The Enchanted Island!

David Daniels, Danielle De Niese, and Joyce DiDonato in one performance at the Met! Joyce DiDonato was the mezzo-soprano that sang with Kiri Te Kanawa and Frederica Von Stade at Frederica's recital. Danielle De Niese sang Susanna at the SF opera in The Marriage of Figaro.

The Enchanted Island isn't written by one specific composer. What?! How did that happen?! The opera is made up of arias from different baroque composers. Like Vivaldi, Handel, and others. To find out what the plot is, go to this website.

Written By: Rubina

Charles Dickens turns 200!

Charles Dickens was an American author. He wrote A Tale of Two Cities, Great Expectations, and the famous A Christmas Tale. Of course he wrote much more books than that.

Charles Dickens was born on February 7, 1812 and died on June 9. 1870. Dickens had much more fame then other authors of his time. He was one of the greatest authors during the Victorian Period. None of his short stories or novels ever went out of print.

Dickens' whole name was Charles John Huffam Dickens. Most people praised his writings for their realistic and comedic plots. Others, like Virginia Woolf and Henry James criticized his work for having melodrama in his stories.

Written By: Rubina H.

14 Year-Old Piano Prodigy!

Gun Chaikittiwatana is a piano prodigy. At age 14, he already played almost all of the most difficult piano pieces that were ever composed.

If a 14 year-old boy is playing Liebestraum, (which he played), he must really practice a lot. Liebestraum, by Franz Lizt, is particularly difficult because of this one section with a bunch of grace notes. Grace notes are note that are written in small print and are not counted as beats into the measure. Grace notes are usually played extremely fast and not every grown pianist can play it. There are many reductions of the piece for people who are learning or who cannot play it correctly. Go to this website to listen to him playing Liebestraum.

Written By: Rubina H.

Rigoletto!

The SF Opera is putting a production of Rigoletto by Guiseppe Verdi.

Rigoletto: Zeljko Lucic/Marco Vratogna

Gilda: Aleksandra Kursak/Albina Shagimuratova

The Duke of Mantua: Francesco Demuro/ David Lomeli

Maddalena: Kendell Gladen

Count Monterone:Robert Pomakov

Spatafucile:Andrea Silvestrelli

Kendell Gladen sang Carmen in the SF opera.

Nicola Luisotti will conduct.

Written By: Rubina H.

Cosi Fan Tutte in SF Opera!!!

The SF Opera is putting a production of Cosi Fan Tutte in the next season. Cosi Fan Tutte is an opera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Fiordiligi: Ellie Dehn

Dorabella: Christel Lotzsch

Despina: Heidi Stober

Ferrando: Francesco Demuro

Guglielmo: Philippe Sly

Don Alfonso: Marco Vinco

Ellie Dehn sang Donna Anna in Don Giovanni and Countessa Almaviva in Le Nozze Di Figaro in the San Francisco opera. Marco Vinco sang Leporello also in Don Giovanni. Heidi Stober sang Susanna in Le Nozze Di Figaro after Danielle De Niese.

Conducter: Nicola Luisotti

Director: Jose Maria Condemi

Production Designer: Robert Perdziola

Chorus Director: Ian Robertson

Libretto By: Lorenzo Da Ponte

Written By: Rubina H.

Susan Graham Sings In Berkeley!!!!!!

On January 14, 2012, Susan Graham had a performance. She sang different composers. Mignon was one of the composers.

For those of you who read my post about Frederica von Stade and her recital at the Herbst Theatre, you remember that Susan Graham was singing there along with Frederica von Stade, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa and other famous singers.

Jake Heggie was the pianist and the composer. Susan Graham sang one of his songs on her recital.

Susan Graham also sang in Xerxes in the SF opera.

On the recital, she had a list of songs and arias in her program but then she sang a few more songs, telling the audience about the songs that she was about to sing.

Written By: Rubina H.

Lunar Eclipse

If you wake up really early on Saturday morning, you might be able to see the lunar eclipse. The moon is going to be three or four times bigger than it usually is because the moon is going to be closer to earth than it usually is and the eclipse will magnify the moon so it will look like a huge, bloody monster.

