Mk
…and her adventuresPalestrina e buon vino
This week has been a little sporadic mainly due to the burst of polfonico concerts in my life. Arezzo- home of Guido, the one who developed the method of solfege, hosts a yearly choral competition. Luckily, it draws choirs from all over the world and we get to go to all the concerts to do our conducting evaluations. Basically, all I have done since Wednesday night has had to do with the polifonico. The premise of the festival is polyphonic music which means that there was a lot of Palestrina happening- yay! To my surprise, there were a lot fo 20th century pieces- some of which were gorgeous and others which I would prefer never to hear again. My favorite part of observing conductors was to see the same Palestrina piece conducted in completely different ways. You wouldn’t think it would make much difference- same music- educated choirs should have enough background to perform it stylistically correct- but the way the conductor either glided or bounced through it left it with a different spin.
Enough about that though…one of the best things about the last few days is that it has kept me from being at the villa all day. So, I had so free time to begin exploring Arezzo. The first night a few of us went to a great trattoria that Dr. Thomas recommended and I had this amazing rosemary steak dish! Perfecto! One of my favorite finds, though, was this antipasti cafe. They had salads, bruschetta, crostini, different kinds of formaggi e vino! It had a lovely atmosphere too- some nice smooth jazzy music. I can definitely see myself going there and just sitting and writing all day- that is, if I ever have the time to do that! The definite highlight of my trip so far has been our trip to the Charleston Enoteca for a wine tasting. First of all, this wine store is supposedly one of the best in Italy and it looks it too. When I walked in, I felt like I was walking into Tiffany’s because of the beautiful sparkles of the chandelier and the brilliant display of hundreds of wines. Plus, the two family who run the store are so friendly. It was great to actually get to talk to local Italians- ironically, I can actually understand some of it but I’m not comfortable enough to try to speak that often. A wine tasting is definitely the way to go to have a perfect beginning to Friday evening..especially if you make friends with Paolo, like I did 
Tonight was the end of the polifonico- so Dr. Thomas and Dr. Britt took us out to MiVa pizzeria and then a few of us out to cremi for gelato! It was a nice end to the day before I really have to catch up on work tomorrow. Rome is on Thursday..and I can’t wait! Until then!
dear florence…
Firenze-
There is no way for me to even start to describe how much I think I fell in love with you yesterday! Between staring in awe at your beautiful architecture that I saw at the Duomo and Santa Croce or the frescoed artwork everywhere or the excellent shopping-such beautiful leather, scarves, scores, gelato- or the random, very helpful Italian men we met…I cannot wait for my return to you. Please let me find a reason to jump on a train soon! Until then..ti amo e arrivederci!
Maria Katerina
Oh, Vivaldi!
It has finally sunk into me that I am studying music in Italy for the semester- how more poetic can you get. Something inside me completely clicked when I was finishing my music history reading listening to Vivaldi and looking our on the duomo with the breeze softly grazing my hair. I am in Italy! Years ago when I was looking at colleges, I saw this program and I thought, that would be nice…maybe that is a perfect reason to go to Furman. And it has been that ‘far out in the distance’ dream of mine to be here…and now that it has finally happened, it hadn’t really hit me yet. I guess my reality was more jet-lagged than I was when I arrived. The last couple of days have been great for me. I had my first lesson with Francesca on Tuesday. She lives in Firenze so she only comes down to Arezzo on Tuesday and is here from lunch til 10:30 or so. Right after lunch, all the vocalists have diction class with her. This week, though, it was more like fortune telling. By merely looking at our builds and faces, she guessed all of our voice types immediately, except for Jackie who appears to be a question mark. She thinks I am going to become a dramatic soprano. This didn’t really surprise me because I have been told I have more soprano like tones from several people…but I still have my low notes 
and I would like to keep it that way. Anyhow, she had this brilliant idea for us to actually study an entire operatic role instead of doing random repertoire pieces this term. I am so excited about this idea because I would never have the time to put into it at Furman plus because of jury constrains I would not be able to learn a whole role and enough pieces to get credit. At first I was worried about finding the right role, since I may end up transitioning this year, but thankfully Dr. Fuller completely understands where I am coming from-since she is borderline high mezzo too- and the collective we have decided on Dorabella from Così fan tutte! I am glad we are going up to Firenze on Saturday so I can go ahead and buy my score and start working! I think its going to be incredible to be singing out into the world instead of to the cinderblocks at Furman for a semester. Although- I do miss a lot of things about Furman- including you reading this. I am just finally on my Italy high everyone else experienced on last Friday. Off to music history…which I find ironically very inspiring these days!
So far…
I have survived the joust and several long walks into the city center and PAM, the local grocery store. Now only if the internet would work….boo! This is the first time it has actually had a flare up..and it makes no sense because the weather is still perfect. Anyway let me update what all I have done.
Saturday we had orientation at the Villa Godiola practically all day with the exception of a two hour break in the afternoon which is when I made my first adventure into the city. Hayley, the vocalist from Muhlenberg, went with me because she had opted out the first night too. (everyone went to town to get gelato..but we didnt. reason 1 i was extremely exhausted and had been up for 30-something hours and reason 2 its a nice 30 min walk up and down hills and I didnt feel like making it on the first day in the dark). Once we got allll the way there, it was great! The antique fair was all set up behind the duomo and I bought my first souvenir, an espresso cup adorned with the skyline Firenze. If we had had more time, I would’ve been sure to find more interesting, not too expensive items; but luckily the antique fair comes through the first sunday of each month. Then, once we climbed back to the Villa, Monica, the director of student life and my italian teacher, gave us an interesting talk about italian culture. By the time nightfall came, I was really just ready to go to bed because I had gotten up so early.
