來自：
時間：
來自：ywsing0
時間：Sun Mar 26 23:24:02 2006
晨早飲苶, 超市的報紙幾乎賣光, 只買了份 SCMP, 反而看到莫華倫的訪問.
| I am not an early riser. I normally get up at 10 o'clock and by that time, my wife has already taken my 10-year-old son, Leighton, to school. If I am in a good mood, I will do some voice exercise. I've been in this field for 20 years now, so I don't need to practise every day. Breakfast is usually just a cup of coffee and two spoonfuls of bird's nest. I then immediately check my e-mail to see if anything has happened since I went to bed. I have agents in New York, Beijing, Paris and Germany who handle my performance schedule. My home in Mid-Levels is not too far from my office in Wanchai. There's another reason I don't eat much in the morning - most of my lunch hours are saved for meetings with various sponsors, artists and associates. Ever since I founded Opera Hong Kong, the first non-profit opera company in the territory, I've had to do a lot of networking and entertaining. I've spent the past 20 years of my career in the arts as a singer, which has been quite simple as I just concentrate on giving a great performance. But since the founding of Opera Hong Kong, I have also spent a lot of time asking people for money. We need roughly $10 million a year for our administrative costs and putting together our three productions. The government gives us $200,000, which is 2 per cent. The rest I have to raise. When people ask me why I do this, I say that cities like Tokyo and Seoul have opera companies, but Hong Kong, which is such a powerful financial hub in Asia, doesn't. I think a world-class city needs a world-class opera company, the same way we have a great philharmonic and a ballet company. When I approach artists overseas, many of them like to come to Hong Kong because they know there's great shopping and food here. They are also surprised that we have only been around for three years, many people simply assume Hong Kong has always had its own opera company. I usually spend about six months travelling, either to perform or in research as artistic director of Opera Hong Kong. I am also the artistic director of the Macau International music festival, so I am always on the lookout for new talent. One of the benefits of being an artistic director is you can go to performances for free, but on the other hand, there's a lot of pressure in managing such grand productions with a staff of just three. My wife, whom I met in Taiwan, now runs a travel agency in Hong Kong, so she's the one who plans my itinerary around the world. I do about six engagements a year and, in addition, I may do some one-off performances in China, which take only a few days. For each opera I participate in, I am away for three weeks to a month [to allow time for rehearsals]. I have recently been in New Zealand for an arts festival and I met some friendly people there, including a Hong Kong restaurant owner I saw every night because I hate room service in hotels. For an opera singer, I don't take meticulous care of my voice. I still eat fried foods, chilli sauce and drink iced water. People always say iced water irritates the throat but that's not true. When you use your voice a lot, your throat muscles and tonsils swell and iced water calms them down. It's only during the several days before a performance that I am extra careful about what I eat. The opera bug bit me when I was 18. It was the late 1970s and I was living in Honolulu, and saw a performance of La Boheme. It moved me so much a friend of mine introduced me to a professor of music at the University of Hawaii. He gave me a voice test and said I was good enough to get a full scholarship. In the beginning, I had doubts I would make a career out of singing, so I tried to do a double major in accounting. That didn't turn out too well because I was very bad with numbers. When I finished my bachelor's degree, I moved to New York and did my master's at the Manhattan School of Music, I worked for a while in New York, then in 1987, I saw a notice from the Berlin Opera for auditions for their artist-in-residence programme. I tried out and they accepted me. Berlin was the most influential period of my artistic life. It was there that I met Luciano Pavarotti. I was an understudy back then and I watched him rehearse his role in Elixir of Love. I was very shy but he turned around and said to me: 'Tenore, let me hear you sing.' I did and he gave me some pointers. He also told me to stand closer to him so he could hear me sing. Pavarotti always took good him so he could hear me sing. Pavarotti always took good care of young singers. In fact, he was the one who always drank cold water after singing - I picked up that habit from him. My life is so different now - with this new workload - that it's actually a relief just to learn my part and sing. I could have stayed in Berlin, because anyone who's employed by the state receives full benefits for the rest of their lives after a period of time, but 10 years ago, I chose to come back to Hong Kong, my home. These are my roots and I think it's a great city. Opera Hong Kong's first three seasons have been successful, with our ticket sales grossing about 40 per cent of our revenue. We've stuck with the classics, just to generate loyalty. I am preparing for our next show, in May, Carmen. The set is being manufactured in Toulouse and I hope that after the Hong Kong show, we may be able to tour China so that our expenses can be spread out. It costs about $5 million to put a show together, so the pressure is on. I don't have a lot of spare time because when I come home from the office, I start working on my computer and phone because all my agents and contacts in Europe and the United States will begin their working days. I sometimes listen to music, such as jazz and pop, to relax and I don't go to sleep until 2am. I don't have time to read much either. I'd love to move to Stanley but Mid-Levels is really convenient for work and my son's school. He wants to be like me. I am not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing. But one day, I hope to retire to Hwaii and just take it easy. I've been to a lot of places in my life and many of the cities have picturesque beaches. In my mind, nothing compares with Oahu's North Shore. Even Waikiki beach, which has turned into such a tourist trap, still retains its unique charm. I just don't know when I can retire. Opera Hong Kong's Carmen will be performed at the Cultural Centre between May 18 and 21. For tickets, call Urbtix on 2734 9009. |
十時起床的歌者生活, 只有教老師和我望而興嘆.
還有每日兩匙燕窩.
忽發奇想, 佢地請 IT 人嗎?
__
Relaxing day~
往將軍澳探婆婆.
我應該畀d錢孝敬婆婆嘛... 懶...
逛東港城, 之後自己坐 91M 去鑽石山, 食野.
聽 m8 成個 act II, 但第二幕大體上很柔和, 合唱團的聲部唔顯, 聽完都學唔到乜.