It will start at 4.45 a.m. and end in 6.57 a.m.

This happens only twice a year. It happened on June 10, 2011.

By: Rubina H.

Anna Netrebko Sings Don Giovanni in La Scala Teatro!

I am back to Don Giovanni. It is like an obsession of Don Giovanni around the whole world. Anna Netrebko, a primadonna in the operatic world, sang Donna Anna in the production of Don Giovanni in La Scala. The La Scala Teatro opened its season with Don Giovanni. The cast consisted of these people:

Anna Netrebko : Donna Anna

Don Giovanni: Peter Mattei

Il Commandatore: Kwangchul Youn

Don Ottavio: Guiseppe Filianoti

Donna Elvira: Barbara Frittoli

Leporello: Bryn Terfel

Mazetto: Stefan Kocan

Zerlina: Anna Prohaska

If you wish to read the synopsis, click here: http://anna-netrebko.blogspot.com/

You can also see videos of the opera through that link.

Anna Netrebko sang in Anna Bolena, by Donizetti, with Elina Garanca in the Metropolitan Opera in New York.

Written By: Rubina H.

Mozart's Death

December 5, 1791 was Mozart's date of death. For those of you who have no idea who Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is, he was a great composer in the classical era. His full name is Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart. Do not even attempt to memorize that name. Mozart himself signed all of his works as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Look at the picture with the signature on it to get an idea.

Mozart lived to only 35 years. He had one son and a wife. His last opera that he wrote was The Magic Flute or Der Zauberflote.

This is his signature.

Written by: Rubina H.

Frederica Von Stade's Retirement in the Herbst Theatre

Frederica von Stade is one of the best mezzo-sopranos that were born, She retired yesterday, on Saturday, December 3, 2011. You could buy tickets to the Herbst theatre and watch Frederica von Stade and many others sing. The people that were there were Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, (dramatic soprano), Susan Graham, (mezzo-soprano), Susannah Biller,(Soprano), Zheng Cao,(mezzo-soprano), Richard Stilwell,(baritone), and Sameul Ramey,(Bass). Sir Thomas Allen was also supposed to come but he could not make it. Instead of him, Marilyn Horne!

Dame Kiri Te Kanawa is also a world wide known opera singer. She sang and played the role of Donna Elvira in the movie, Don Giovanni.

Susan Graham sang Xerxes in this seasons Xerxes at the San Francisco Opera.

Since Sir Thomas Allen could not make it to the retirement party, SF Opera director, David Gockley read a letter that Sir Thomas Allen sent to Frederica von Stade.

All of the singers there sang something. The accompanist, John Churchwell, was a composer and most of the singers there sang something that he composed. For example, Mr. Churchwell composed a series of songs, based on the poetry that Frederica von Stade wrote herself, about Ferderica's daughter Lisa.

For once in my life, I saw Dame Kiri Te Kanawa in real life!!! I am going crazy right now!

By: Rubina H.

Ms. Schmitt and music at Hillwood!!!!

Ms. Schmitt is the music teacher at Hillwood. What she does is come in every Wednesday and sings songs with us. We each have a music book and we all decide which songs we want to sing. Usually our favorite songs are:

• "The Battle of New Orleans"
• "Super California Surfers"
• "Swing Low Sweet Chariot"
• "YMCA"
• "16 Tons"
• "Let It Be"
• "Blowing In The Wind"
• "This Land Is Your Land"
• "The Erie Canal"
• "Yellow Song "
• "Dock Of The Bay"
• "If I had Hammer"
• "Penny Lane"
• "Rockin Robin"
• "The Unicorn Song"
• "I Wanna Hold Your Hand"
• "Katy's Dumplings"

Ms. Schmitt has many more songs in her book but these are the ones that I was able to gather.

Annually, Ms. Schmitt has a children show at Randall Museum. She invites children from Hillwood to be the Toodala Ramblers who dance and sing in the backgound.

