a meal we can eat on our own and not look like someone stood us up in a Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks movie.

THE MORNING TIMES at number 10 Hargett St in downtown Raleigh North Carolina Is just such an establishment. Timothy the manager is super cool, they have an art gallery and couches upstairs, good wifi and indoor outdoor tables. The red velvet cake is “off the chain” they serve a breakfast bagel all day long and their sandwiches are packed to go so you can grab one and run even on a rehearsal break. I am also proud to report that I got a smiley face drawn in my delicious latte this morning.

They make you feel welcome for as long as you want to hang out, they are interested in what you do and helpful if you have questions about the area. Or they let you sit and conduct music and mouth words like an idiot with absolute impunity. Thank you MORNING TIMES for making Saturdays on the road, and every day I have been in Raleigh, a little friendlier and a lot more yummy.

Specifically, eating 2 ounces (50 grams) a day of plain chocolate with a minimum content of 70% chocolate solids can be beneficial to health, providing protection against heart disease and high blood pressure, as well as essential trace elements and nutrients such as iron, calcium and potassium, and vitamins A, B1, C, D, and E.

Thank you, o pioneering choco-doctors, for your tireless hours of chocolate-filled research!

A walk on Boston’s historic Charles Street two weeks ago led me to Beacon Hill Chocolates – a little jewelbox of a shop selling “artisan chocolates from New England and around the world.”

Located just a few blocks from Boston Commons, Beacon Hill Chocolates features such exotic treats as the Blood Orange Fleur de Lis truffle (a center of dark chocolate infused with blood orange in a hand-painted Fleur de Lis dark chocolate shell) and the perfectly sweet/tart chocolate-covered cranberries. For Boston Lyric Opera’s recent Idomeneo production, opening night gifts were in order, and the Beacon Hill chocolate-covered gummy bears I chose for my cast-mates made me a popular soprano indeed!

Check out Beacon Hill Chocolates when you are next in Boston. You (and your doctor!) will be glad you did.

As luck would have it we are a mere 15 mins. walk from the new Target Field: home of the Minnesota Twins. This is their inaugural season in their state of the art stadium and I managed to get 2 tix for the opening week of home games. My husband came up from Chicago (he is a Cubs fan) and we enjoyed a great day at the Ballpark. I must say the new Field is a delight but what impressed me the most was how close the field and thus the action is and every seat faces towards the game so they have done an excellent job. It was a glorious cloudless day so we experienced a piece of true Americana.

We also drove the wonderful Grand Scenic Byway and finished off our day at the famous sculpture Garden where my husband wanted to see the famous Claes Oldenburg piece. Living in Chicago which is a great Architectural and Sculptural city, we are admirers of Oldenburgs Baseball Bat sculpture which is not far from the Lyric Opera of Chicago and now have seen another of his famous works in situ.

I will be sorry to go home after this trip as even native Minnesotans are astonished at how sublime the weather has been. I love to walk and have probably racked up about 30 miles while I’ve been here. I think the weather Gods were trying to make a point against the naysayers of the new Target Field who think that building an open fielded Baseball Park was an exercise in folly!!! C’est la vie.

It goes without saying that Ambien is my best friend when it comes to resetting my body clock after traversing many a time zone. I’ve made the most of that fantastic little blue pill for a few years now, but there are some new in-flight amenities which have added comfort to my travels. The first is a product by Colgate called the Wisp. These tiny, disposable toothbrushes come in packs of four, and can be used in the relative anonymity of your seat or the cramped cabin bathroom. No water is necessary, and after a quick scrub your teeth feel tingly clean after hours of recycled air, airline nibbles, and several turns at the drink cart. It’s an in-flight revelation for your mouth!

My second find is a tiny atomizer of Evian. Yes, they are hard to find (you may have to order them online) and something about using them feels a little precious. However, in the middle and towards the end of a 12-hour flight, give your face a quick spritz with this purified mist of cool water, and all hesitation about carrying this little can will melt away. Revitalize both your complexion and your mood in just a few seconds.

If you’re anything like me, one of the first things to do when getting settled in your new hotel room is to connect to the internet and make sure you have no pressing emails waiting for you. After you’re caught up with business, you quickly realize that if you’re outside of the United States, you can no longer watch your favorite television shows which are blocked to users in foreign countries. For a nominal fee, you can download a service called Skydur.com, install, launch, and catch up on any content you regularly receive at home. Skydur essentially anonymizes your browsing, allowing you to select where it appears you are browsing from – it’s absolutely brilliant. I stayed connected with Lost and Brothers & Sisters during my month in Asia and Singapore!

I’m all ears when it comes to ideas that others have to make travel more palatable for those of us who do it for a living. What are the things you’ve found that make life easier while you’re out there on the road?