Medea

On Tuesday last I had the good fortune to attend the dressed rehearsal of Medea at the Operá in Nice.  The dressed rehearsal, according to my friend, the first chair cello in the National Orchestra of Nice, is always the "opening night" for the musicians and players.  They know that they have their friends in the audience and are playing to a packed house. 

 The dressed rehearsal is not stopped unless there is a glaring emergency.     Regardless that this has not happened for over twenty years,  we were warned that the singers may not sing in full voice and that the opera might be stopped at any point. 

Tuesday night nothing stopped the process for us....( unless you count the coke bottle that rolled off the stage nearly "beaning" the violas).   As the Greek gods must have been attending, the coke bottle luckily landed between two musicians.   Also, the champagne cork for the party scene hit my friend (the cellist) in the head but she kept on playing.  (Yes, real champagne....this is France after all.)   And as far as I could tell, the singers were using " full voice". 

This production of Medea is quite a stretch from the original play by Euripides.  This opera, Medea, was written by Luigi Cherubini and first produced in Paris in 1797.   It is sung in Italian and here it is subtitled in French. 

The fascination begins in the first scene as Creon's palace is unexpectedly a modern office building of which he is the CEO.  The chorus are the office workers at their computer stations.   The two kids of Jasen and Medea do nothing but play with the computer and their cell phones.  Typique. 

 And refreshingly different for those of us who don't see much opera, was that all the leads were both young and attractive.  The singers for Medea and Glauce are both beautiful women with excellent physiques and exceptional voices.  Gone are the days of the portly middle-aged diva being cast as the ingenue. 

 I may become an opera fan after all.

Watching the subtitles is fascinating when you are familiar with the original story but are not a native French speaker.  The name Hymen kept coming up in the subtitles above our heads.  I have just found out that it is a reference to the "god of marriage", who was an essential part of an ancient Greek wedding ceremony.  The word, hymen, as its is used today undoubtedly has common roots with the god...if you stretch your imagination. 

  The program notes we reviewed Tuesday night gave us only the original story set in Corinth and we had to interpret the modern setting as best we could.  Actually it was not difficult and made the play both slightly comical and more interesting than the original might have been. 

 Luckily, as in the original opera,  I was glad to see that Medea dispatches her children off-stage.  That would have been tough to take, as the two boys that play the kids in this piece are completely unselfconscious and perfect for the parts.    

There is some mystery of how the wedding dress is poisoned.  In this version, instead of dying in flames from putting on the dress, Glauce is killed with a pistol.   In fact there are many surprises in store for you that I will not reveal .... but I am sure that they will keep you riveted. 

But regardless if the dress does not ignite, we have  flames aplenty.  In fact by the finalé the whole stage is alight.  This choice is quite remarkable as the Nice Opera House is known to have already burned down once.  In 1881 during a performance of Lucia of Lamamoor, a gas leak occurred and the Operá burned to the ground.   

 But Tuesday night our adored Pompiers were on hand.   I know this because after the performance we were escorted by our hostess through the bowels of the Operá where I saw two handsome fellows wearing the well known navy blue uniform with it's thin red band across the chest....the fire department of Nice.  On their  polo shirts "sécurité de incendie" was written for all to see. 

If you have a chance, I would recommend this quirky rendition of Medea.   Nicola Beller Carbone interprets Medea in enchanting and powerful voice.  Guy Montavon, the stage director, has taken some daring risks that have paid off.   Further, George Petron is the talented musical director of this piece and Anne-Marie Woods captures the modern sensibility of the costumes with bravado and a touch of humor. 

 Finally, Berthold Warnecke, the dramaturge, has given us a fresh look at an old story.   If you are not too much of a classicist (or an opera snob with your rotten tomatoes in hand) I would say you will be intrigued.  Opening night is tomorrow, Friday the 13th.  hmmm. 

Florida Palmetto Weevil

     The other day Monsieur and I were surprised to find a big red beetle in the middle of our hallway.  Since we often leave the back door to the garden open, this did not greatly surprise me.  A quick search on google confirmed that this was the dreaded Florida Red Weevil that we had recently heard so much about.  Monsieur put him out and grabbed this pic of the beast before he flew off. 

