Teachers

During my time at the Festival, I worked with one of my regular piano teachers, Dr. Mark Fouxman, and with my voice teacher for the Festival, Jurate Svedaite-Waller.  I learned very much from both of these individuals during my time at the Festival, and felt supported with each step I took while I was there.  Both are pictured below (with me, too) as we are on break during the Vladimir Chernov masterclass early on in the Festival:

And here is Vladimir Chernov, talking with me after his performance in the Prösels Castle.  He often talked with me in a hushed tone and with sincerity, about next steps for me in my life.  I was very grateful for his thoughts and work with me:

Back to Reality

I'm back home after having landed here from Europe just before midnight on Thursday the 26th, and then left for the weekend in Portland with family the following morning until yesterday (Monday) evening.  I'm getting re-adjusted to this timezone and starting the journey back to life here as I knew it ... except, it's different now.

I did lose touch here on my blog as I suspected might happen, but I do aim to update as I sort through my experiences in Europe.  It's different being back because I am different; having grown in numerous ways through various challenges, observations, and simply the opportunity for growth.  My experience in Europe and at the Festival was very personal and it was difficult to know what to share through writing here.  Ultimately, I will simply hope to have the opportunity to share an enriched love for music and performing throughout this year.

My days at the Festival were very packed, starting with breakfast as early as 7:30am (that's the earliest it was served), practice, lessons, then there were masterclasses in the afternoon and almost always two concerts in the evening; one at 5pm and one at 9pm.  The concerts were sometimes faculty, sometimes guest artists, sometimes students.  All were generally extremely good.  I performed in 4 between voice and piano, and each performance was an extremely positive experience for me for various reasons.

There were 4 trips planned through the Festival, only one of which I went on and stayed back during the others in order to practice.  Perhaps you can imagine that most of my time was spent in the practice room and at masterclasses and concerts ... and though it was exciting to me, generally not something to post photos about.  I met some very beautiful people and worked with wonderful teachers.  There are some individuals I will probably continue to be in contact with and even work with throughout this coming year.

Being back home on the first morning, I find myself extremely motivated to practice with clear goals for the year to come.  I will love to share more about these goals for the year as time unfolds, so stay tuned!

Heading back

This morning I've left Italy on a bus to Germany, and it is in Germany where I will stay for one night until I start my journey of flights back to the US tomorrow.  I've had mixed thoughts and feelings about leaving Völs and returning back to the US, mainly because I loved the musical immersion and feel I thrived there.  I also feel I adjusted to the culture and way of living there, and it may be quite a shock to be returning to the US - but I think I am ready for that.

I have some sorting out to do upon returning home, lots of practicing to be done as well, but will be planning some performances in the next couple of months - perhaps even one which will be live online.  There are more updates for me to give about my experiences being away, but lack of internet connection and tricky timeframes complicated the process before I left.  Perhaps in many ways, the journey just only begins :).

A taste of Völs

Today was a really good day which ended in great laughter.  I got to sing for Vladimir Chernov in a masterclass this morning, and he spent 2 hours with me, which was really fun and informative.  Then, I had a piano lesson, then normal Festival life with practicing and dinner, and then we took a bus to Prosels Castle in another town, where we heard gorgeous music, the second half being Vladimir Chernov ... then we missed the bus back to Vols!  We had gotten caught up taking photos, and realized we ought to get back to the bus, and as we were nearing it, it pulled away ... and despite me and another girl running after it (and me yelling for it to wait), there it went ... up, up, and away!  Thankfully, a nice fellow who heard us running after the bus drove us home (very fast, over very skinny, windy roads with hardly two lanes and a sheer cliff).  We ended the evening with such a nice reminder of the need for laughter and lightness.  Things are great here, but I really appreciated the light-heartedness of that experience for us.

Here is a little taste of Vols:

A view of Vols

Prosels Castle (a tiny peek)

From the outdoor Hall

Breakfast, served at the Hotel

Life at the village

After 4 full days now, I've realized there are not any small fish here. I feel very blessed to be here! I have sung for two people yesterday and will sing for a mastercalss today. Thursday is my first performance. Time seems to be standing still here, an I have only the awareness of the beauty around me, of so much music, and of the work that I need to be doing while I'm here. It's easy to lose track completely of which day it is. I hope to post more, soon!

