On Austria

Note: OK, I'm actually back in NY now, but I'm too wiped to write something original. Here's my open letter from Austria that most of you have probably already seen. I'll post an update with further thoughts on the whole experience and a few comparisons soon. Here's a short tidbit though -- Austrian cabbies speak better English than their NY counterparts. Scary...

Graz has been wonderful. The town is beautiful; there's amazing
shoppping; there are so many amazing voices, and I have been blessed
to work with some truly fabulous musicians, directors, coaches, and
instructors. On the down side, I caught some plague about 12 days ago
and was out of commission for a week and missed A LOT of my German
classes.

Here are a few little tidbits should you choose to come visit Graz:

1. It is about 2 hours from Vienna. Graz is the heart of Styria, and
the Styrians pride themselves on not being "citified" like the
Viennese. In fact, a few weeks ago, the governor of Styria invited
all of the musicians to a special ball at this historic castle on the
outskirts of Graz. Normally it's a museum, but they opened it
especially for us. It's full of gorgeous paintings and tapestries and
is surrounded by acres of gardens stocked with peacocks!

2. There is no air conditioning ANYWHERE (this is probably why I got
sick). Today it was only in the 70s, but we had a crazy two-week heat
wave not long ago, and it just about killed us all. I have decided
that if the Europeans would just invest in air conditioning, their
productivity would seriously increase.

3. No stores are open after 6pm, and nothing is open on Sunday. It's
no wonder the Austrian economy is kind of whacked. Nobody works ...
except for those in the food industry, which leads me to the next
thing you should know:

4. Ninety-percent of the food here is fried. They fry EVERYTHING.
All main courses come with either potatoes or fries; there is no
escaping the starches. However, the fried cheese is pretty awesome.
Instead of mozzarella sticks with marinara sauce, you can have
camembert or emmentaler with cranberries. It's a real treat. Plus,
I've discovered that it helps to become a regular somewhere and make
friends with the cooks and/or waitstaff. You get the delicious things
they save for themselves (like this awesome juicy stuffed rotisserie
chicken I just had) and little extras like choclate rum sundaes...

5. Speaking of chocolate, if you have not had Mozart Kugeln, you're
missing out. Therefore, I'm bringing lots home for all of you. :-)

6. The Graz Opera has a huge season, so you should all definitely
check it out should you choose to visit. The Grazers also love their
Viennese operetta, and I've really enjoyed getting to explore more
operetta tunes here. I've been able to work with one of the most
famous Adele's (Die Fledermaus) of all time, and she definitely knows
her operetta. She coached me on an aria from Lehar's Paganini that
sang this evening at the St. Leonhard Pfarsaal (don't even ask me what
that word means, but St. Leonhard is the "suburb" in which we are
based), and I ROCKED. Just thought you'd all like to know. Anyway,
I'm bringing all of this wonderful music back with me, so we might
just have our own Operettenabend very soon... :-)

Should you decide to visit, I'm here for two more weeks, and I can get
you a great rate on a dorm room (sad but true, my room is only
slightly larger than my laundry room in Abilene). Heh.

Well, that's all for now. I must get to bed and continue to rest my
rather tired voice. I can't seem to rid myself completely of what our
staff doctor has termed "The Graz Gunk." Plus, the antibiotics make me
sleepy. You should all send me positive vibes, thoughts, prayers,
etc., because I would really like to be healthy for the next couple of
weeks.

Love to all and know that I appreciate all of your encouragement and support,
Opera Barbie