MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Glad tidings of great joy to you!
Holiday hugs from Gayla and Aria

Living In the Moment

When you sing or act or entertain in some other way as part/all of your professional life, it's easy to think "just another gig." I've had the amazing privilege of singing from some of the major concert stages in NYC. Tomorrow will be the--I don't know, tenth maybe?--time I've sung in Carnegie Hall, and this time with fewer singers than usual.

The extra performance weight on us as individuals is exciting. The soloists, all of them, headed up by Dawn Upshaw, are each fantastic and hearing them sing and watching them act is exciting. The conductor, Robert Spano, is sooooo skilled and musical and clear, and beyond that, is kind and affirming and respectful and collegial, not just to the instrumentalists, not just to the soloists, but also to each member of the 18-voice women's choir. And that's exciting. (Click here to see the Carnegie page on the concert.)

And when the music's good--and tomorrow's music is more than that--and everything's clicking, the rehearsal periods are also times of complete and consciously shared joy. It's the reason many of us began pursuing music professionally in the first place.

But at today's dress rehearsal, I tried to take one extra step in "just another rehearsal"--I tried to breathe deeply, and look around at where I was. Yes, I've sung there before. But I never ever ever want to take for granted that I'm singing on the stage of Carnegie Hall.  I know there are extremely talented musicians across the country who smile and think of singing there as a distant dream that isn't even on the horizon of what they consider Possible Reality in their lives. And here I am, doing it. Amazing. It's beyond privileged. It's something I feel the deepest gratitude about.

For those of you who may read this and wonder how it feels to sing at Carnegie Hall...it feels incredibly special. Know that I'm trying to appreciate it for your sake as well as for mine.

And tomorrow (Sunday Dec. 7) at 2:00 (well, probably 2:05), take a deep breath and walk with me out onto that stage from wherever you're sitting. It's magical.

Happy December

Thanksgiving's come and gone (although the turkey remains...), and now we're into December. This week's my busiest of the month. I'm looking forward to tomorrow night's performance at Square One with Frank singing with me! And then this weekend at Carnegie, with Dawn Upshaw! And Robert Spano conducting! and the St. Luke's Orchestra playing!  Pretty spectacular.

Maybe some Christmas caroling with Cynthia Weinrich's group, What the Dickens!, but pickings look slim this year. And the good news in that is that I'll actually have 2 fairly free weeks to enjoy the season!!!  It's been many years since I was this uncluttered during December and, effects on my budget aside, I'm thrilled.

Have a wonderful month, whatever holiday you're celebrating.

Thanksgiving!

Have a Thanksgiving that's filled with thanks and giving! No matter what is going on in our lives, there is always someone somewhere who has less...and always someone somewhere who has more. Our path is full of flowers if we will only recognize they exist--and each of you, my friends who are reading this blog, is a flower in my path. I am thankful for you, for life in New York City, for Aria, for having full use of my legs and arms and eyes and nose and ears, for the joy of art and ocean and music and tiny animals and huge clouds and...and most of all, I'm thankful for being given a desire to choose to see what's good in my world--I know so many people who don't seem to have that desire, and who never choose to be happy. I am very very thankful to be happy.

I'm so thankful for Being Watched Over with such love. For some of you, the word God is full of negative associations--or rather, an emptiness, a lack of association with Reality. For me--as you well know!--God IS Reality, and He/She/It is the reason I am able to create, smile, and love. I am very very thankful.

Have a wonderful holiday!

When It Rains, It Pours

Saturday morning, and I'm ready for a really fun and exciting few days. A friend's wedding today on Long Island, a schlep--I'm playing violin in a quartet and singing in a choir, plus volunteered to keep the musicians organized (there are 2 soloists, a cantor, a pianist, and a trumpet player in addition to the quartet and choir!). And one of the choral pieces is my own setting (for this wedding) of Song of Solomon's "set me as a seal upon your heart." Never sung before, so I'm excited to hear it today.

Then we'll party--black-tie!--til the wee hours, and I take the train home to sleep a little before the second reading here in my living room of the musical I've been working on with co-librettist Jean Mornard for 2 years. For the first reading, I sang the lead role so I wouldn't have to depend on another singer to learn the material. For this reading, a wonderful sightreading friend, Silvie, is singing the lead role so that I can sit back and really listen, and evaluate the writing (Jean will be on the phone, listening long-distance!). A cast of 10 plus stage-directions reader, music director Matt, director Mary Kate, and 4 observers--plus me and Aria--will pack my little living room with a total of 18 people! Yesterday was spent moving furniture out and chairs in and receiving the enormous delivery of food I ordered. Sunday afternoon will be about prepping the food and cleaning the bathroom. :-)

Then 2 days later, off for an early Thanksgiving in Texas with my sister, her family, and my mom.

Ordinarily, any one of these 3 events would be cause for excitement, planning, adrenaline. WHY DO I DO EVERYTHING AT THE SAME TIME??? :-)  This seems to happen regularly, that when it rains, it pours! I think often that phrase is used in a negative way--for me, it's a positive statement. The stress is all positive stress...and my December's too focused for letdown, so I'll hopefully get to just keep enjoying it all as I continue into the holidays and the adrenaline slowly returns to "normal"--whatever that means in my life. 

