In Other Musical News . . .

I am singing with the Portland Mormon Choir in a performance of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony next Saturday. It has been clear from the moment I first looked at the music that Beethoven was not himself a singer, nor friends with any, because this music is insane, especially for the sopranos. Pages and pages of high A, and probably 90% of the notes in the whole thing above a high F#. The only redeeming thing about it is that the choir only sings in the last movement, and there are sizeable breaks where the orchestra is playing alone or with the soloists. I expect and hope that the performance (sung only once) will be less wearing than this week's final rehearsals. But after Saturday I'll be due for a good long stretch of vocal rest.

It can't be too long, though, because I'm scheduled to sing two arias from Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro as part of an opera presentation at the Portland Regional Music Workshop on February 24. I'm not really a mezzo-soprano, but I'll be singing the two arias of Cherubino: "Non so più cosa son" and "Voi che sapete." My first trouser role!