France, J'taime!!

Sorry it's been so long since I posted!  I've been mainly updating through facebook.  We finished all our staging!  The orchestra arrived yesterday.  Two casts rehearse with them today.  My cast rehearses tomorrow.  We have dress rehearsals this week and we open on the 8th!  4 days.  The time has zoomed by.  Perigueux is the site of the International Mime Festival was here.  Mimes everywhere and lots of cool performances as you walk along the street.  We finished our castle concerts, art song, and Aboulker recitals.  She is a fascinating composer and I've heard several pieces of hers I want to work on when I get home.  

La vie en rose

What a whirlwind first week!  We are already done staging Act I of La Périchole!  It's such a fun opera!  We began music rehearsal for my main scene, the Ladies of the Court, which opens Act 2 today.  It's speedy, trying to fit in all that French on 8th and 16th notes, whew!  Our trip to Bordeaux was lovely.  We went to an outdoor market and ate al fresco in the public garden and then took a short tour of the Cathedral where Eleonore of Aquitaine was married.  I am falling more and more in love with this place.  There was a really cool outdoor market Wednesday night and I got to hear some good live music.  It was a cool brass band from Southern France.  Still trying to figure out uploading video.  I can already hear fireworks from my room!  Happy Bastille Day!  I learned the joys of the Croissant Abricot this week!

Perigueux

Wow!  What and incredible place this is!  I am truly blessed.  The 2 hour flight delay and missed trains were worth the 18 hours of travel.  I am so excited for Franco American Vocal Academy.  We sang for each other today and the level of talent is sky high.  Professor Added said we are apart this program because we each have real major potential to be in this business and because of this it is very intensive.  I've become more hopeful there is a place for me in this industry and more intrigued by the French repertoire.  I have my first voice lesson tomorrow and am excited to learn!  We sing the national anthem at a town gathering for Bastille Day and we are taking a trip to Bordeaux on Sunday.  Pictures to come!!