Valerie's Adventures

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">with Johanna Meier</td></tr>
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At the beginning of June, I arrived in Spearfish, South Dakota, to participate in the Johanna Meier Opera Theatre Institute.  Johanna Meier is from Spearfish and enjoyed a wonderful international career as a dramatic soprano.  She not only sang at New York City Opera and The Met, but she was also the first American to sing the role of <i>Isolde</i> at the Wagner Festpsiele in Bayreuth, Germany.  In her retirement, she started an annual opera program to help young, developing singers in their craft.<br />
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I was one of 22 participants in the 2012 program, so I had the opportunity to spend 2 weeks at Black Hills State University.  Although we did have a lot of free time, most of our time was spent in musical or staging rehearsals, working one-on-one with a vocal coach, or taking movement classes.  Every other day Johanna herself would spend an hour with the singers, teaching us "tricks of the trade," so to speak.  Okay...mostly it was along the lines of "you better learn this stuff if you want to survive in this business!"  But it was helpful information, nonetheless.  She worked with us on how to walk like a noble person, how to walk with a cape or train on your dress, how to sit down in a chair while you're singing, how to fall down and die, and so on.  All these little details are not things one typically focuses on when preparing a role, so it was great to have an encouraging environment to try out new tactics.<br />
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At the end of the first week, each one of us sang an aria in recital.  I chose "Il est doux, il est bon" from Massenet's <i>Hérodiade</i>.  In the opera, Salome sings this aria to express her emotions after seeing John the Baptist.  She is not quite sure what her feeling mean, but she knows that he is kind and good, which differs from her everyday home life.  He seems out of her reach and she is desperate to see him again, wondering how she can live without him.  To watch my rendition of the aria, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JczH3qfqp-E" target="_blank">click here</a>.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">the dramatic ending</td></tr>
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At the end of the second week, we put on two performances.  Friday night was scenes from <i>Ariadne auf Naxos</i> by Strauss, in which I sang in the nymph trio.  The three of us had fun running on and off stage providing entertainment in the background to the actual plot.<br />
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Saturday night was a unique blend of the same story in two different operas, <i>Merry Wives of Windsor</i> by Nicolai and <i>Falstaff</i> by Verdi.  The staging director took songs and dialogue from the two operas and mixed them together to create a shorter version of the tale.  In that production, I sang in the chorus as well as a ladies octet, where we pretended to be fairies.<br />
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Overall it was a great experience, and I thought it was well worth my time and effort.  Not only did I pick up a few insights into the opera world, but my confidence was boosted knowing that I am capable of doing this professionally.<br />
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JMOTI

with Johanna Meier At the beginning of June, I arrived in Spearfish, South Dakota, to participate in the Johanna Meier Opera Theatre In...

Almost one month ago I began an adventure that has led me to pit-stops in 3 states thus far (driving through 7 states total).  After 2+ years working in the Alumni Office at APU, I left my job, packed my bags, and headed for the wide-open spaces.  I thoroughly enjoyed my time at APU and I would not trade a moment of those experiences.  My co-workers are wonderful and the job itself is quite rewarding, but I knew it was time for me to move on.<br />
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On June 6th, I loaded up the last of my belongings into my car and headed out of LA at 7:30am.  Driving solo through the desert is the worst, because you don't even have someone there to commiserate with you.  By the time I got to Las Vegas, it was pretty toasty.  But as I headed into Utah from Nevada, I marveled at this area of land I had never seen before.  Yes, it was really hot outside...but the natural beauty of all the rock formations was a sight to behold.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gunnison Rose Inn</td></tr>
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I pulled into the town of Gunnison, Utah (population 3,285) around 5pm.  Gunnison is a 15-minute drive north of I-70, and I had reserved a room at the local bed-and-breakfast.  The <a href="http://www.gunnisonrose.com/" target="_blank">Gunnison Rose Inn</a> was exactly what it promised to be on their website: comfortable, open, welcoming, and quaint.  I stayed in the "Summer Room," which had a queen-size bed, private bathroom, and cheerful colors on the wall.  The  owners were very friendly and made me feel right at ease.  They were originally from Southern California, but had moved to Gunnison several years back to restore the old inn and get away from the city.  Not only did they run the inn themselves, but they also lived on-site, so it was really like being invited into someone's home.  There were fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies next to the front door, and I was served a giant breakfast in the morning: coffee, oj, mixed berries, apple turnover, eggs, sausage, and pancakes.  For the same price as a dirty motel on the interstate, I was able to stay in a relaxing and comfortable environment that provided good rest after my first day's journey.<br />
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After leaving Gunnison, I headed straight down I-70 to Denver, only making one stop in Grand Junction for a lunch in the park.  The scenery was beautiful once again, especially as I headed up into the mountains.  One downfall to a solo road trip is that you have to keep your eyes on the road and just take frequent glances out the windows.<br />
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I stayed with my aunt in Denver for a couple days, which were full of activities!  One place I have been wanting to visit for a while is the <a href="http://www.savoryspiceshop.com/" target="_blank">Savory Spice Shop</a>, a Colorado company of gourmet and organic spices.  They have an assortment of not only traditional spices (e.g. cinnamon, basil, dill weed), but also blends and rubs (e.g. Cherry Creek seafood seasoning, lavender vanilla bean sugar, Renaissance Gardens seasoning).  It was so much fun to see and smell all the different spices, I came away with 6 purchases!  The Savory Spice Shop has four locations in the Denver area, but they now also have a store in Costa Mesa, CA!  I may have to visit them again...<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Savory Spice Shop</td></tr>
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Later that afternoon, my aunt and I spend a unique couple of hours at Mile-High Stadium, test-driving Jaguars as a part of the "Jaguar Alive Driving Experience."  There was no sales pitch whatsoever, just professional people showing us different kinds of cars in different circumstances (don't ask me what models they were, I'll responded with descriptive words).  We started off in a line of cars, with one professional leading, and one bringing up the rear, and we did a simple follow-the-leader around the entire stadium to see how the Jags felt on the streets.  Next we drove through a course that simulated what you could encounter on a road (e.g. railroad tracks, tires, speed bumps).  After that we began from a stopped position, floored the accelerator to 60mph and then hit the brakes.  Smoothest ride I ever had.  We then headed to the speed track, where we had 3 practice runs and one timed run.  I didn't go for speed on that one, I just tried to round the corners without hitting any cones!  Lastly, we took the cars on a simulated ice pavement and experimented with the power controls on the vehicle.  Overall, it was a a really fun experience!<br />
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Finally, we went downtown to hear the Denver Symphony.  The performance was titled "Shakespeare in Music," and featured works by Weber, Berlioz, and Bernstein.  Mezzo-soprano Michelle DeYoung sang a scene from <i>La Mort de Cleopatre</i>, and two actors from the Colorado Shakespeare Festival performed scenes in between the songs.<br />
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The next morning, I left Denver for Black Hills State University in Spearfish, South Dakota, where I would spend the next two weeks participating in the annual Johanna Meier Opera Theatre Institute.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Rancho Cucamonga, CA to Gunnison, UT = 543 miles</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Gunnison, UT to Denver, CO = 467 miles</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Denver, CO to Spearfish, SD = 401 miles</i></span><br />
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Road Trip Through America (Part 1)

Almost one month ago I began an adventure that has led me to pit-stops in 3 states thus far (driving through 7 states total). After 2+ year...

JMOTI

Road Trip Through America (Part 1)

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