(Did I mention that, a week and a half after I get back from TX, I'm performing 20 minutes of my own writing in a musical theater series? Haven't even started planning that yet!)

Let's face it--I think I like the adrenaline pumping. And New York certainly supports that way of being. So I'm in the right place, doing the right things. Yay.

And outside? It's pouring, too. :-)

VOTE!

That's it. Just vote.

Well, not completely it. I'm sooooooooo not a political animal. Usually. But this year's election has my stomach in knots. I truly fear for the country if Obama is NOT elected. Yes, it looks like he's in. But let's face it, given the treachery of the Gore/Bush election...well, there's this sense of "how might this election be tampered with" hanging in the air.

I don't like McCain. Well, actually--he seems like a pretty nice guy when he's not talking politics. Loved his SNL spot, and the Martha Stewart appearance in an apron. A good sport. But his political stance has no hope of healing the ills this country is experiencing--it will further and intensify them. His political ideals are WHY we're in trouble. And the idea of Sarah Palin becoming president, the obvious LIKELIHOOD of that happening if he's/they're elected today...well, I can't breathe for the absolute terror of that thought. Sure, she's independent and spunky--but nobody who actually LISTENS  to what she's saying while she's displaying those qualities can perceive her as anything other than mis-informed, politically uneducated, and a loose cannon. We CANNOT give her access to nuclear weapons. Or foreign policy. 

So. Please vote. Now. For Obama. I'm headed to the polls now to do my part.

Celebrity Week

What a week.

Last Sunday, at the mass I always cantor (10:30 @ St. Jean-Baptiste, 76th & Lex), not one, but two celebrities.

First: Tony Blair.  I was told he was in the congregation only a minute before I stepped out to begin the mass, so I knew. Unfortunately, knowing threw me a little, as much as I hate to admit it, because I like to think of myself as such a pro. :-)  I skipped a very small section of a weekly part of the mass! Nothing huge, but I know it was because I was a little distracted. Drat.

So if that was the case, how grateful should I be that I DIDN'T know who ELSE was sitting out there?--BONO!  Yes, BONO, of U2!!

Wow.

So, very exciting start to the week. And exciting end as well. I saw yesterday's matinee of ENTER LAUGHING at the York--hysterical, terrific direction, superb cast. Matt is the music director. So first--since Matt's my friend, I forget sometimes that he's really a celebrity in his own right (and yes, I think he'd be kind of horrified to read that sentence) :-)  He's so good at what he does. They're just lucky to have him there. And after the show, I had the chance to meet and speak with the gentleman who originated the role of Harrison Marlowe and is still singing the socks off it--George S. Irving! What a sweet man, gracious, and such an enormous talent onstage. A privilege to have had a brief conversation with him. Then Matt, our friend Sue, and I stepped out for a quick bite, and who ended up at the same restaurant? Two other stars of the show, Jill Eikenberry and Michael Tucker (with their friend Kristine Sutherland, Buffy's mom!). With whom I also was able to have a brief, easy conversation, followed by a couple of silly theater-game mirror gestures with Michael as our 2 three-somes sat directly across the bar from each other, since there were no tables available.

Not only did I have the pleasure of watching other performers shine this week, I was offered two new personal performing opportunities (Dec. 2008 and April 2009), both of which I'm extremely excited about. And next week is the concert at Manhattanville College--really expressive music and text, and I'm so looking forward to those performing moments.

So yay for October. The season's begun with a bang! Hope you're also finding a momentum building for good things in your life.

The Ocean

Healing and beautiful...

The Oak Room

I've always dreamt of singing in the Oak Room at the Algonquin, famous for its cabaret history: Andrea Marcovicci, Harry Connick, Jr., 20s and 30s.

So on Thursday night, thanks to my new friend Michael Mooney and an open-mic-by-invite salon run by Mark Janas...

I did.

Mark played, the audience clapped, and I enjoyed every moment.  Dreams can come true--maybe not all of them, but certainly some of them.  One reason to keep having them.  And pursuing them.

Dream.

Shakespeare

I've been discouraged at my lack of opportunity in NYC to act--when I returned to the city after a 10-year absence, my intention was ONLY to audition for the stage. However, wonderful opportunities to sing began presenting themselves and, for the most part, I have ended up pursuing those instead of auditioning.

So when I was called a few months ago to sing a setting of Ophelia's "mad scene" from HAMLET as part of the Downtown Music Productions series in the East Village (St. Mark's-in-the-Bowery), I was thrilled at the chance to actually work with the profound text of Shakespeare.  Then, as the concert approached, I took a closer look at the simple but effective music for voice and harp (by Carolyn Steinberg) and at the text, which was directly quoted from the play...and promptly panicked--at the chance to actually work with the profound text of Shakespeare!  :-)

Fortunately, my friend and experienced director Mary Kate Burke agreed to coach me through the experience. The result was an extremely gratifying moment, for me, of feeling like--for just an instant in time--the audience completely forgot who Gayla Morgan was, and were instead watching Ophelia express a grief that was driving her past her own mental and emotional boundaries--and they were holding their breath.