Reflections on Vienna

Aiming to close that chapter for now, I have to say it was a rather profound experience being there in Vienna, and I can't imagine having come straight here to Völs without having gone to Vienna first.  In fact, I can't imagine having not gone to Vienna, period.  It was such an important part of my progress as a musician and a person, in some ways that are very difficult to explain.  At the very least, I have such a different and more rich idea now of particular aspects of the music I am playing, and I don't know how I would have gained this new richness without having come to see Vienna.

Overall, I am actually quite surprised and very thrilled at the fact that -while there is still so much more to see and visit and learn about there- I really feel as though I found there what I needed to find there, and that I experienced and saw what I went there to experience and see.  I am very happy about that, and what perfect timing going into the Festival, too!  I had wondered if that was best, since I hand't practiced for a bit before I arrived here at the Festival, but the inspiration from having visited Vienna, first, seems irreplaceable and will probably prove to be valuable during my experience here.

There are many thoughts rolling around for me about my experience in Vienna, and here is one of the most important for me:  

1)  This came about while/after looking at Beethoven's winter apartment.  It was not all that impressive by itself.  It was small and awkward, and very normal seeming.  I don't know what I would've been expecting, but when I think about the grand writing from Beethoven, it's just somehow strange to walk into this little apartment with strangely placed relics around.  What I realized is that it wasn't just the apartment that made it important for me to visit where Beethoven lived, but that in conjunction with everything else that I was seeing.  To catch a glimpse of how it all worked together, that has given me a much different view on Beethoven's living quarters.  So, there are perhaps some things that really stand alone (like Stephansdom), and then there are other things which may not have that same solitary affect.  But, when considering it all together, it becomes something quite important.

Funnily enough, despite the apartment itself not being fantastical and seemingly impressive, it is that apartment and little house that I find myself continuing to have as an impression in my memory about Vienna.

Music in the Streets

Something that has caught my attention between Vienna and now in Völs am Schlern, is the presence of music as part of the culture and way of living.  In Vienna, obviously music is a big deal in general, with its history and apparently a current desire to keep music as an important aspect of everyday life.  But, even with the people I saw playing on the streets, it was somehow different than a random person being musical, trying to make a few bucks, in the US.  In Vienna, it was part of the entertainment and part of the life of being there in town - it were as though just being in town was a very fun party.  There was a happiness and a kind of life that made it hard to want to say goodbye.  Many foods, and such a diversity in people - everybody wearing just exactly their own style and doing their thing.




If individuals want to play or sing or dance in town, they need to arrange it and I believe they even need some sort of a permit.  There were numerous in town that Wednesday evening.  There was a guy, standing on box, doing some sort of dance to music through a radio, wearing a cape and a paper crown.  I was actually surprised at the attention he got from people.  There was even a guy walking around in his underwears (and a shirt) ... haha ... but, ok, that was just for fun, I guess.  I liked this ensemble, here:

Last Day in Vienna - Photos

On my last evening in Vienna, I made a point to be in the town center for quite awhile, and found myself walking down random streets, especially ones I hadn't been down before.  I was just people-watching and taking in all of the architecture that I could.  It's fascinating and beautiful to me the amount of artwork that is just part of the city's structure.  Some of my favorites:

Wrapping up Vienna

I had really wanted to wrap up Vienna before I left, but things just went so fast that I didn't get the chance.  So, here I will aim to wrap it up so I can move on to posting about Völs am Schlern, Italy!  The second day I was there, I felt exhausted from constantly decoding the language, especially as a simple means for trying to get around - and my main point in being there was to be getting around and seeing specific places.  That's when I went back to Stephansdom and found a nice calm.  After that, I found myself being willing to wander for fun, and I would see an interesting building and walk towards it, which would lead to something else that was interesting, until I found myself completely enthralled with just walking while looking at structures.  It was absolutely amazing, and I finally felt more free to just enjoy myself, rather than worrying about trying to get somewhere, and that being such a chore for me.  Instead, I was just walking and loving what I saw.  I basically just wandered into this area by chance and couldn't believe the architecture and art.  I also think it's a cool way to catch a glimpse of the sounds and basic buzz of the town:



A closer look at that sculpture:

More interesting structures and artwork:

Made it to Italy

I am officially in Italy now, checked into the Festival and into my new little home for the next three weeks. As it turns out, I have my own room with a balcony backing up to pasture land and the Schlern mountains. I am very happy about all of this, and it's extremely peaceful here. I should have functioning wifi for my computer, but there have been complications setting it up. My train ride out of Vienna was very pleasant and easy (in comparison with my train rides into Vienna), and gave me time to reflect on my stay and experiences there in Vienna. Where I am now is very different than Vienna which has been an interesting shift for me. All things musical get started today! Hopefully very soon I will be getting my updates on here!

Beethoven

Today I really took the plunge and stepped way beyond the parts of town I had gotten used to.  My first stop of the day was the Zentralfriedhof (Central Cemetary), where I visited the burial sites of several very famous composers, Beethoven being one of them.

My next stop was to the absolute other side of town, at the Heiligenstadt Park, on my way to the Heiligenstadt Testament House.  In the park there was a memorial of Beethoven which apparently represents him very well.  This park used to be natural baths, where Beethoven would go to in hope to find a cure for his deafness.

I then walked from there to the Heiligenstadt Testament House,  in the suburbs of Vienna, where Beethoven spent some summers in hopes to have peace and quiet to work on his compositions.  It is here, and in the middle of writing his Symphony No. 2, that he realized his deafness was incurable.





It was here where Beethoven wrote this letter to his brothers, but never sent to them.


"Oh you men who think or say that I am malevolent, stubborn, or misanthropic, how greatly do you wrong me? You do not know the secret cause which makes me seem that way to you. From childhood on, me heart and soul have been full of the tender feeling of goodwill, and I was ever inclined to accomplish great things. But, think that for six years now I have been hopelessly afflicted, made worse by senseless physicians, from year to year deceived with hopes of improvement, finally compelled to face the prospect of a lasting malady (whose cure will take years or, perhaps, be impossible)."

You may view the full testament, here:  Heiligenstadt Testament

Stephansdom

I simply must make another post about Stephansdom, and this time it's dedicated entirely to it.  My day was very different today than yesterday, my first day here, and of course very different than the evening I arrived here.  Today, I picked a few main things I wanted to aim to see and visit, and I had a much better idea on how the trains worked, and how the town worked, so I wasn't constantly nervous I was in the middle of getting lost and heading in the completely wrong direction with no way to return.  After a certain point, I headed towards Stephansdom again, and I just sat at one of the alters ... for a really long time.

(The alter appeared almost exactly in this arrangement, with this gate and stonework on the right of me/it).  Here I rested deeply, not just as an escape from the heat or because I was tired of walking; I prayed.  I sat quietly and just gave myself permission to take as much time there today as I wanted.  There is just so much to take in and I realized it's an extremely fulfilling place to be.  I just sat and sat some more, and looked all around.  I felt so satisfied here, and I began to feel like I could sit there all day long and not be bored.  I wished I could be the only one in there, or one of a very few.

Then, I got up and sat at another alter, looking around for a long time:

It was here where I realized I could not only be here all day without getting bored, but that I could live here.  That I wanted to live here in this Cathedral, and that it was almost the very core of my purpose in Vienna to come here to it, and be in it for as long as I needed.  I will go back again tomorrow.