Rhynchophorus cruentatus Fabricius,  Photo by Mary M Payne

He (or she) turned out to be the largest weevil in North America and is called the palmetto weevil, Rhynchophorus cruentatus Fabricius. The palmetto weevil is native to Florida and until recently was the only species of palm weevil in the continental United States. Once, the palmetto weevil was considered a minor pest, attacking only severely wounded and dying trees. Now however, it is  known to be a pest of stressed nursery and transplanted palms as well as apparently healthy Canary Island date (Phoenix canariensis Hortorum ex Chabaud), Bismarck (Bismarckia nobilis Hildebrandt & H. Wendl.) and Latan (Latania spp.) palms.

 I understand that the adults of this species display various color variations. They can also be quite variable in overall size.  

This female beetle is now bad news also for the Mediterranean area ( PACA) from Marseille to Nice whose owners of palms noticed too late that their trees were under attack from imported insects.   The pest arrived to our area in 2006 and it was found that this parasite lays its eggs in the heart of the tree and the larvae feast on the tree until it is dead.  Here the weevil is called "le charancon rouge" and millions of households have been warned by letter from the city.  In theVar alone, 8,200 trees have been treated or removed.  It is being called a "massacre" by those involved. 

The best way to treat an ailing tree is by injecting an insecticide made by the giant multinational Swiss company, Syngenta.  The problem is that because Syngeta holds a monopoly on the product so they have insisted that their own personnel treat the affected trees affectively pushing the price form 30 euros per treatment up to 250 euros a tree.  This price is preventing many households from taking action and there is now a petition on line to protest the high price of the treatment:    collectif méditerranéen pour la sauvegarde des palmiers,  
Over 7000 signatures have been collected. 

 According to our own tree cutter and palm tree expert, Daniel Donadey,  artisan "elagueur" ( tel. 04 93 72 81 13) there have been 2000 trees who have died in Nice and surrounds.   He has already taken down at least 3 in my neighborhood and other tree cutters have removed another three.   I also  see from my terrace two palms that have been treated and are starting to regrow.  Huzzah.


Here is a photo of a tree on my street that has been killed by the red weevil larvae and not yet been removed. 

Palm tree killed by "Florida Red Weevil" in Nice , France   Photo by Mary M Payne

It is a sad state of affairs for the affected trees but believe it or not there are still quite a few other variations of palms here that appear quite healthy and so the signature tree of The Cote d'azur seems intact for the moment. 

 Still I'm no longer a fan of the huge red insect.  But as Monsieur says, "he's just trying to make a living".

Sweet Potato Fries

Sweet Potato "Fries".  Photo by Mary M Payne

 I haven't posted a recipe for a long time but you can bet that I am often finding and experimenting with new dishes.  There is nothing worse than a food rut. 

  And if one is not going to eat industrial food then one had better love being in the kitchen.... concocting and tweaking new ideas that will satisfy the emotional needs as well as the body's needs.  

You also have to admit that there is nothing like home cooking for that little extra enthusiasm and care infused into it.  A machine really can't do that.  Thank goodness robots aren't there yet.  

So today I made sweet potato "frites" which are really not fried at all, but baked.   I found the recipe in Food Matters: The Recipe Book by James Colquhoun and Larentine ten Bosch. 

These sweet potatoes will make a nice side dish or snack.  I added the ¼ t of turmeric and ½ t. of ground cumin found in the recipe as my experiment as these are seldom used flavors for me. 

Basically, the recipe asks that one peels and cuts the sweet potatoes into large "fries". Then with a large bowl or paper bag, you coat them in olive or coconut oil along with the spices (except the salt). 

Next we spread the pieces on a baking tray so that they don't touch and put them in the oven for 20-35 minutes at # 5, 180 degrees C. or 350 F.   First we sprinkle with sea salt. 

