I follow Anne-Carolyn Bird’s blog, reading it every time I see a new post. The singer’s life is, at least to me, such a unique thing; we instrumentalists tend, unless we are soloists, to be less traveled and more “stay puttish” I think. Singers? They have to go where the work is. And they have nicer clothes than, say, an oboe player. Shoes, too.

Recently, though, she’s been “settled” (if one can be settled as a musician) in NYC and I’ve loved hearing about her Met experiences along with all the other NYC things we west coasters don’t experience.

Last night she had a recital that she had been blogging about for quite some time. And now I’ve just read this:

If you missed this concert, you missed something far more personal and touching than your everyday lieder concert. Particularly in the Barber and Harbison selections, Bird proved herself a singer capable of not merely delivering the notes?although she certainly did?but also of getting under the skin of a piece, touching its inner passions and revealing them to a listener. It’s going to be a thrill to revisit Hillula when she gets that deeply inside of it, and vice versa. Dueck was a sensitive, versatile accompanist, as well as a full partner in the drama Bird had constructed for her program.

Bird and Dueck plan to record this program for Greenstein’s New Amsterdam record label, and they also want to take it on the road. Keep an eye on The Concert for future developments.

You can read the whole thing over at Night After Night by going here.

I’m bummed that I couldn’t be there. I’m bummed that I can only read about it (but grateful that I can read about it). And I’m just a little bummed that she’s so darn gorgeous, too. Just because I’m insecure that way. (I’ll bet she doesn’t have any trouble finding the right clothes, and shoes that fit. Sigh.)

But really … doesn’t it seem that they ought to bring that recital out west?

And just as an aside: the soprano voice and oboe sound lovely together. 🙂
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