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Behind the Curtain by Living Opera
Behind the Curtain, hosted by soprano Soula Parassidis and tenor Norman Reinhardt at the beautiful Hotel Bristol in Vienna, is a video podcast by Living Opera that takes listeners beyond the grand performances and into the heart of opera. Through candid, thought-provoking conversations, the podcast reveals insights that transcend the stage, exploring universal themes such as personal growth, leadership, and perseverance. Whether you're a seasoned opera enthusiast or simply curious about how artistry intersects with everyday life, Behind the Curtain offers a unique perspective that bridges the world of performance with real-world challenges and experiences. Watch the video version of this podcast on Living Opera's Facebook and YouTube Channels.
Behind the Curtain by Living Opera
A Living Opera Christmas Special – Unveiling "All is Bright"
What if the warmth of Christmas music could bridge gaps and foster global connections? As we unveil our mini Christmas special and launch our album All is Bright, we invite you to join us on a melodic journey that captures the true spirit of the season. This episode offers a performance of Silent Night, including a special verse in German for our Vienna audience, and a rendition of What Child Is This? Discover how our humble beginnings on Instagram evolved into a worldwide artistic community, and how Christmas music continues to be a source of hope and brightness amidst global challenges.
Beyond music, we talk about the significance of self-awareness and proactive learning. We discuss our transformation from students to active learners, emphasizing the importance of asking the right questions to enhance our skills. By pinpointing what feels off, we explore how we can effectively overcome obstacles and perform at higher levels. Tune in to discover how this journey of self-improvement not only enriches our musical abilities but also deepens our connection with a broader cultural audience.
The Behind the Curtain Podcast is hosted by Soprano Soula Parassidis and Tenor Norman Reinhardt. Follow Living Opera on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and Website.
Watch A VIDEO version of this podcast on Living Opera's Facebook or YouTube Channels.
Merry Christmas everyone from Living Opera and us at Behind the Curtain, and we're super excited for today because it is our mini Christmas special. I guess we could call it that.
Norman Reinhardt:Yeah, wow, it actually kind of is Mini Christmas special so for the launch of our album.
Soula Parassidis:Again, we have to thank the Bristol Hotel and. Simona Dulles, who has been such a huge supporter of ours over this year with all of our creative projects, and today we are having our album release party in Vienna. I'm kind of nervous.
Norman Reinhardt:I'm nervous too. We've never done anything like this. Yeah, but it's just the same thing.
Soula Parassidis:we've always done, which is sing All right. Well, let's go downstairs and do this.
Norman Reinhardt:Let's do it In 2018,.
Soula Parassidis:Norman and I were unable to go home yet again for another Christmas, which is quite common for artists and traveling performers and, well, many people at this point, with the global world that we're in and so we decided to go live on Instagram, which we had never done before, and sing for our families, and we had no idea that people would engage with that or that they would want to engage with that, and fast forward to now. We've done many, many more videos, many, many more types of content, and we have a global community of artists, some of who are in the audience today. So, hi, thanks for coming, ilya, et cetera, and it has been a pleasure. But, interestingly, christmas music has always been part of the foundation of what we do, for whatever reason I'm not quite sure why. It's also an opportunity for us to sing in our native language, our primary language, english, and the first song we wanted to sing for you today is silent night. Um, this is something that we produced first in 2021.
Soula Parassidis:I forget somebody requested I don't know if it was your grandmother, but I have no idea, but in any case um it was just something that happened on its own and it's sort of in the cornerstone of of this holiday project that we've been doing over the years. So we wanted to sing it for you first, and there is a verse in German, so hopefully that's great for a Viennese audience.
Norman Reinhardt:Thank you. Do you want to stand here? I'll stand here with you, it's okay.
Music:Silent night, holy night. All is calm, all is bright round yon mild. Sleep in heavenly peace. Sleep in heavenly peace, s'lieb in herrenliebnis. Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht. Alle schläft einsam wacht. All is asleep, all is awake, only the faithful holy one, the holy one in the holy hall. Sleep in heavenly rest. Sleep in heavenly rest Of him. He shall rule.
Soula Parassidis:Well, also I forgot to mention. This is where we took the name of our album.
