Back Home in Texas

It was in the 50s when I left London and 101 degrees when I landed in Waco at 5:30 p.m.  Welcome back to Texas!

It’s been quite an adventure!  Nine operas, two academic symposia, two study days, one wedding, five abbeys, at least twelve museums, and numerous afternoon hikes later, I now am home.  Thanks dear friends and family for your encouragement and support. 

Daniel greets me with good news and bad.  The bad news:  While Daniel was visiting me in England, his car was so badly damaged by hail it probably will have to be totaled (along with 12,000 others).

The good news:  We’ve paid off our mortgage!  What a great welcome home and wedding anniversary present!

Laurel & Daniel at the Crites-Barrett wedding

I have more stories to tell, so even though I am back in Texas I plan to write more posts.  Thanks again for your encouragement.  I feel so blessed to have had this opportunity.  

                                                                                                                         June 21, 2011

Good-bye to Lewes

Good-Bye to Lewes  -- June 14, 2011

Castle on my last evening in Lewes

After I packed up this evening, I decided to take one last hike on the Downs.   The air was clear and the breeze not too sharp. 

As I entered the wildlife protection area, I was greeted by nine rabbits, who then promptly scurried away.  I hiked for over an hour in the evening cool.  As I crested what I had decided would be my last hill, a mother rabbit and her baby were on the path and a hot air balloon was suspended over the dale. 

It felt like one last unexpected gift.

Symposium a Success!

Just a short post to let you know that the symposium Time, Realism, and Convention in Recent Opera was a success –- a small crowd but very meaningful to the folks that were there.  Scholars, composers, and opera directors from England, Wales, Portugal, Germany, Greece, Serbia, and the Netherlands attended.  As you can imagine, we had some good discussions and I am pleased that my opening remarks managed to connect the various papers together.  Now after a celebratory drink at the university’s pub, I am in dire need of dinner!  

Symposium

I haven’t written much for the blog lately because I’ve been busy preparing for the symposium below.  It promises to be a thought-provoking day!  The complete program and abstracts are on the website:  

Symposium: Time, Realism and Convention in Recent Opera

Time, Realism and Convention in Recent Opera 

A Symposium Organised by the Centre for Research in Opera and Music Theatre at the University of Sussex 

David Osmond Smith Room, Falmer House 120, University of Sussex, 8 June 2011

http://www.sussex.ac.uk/cromt/1-3-14.html

This is new territory for me, so I feel a bit intimidated.  Wish me luck!  I’m sure I’ll learn a lot.  

Margaret and Nathaniel's Wedding

Well, there is a lot to write about -- a windy hike to Seven Sisters, a foggy one from Ditchling Beacon, a visit to Anne of Cleves home, attempts to learn some British jive, and seeing Die Meistersinger at Glyndebourne.   However, a couple of you have asked about Margaret Crites and Nathaniel Barrett’s wedding, so I will start with that.

Here’s the happy couple on their wedding day!

There was so much love, joy, and gratitude in them and surrounding them, it truly was a blessing to take part in the celebrations. 

As you would expect from these two, the wedding ceremony was thoughtful, a true worship service.  I wish all of you could have heard the evocative, unaccompanied duet that Margaret composed for the occasion.  The service took place in a simple eighteenth-century church in the small town of Fuhrberg, near Hannover, Germany.   

Many of the buildings there, like this one, have prayers, proverbs or family histories written over the door. 

Both the wedding and the reception combined German and American traditions, which sparked some fun and revealing cross-cultural conversations.  Actually there were two receptions -- one immediately after the service and another one that night.  

Bridesmaid Katie Thompson at the first reception

Lindenhof 

Stefan Baral and Groomsmen Jamie Yarborough, Jared Henderson and Ethan Barrett

The evening meal progressed through various courses – aperitif, soup, salad, fish with vegetables, veal, and dessert – with ample time for toasts, stories, and conversation in between each one. 

Dancing preceded dessert, after which more dancing ensued, and then still yet another course!  The multi-tiered wedding cake was unveiled to the strains of the Bridal March.  (Margaret had walked down the aisle to a much more introspective song.)  People danced swing, waltz, disco, and salsa into the early morning.

Dancing Dan with Margaret's Mother Nancy

The celebrations continued the next day with a Texas-style brunch.  As we returned to England Daniel quipped, “We’re not jet-lagged, we’re party-lagged!”  British immigration let us in anyway.