By now you have probably seen the stories posted on this site. These stories all link to the song text of art songs by Stefano Donaudy.
So what do we know so far for my #yearofplay? I've been exploring art songs in a new way outside of learning the notes and rhythms and collaborating with a pianist. I am focusing on three songs by Stefano Donaudy. I am focusing on playing with social media to announce and drive a personal artistic endeavor. And you may have seen some weird pics pop up on Instagram
All of that leads up to this announcement:
Introducing the "Denver Art Song Project".
This musical cooperative is dedicated to exploring and sharing art song repertoire and giving voice to new, high-quality recordings from Denver area artists.
The first collaboration of the DASP is a micro-album of three Donaudy songs sung by Eapen and accompanied by Mallory Bernstein. Michael Bevers is our engineer.
You can listen for free at the site and, if you'd like, pre-order all three songs for $4. We will release the full set of songs on June 15, 2015.
You can follow Denver Art Song Project on Facebook and at the newly redesigned and mobile-friendly www.eapenleubner.com.
Friday, May 29, 2015
Saturday, May 23, 2015
Year of Play Update #yearofplay
I have been soliciting feedback about my projects for "Year of Play" and one of my test subjects said, "How many points have you scored for yourself lately?"
Tweets- 3 (3 points)
Pictures- 3 (6 points)
Blog Posts- 4 (8 points)
Podcast- 0 (0 points)
So, all in, that is 17 points in advance of the big announcement.
As you may recall, the idea was to do more in social media and make some art. These postings had to do directly with my big musical project. The rules were that the posts had to relate directly to the final product that is going to be released soon.
I think I achieved my goal of creating a semi-major musical project and challenging myself to change my approach to learning music. My goal was to go way outside of my comfort zone and I definitely achieved that with "Song Fiction".
I had hoped to create some podcasts, but it took more time than expected and they may end up being released later.
I will be making a big announcement about results of "Year of Play" on June 1, 2015, so stay tuned!
Tweets- 3 (3 points)
Pictures- 3 (6 points)
Blog Posts- 4 (8 points)
Podcast- 0 (0 points)
So, all in, that is 17 points in advance of the big announcement.
As you may recall, the idea was to do more in social media and make some art. These postings had to do directly with my big musical project. The rules were that the posts had to relate directly to the final product that is going to be released soon.
I think I achieved my goal of creating a semi-major musical project and challenging myself to change my approach to learning music. My goal was to go way outside of my comfort zone and I definitely achieved that with "Song Fiction".
I had hoped to create some podcasts, but it took more time than expected and they may end up being released later.
I will be making a big announcement about results of "Year of Play" on June 1, 2015, so stay tuned!
Friday, May 22, 2015
Song Fiction No. 3
It's quiet out here. So very quiet. When people say that it is silent in space, they can not understand how immensity of silence. It is the silence of eternity and the tiny noises I make disperse into that endless silence to be forgotten by all. Looking down on the earth, I can see the clouds hanging over earth and ocean and I can hear my breath going in and out. It's so still that I can hear the sweat coming out of my pores.
4 hours ago
The door clanged shut behind me and I felt the usual slight adjustments to my vestibular system as I loose the frame of reference of the station behind me. I love that instant. It is the instant that you know that you truly outside the bounds of our world. After 24 hours in an airlock waiting be slowly depressurized, it would be like taking a breath of air after surfacing.
The view always takes my breath away and I pulled myself out of the airlock and positioned myself to slowly shut the hatch door.
Now
I can hear a lot of radio chatter, my emergency thrusters on my suit are drained though. I'm looking down at the Earth and wondering, what now? I take a small sip of water and cough slightly. The voices in the radio go silent.
"We can try to maneuver towards you..." "There is an option of programming a..."
The voices sound very far away, even with the headset in my ear.
Sometimes you can't explain a series of small accidents and mistakes and you can't recover. You can only live with the experience and reset your expectations. In my case, resetting my expectations was turning to face Earth.
