Crunch Zone

It speaks volumes about the last couple months that I haven’t posted anything here since late October when I was in Brussels for the revival of Kris Defoort’s The Time of Our Singing, an opera I’d premiered in 2021.  Behind-the-scenes, I’ve been in a long anticipated “crunch zone” with two operas, the Brahms Requiem and a symphonic programme in my head simultaneously for performances on both sides of the Atlantic. I’d of course been planning “crunch management” all year, but planning and execution sometimes differ slightly! 

As it transpired, I got thrown two curveballs in the form of appendicitis and then a cold, but fortunately, neither prevented me from conducting performances!

The Brahms project, in particular, my first as Music Director of the Charlotte Symphony was a joy, not least of all because I collaborated with my friend Janai Brugger again for the first time since we did Jake Heggie’s Intelligence in Houston last season, and with the terrific Alexander Birch Elliot for the first time. What an incredible pairing for the Brahms Requiem!

A few weeks later, I had another happy reunion, this time with the musicians of the Residentie Orkest den Haag, with whom I’d spent several weeks in 2022 doing the European Premiere of Jeanine Tesori’s opera Blue. This time, we did Rachmaninov and Tchaikovsky, which was a wonderful opportunity to deepen our creative partnership with contrasting repertoire. And once again, it was incredibly enjoyable – a lovely way to finish the year, but then it was crunch time! 

With concerts in Den Haag up to December 23rd followed by opera rehearsals in Amsterdam from the 27th, Christmas was spent in Amsterdam this year!  I was so excited to have a new experience of the holiday season in a cool city and I absolutely loved it, especially at night. (photos below). So, with the staging of Rudi Stephan’s Die ersten Menschen now underway, the 2024 crunch is officially over, along with 2024 itself!  

I’m extremely grateful for the many wonderful collaborations I enjoyed this year and for all the new friends I made, not least of all in Charlotte, and look forward to an equally if not more fulfilling 2025!

Happy New Year!