Apartments

Today I visited Beethoven's winter apartment from between the years 1804 and 1814.  This is located in the Pasqualati House, and is on the 4th floor, which I arrived at after this twisty flight of stairs that even the Great himself used to trudge (luckily for him, it was in less heat than what I walked today!):

In the first room straight ahead from the entryway, you find his piano:














 Floor plan, as well as some of Beethoven's belongings:  

I also visited Mozart's only apartment in Vienna that is still standing, however, I was not allowed to take photos there.  I find it interesting the differences in these apartments, regarding size, location, and even the way they are treated today for others to appreciate.  Mozart's was the largest he ever lived in and was quite nice even by my own standards of today.  Beethoven's was smaller and a bit more awkward.  Mozart's is very near the Stephansdom, it was very easy to find, and extremely well-visited and operated, hosting multi-media for the use of somebody like me to get a fuller idea on what his life was like there.  Beethoven's was very hard to find, though just across the well-known street, the Opera Ring, from the Wein University, and seemed to be rarely visited, as well as nobody seeming to know where it was (though it apparently used to look out accross the city suburbs to the hills of Vienna Woods)!

Beethoven is supposed to have changed residencies around 70 times during his stay in Vienna, and he would spend the summer months in the country.  Mozart had around 12 apartments throughout his Vienna years, and the years he spent in the apartment that I saw today are believed to be some of his happiest.  Beethoven was in Vienna quite a bit longer than Mozart, Salzburg seems to be an even greater association for Mozart, yet there are no "Beethoven" chocolate and souvenier shops, while many things are named after Mozart.  Mozart is by far the big celebration, and while I love Mozart, it makes me sad that for some reason Beethoven doesn't have this kind of recognition.

Food

Yes, I am posting about food.  I am making a point not to go absolutely nuts about food, and when I taste something new I don't want to be influenced mainly by the fact that I am in Austria, and therefore it must be amazing.  Ok, I haven't *really* been eating all that much besides my free breakfasts, but I saw this market today and *had* to catch the view.  I *might* go back tomorrow ... I might have to.  I love fish/seafood, and there were some things that looked amazing.  I won't let myself get it, but one of those things were their incredible looking lobster tails ... mmmmm.  I believe some of them had pesto on them.  Everything looked so fresh and delicious.  This is by far the most enticing food place I've seen so far, and the most different, in some ways, than what I would get in the States.



And then some delicious looking candies just outside, but attached to the same place.  I may get one caramel there.  There are a number of places with Mozart chocolates:



And, at breakfast this morning, I met 3 new friends who I went to dinner with this evening, at a local German food resturant.  I ate pork Schnitzel for my first time, and big, German pretzels:

First Full Day

Today I started a walking tour that I printed from the internet, called "In the Footsteps of Vienna's Famous Musicians."  The tour started at Stephansdom (St. Stephen's Cathedral), which is considered the icon of Vienna.  I had never seen a cathedral like this before and I was pretty blown away by the beauty, the size, and the historical aspects of it - both in general and in terms of musicians who were somehow linked to this Cathedral.  For example, Joseph Haydn moved to Vienna and began his career as a choirboy here, when he was 8.  One of my first feelings of awe this morning when I stepped inside was thinking of this little 8 year old Haydn choir boy, walking around and singing in there.

Deutschordenshaus theater

Another place I visited (very near Stephansdom) was Deutschordenshaus (the House and Church of the Teutonic Order), a place where Mozart lived between March 18th and May 2, 1781.  Johannes Brahms also lived there, on the top floor of the building, at one point.  I walked outside into the courtyard and viewed through windows with old, wrought-iron lattice, to this little 18th Century theatre, where concerts are still being held.

After a few smaller stops, I made my way to the Stadtpark, where there are several memorials for famous people and musicians.  Among them are Anton Bruckner, Franz Lehar, Robert Stolz, Franz Schubert, and Johann Strauss.  Johann Strauss is memorialized here in a golden statue, he is holding his violin ready to play and is surrounded by dancing and floating figures:

Johann Strauss in Stadtpark

Later in the evening, I enjoyed a Concert in Musikverein - the famous Golden Hall, where I listened to the Weiner Mozart Konzerte.  My seat was not that great, so I actually couldn't even see the stage, but I admired the sounds as I admired the art within the Hall. Here is a photo of the ceiling with paintings and detailed work throughout.  The entire Hall was like a piece of artwork:

Musikverein

Tomorrow is not quite decided for me yet, though I realize now how long it takes for me to get through the walks.  I am starting to get a much better idea on how the town is laid out, and so I hope that helps tomorrow. I may finish some sites on this walk, and plan a composer-specific walk, and if I do that, it will probably be Beethoven.  I can print that walk out, as well, and have that with me.  I think I will return to Stephansdom each day - there is something about it that just feels important to me personally, and holy.  I was impressed in the morning (and smaller numbers than in the afternoon, when I already visited it a second time), with how quiet people were being.  There were people praying, too.  I even felt a sense of home there.