She is down there somewhere. It is probably 2 p.m. and she is picking up our children from school. She doesn't know that our goodbye is happening right now without her. She is thinking about feeding the kids and maybe letting them play outside since it is the first warm day of spring. She told me that it would be nice today. I don't have any doubts about the moments I spent with her anymore. I don't have any regrets either. She gave me everything I could want.
I cannot do the math to figure if the air will go before the heat arrives. At some point the suit is going to make me feel so trapped that I will loosen the clasps holding a glove in place. And then I will be silent.
I stop those thoughts now and I think about the beauty below me and her smile.
***********************
Find out more about #yearofplay by reading the text of this song. This little piece of fiction is one of the stories that runs through my head as I'm working on the first part of my upcoming work with the "Denver Art Song Project".
4 hours ago
The door clanged shut behind me and I felt the usual slight adjustments to my vestibular system as I loose the frame of reference of the station behind me. I love that instant. It is the instant that you know that you truly outside the bounds of our world. After 24 hours in an airlock waiting be slowly depressurized, it would be like taking a breath of air after surfacing.
The view always takes my breath away and I pulled myself out of the airlock and positioned myself to slowly shut the hatch door.
Now
I can hear a lot of radio chatter, my emergency thrusters on my suit are drained though. I'm looking down at the Earth and wondering, what now? I take a small sip of water and cough slightly. The voices in the radio go silent.
"We can try to maneuver towards you..." "There is an option of programming a..."
The voices sound very far away, even with the headset in my ear.
Sometimes you can't explain a series of small accidents and mistakes and you can't recover. You can only live with the experience and reset your expectations. In my case, resetting my expectations was turning to face Earth.
She is down there somewhere. It is probably 2 p.m. and she is picking up our children from school. She doesn't know that our goodbye is happening right now without her. She is thinking about feeding the kids and maybe letting them play outside since it is the first warm day of spring. She told me that it would be nice today. I don't have any doubts about the moments I spent with her anymore. I don't have any regrets either. She gave me everything I could want.
I cannot do the math to figure if the air will go before the heat arrives. At some point the suit is going to make me feel so trapped that I will loosen the clasps holding a glove in place. And then I will be silent.
I stop those thoughts now and I think about the beauty below me and her smile.
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***********************
Find out more about #yearofplay by reading the text of this song. This little piece of fiction is one of the stories that runs through my head as I'm working on the first part of my upcoming work with the "Denver Art Song Project".
Monday, May 18, 2015
Song Fiction No. 2
Paris, 1883
The two friends looked up the grand staircase and watched as Vergine descended. As she walked down the stairs, the room was hushed. The hostess certainly new how to make an entrance. Vergine's eyes swept to the right and then the left, searching for her husband.
Meanwhile the two men, captivated, observed her in two very different ways. Pierre's eyes captured the mathematics of her profile. He saw the angle of her face as it was positioned away from shoulder. He thought the proportions of her features absolutely perfect in every way. If the crowd of tuxedos and ball-gowns around him could read his mind, they might think his love for her a sterile, scientific thing. His love for her was measured and quantified in every way.
For John, time stopped. He saw the light shining on her pale skin and the way her hand clutched her dress. The image seared into his mind and he took a small step back. There was only raw frenzy of the folds of her black dress as she raised it slightly to descend the staircase. For him, he saw no numbers or measurements, he only felt the vertiginous feeling of her descent and the almost haughty look over the crowd. As Vergine reached out her hand, he wanted to reach out to take it.
Instead, he raised his hand and grabbed a glass of champagne off of a silver tray that was passing by. He watched Pierre's white gloved hand take his wife away to circulate amongst the guests.
Paris, 1916
Vergine had been broken hearted when her friends had shunned her for her supposed indiscretions. She removed herself from the receptions and galas for what seemed like years. She swore that she would never again pose for another one of those "god-damned" painters. She changed her mind. The flattery of the artists was too much to resist and Vergine had the curious American ability to forgive and forget. It was that virtue that had attracted Pierre in the first place. Holding a grudge seemed so boring and, heaven knows, he had needed her forgiveness on several occasions.
