In His Own Words

Alexander Neef, General Director


9/2/2009

Moving Days

Moving probably is one of everybody's least favourite things. Right now I am at home waiting for the packing crew to arrive. This will be our last day in the Yorkville apartment which we had rented for a year. By tomorrow evening we will be in our new apartment in the King Street West area with all our boxes. Hopefully, by the time of my next blog post they will all be unpacked and we will have started settling into our permanent home.

Have a good long Labour Day weekend.

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8/26/2009

Purcell and Proust

It is late and I have another long and busy day tomorrow, but before I go to bed I wanted to give you a report of the wonderful performance of Henry Purcell's Dido and Aeneas from which I have just returned. Opera Underground's ambitious and passionate interpretation is well worth seeing and hearing. Patrick Eakin Young's direction is simple, but effective, and Ashiq Aziz draws stylish playing from the small baroque orchestra. Susanna Hawkins' deeply felt and well sung Dido and Charlotte Corwin's sparkling Belinda lead a very fine all-Canadian cast. There are more performances at the Winchester Street Theatre until 29th August. Don't miss it if you want to discover or re-discover Purcell's masterpiece. If you want to prepare for your visit I recommend a new recording from Novosibirsk - of all places! - conducted by the extremely gifted Teodor Currentzis with Simone Kermes and Dimitris Tiliakos in the title roles.

On a more private matter I have finally had the courage to approach the Mount Everest of French litterature. Marcel Proust's À la recherche du temps perdu arrived in the mail today and although I have no idea yet how and when I will ever get through its 2400 pages I am glad it is here now to be read.

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7/23/2009

A Normal Thursday

Today I woke up at 5 a.m. That's already an improvement although I am still wondering how I will be doing with yet another time change tomorrow.
 
My working day was a very normal Thursday, starting with the usual production meeting, a phone appointment with a manager from London, another meeting with our Orchestra Manager, then a meeting with Development staff, a lunch at the excellent Chef's House (on King Street East and Frederick Street, associated with George Brown College, the complete staff, cooks, waiters etc., are apprentices. It's almost impossible to get in without a reservation, but the meals are certainly worth a little bit of long-term planning). The afternoon was spent with a communications meeting and, to end my day, a look at our finances.
 
Now, my suitcase is packed and I am ready to leave for California tomorrow morning. Maybe I'll find the summer there.

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