Aug 3rd to Aug 9th
Aug 3rd-
I cannot believe how lucky I am to be here in Tuscany again! I studied Italian in Sienna for two months when I was 19 years old, and I had the greatest time of my life, so Italy feels like a second home to me!
I arrived in Florence and got straight into a car with my manager who came to pick me up specially, because we needed to drive really fast to Cortona where a press conference was waiting. I walked in to the press conference and was seated with Sir Anthony Hopkins! I was in the movie Hannibal starting Sir Anthony, and he remembered me when I mentioned this to him! 
It was really amazing to be answering
questions along with him to an audience of
international press- The Festival Del Sole is so
great because it’s so high profile, yet so
intimate! I then had 45 mins at home to
unpack and get ready to attend the
exhibition of Sir Anthony’s artwork series,
Masks, which was pretty amazing, and then
we were all invited to dinner at the
Ferragamo Family’s Villa, Il Borro- we had an amazing moonlit evening under the stars and it looked soo cinematic—check out this picture.. it almost looks unreal!
Aug 4th-
I slept and rested the whole day because my stomach was feeling off—just ordered room service in my fabulous resort Il Falconiere. A needed day of rest after travelling between Ny, Paris, and London over the past 2 weeks. Well, I ploughed through loads of e-mail, worked and studied a bit and did a phone interview, but I didn’t leave my suite, so I still consider that rest! J
Aug 5th-
My first rehearsal with The Brussels Chamber Orchestra and Michael Guttman, and it was really fun and very funny! We were rehearsing in a studio with a very loud acoustic. After about 20 mins of loud sound, we decided we would have to find another place to rehearse. So we ended up finishing the last hours of our rehearsal outside on the hillside with a gorgeous view of the Tuscan Valley at sunset! Couldn’t get any better than that!! Spent the evening at my hotel resting for the next day’s concert.
Aug 6th-
The Concert!
I had the dress rehearsal on the same day from 12-2pm- this is pretty normal for concerts, but it’s always tricky, because I want to sing enough to get in another good rehearsal with the orchestra, but I also want to save my voice for the evening.
Then I went home to rest before the show. This concert was one off the best concerts I
have ever done!! I was so relaxed and the
intimacy of the setting was really
wonderful- also the acoustic was much
better than 2008, because the inside of the
theatre had been redone to make it more
acoustically friendly. I had standing
ovations and did two encores- I couldn’t
believe that the audience was so
responsive.. when they are happy, it’s so
rewarding for me. So this was a night to
remember.. J
Aug 7th-
No rest for me!!
I had to wake up at 8am, to start preparations for the photoshoot for Rondo Magazine! But who can complain? J I was sitting on the Italian hillside outside my suite/villa being styled, the weather was perfect, the photographer Gaetano, and makeup and hair stylist, Viv were fantastic, and friendly, so we had a great time posing all around the resort and just taking casual pictures!
After that, I did two interviews and then drove out to visit friends in the countryside. In the evening, I was a guest at one of the concerts where I heard the premiere of Sir Anthony Hopkins compositions- he is a multi talented artist!
August 8th-
More interviews and then I was asked to do a public interview/talk where I could also answer questions from the audience members. It was really nice to interact with the fans, and we finished just in time—a storm rushed in and rained out the whole garden right after we finished! Finally had a gelato in the piazza in Cortona- and owner of the shop gave it to me for free because he had been at my concert! He asked me to autograph his wall and I left the shop with a huge gelato!! J
August 9th-
Sad day- my last in Cortona. I did one more interview and then said goodbye to all my colleagues at the Festival and my friends, and headed on a three hour drive down the Italian countryside to Rome’s Fiumicino Airport. I always go through a bit of withdrawl when I leave italy…. Until next time, I hope.
(Fotos: Danielle de Niese, J.Henry Fair, Gaetano Poccetti)