Now old, Pierre looked at the door to the studio and rapped his cane against the door. There had never truly been any bad blood between the two men and when they had embraced outside of the studio, the felt the connection of two soldiers who had weathered a particularly bad battle together.
As Pierre's near-sighted eyes focused in on the painting, he became acutely aware of the sound of his cane on the wood floor. He felt a pain in his chest as he saw the painting. As he slowed down his pace to take it in, he inhaled sharply.
The strap was gone. The table was missing. It was not his Vergine as he had remembered her. The clarity of the portrait was gone and the rougher hews of line and texture of the study added an almost imperceptible undercurrent of lust that had been absent in the portrait that he had seen in 1884. Pierre still knew every angle and curve of his wife and he held his breath for a moment. His free hand searched for a chair and he sat down.
"Pierre, old friend," said John, "We must talk."
"Study of Mme Gautreau by John Singer Sargent c1884" by John Singer Sargent - [1]. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.
***********************
Find out more about #yearofplay by reading the text of this song. This little piece of fiction is one of the stories that runs through my head as I'm working on the first part of my upcoming work with the "Denver Art Song Project".
Monday, May 11, 2015
The Random Top 10 for 2014
So since I found the 2013 post, I thought I would do the 2014 post now as well. Talk about cleaning up my to-do list!
As always, these items are in no particular order and really don't have a whole lot in common. They are just things that happened to my family and I in 2014.
10. The Mustache Moves In
My opera career sometimes takes me well outside my comfort zone. Take for example my experience with Encompass Opera's "A Wake or a Wedding." My director and I had a meeting early on in the production of this new work where we talked about our goals for my character, Raimondo Vecchiofaraone. In collaboration with our outstanding costume designer, we looked at the text of the show, my characters motivations and tried on potential costumes. The character was a romantic lead in terms of the music but as a character he was definitely "buffo". Raimondo was a wanna-be suave lover who was mostly infatuated with being the greatest operatic tenor in the world.
We decided that he should have the look of a faux-exotic Clark Gable. In other words, I grew a pencil-thin mustache! Additionally, Raimondo dresses up as Cupid during the opera within an opera. At that point, we went with some truly bold costume choices that directly contradicted the suave, mustached man.
In the end, I was challenged to play the fool while singing as beautifully as I possibly could. ] The collaboration of character work was the most intricate and detailed of my career so far and has inspired me to work even harder on creating memorable characters, no matter what the genre.
9. Going Home to Work
The year started out with a trip to my home town, Rochester, NY. I had the opportunity to sing with the relatively young company, Rochester Lyric Opera. I worked with a stellar cast on a one-act opera by Haydn, "Lo Speziale" (the Apothacary). It was a comedy where I played the assistant pharmacist assistant in love with the Apothacary's ward. The music was truly delightful and our cast put together a performance that I could share with many of my friends and family from home.
8. Play Pool
My family and I discovered a recreation center near our house that has the most wonderful swimming pool for kids. There are nets to climb, water slides and spraying pipes. It has become one of the highlights of my day to take The Spud, LHB and Baby Maraca out to splash and play.
7. Public Life
As I look back on 2014, I realize that some of my favorite experiences of the year involve "public" things. Our public library system is incredible and my family and I can sometimes end up swinging by twice a day to attend activities, pick up and drop off books or just play at the playground.
Likewise, public land such as Central Park, neighborhood parks and playgrounds and open spaces have become a large part of our lives. I love to experience so many different locales and sights and the variety of our country and the collective commitment to public spaces have a larger influence on my happiness than I've ever realized before this year.
