Looking back on an unforgettable Boston Early Music Festival...
3 operas, 4 roles, 3 cities, 2 concerts...
About a month before I was due to travel to Boston to join the Boston Early Music Festival for its run of operas and two concerts, news came that the centerpiece opera’s star had withdrawn. On a hasty phone call with the Festival’s leadership, I found out Karina Gauvin would be stepping in, but she’d need a cover to sing the title role while she dipped in and out for other gigs during the production period. So… could I do it? Could I learn Circé and be in Boston in 2 weeks to start staging rehearsals on Karina’s behalf? I’d already said yes and hung up before I started to understand what exactly I’d agreed to do (classic). I hastily dug out the score and started marking the part - it was massive. As I highlighted pages and pages of recitative, (“does she ever shut up?!” I muttered to myself), I felt a wave of anxiety building inside me. After a cheeky midday panic attack and a stern pep talk from my husband, I knew what I needed: a massive number of gel pens.
Every time I learn a part, I do the same thing: divide role into equal chunks, use gel pens to create color-coded checklist, assign self deadline for each chunk, follow through. Normally I give myself 3-5 weeks to learn and memorize a role. This time, I gave myself 7 days, (then 7 more days to try to make it all, you know, sound good.)
I arrived in Boston about 2 weeks later with a mental state best described as French baroque zombie. I definitely hadn’t memorized the role, but I had fallen in love with it and I was so excited to be one of the handful of people who got to be part of the production from day one.
A few days in, I was doing Acts I & II from memory. We got quite a lot done! After all the stress of my solitary cramming, being in the rehearsal room with the rest of the cast and the *incredible* music staff felt like playtime. After the first week, Karina Gauvin took over the role and I was off to New York City to remount and perform La servante maitrêsse with Opera Lafayette in a whirlwind 48 hours!!
Long story short: the rest of the production period included a trip to Cleveland to rehearse with Les Délices and an unexpected week of singing Circé room runs while Karina battled the flu, all while concurrently rehearsing Alcina and the Festival’s opening night concert. The Festival itself was a whirlwind of performances I genuinely felt great about, including the two mainstage concerts that garnered this great review in the Boston Globe:
“The night’s breakout artist was unmistakably soprano Hannah De Priest… Her pearlescent phrases as the Nymph of the Seine in the ‘Circé’ prologue prompted me to add ‘Woman Scorned’ by Les Délices to my festival agenda. There, too, she was magnetic, driving 18th-century composer François Colin de Blamont’s own ‘Circé’ cantata with dramatic poise and shimmering, subtle ornamentations that entwined with founder Debra Nagy’s oboe and recorder… I confess I’ve never found it easy to connect with French Baroque music… but not when De Priest is singing.”
It really was a wild and wonderful six weeks, and here’s the upshot: I fall more in love with French baroque music every day. Singing this repertoire with the world class musicians in the BEMF Orchestra and Les Délices made this Festival one of the most exhilarating professional experiences I’ve had to date. I recently came across this pearl of wisdom: “fear is a yield, not a stop sign.” It’s true!! I’m so glad I pushed through the feelings of inadequacy and panic that gripped me at the beginning of all this. I’ve grown so much as an artist over these past weeks and I wouldn’t trade even the most stressful memories for anything. Note to future self: a lot can get done in two weeks. Gel pens at the ready!
What’s next? Tomorrow I’m flying back to Boston(!) to kick off the tour of the BEMF chamber opera, Alcina. We’re performing in Great Barrington and at Caramoor. Dare I say I’m looking forward to donning my ruff and leafy gloves once more?!
After I get back, I’ll be home in Chicago for multiple contracts with Grant Park Music Festival, a fun local concert with friends in July (it’ll be on the radio ~ more info soon!!), and 2 little (desperately-needed) vacations:) I hope your summer is off to a great start! Thanks for reading!
What an excellent experience! Well done!