CVH ON THE ROAD IS MOVING AGAIN

I am tired of Blogger and am jumping ship. You can find CVH ON THE ROAD HERE now. I will leave this link up for a while. www.christianvanhorn.tumblr.com is our new home.

Ich bin in Berlin

Raced into Berlin late last night after a very successful performance of Verdi's Requiem in Hof. Hof is a great little town in the northern-most west side of Bavaria...so the beer was still good!

Arrived in Berlin at about 1:00am this morning. We had an early rehearsal today and will have our second requiem tonight. Tonights requiem is for charity www.innocenceindanger.de/ and its great to be a part of it.

Clothes getting ripped off on DVD...

A new DVD release of Lucrezia Borgia from the Bayerische Staatsoper staring Edita Gruberova. Another great opportunity to see CVH have his wig and costume torn off. I just layed eyes on the DVD and the quality is really great. The sound is also perfect. This is a Christof Loy production and I was very pleased to be a small part of it.

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Stuttgart Aida and the dancing cheerleaders

The slaves in this production of Aida were cheerleaders complete with pom-poms and leotards. It was a stranger take on Aida but I imagine I was a little bias since I only came to the show the day before. A very quick staging rehearsal and curtain went up. Its always exciting to meet colleagues on stage. This King was aged a bit as you can see above. The idea was that this King was more like a politician. My costume was more the commander of the navy. All in all a good, fun trip to Stuttgart and a couple of successful shows. Got to meet some new friends and I look forward to going back in a few months for a run of Figaros. Up next is two Verdi Requiems. Always a great time. First one is in Hof, Germany on Saturday and the next day in Berlin.

Catching the flu in Rome

Or at least on the airplane coming home. Its been a rough few days but I think the worst is behind me. I had the dreaded visit to the Munich Work Permit/Residence Permit/Every other Permit office today otherwise know as the KVR Kreisfervaltungsreferat. This place is like a fun-house. Long white corridors, lots of closed doors, many foreigners with dictionaries in their hands trying to figure out what floor they need to be on. Its like alice in wonderland meets Clock Work Orange. Nothing goes correctly in this place. Imagine the American DMV only its in a foreign language. Thats right...the DMV where everyone hates their life. I fully intended to go this morning and after waiting 2 hours be told that what I needed would be impossible. Torture+Confusion+Dissapointment=KVR

I was wonderfully surprised today. I needed a small amendment to my work permit and this was done instantly. Unbelievable. This is probably my 6th visit to the KVR since living in Munich and it has NEVER gone this well. Even with the flu I danced out of that place! I am now cleared for Stuttgart and ready for some Aida!

Here is our cast in Stuttgart

Il Re Christian Van Horn
Amneris Marina Prudenskaja / Chariklia Mavropoulou
Aida María José Siri
Radamès Héctor Sandoval
Ramfis Liang Li / Attila Jun
Amonasro Yalun Zhang

I am not normally a big fan of being a tourist, but Rome makes it feel ok. The Coliseum today was amazing. I immediately wanted to come home and see Gladiator again. I read that in the first 100 days that the place was open...2000 men and 9000 animals were killed on the floor. They sprayed perfume to cover the stench of blood. Walking around on 2000 year old ruins is an indescribable feeling. Magical place.

Hall of Fame of Cool entry 1

Entry 1) Johnny Cash. In death- still cooler than most.