Within those public spaces, I realize that I love the discovery of public art. You will definitely be hearing more about sculpture and other public arts events as 2015 rolls along. Keep up at my instagram account where I'll be posting photos of things that make me happy. www.instagram.com/eapenleubner
6. The Creation of the Universe
Ever heard Haydn's Creation? I knew only sections of it when I was contracted to sing it with The Concord Chorale. What I did not know was that I would grow to love the message and story of this towering piece of music. Kristofer Johnson elicited a stunning performance from the orchestra and chorus and, as a bonus, I was able to bring the whole family up to the gig. We spent a fun-filled week in a house by a lake.
5. My Haydn Year
Seeing a trend? With Lo Speziale and Haydn's Creation as part of my Haydn year, I rounded it out with some good friends in Harrisburgh, PA to sing in Haydn's Theresienmesse. I rejoined some good friends from previous productions and spent a lovely weekend making music with this fine chorus.
Considering I have not sung any Haydn in my career, I was amused to have the chance to discover music that I had only studied briefly in undergrad. There is so much wit and humanity in all three of these works.
4. Playing the Circuit
I was surprised to find myself singing at the Metropolitan Room, one of the last and legendary clubs of New York with my friends at Light Opera of New York (aka LOONY). Our performance of French Operetta was well-received and I had a great time singing new repertoire that fit like a glove. (More on this for 2015!)
3. Schnitzel at 2 a.m.
The Viennese Opera Ball. Where do I begin? I made music with a hugely talented cast. I chased a horse-drawn carriage through the Waldorf-Astoria. And the opera singers all joined in at the Tanz that followed. There were three rooms of buffets including Schnitzel and Sausage and cabbage at 2 a.m. You can see clips of the folk dancing on my facebook fan page.
2. Saying Goodbye
After 9 years of adventure, we learned that life had to move forward. Our little one bedroom apartment in a brownstone was finally too small for our growing family and sprouting children. There were countless adventures that we have had:
LHB became the most "liked" member of the family
We became one of the faces of a NYC Health Campaign
Kitty, The Spud and LHB became a face of Fulton Street (can you find them)?
Those are just the iconic photos. There were so many experiences that could not be captured on film. You can read about some highlights on the blog.
1. Starting an Adventure
And now, here we are in Colorado. Say goodbye to the Murphy Bed and hello to a little slice of suburban heaven. There is a killer rec center nearby (four of them actually). There is a whole world of exploring ahead of us. Sometimes our adventures happen in our little back lawn or while walking the Spud to school and sometimes it involves a trip over the mountains. When I look back a year from now on 2015, I know that the experiences are will be totally unlike those we had in New York City and just as exciting.
As always, these items are in no particular order and really don't have a whole lot in common. They are just things that happened to my family and I in 2014.
10. The Mustache Moves In
My opera career sometimes takes me well outside my comfort zone. Take for example my experience with Encompass Opera's "A Wake or a Wedding." My director and I had a meeting early on in the production of this new work where we talked about our goals for my character, Raimondo Vecchiofaraone. In collaboration with our outstanding costume designer, we looked at the text of the show, my characters motivations and tried on potential costumes. The character was a romantic lead in terms of the music but as a character he was definitely "buffo". Raimondo was a wanna-be suave lover who was mostly infatuated with being the greatest operatic tenor in the world.
We decided that he should have the look of a faux-exotic Clark Gable. In other words, I grew a pencil-thin mustache! Additionally, Raimondo dresses up as Cupid during the opera within an opera. At that point, we went with some truly bold costume choices that directly contradicted the suave, mustached man.
In the end, I was challenged to play the fool while singing as beautifully as I possibly could. ] The collaboration of character work was the most intricate and detailed of my career so far and has inspired me to work even harder on creating memorable characters, no matter what the genre.
9. Going Home to Work
The year started out with a trip to my home town, Rochester, NY. I had the opportunity to sing with the relatively young company, Rochester Lyric Opera. I worked with a stellar cast on a one-act opera by Haydn, "Lo Speziale" (the Apothacary). It was a comedy where I played the assistant pharmacist assistant in love with the Apothacary's ward. The music was truly delightful and our cast put together a performance that I could share with many of my friends and family from home.