 I am not sure you can ever get the crispiness of a potato that's been scalded in hot fat when you bake it.   I had to turn up the heat for the last 10 minutes or so since they weren't getting crispy.  I may have to use higher heat to begin with to see if I can achieve more of a crispy outside before the inside bakes entirely.   But the flavor is good. 

The sweet potato has a lower glycemic index than a regular potato meaning your blood sugar won't spike. Other perks for using sweet potatoes are that they are  full of beta-carotene and vitamin C.   Turmeric contains bioactive compounds with powerful medicinal properties and cumin is high in anti-oxidents.   

 But none of this will do me any good if the people I feed don't like the taste. 

  The fun for me is to see if I can get Monsieur, the connoisseur, to enjoy my dishes.  If he likes the dish, I am pretty sure I've got a winner.  

 So far, he is praising the "fries". 

 Today we will have them with a tasty green salad, some venison filet and a glass of fine French regional wine, "bien sûr .   

Acting....

Mary M Payne in a costume dress ( Don Loper)..... from my collection , circa 1996, Mougin.

San Francisco was the place where I had another life.....that of an actor.  It was with some trepidation and longing that I pulled myself away to come abroad so many years ago. 

 It had been a dream of Monsieur and I to live in another country... after I quit teaching school.  But then "Acting" got me in its clutches.  I found a "once in a lifetime" teacher who captivated me. We put our dream on hold while I came under her spell. 

  Its odd because I didn't set out to be on stage.  The idea scared the pants off of me in fact.... but I happened to catch a class with Jean Shelton, late from NYC and it was like falling in love......  I had to learn whatever she had to teach me...... and I did.  

   I started slow,  progressed... and found I had a flair for it.  Acting became a compulsion, a crazy obsession for ten years of my life.  During that period I was able to do some work of which I was proud and I was asked to teach at the J. S. Acting school , an honor.  

 My monsieur was extraordinary during that ten years.  He not only tolerated my obsession but encouraged it and paid for my time in NYC with Stella Adler and some other fine teachers during that period.   But even studying with Stella, who had taught so many famous actors,  meant little compared to my formative time under the tutelage of Jean Shelton at the Actors Studio on Sutter Street in S. F. 

Now Ms. Shelton is in her late 80's and we are honoring her in the ways that we know how.  She was like a perfect mother/sister to all of us....strict but loving , irreverent, incisive and quietly brilliant.  We owe her much. 

On this trip to S. F.  I visited some of the actors from my past...Mary, Marianne, Cynthia, Kathy. They welcomed me back with a party at Mary's house.   It was lovely; bittersweet.  We all had left acting behind for one reason or another and I don't think any of us had ever forgotten or even surpassed the passion and craziness of that period of our lives.

    But passion translates to many creative languages.   I am stirring up the old memories and stirring the pot. 
Sometimes its good to look back to see where we have been.   Sometimes its good to see what informed us. 

California dreamin...

Mostly Monsieur and I pass our birthdays discreetly at home.  This year, however, I needed to go back to the city of San Francisco and so I decided to make the errand of renewing my driver's license into an occasion. 

 I made scant plans but couldn't resist calling my friends after I got there.  It quickly became known that I had come to renew my license because it was required for my birthday.     So instead of a quiet dinner at home,   I had 6 different parties and birthday dinners not to mention all of the great welcomes and meals in between that folks prepared for me. 

   My tanks are now brimming with merry memories of all of the people I saw and their generosity to me.    I thought I didn't need celebrations...that I was a big girl now...but I was wrong.  Everyone needs celebration .... perhaps, especially me!

My first plan for a great birthday was to stay a weekend in a downtown hotel with my sister and niece flying in from Seattle and to spend most of the rest of the time with monsieur's cousin and his wife, Isabel and Roge. 

  I did indeed have a great weekend with Sarah and Martha at the Sir Francis Drake and with Roge and Isabel in S. F.  But what had been just an idea from my friend Cindi,  solidified into a plan to divert to another destination: Carmel.

  I have several treasured friends in Carmel where I used to live and teach before I met Monsieur,  but because I only had four days, I didn't get to see them this time.    I knew that I would rather leave time to visit them in the future.  In other words,  I have a lot more fun to look forward to.  I haven't seen down the coast, Big Sur or my old homes yet for Heaven's sake.