Norman Reinhardt:Yes.
Soula Parassidis:All is Bright. Silent Night, Holy Night, All is Calm, All is Bright. And the reason we went with that was just given the turmoil of the last years. Everybody has their own story, Everybody has their own experience. I know that we do, and within the opera sector and every sector, there was a lot of difficulty. We all experienced mass cancellations and we wanted to put something different out into the world and say it's not that we don't realize all the difficulty that we've had in the world, but we would prefer to say all is bright and we're looking towards a bright future. And I meant to say that before, but I was a bit nervous, so I'll be less nervous now that I sing a solo for you. I think this was a request of yours on the album that I sing this. I think yes.
Norman Reinhardt:Guys, we did this one year ago, so we're trying to remember how this all got pieced together.
Soula Parassidis:Yeah exactly what Child Is. This is one of my solos, along with Ave Maria from Schubert Yep, and it's your favorite track, I think, on the album. I think Mascani and this one. Oh sorry, sorry, I didn't mean to say that.
Norman Reinhardt:It's not his favorite. It's not Christo's favorite track, it's balanced, it's fine, we'll talk.
Music:Yeah, there you go, we'll talk about it after.
Soula Parassidis:We, we'll talk about it after I'm going to stand over here, get out of the way, and hopefully I remember all the words, because this is a different arrangement than the album. Guys, we're doing what we can. Yeah, you can mouth them to me if I'm like oh.
Music:I think you got it. Just sing La, la, la, la, la La. You know the music. What child is this who lay to rest On Mary's lap, is sleeping Home? Angels greet with anthems, sweet, while shepherds watch, are keeping this. This is Christ the King, whom shepherds guard and angels sing Haste, haste to bring him Lord, the babe, the son of Mary. So bring him incense, gold and myrrh. Come peasant king, to honor him, the king of kings, salvation brings. Let loving hearts enthrone him. This, the babe, the son of Mary. The Babe, the Babe, the babe, the son of Mary. It's all up to Norman now.
Soula Parassidis:Okay, I guess it's my turn. It's all up to you now, babe. It's all on my shoulders.
Norman Reinhardt:That's a scary thing.
Soula Parassidis:Talk a little bit about how we wanted to incorporate some crossover elements into this album.
Norman Reinhardt:Yeah, I mean the thing is part of. One of the things that we really care about in our particular industry is it's a wonderful industry. Classical music, the operatic industry, is absolutely beautiful. It's wonderful. We've been blessed to be a part of it for a very long time. But part of the question that we have for it and the thing that we kind of want to bring more to the forefront, is collaboration.
Norman Reinhardt:There's kind of a feeling we've isolated ourselves a little bit from the rest of the world, a little bit from culture, and we've kind of sometimes, I think, lost a little bit of our cultural voice, and so one of the things that we wanted to incorporate in in the album and going forward with the things that we produce is maintaining the tradition of what we do and the beauty of what we do, but also finding ways to collaborate with other industries, other other genres, and finding ways to really open up our ability to communicate and speak into where we are at this time, and so that's a big part of what we're trying to do.
Norman Reinhardt:That being said, I'm actually going to sing a classical song, but this is Gesu Bambino, and this song I heard a long, long time ago, and the first person I heard sing this was Pavarotti, so now I'm going to sing it. Please do not expect to hear Pavarotti up here, because that won't happen, but this is where I originally heard it. It was a recording that he did a fantastic recording in Montreal at the Cathedral in 1978, the year I was born of him doing this beautiful Christmas concert. That's the first time I heard it and I wanted to put it on, so here we go.
Music:The world will adore you. I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I. Venite, adoremus veniteere. Non piangere lentor, don't cry my love, your mother is with you. Kiss me, my love. Oh, only Osana sings with a joyful heart is Venite, adoremus Venite, adoremus Venite, adoremus, adoremus Dominum. Ah, venite, adoremus, venite, venite, venite. Adoramus Adorimus Dominion.