8. Play Pool
My family and I discovered a recreation center near our house that has the most wonderful swimming pool for kids. There are nets to climb, water slides and spraying pipes. It has become one of the highlights of my day to take The Spud, LHB and Baby Maraca out to splash and play.
7. Public Life
As I look back on 2014, I realize that some of my favorite experiences of the year involve "public" things. Our public library system is incredible and my family and I can sometimes end up swinging by twice a day to attend activities, pick up and drop off books or just play at the playground.
Likewise, public land such as Central Park, neighborhood parks and playgrounds and open spaces have become a large part of our lives. I love to experience so many different locales and sights and the variety of our country and the collective commitment to public spaces have a larger influence on my happiness than I've ever realized before this year.
Within those public spaces, I realize that I love the discovery of public art. You will definitely be hearing more about sculpture and other public arts events as 2015 rolls along. Keep up at my instagram account where I'll be posting photos of things that make me happy. www.instagram.com/eapenleubner
6. The Creation of the Universe
Ever heard Haydn's Creation? I knew only sections of it when I was contracted to sing it with The Concord Chorale. What I did not know was that I would grow to love the message and story of this towering piece of music. Kristofer Johnson elicited a stunning performance from the orchestra and chorus and, as a bonus, I was able to bring the whole family up to the gig. We spent a fun-filled week in a house by a lake.
5. My Haydn Year
Seeing a trend? With Lo Speziale and Haydn's Creation as part of my Haydn year, I rounded it out with some good friends in Harrisburgh, PA to sing in Haydn's Theresienmesse. I rejoined some good friends from previous productions and spent a lovely weekend making music with this fine chorus.
Considering I have not sung any Haydn in my career, I was amused to have the chance to discover music that I had only studied briefly in undergrad. There is so much wit and humanity in all three of these works.
4. Playing the Circuit
I was surprised to find myself singing at the Metropolitan Room, one of the last and legendary clubs of New York with my friends at Light Opera of New York (aka LOONY). Our performance of French Operetta was well-received and I had a great time singing new repertoire that fit like a glove. (More on this for 2015!)
3. Schnitzel at 2 a.m.
The Viennese Opera Ball. Where do I begin? I made music with a hugely talented cast. I chased a horse-drawn carriage through the Waldorf-Astoria. And the opera singers all joined in at the Tanz that followed. There were three rooms of buffets including Schnitzel and Sausage and cabbage at 2 a.m. You can see clips of the folk dancing on my facebook fan page.
2. Saying Goodbye
After 9 years of adventure, we learned that life had to move forward. Our little one bedroom apartment in a brownstone was finally too small for our growing family and sprouting children. There were countless adventures that we have had:
LHB became the most "liked" member of the family
When the world gets tough, a girl's gotta keep on pushin'.
Posted by Humans of New York on Thursday, May 9, 2013
We became one of the faces of a NYC Health Campaign
Kitty, The Spud and LHB became a face of Fulton Street (can you find them)?
Those are just the iconic photos. There were so many experiences that could not be captured on film. You can read about some highlights on the blog.
1. Starting an Adventure
And now, here we are in Colorado. Say goodbye to the Murphy Bed and hello to a little slice of suburban heaven. There is a killer rec center nearby (four of them actually). There is a whole world of exploring ahead of us. Sometimes our adventures happen in our little back lawn or while walking the Spud to school and sometimes it involves a trip over the mountains. When I look back a year from now on 2015, I know that the experiences are will be totally unlike those we had in New York City and just as exciting.
Friday, May 8, 2015
Song Fiction No. 1- #yearofplay
Stephen's feet crunched against the light snow. It seemed to him that he could hear his footsteps echo through the crisp air and come back to him as it echoed off the walls of the campus buildings. It was cold enough that his classmates stifled themselves with scarves and mittens and there was little chatting as they all walked towards the music building.
