Thursday, April 17, 2003
Woke up a little before the alarm and had coffee and called my brother in England. They are going to spend Easter with their daughter and her family, so I wanted to catch them before they left. Their daughter, Catherine, who is my eldest niece, has two daughters now, and I do miss being able to see them as they grow up. We were able to spend a day with them while we were in England in March, which was great fun.
I went in for a coaching with the German language coach, which was very helpful in going through the dialogue to help with the inflections, and also had a quick fitting for my coat, to work out where the pockets need to go for easy access to the gun.
My manager/friend Jenny came in to have a sandwich over lunch and for me to sign some papers. In the afternoon rehearsal we went through the finale of the opera, which was new for Richard Margison and me, though the silver cast had already gone through this. The scene is pretty straightforward, and it didn't take too long to sort out. We just rehearsed it with the soloists, though in performance—with the chorus and supers also involved—there will be around 150 people onstage, which will be very exciting.
We finished a little early, and I came home and caught up on email and played a couple of games of backgammon and even won them! Then, while my husband was cooking, I played through some of the score of Fidelio. I had fun playing the overture, as I usually only play the piano when I am working on music I have to sing, but I felt like playing something non-vocal this evening. I used to have a lot of piano music, but somewhere along the line I lost it all while moving house. I intend on replacing it, but it always seems like there are too many things on my mind.
We had invited Jenny and her 3 boys over for a delicious dinner. We caught up with the boys and their school, and played with their lovely dog Suki, a white Siberian husky, who loves my husband so much she really cries when she sees him. After a few strokes on her chest she stops crying, as she loves any attention from him!
After they left, I did some work but was too tired, so watched some TV and ready for bed.