     As to my visit, Cindi and Mike and his son Alex are living in a home in Corral de Tierra between Salinas and Carmel Valley and Cindi convinced me of her delicious plan to come down on the Monterey shuttle.  Easy.  

  Her home turns out to be quite a showplace as anyone who knows Cindi would have imagined. It is in fact,  more like a 5 star B&B than a home. 

  Both she and Mike have repaired and restored the house in many ways.     Cindi is a decorator, a talented cook and expert flower arranger  (she did my wedding flowers) and now owns a skin and body care spa/salon called " I Thrive".    With these talents, I was most curious to meet Mike and see what magic they had wrought with their new place.  

  Once upon a time Cindi and I  lived together on Ocean Avenue in Carmel.  I was a full time teacher then, but I helped her occasionally with her flower/decorating business.   That is.... I was the assistant and Cindi was the designer.  One winter we decorated posh homes on the "Seventeen Mile Drive" at Christmas time with a decorated tree in every room of the house. ...each tree and room with a different theme.  

   So you can imagine that Cindi's work is extravagant, sumptuous, and requires a particular boldness.   I will never have the luxurious state of mind that such opulent thinking requires.... not to mention the confidence, daring ( or the pocketbook).... but I admire it and bask in it unashamedly.  

Here are some pics from my wee visit to this Carmel Valley/Salinas home in its peaceful setting.

  

Cindi and Mike

Karine Benvenuti: ceramicist/sculpltor

Karine is an artist after my own heart.  If I weren't so wayward I am sure we would see each other more often. 

For her artist's biography let me begin by stating that Karine was born in Marseille in 1959,  lived for some years in Canada , then Paris and has now settled to work and live in the South of France.  

When I met Karine and Olivier as a couple, they were living in a small village outside of Nice and Karine had already begun the study of ceramics.    But for the last ten years her work has gone from strength to strength and she is now creating unusual and powerful works in clay. 

Karine started with a classical education,  learned to work the ceramicist wheel,  then left both traditional worlds behind to throw herself into an art form which is becoming a fresh statement of our times...  that of contemporary sculpting of earth, of clay.   You could say that she works the soil of France like her French forbears.

It is certain that Ms Benvenuti's art is influenced by nature which creates for me a primordial attraction to it.  She starts with nature's panoply of clay soils( some very difficult to come by),  and searches out the hidden secret in each... its foibles and its hidden offerings. 

Karine invents tools and methods,  often using just the force of her own body to pummel the clay towards or against its natural inclinations.  The results are a variety of shapes and forms whose textures call out to be caressed and explored. 

There is a noted subtlety of glazes and enamels in the work.  My guess is that the art is even more about the tending of the fires; the movement and gesture of creation;  the conflict between artist and clay.    With most abstract artists one starts out with an idea of where you want to go but the material may say otherwise.  I imagine it's that way with the material of earth. 

Karine was awarded the prize of the Ateliers d'art de FRance for her oeuvre, Matrice, at the International Biennale of the nearby village of Vallauris a few years back.  

The large sculptures of Karine Benvenuti ( and some of her smaller objects) can be seen at l'Ancienne Poste Gallery, (an hour an a half outside of Paris) which specializes in contemporary ceramics. . http://galerie-ancienne-poste.com/en/    You can also visit her website at  http://karinebenvenuti.com/  for more information and some fine photos. 

And for those who would like to own a smaller piece ,  Karine has some of those works available at her studio in Contes.  These include porcelain tea and coffee bowls and a line of neck pieces on ropes ( I hesitate to call them necklaces). 

My coffee bowl   photo by Mary M Payne

 I use a Karine Benvenuti coffee mug in the mornings.   Monsieur, aficionado of rare green teas, has two small tea cups of Karine's of which he is quite fond.   I also own a small Benvenuti piece that reminds me of all the elements of earth.  

Sculpture by Karine Benvenuti  photo by Mary M Payne

Here are some photos of my recent visit to the studio that Karine shares with Olivier Planchon in the village of Contes.

