What a wonderful weekend! On Saturday I had the privilege to perform alongside George Todica for the Edinburgh Society of Musicians. It was a very welcoming society and a relaxing atmosphere to perform my first hour long solo evening recital that I had organised, designed and performed alone with piano accompaniment without any other soloists in the programme.
The evening’s programme comprised of:
“Haugtussa” the full cycle by Grieg
Four of Aaron Copland’s American Folk Songs
Four Scottish Folk Songs
‘Quando M’en Vo’ – Puccini
‘Wo Bin Ich?’ – Humperdink
‘Song To The Moon’ – Dvorak
Before starting the concert I was a bit nervous as it was the longest I was going to sing by myself. This brings challenges of vocal stamina as the voice is produced by muscles activating and relaxing. Similarly to a long distance athlete you need endurance, fuel and energy to last the entire event.
Leading up to the concert I was practising my words regularly and I think in the future I will keep working on this so that I can relax a little more mentally in the concert, but I think that because my attention was highly activated I could create and spontaneously react to ideas George created on the piano.
I am excited to be performing the Haugtussa again in March 2016 and can’t wait to see the progression the piece will make over time.
The program was well received and we were commended for a professional performance.
For me the highlight of the evening was meeting everyone after the event including fellow musicians along with a pianist who knew the ‘Haugtussa’ cycle as he had performed it before, and we received some great advice and feedback.
