Dear friends,
I apologize for my absence from the blogosphere these past few months, it has indeed been a busy time!
Last December, I gave my first public recital here in Israel - an evening
of art song. The concert was predominantly German works, with Ravel's Greek songs and a token Israeli piece. Everyone enjoyed themselves, myself included! I have opened a SoundCloud account, where I posted clips from my last two concerts (I don't post full songs because of copyright issues). And I also built a short and sweet website,
where you can find all of my official details.
I went back to the States for the holidays, stopping first in Orlando to visit a friend whom I haven't seen since before I came to Israel! She works for Universal Studios, so we spent a packed day touring the park, spending lots of time in the Harry Potter section. It felt a bit like a living museum, I was happily surprised with it. After sunny Orlando, I headed up to Wisconsin, only to be surprised by extremely mild weather. Our lake did not freeze until nearly January, which has never happened in all the time that I've lived there. It was just surreal. We got snow in time for Christmas, so it felt slightly more normal.
When I returned to Israel, I began preparing for a Lieder competition in Germany. It is the International Schumann competition, so I have to prepare about one hour's worth of music. I am up to my ears in Schumann pieces now and I am waiting to hear back from them. In the meantime, I am preparing for another recital in May that my friend Eleonora will also sing on. We're calling it "עם קול הלב" - a play on words. "כל" means "all," but "קול" means voice, so it is "With the voice of the heart," but it sounds like "With all of the heart." Last week, I was busy
making a recording for a Lieder master course in Austria for which I
have applied. After I gave up the notion that it needed to be perfect, I
was able to enjoy the recording process and I am very pleased with the results.
Business aside, I am enjoying life, especially now that Spring is coming to Israel. In February, I moved to a new apartment and I am enjoying life above the
ground floor with lots of air and sunlight. My plants are also very
happy with their new home - I have a sweet potato plant that is
threatening to take over the kitchen! I will have to find a new place
for it soon. The weather keeps oscillating between cold/windy and sunny, but I hope that the cold/windy days will start to diminish. Already the trees are beginning to bloom here and there throughout the city. I am waiting for the tree outside my kitchen window to bloom - right now it is just full of red buds.
I hope that you are all well and that Spring is making its way to your corner of the world.
much love and peace,
daniella
