Update

So I haven't been writing in this much lately, mostly because there hasn't been a whole lot going on. Friday, Saturday and Sunday were recital days (I'll talk about those in a bit) so rehearsals were really light, though actually I wasn't called for anything so I had an awesome three-day weekend. I haven't done much sight-seeing either though, which is kind of sad but A) the weather hasn't been great since Friday or Saturday, and B) The Plague is still making the rounds in the program and I figure, while my social skills are suffering, my voice is being safely quarantined by just staying in my room and resting. I also had three papers due in my Intro to Religion online class (which I'm taking to try and have a lighter Spring Quarter) by midnight on Sunday, so that's what I did with my off weekend.
We're at the halfway mark of the program now, and next week we're apparently starting orchestra rehearsals and run-throughs. I'm a bit nervous about those, mostly because there are still some chorus things that we haven't blocked/run through (considering all the things that ended up NOT being cut that have a lot of chorus music in them), but I guess we'll get to those eventually.
Ok, so now to talk about the recitals. We were assigned music by Maurice Ravel, Isabelle Aboulker and Henri Sauguet for the program, and Friday, Saturday and Sunday were recitals for Ravel and Aboulker music. Some people were unlucky and had to perform two nights out of the three, but luckily I was able to knock out both of my pieces on Friday night. It was a really nice recital, with a very intimate audience (though there was a big turnout and people ended up spilling out onto the balcony of the hall) and Mme. Aboulker herself was there to watch. I sang "Sainte" by Ravel and then "L'archet" at the very end of the program. I got super nervous at the beginning, which is strange for me because I don't really get nervous before performing, just that short little rush of adrenaline before going onstage, but I was shaking during my first piece. Oh well, I guess it would be weird if I didn't still get nervous once in a while.
We have our Sauguet recital coming up on the 27th, 28th and 29th, and I guess we're going to be having a master class at some point with a specialist in French opera, for which I'm kind of excited (I'll be doing my "Je dis que rien ne m'épouvante" since I don't have another French aria yet) but I don't know when that is. I've also decided that as soon as I know when my next day off is, I'm going to actually try and do some sight-seeing. Some friends of mine went to Basque country this last weekend and I'm really interested in going there. I wish we could get a chance to go along with the next group of Castle Concert-singers, since they're going to a castle that Richard the Lionhearted stayed in on his way to and from the Crusades, but the bus isn't big enough to fit us all in.

Stay tuned!