2011 is under way

The insurance people have been quite prompt - I had a visit yesterday from a man from the company who will be doing the repairs. As I suspected one of the doors will have to be replaced, the damage to the other one is minor enough for it to be repaired. The man said he would put the order in yesterday afternoon and, depending on supplies and how busy the manufacturers are, it would probably take about a week to ten days.

My singing year starts this afternoon with a rehearsal at St John's Southgate for Sunday's Bach cantata service; this week it's BWV 73, Herr, wie du willt, so schick's mit mir! in which we only have two chorales to sing. In another couple of weeks we will be starting rehearsals for Gloriana's first concert, which I think will include the Rachmaninoff Vespers.

... and again.

Yesterday I spent the whole day at 3MBS; it was quite busy which made the day pass fairly quickly. When I got home I noticed that the front gate wasn't shut properly ... oh, well, I thought, someone may have called trying to sell me something. People don't always shut the gate properly.

I think you know where this is going.

Then I noticed that the old recycling crate was upside-down. My Spidey-senses started to prickle. I went inside and on a first look could see nothing out of the ordinary. It wasn't until I unlocked the back door that I could see that someone had been trying to jemmy the doors open. Thankfully they were unsuccessful, but they damaged the frame of one of the doors - the other door was relatively unscathed.

So then the old routine kicked in - I'm so lucky the police station is so close. After reporting it at Collingwood there was a crime scene man on the premises within minutes (good work, guys). Of course he couldn't get any fingerprints, but took a few photos of the damage and suggested more options to secure the place before he left.

This morning I spoke to the insurance people to set the whole repair/replacement process in motion - they said they'd get back to me tomorrow

Change

Things are not going so well at a certain place I've been working at lately - the man I have been working closely with was last week made redundant. The new GM is instituting a whole raft of changes by way of "restructuring" and D was the first casualty; how many more there'll be remains to be seen. It's difficult when most of the work is done by volunteers to see the paid staff being given their marching orders - I suspect some volunteers will follow suit.

I will stay on for the moment and will see what the atmosphere is like when I go back tomorrow. After surviving several rounds of restructuring and redundancies at my previous employer, I'm a bit over it by now.

Joyce DiDonato

I've recently discovered Joyce DiDonato, an American mezzo and on her blog found this interesting plug for her soon-to-be-released CD, Diva, Divo.

Her blog is worth checking out, for some fascinating background into opera preparation and performance.

A shiny new year to play with

Well, we're a few days into 2011 and so far it seems OK so I'm going to do a short post on last year.

I had a couple of short trips in 2010: in February I went to Dunedin to stay with AC and her family and then later in the year I spent a week with Tat in Port Douglas. Both were very entertaining and enjoyable visits.

Also in 2010 we (P&B and I) had a very satisfying year of opera, one of the highlights for me being last month's Opera Australia A Midsummer Night's Dream, an often beautiful work in Baz Luhrmann's glittering production.

For the last couple of months I've been volunteering at 3MBS, the local "volunteer-run, listener-funded fine music radio station". So far I've been working on the reception desk and this has allowed me to get to know many of the volunteers and staff as well as getting an idea of how the place works. Like other similarly run organisations it is not without its tensions; as I'm still a new boy (!) it's interesting to observe, from outside, as it were. I'm also taking on some responsibilities for the online arts directory, which could be interesting. They're a very friendly group of people.

As for this year ... well, I'm vaguely thinking of a couple of months overseas, but as yet haven't made any clear decisions as to where, or when. I will continue the shifts at 3MBS, and may even find another group to volunteer with. As well I will continue slowly sorting through the mess in the house disposing of those items I really don't need ... or at least some of them.

Oh, and I will endeavour to post here more frequently. We shall see what we shall see.