The cold was a sharp contrast to the library which had felt unreasonably warm inside. It always was hot in there and Stephen had passed a couple different study carols where students' heads were slumped lower. The library felt even warmer when he walked up to the audio desk. Even after six months, Stephen always felt a warmth when he first caught sight of her. He was still a freshman and closer to the feelings and passions of high school and seeing her behind the desk, perched on a high stool, made his heart beat a bit faster.
She quietly helped the line of patrons with their recordings until Stephen made it to the front of the queue.
"Oh hey," she said and looked over her shoulder. Her boss was sitting behind the glass window of his office and he had his back to them. "I can only talk for a second. It's been busy and I've got to go into the back... wait a minute."
She walked back to her boss' open door and knocked, "Jim, I need five? Can you cover for me? Thanks."
She strode around the desk with a little more purpose than expected and grabbed Stephen's hand, leading him to the stairwell.
"It's over, Stephen. I'm sorry, but I'm just not there yet."
At that moment, Stephen had stopped listening. He'd heard it all before and thought it would be different this time. His mind immediately went to his upcoming rehearsal and the music he would be working on.
As the cold bit at his face, he remembered a brief embrace of goodbye and saying something stupid like, "It always starts with a kiss and ends with a hug."
He looked up at the entrance to the music school, took a deep breath and walked in.
***********************
Find out more about #yearofplay by reading the text of this song. This little piece of fiction is one of the stories that runs through my head as I'm working on the first part of my upcoming work with the "Denver Art Song Project".
The cold was a sharp contrast to the library which had felt unreasonably warm inside. It always was hot in there and Stephen had passed a couple different study carols where students' heads were slumped lower. The library felt even warmer when he walked up to the audio desk. Even after six months, Stephen always felt a warmth when he first caught sight of her. He was still a freshman and closer to the feelings and passions of high school and seeing her behind the desk, perched on a high stool, made his heart beat a bit faster.
She quietly helped the line of patrons with their recordings until Stephen made it to the front of the queue.
"Oh hey," she said and looked over her shoulder. Her boss was sitting behind the glass window of his office and he had his back to them. "I can only talk for a second. It's been busy and I've got to go into the back... wait a minute."
She walked back to her boss' open door and knocked, "Jim, I need five? Can you cover for me? Thanks."
She strode around the desk with a little more purpose than expected and grabbed Stephen's hand, leading him to the stairwell.
"It's over, Stephen. I'm sorry, but I'm just not there yet."
At that moment, Stephen had stopped listening. He'd heard it all before and thought it would be different this time. His mind immediately went to his upcoming rehearsal and the music he would be working on.
As the cold bit at his face, he remembered a brief embrace of goodbye and saying something stupid like, "It always starts with a kiss and ends with a hug."
He looked up at the entrance to the music school, took a deep breath and walked in.
***********************
Find out more about #yearofplay by reading the text of this song. This little piece of fiction is one of the stories that runs through my head as I'm working on the first part of my upcoming work with the "Denver Art Song Project".
Friday, May 1, 2015
Song Fiction #yearofplay
My new project is underway for the Year of Play and for some reason, my mind keeps coming back to the idea of "Song Fiction".
What is Song Fiction?
My #YearofPlay starts off with some work in the Art Song genre. Art Songs are poetry set to music. In general, I'll be focusing on songs with piano. These poems can tell a story or set a mood. In this case, I want to play with the idea of creating a piece of "Song Fiction" that accompanies the song and sets a very specific time and place for the song. I then imagine that the story becomes the context for the song.
I'm not a terribly good fiction writer, but since this idea keeps coming up in my head, I'm going to play with it as part of my #yearofplay.
What is Song Fiction?
My #YearofPlay starts off with some work in the Art Song genre. Art Songs are poetry set to music. In general, I'll be focusing on songs with piano. These poems can tell a story or set a mood. In this case, I want to play with the idea of creating a piece of "Song Fiction" that accompanies the song and sets a very specific time and place for the song. I then imagine that the story becomes the context for the song.
I'm not a terribly good fiction writer, but since this idea keeps coming up in my head, I'm going to play with it as part of my #yearofplay.
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