Ms. Schmitt's band members names are: Gayle, Ted, Craig, Tom, and Liz.

Written By Rubina.

Don't Forget: Mrs. Schmitt and Hillwood Students Perform the Randall Museum on Saturday — Join the Fun!

Tomorrow (2-19-2011), Mrs. Schmitt will perform with some students from Hillwood Academic Day School and the rest of her band at the Randall Museum at 1:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. The shows are for little children and anyone else who would like to come and watch.

Hillwood students will help Mrs. Schmitt, our music teacher at the school, and her band sing some of Mrs. Schmitt's own songs, as well as some old country songs that were penned by others. To sample Mrs. Schmitt's music, visit her website or watch the video clip below. Mrs. Schmitt's last two CDs were Parents Choice winners. Tickets for Saturday's show will cost $9 for adults and $6 for children.

Visit the Randall Museum website for directions or more information the nonprofit. Aside from having an auditorium for performers like Mrs. Schmitt, the Randall offers all sorts of classes. Some (such as ceramics) are for families, while other classes are for young children and teenagers.

Written by: Rubina H. and Angela V.

Drawing Walking Cakes -- It's Easy!

Angela and I, Rubina, made two sketches on PBS Kids. We drew waking cakes!

Rubin drew a cake walking on horse hooves, and I, Angela, drew a cake on a skateboard.

The process is quite simple. What you do is make an account on PBS Kids and click on Sketches, which let you draw a sketch. You can post your sketch and give stickers to other sketches by other people. You can also get stickers if other people give you stickers. The more stickers, the more popular your design is.

Written By: Angela V. and Rubina H.

What Did resident Obama Say About Education in His Speech?

Barack Obama made a speech on January 26, 2011. He said that he wanted to put education first in the national agenda and of the newly divided congress. He said: "This is our Sputnik moment."

In calling this our Sputnik moment, he meant that this was just like the time when the Soviet satellite was launched and the United States, especially its young people appeared to be behind in their learning and educations.

Additionally, Barack Obama said that he wanted everybody to get along with each other in Washington. Education is one of areas where getting along and cooperating is necessary.

The president talked about how American students are receiving worse educations than they used to receive.

One of the president's lines that I really like is:

". . . no matter who we are or where we come from, each of us is a part of something great-- something more consequential than party or political preference."

Written by: Rubina H.

Barack Obama Talks to Students in Philadelphia

On September 14, 2010, Barack Obama gave a speech to Masterman Julia R. Secondary School. The school is one of the best schools in Philadelphia. Last week, the school was called the National Blue Ribbon School because of the students' record of achievement at school.

Obama talked about how students should work very hard to get good grades. Obama said a lot of things about how to study with results and pay attention in class. He said "Don't feel discouraged or give up if you don't succeed at something, try it again and learn from your mistakes."On September 14, 2010, Barack Obama gave a speech to Masterman Julia R. Secondary School. The school is one of the best schools in Philadelphia. Last week, the school was called the National Blue Ribbon School because of the students' record of achievement at school.

Obama talked about how students should work very hard to get good grades. Obama said a lot of things about how to study with results and pay attention in class. He said "Don't feel discouraged or give up if you don't succeed at something, try it again and learn from your mistakes."

Watch the president's 20-minute speech below. Although he is talking to students at Masterman, his message is for all American school kids, including those of us at Hillwood.

Each year, the president of the United States address students at a back-to-school speech. Last year,The Herald covered President Obama's first address. You can read Bridgette's 2009 story about the president's speech. (Bridgette graduated last year from Hillwood. She is now a freshman at San Francisco's School of the Arts.

Watch the president's 20-minute speech below. Although he is talking to students at Masterman, his message is for all American school kids, including those of us at Hillwood.

Each year, the president of the United States address students at a back-to-school speech. Last year,The Herald covered President Obama's first address. You can read Bridgette's 2009 story about the president's speech. (Bridgette graduated last year from Hillwood. She is now a freshman at San Francisco's School of the Arts.)