A few reflections and impressions about the day:  I asked my first question in German today, trying to find a certain Music House.  A funny thing is that I actually get asked for directions and about things in general just as much, if not more, than I ask other people.  Sometimes that starts in German and it becomes apparent that I don't speak German, and at that point there is a mutual apology and "shoulder shrug" and we go our separate ways.  Sometimes it starts in German and ends in English - but I'm always getting asked by German-speaking people (who have German accents), which I wouldn't have expected..  I am starting to accept being immersed in a different culture and language than what I am used to, and even though there are elements about the way of life which are somewhat familiar (I'm still surrounded by humans, after all!), there is an element of truly being in a very different world than what I have been used to at home.  I can't put my finger on it entirely yet, because it's not just the language, it's not just the idea that I am in Austria, and it's also not just the historical factors ... it's something more or something else.

Guten Morgen!  I had about 4 or 5 hours sleep, which is apparently going to be enough for me today.  I was grateful for that.  I woke to the sounds around me, and they energized me to fully wake and I couldn't help feeling excited about the day ahead.  It was still early so I laid in bed for a bit, and I looked out my window to take this little video of what I was waking to, as well.  I lay there for a bit, but I just got such an inspiration about the music of the town, the history of the town, and became eager to start taking it all in.  After a certain point, I simply found myself getting up and getting fully dressed and ready for the day.  I have a lot to see today and as yesterday I couldn't quite wrap myself around the fact that I'm actually here, this morning brought that sense of realization for me, and I went outside around 6am and just walked around my neighborhood for about an hour, until breakfast was being served.

Today I aim to go on an Introduction to Composers walk - which involves a lot of walking, of course, but also quite a few connections via public transportation.  I forgot to bring the printed information about the walk itself, which I had printed out months ago, but I'm hopeful to somehow find that information again at a tour office, or that my hotel will allow me to print it off here.  AND, I'm hopeful that I will find my way back to my hotel ... hee hee.  I figure, if worst comes to worst, I'll have to get a taxi and they can find my way back!  A person who I shared a small train box with yesterday, told me about a free Opera show that happens every evening ... I may try to find that this evening.  We'll see!

Some items found at breakfast this morning (they also served (and I partook of) cakes ... yikes!):

Some meats, cheeses ... and pickles!

My sugar options ... hmm

On the tram to the Amsterdam plane.

It's been an absolutely epic day of traveling ... haven't slept since I left!  Planes were good, especially the long one, but trains were very confusing for me.  I am very glad I did as much research as I did before I left, and now I know ever so slightly better what to do.  But, there weren't any ticket agents or official people around at the first station (from the airport), and everything was in German.  That got ever so slightly scary for a minute, but I found a very nice woman who spoke a little English and was willing to help me know what to do.  She had to get off before me, and I was going to follow her, but she let me know that my stop was later and to "sit!  And, stay!"  ... haha.

It was not any easier for me at my next stop for the same reasons, until I finally figured out where I was supposed to go in order to board the next train, I ran because I thought I would miss, only to get onto the wrong train.  The train person let me know how to connect to get to Vienna, but it wasn't that way at all once I needed to actually make that connection ... there, I followed another couple who kindly seemed to wish for my success, and even helped with my luggage when needed.  Then I shared a car with somebody and we had a great conversation, but I was starting to get pretty tired towards the end.  I got a cab, got to my hotel, settled for some moments, and then went outside to try to get some food before I go to sleep for the evening.  There, I bumped into the same person I had sat next to in the car on the train awhile before.  I think that's funny!

Well, it's not really hit me that I'm here yet, I'm not positive what time zone I'm on, but I can tell I need some sleep!  So, it's off to sleepyville for me.