I got my first review today! It's a pretty short blurb (in German), but it basically says that I had "free sounding easy coloratura that sprang from my throat!" so I'm going to take that as a good sign :). My picture was also on there but it's somehow disappeared...
You can see it here:
http://www.fnp.de/hk/region/lokales/arien-kuenden-altstadtfest-an_rmn01.c.7898803.de.html
And here's another article about the program:
http://www.wiesbadener-tagblatt.de/region/untertaunus/bad-schwalbach/9061261.htm
Otherwise things have still just been REALLY busy. It's pretty hot here, in the mid-nineties (and it doesn't cool down at night!), and yesterday and today we've had two twelve-hour rehearsals for Der Freischutz--half inside and half outside. But inside is almost as bad as outside because there is no air conditioning anywhere, not even in our fancy hotel! Tomorrow we get most of the day free though, so my big plan is to go to the pool!
There are several performances of this opera and since I don't perform for several weeks I've been doing a lot of sitting around and studying during rehearsals, but I'm now completely memorized (even the spoken dialogue in German!) and the maestro has been really kind to me and taken me for some private lessons to help me with my German! I really appreciated it because that's definitely not in her job description, and also my German is improving so fast but it's definitely been harder for me than Italian or French! She seems to really be interested in helping young singers though, which is SO great.
Today our rehearsal was at the castle again and we climbed up to the top of the tower during the break. It was a long climb in the heat, but the view was so worth it! IT's in a little tiny town in the middle of green foresty hills--and in the distance you can see another castle! I found out today that the castle was built around 1100, and there's parts of it where you can definitely tell how old it is!
Pictures coming soon, I promise! I need to wait for a better internet connection to upload them.