THANK YOU, Mary Kate!  And THANK YOU, Mimi Stern-Wolfe, for once again inviting me to participate in your wonderful programming with DMP at St. Mark's. And for giving me the challenge of ACTING something  complex and moving, written by a playwright of dimension far beyond what I reached that afternoon. Even so, I don't think I touched down for 2 whole days, and that gift will carry me through the summer.

May all of you have at least one experience this summer that re-affirms your desire to reach past the normal, into the supernatural.  May you be challenged to the point where you're not sure you can...and then choose not to back away. And as a result, may you have the amazing gift of seeing others touched for good because you said "Okay, I'll do it."

Summer's Here!

Summer's here. Hot and heavy. But...maybe a slower schedule to go with, so I'm not complaining. The last few weeks have been packed with rewarding work, including music directing a hip-hop version of ROMEO & JULIET in a Bronx high school that had 2 performances last week. But I'm ready for a break.

Also, after singing one of my own songs last weekend at a benefit for the church where I cantor, I got seriously motivated to create a cabaret where I could sing an entire evening of my own material. My talented playwright friend, Jack Neary, is looking at the script for the one-woman show I wrote/produced/performed in Denver years ago, REFLECTIONS ON BEING SINGLE, to see if it's adaptable, with some new music. So...Maybe a fall cabaret night?!

I also had the opportunity last week to produce a recording of my arrangement of AMERICA/ROUTE 66 for The Western Wind's upcoming radio program/CD release, "O Beautiful." The gang were great about my specifics, and I really enjoyed the 2 hours spent. Can't wait to get into the mixing stage and hear the final product!

Besides my usual career schedule, my sister Angie and her husband Dik will be visiting this week for a couple of days, at the end of their trek from Niagara Falls (where Dik was in job training) to Vermont to Maine to Boston. It will be great to see them and hang out together. My friend Yumiko will be here for one night later in the month, and it's possible that my college friend Michael will also come for a week at the end of June thru early July--I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

So, as a thunderstorm makes itself known outside my window, I'm relieved to welcome the easier attitude of summer. Yes, I know the above schedule may not sound like "the livin' is easy" to YOU--but it's near-meditation for me and Aria! I'm hoping for lots of time in the park with her in my lap. I hope you have your own version of vacation over the next few weeks.

Spring

Spring is in full swing, some of the most beautiful days in Manhattan. Life is overwhelmed with concerts and rehearsals for a month or so--no complaints, my budget is thrilled. The only downside is no time for rewrites of the musical until the schedule clears slightly. But I know the rewrites are brewing in the back of my mind and I'm content to wait for the space.

The occasional walk to Riverside Park, sitting with Aria in the cafe and looking at the Hudson (and NJ in the distance), seeing the trees bud and the tulips bloom and the birds and squirrels (and last night, a raccoon!) out and about...these are the moments that convince me that spring has really arrived and summer's on the way. She and I were both ready for the change. Hope you are finding those same moments of relaxation and renewal in your life as the season changes.

Process

Well, Jean and I just finished our musical's first draft. A year and half of working well together, and we both feel very excited about what we've created. It's now on its way to be reviewed by a trusted colleague, who will offer feedback for minor tweaking before our first read-thru at the end of March. (Yes, the subject is still a mystery. But not for much longer!)

The process is the fun part. Creating together, having an idea that's not quite like someone else's idea, then mashing those ideas together until a third, new idea emerges that is usually better than either person's original idea was. A concrete example that the goal isn't the point, it's the journey.

Although the goal can be rewarding, too. Having this go to production will be just as exciting, I'm sure.

Anyway, tonight is (or actually, the wee hours of this morning are) a time of celebration for us! One step completed, more adventure ahead.

Spring's Almost Here!

Today was a beautiful day in Manhattan--50s, sunny, birds chirping. Copyediting work gave me a reason to sit by the window all day and enjoy the view of backyard trees and rooftops reflecting the sunshine. After last week--a pressured week of jury duty, funeral, hospital with a friend, and organizational work for the upcoming read-thru of my new musical (Jean Mornard, co-librettist), today was a welcome day of singular--rather than scattered--focus, punctuated by a little walk outside with Aria.

Today was also a nice follow-up to a truly lovely day with my friend Lawrence yesterday--we saw a choral concert in Brooklyn (Dessof Choir, conducted by James Bagwell, who brought life and reason to a program of early American music that could have otherwise been repetitive and unrewarding), a fabulous and not overly expensive Mexican dinner at a new restaurant in the East Village, followed by a very funny one-woman show nearby, and a pleasant glass of wine (with mediocre live music, but live music nevertheless) to end the evening. I've been sorely in need of a vacation, and yesterday really filled that bill. It was wonderful to spend a day with a friend.

Here's hoping you have renewing times this week, however they reach you.

First post on the new blog. I switched from landline to cable phone and lost the old site--figure nobody but me will notice! :-) Thanks, Blogger, for making a new calendar and blog site possible...for those few friends and family who actually tune in occasionally...