Mas in which is found" l'atelier de Karine Benvenuti et Olivier Planchon", Contes  photo by Mary M Payne

Entrance to studio of Karine Benvenuti, Contes    photo by Mary M Payne

Thierry, Patrick and Karine Benvenuti in atelier of Karine     photo by Mary M Payne

Necklaces and earrings designed by Karine Benvenuti   Photo by Mary M Payne

Friends admire the texture of Karine's neck piece.  photo by Mary M Payne

Work of Karine Benvenuti    photo by Mary M Payne

A row of tea bowls by Karine Benvenuti  photo by Mary M Payne

Sculpture by Karine Benvenuti    photo by Mary M Payne

Sculpture by Karine Benvenuti  photo by Mary M Payne

Containers by  Karine Benvenuti  

sculpture by Karine Benvenuti  photo by Mary M Payne

I call this one the "hippo"....  Studio of Karine Benvenuti    photo by Mary M Payne

bowls and small sculpture of Karine Benvenuti     photo by Mary M Payne

Olivier Planchon: Luthier

 Not long ago we had the privilege of having a visit from Olivier and Karine, who Monsieur and I are pleased to claim as long time French friends.  

 Recently both artists of this couple have consolidated their studios to the nearby town of Contes in the Alpes Maritime, an art loving village whose mayor welcomed them by offering a beautiful rustic farmhouse (mas) owned by the city that Karine and Olivier bought and are continuing to renovate.

  My friend, Patrick was kind enough to gather a posse of pals to go visit Contes for Karine's studio open house.  I will do a post on both of these artists.   Let's visit Olivier's studio first.

Back of the old house showing the animal pens , photo by Mary M Payne

A new angle on an old dwelling....photo by Mary M. Payne

Newly created steps and hand crafted door to entry to Olivier's Studio     photo by Mary M Payne

Olivier Planchon is a luthier by profession.  For his work as a stringed instrument maker,  he has already been awarded the Finest Artisan in France  (Meilleur Ouvrier de France, 2007) as a maker of instruments that have a recognizable sound......and he hasn't even been at it for that long. 
In a former life, Olivier and Karine lived in Paris where he was an art director in advertising.  They dreamed of leaving that life and starting out in a entirely new field away from the city. 

 Olivier made his first guitar following the instructions of a book and showed it to Daniel Lesueur,  a classic "luthier" who was impressed and offered to became Olivier's guide and instructor.  

  Now Olivier specializes in making handmade concert guitars  and "ouds"( he is holding the beginnings of one in the photo below) for professional musicians and passionate amateurs.  It takes about a year to painstakingly construct an instrument. ... Olivier spending 150-200 hours for each instrument he builds.

Olivier Planchon photo by Nice Panorama

Studio of Olivier Planchon   photo by Mary M Payne

Atelier of Olivier Planchon   photo by Mary M Payne

Atelier de Olivier Planchon    photo by Mary M Payne

"Utiles" de Olivier Planchon   photo by Mary M Payne

Body of an Oud made by Olivier Planchon  ....photo by Mary M Payne

Wood carving tools, studio Olivier Planchon, Contes   photo by Mary M. Payne

M. Planchon is particularly proud of the "finish" ( varnishes and decoration) of his instruments and continues to work towards improving the sound of each one.   Musicians claim appreciation for the quality of his instruments ("good dynamic, powerful, very balanced, very comfortable") and especially the quite recognizable sound that emanates from a Planchon instrument.

The marquetry from specialized woods and the finishes Olivier uses make these guitars beautiful as well as functional.  Each time a new instrument is christens he has had the pleasure of creating a different "rose window" to signal the exclusivity of the instrument. 

If you are hankering for a handmade guitar or oud... it will come to 3500 euros for an Oud and 5000-8000 euros for a handmade guitar.  You will then own an exceptional work of art.

565, avenue Borriglione06390 Contes - FranceTel: +33 (0) 6 11 62 25 85postmaster@olivierplanchon.comOlivier Planchon Website: www.olivierplanchon.com