Sunday was a crazy but fun day. First we had a walking tour or Arezzo so we could get our bearings but on our way we lost them. Someone suggested taking a ‘short cut’ through the graveyard which is apparently on the same hill as Arezzo itself. So after climbing a gravel path, walking across a field where the path was practically nonexistent, we realized that we had no way of getting over the walls around the city. Typically you can do this but they are working on a fort and have the way blocked now. Basically, we had a hike that was twice as long, but it was in the morning so it wasn’t too unbearable yet. I did actually get a good shot of the villa when we were up there. Once we got to the Duomo, Monica showed us around the town. It was really crowded in town because of the joust and all the preceding ceremonies and the antique fair…Arezzo where it is at in Italy this weekend. After our tour, we went back to the Villa for lunch and I practiced for the first time. I think its going to be very inspiring to be singing in an actual room and looking out on either Tuscan hillsides or Arezzo when trying to memorize pieces. Hopefully, the beauty of my surroundings will end up reflecting in my tone. The joust is an all day long affair, so a group of us wanted to get back into town to see the blessing of the horses at the Duomo and part of the parade. The ceremony was beautiful because it was formal and medieval. It felt so unrealistic just because I am used to that ‘renaissance tight wearing processional’ look to be in the movies- think capulets and montagues- and this time it was before my eyes. After the horses were blessed, we went on to where the actual joust takes place. On the way, I happened to see an Italian man who despised the quarter going by really bless out the other team. Even though I had no idea what curses he was spewing forth, it was hilarious to watch and take pictures of. Once we were inside the piazza, we had to wait awhile as they all paraded around town. There was an amazing flag show before the joust and I got several decent pictures- check them out <http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2016411&id=1506210067&l=1ecf45bb58>. After the first round, Josh, Erik, Anna, Dr. Britt and I decided it was time for cena. We went to one of Dr. Britt’s favorite places- I can get back there but I don’t know what its name is- and I had an authentic italian prosciutto e gorganzola pizze e chianti. It was a beautiful ending to a exciting yet exhausting day.
Monday was the first day of class and it seemed to go by pretty quickly. My daily schedule is 2 hours of italian, 1 hour music history, and 1 hour conducting. My voice teacher, Francesca Francalanci, lives in Florence but comes down to Arezzo every Tuesday. Other than sleeping through my alarm, the first day was fine. I know its going to be difficult to study though just because I feel like I am on vacation instead of really here for a semester still. I am trying to keep the stress out of my life here..but who knows, with classes starting I am sure it is going to find its way to creep in somehow. I have my first lesson today and am excited about working with Francesca! Ciao!
Arrived in Arezzo
So our flights were pretty good…the long haul was uneventful and the flight from munich to florence was a little bumpy but beautiful. Once we were in the air the landscape just unfolded…miles of endless green, brown, and tan. Then we got to more residential territory, and there were beautiful pools and villas. But my favorite moment on the plane – which finally silenced the extreme turbulence- was when I saw the duomo and the belltower off in the distance. I got this huge rush of adrenaline- being a major feat after being up for about 24 hours. Now, we are on our way to the accademia finally after waiting on the bus for about an hour and a half on a few people. Its ok though..because I actually have time to be writing.
….elapsed time…..
NOW I am moved in and staring at my perfect view! I look straight out and see all of arezzo with the duomo being the center. It looks exactly like the pictures..if you go to the website! But I am going to go take pictures probably this afternoon and will get them up asap! More to come soon!
Leaving on a jet plane…
So Thursday is steadily approaching..which means I am inching closer and closer to leaving for Italy for the semester or as my visa dictates- 96 days! I will hopefully be keeping this up to date with my general travels and any public stories I want to share with all of you. I hope that people actually will read this. Feel free to leave comments or shoot me an email as I think I may experience a little homesickness, in the beginning anyway. Arrivederci! Wish me luck as I experience the attraversiamo!
mmm..Manhattan
I just got back from spending an unbelievable month in NYC while participating in Manhattan School of Music’s first Summer Voice Institute. I had the opportunity to study with some of the best people in the opera world while also getting to take advantage of June in New York. I saw a wide spectrum of theater from Dido and Aeneas to Hair to Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night in Central Park. Meeting so many people with the same aspirations is quite a powerful thing. Also, being around such talent without the element of competition between us made me realize how musicians should really treat one another. Why is that everyone thinks they have to be one upping everyone else in the biz? Wouldn’t it be nice if people could just accept their fate of either success or failure and be happy for others’ successes even if they themselves failed? Now, I am not implying that anyone in the program failed- because no one did. In fact, I feel like everyone was elevated because of the support of their colleagues. I believe it was the healthiest artistic environment in which I have ever been. I made so many friends that I am sure I will run across one day since the music world is so intertwined within itself. Cheers to new friends and a blissful month in Manhattan