Soula Parassidis:We've signed selections from the album. But yesterday was a big day for opera. We celebrated the 100 years of the passing of Giacomo Puccini, who of course wrote La Boheme, tosca, manon, lescaut, some of our most beloved operas and Norman and I are opera singers. You know we don't sing Christmas music all year round. Interestingly, neither of us have sung this opera on stage, but we sung this duet several times in concert and it's always a request when we somehow get around our families. I don't really know why this specifically. I think it's because they want to see if we're going to make the high C in the end. I think it's more of a. You know your family all sings, so I think it's more of an athletic challenge.
Soula Parassidis:We want to thank Kristen Okerlund, who is our longtime coach and she's working at the Vienna State Opera, so she agreed to go on this journey with us. She prepared us for the album. She's like be quiet. Kristen loves it when I do this to her, but she is another set of ears for us and always supports us and we're very grateful for her.
Norman Reinhardt:So actually I want to give.
Soula Parassidis:Kristen. A round of applause before we do the other one. Thank you, kristen. So this is Oswabe von Schuller. Let's set the scene. Mimi is looking for her key. No one really knows if she's really looking for her key. We think she knows. There's a cute guy upstairs, you know we can debate about it and Rodolfo is up there trying to finish up some work and they meet their hands, touch. Your hands are cold, oh it's like my hands are cold in the opera he
Norman Reinhardt:says, your hands are cold, but norman's hands are actually cold um they fall in love and the rest is history.
Soula Parassidis:Um, if you don't know love, om we won't spoil the ending for you you can just believe that this is the high point of the opera it's only down from here, but this is, this is also and and if you want to record, it's fine. We're obviously recording this like don't don't worry about if we hit a bad note, though delete it, okay, I'll.
Music:I'll preview it if we hit a bad note. That's funny. I, oh, oh, my God, you are mine. Wait for me, my friends, aspettami amici, ma mi mandi, via Vorrei dirlo, non osa Di Se venissi con voi. If I saw you with him, what, it would be so nice to be here. It's cold outside. I will be near and when I return, curious, give me your arm, my lord. What do you love me? I love you, oh, ah, ah. Thank you so much. Thank you, thank you all very much.
Soula Parassidis:Thank you.
Music:Do you have a request?
Soula Parassidis:I mean I'll go for a redo of that duet, silent Night or the duet Duet.
Music:I see.
Soula Parassidis:Yeah, yeah, can you do it twice? Are you up for it? Ok, let's do La.
Music:Boheme one more time.
Soula Parassidis:I'll be demure over here.
Norman Reinhardt:I'll be Brett.
Music:Oh sweet girl, oh sweet face, confused with the world.
Music:In your face. I will always dream of you, my dream. I will always dream of you my dream. I will always dream of you, my dream SINGING IN ITALIAN I love you, singer, sings. I would say, but I don't dare, mimi. If I came with you, what Mimi. It would be so sweet to stay here, sarebbe così dolce restar qui. C'è freddo fuori. Vi starò vicino E al ritorno Orienza Avicenna, e al ritorno Urianza, dammi il braccio mio, avicin, ametissa, signore Che m'amini, signore che mamini, io t'amo, I don't know. Let's hear it. Let's hear it. Oh, oh, thank you very much, thank you.
Soula Parassidis:Thank you very much. Thank you, kristen. Thank you. The reason I asked is because in the score it's actually written. The tenor goes down, but they always come up with us because they can't resist it. I want to thank each and every one of you for coming today. We will be around a little bit if you want to meet and greet and chat and otherwise. We hope you have an amazing new month tomorrow, starting in December, and we thank you for being here today.
Soula Parassidis:Yay, get into a place in your life where, first of all, you even know what questions to ask, because you can't achieve and execute at a high level until you know what you're missing and lacking in knowledge. So now, for example, when I go into a voice lesson, it's totally different than when I was a student, because I'm going in saying, oh, my goodness, you know I'm hearing. On this note, there's something that I don't like. I don't understand this concept fully. This used to be easy and I'm coming in with plenty of questions to solve the issue that I see in my own execution, because I want to execute at a high level, and that's the other thing. I think it's like a matter of a desire for personal excellence, where you aren't demanding of yourself in a way that you are being unreasonable, but just knowing that there's more, and I can always tell when I have reached my limit on something versus when there's still something more that can be wrung out, and I mean in a healthy way.
