Foreign couples flock to Denmark to get married. Copenhagen wants to save room for locals
'We realized that it's not that easy to get married in Poland,' the 30-year-old Kujawińska said as the couple waited for their 10-minute ceremony at the Danish capital's 19th-century City Hall.
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Winnipeg Free Press
21 minutes ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
From a job at a meat processing plant to country music stardom, Bailey Zimmerman is figuring it out
NEW YORK (AP) — His is a Cinderella story. Before the big tours and country music award nominations, Bailey Zimmerman was growing up in the small town of Louisville, Illinois, working at the local meat processing plant and laying gas pipeline. Then, in 2020, he decided to upload videos of himself singing to social media — Black Stone Cherry's 'Stay,' and, later, an original. He quickly garnered a fan base on TikTok. It wasn't overnight, but it was fast. Soon, he inked a deal with Warner Music Nashville and released his debut full-length, 2023's 'Religiously. The Album.' It peaked at No. 7 on the all-genre Billboard 200 chart and was certified two-times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. Now comes Friday, when he follows it up with a sophomore offering, 'Different Night Same Rodeo.' 'I don't know what I'm doing,' Zimmerman, 25, tells The Associated Press through a smile. 'I randomly got into music in 2020, 2021, and I'd never sang before. I'd never wrote songs before.' After 'Religiously. The Album.' did well — something he didn't see coming — Zimmerman found himself trying to recreate it while writing for his second album. 'It just didn't work,' he says. 'I just found myself not really writing that great of songs because I'm trying to write other songs that have already been written.' So, he took a step back, and asked himself: 'What am I trying to do with my music? And what is the whole goal of this next album?' The answer was simple: He wanted to tell stories from his life. 'You didn't know what you were doing the first time. And you don't know what you're doing now,' he told himself. 'So just write songs that you love and try to write songs that you feel like people can relate to, you know, stories from things I've been through.' On 'Different Night Same Rodeo,' those stories are told in big-hearted ballads ('Hell or High Water'), good time stomps ('New to Country') and varied collaborations, including with country star Luke Combs ('Backup Plan'), the rising pop voice the Kid LAROI ('Lost'), and Diplo ('Ashes'). He's always been open to such eclectic collaborations, anchored in his raspy, charismatic tone — Zimmerman's highest charting song to date is 'All The Way,' a hip-hop-country hybrid he features on with rapper BigXThaPlug. For his second album, Zimmerman wanted to make sure he worked with artists he had true relationships with. For Combs, he knew the singer would be perfect for the fiery 'Backup Plan' — he just never thought he'd meet him. Then, Combs invited Zimmerman to perform at his Hurricane Helene relief benefit 'Concert for Carolina.' They hit it off, and the rest is history. The Kid LAROI ('We're like the same person,' Zimmerman says) and Diplo ('Sometimes things just feel like God's plan,' he says) were partnerships that also happened organically. 'When I collaborate, I just want it to be a real friendship,' he says. 'And I want it to feel real, because it comes across not real when it's not.' For an artist who describes himself as 'dealing with a little bit of impostor syndrome,' he seems to know, at least intuitively, what works for himself and his fans. 'The main reason I write music is so people know they're not alone and that I've been through the things that they've been through, too,' he says. 'I think that's what I started my whole career on, was people relating to me kind of 'therapy writing,'' he says. ''Different Night Same Rodeo' — it's the fluctuation of life. It's the ups and the downs, the mountains, the valleys, but we're still on a good vibe.'
Winnipeg Free Press
an hour ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Tenor Piotr Beczała sings different productions of Wagner's ‘Lohengrin' 41 hours apart
BAYREUTH, Germany (AP) — Less than 41 hours after his final bows for singing the title role of 'Lohengrin' at Munich's Bavarian State Opera, Piotr Beczała was 150 miles (241 kilometers) away at the Bayreuth Festpielhaus for a different production of the same Wagner opera. Wagner's roles are among the most punishing in classical music, and breaks of two or three days between performances are customary to allow for vocal recovery. Beczała earned thunderous ovations on Wednesday in Munich and Friday at Bayreuth. 'I was a little under pressure because Christian Thielemann is coming back to Bayreuth for this production,' the 58-year-old Polish tenor said, citing his desire to please the conductor. 'We did it in 2018 and '19 so, yeah, I agreed with this crazy schedule.' Limited rehearsal time Beczała and the cast for the revival of Yuval Sharon's 2018 Bayreuth production arrived July 12 for four hours of blocking at a studio, then had a 7 1/2-hour final dress rehearsal the following day in the auditorium built to Wagner's specifications. He traveled to Munich on July 14 for a recital four days later at the 150th Munich Opera Festival followed by 'Lohengrin' in Kornél Mundruczó's 2022 staging on July 27 and 30. Beczała drove back to Bayreuth the next morning for a 3 p.m. music rehearsal with Thielemann, who led Beczała's first Lohengrin in 2016. There were three more performances at Bayreuth through Aug. 9. 'Having sung Lohengrin in a different production previously, he carries a mature interpretation that can adapt fluidly to different directorial visions,' Bavarian State Opera general director Serge Dorny said. 'His preparation for both stagings was meticulous, and we knew that he would approach each performance with total professionalism and focus.' Lohengrin, a mysterious knight, arrives to unite the divided people of Brabant and defend the noblewoman Elsa from the false accusation she murdered her brother. He agrees to marry her on the condition she never ask him his name or origin. A veteran of seven productions Beczała also has sung Lohengrin in Dresden, Vienna, New York, Paris and Zurich. Mundruczó and Sharon, like many contemporary directors, abandoned Wagner's 1850 stage directions that have Lohengrin arrive and depart on a boat pulled by a swan. 'He is not necessarily coming as a God-sent person,' Mundruczó said. 'It's more like someone who we are choosing, so somehow it's one of us.' Monika Pormale designed stark white sets for Munich that included hilly, grassy areas in the first act. Beczała nearly slipped but caught his balance in time. Anna Axer Fijalkowska costumed Lohengrin in cream as a common man rather than medieval finery: jeans, sweatshirt and loafers. 'I go, to be honest, on airplanes more elegant than that,' Beczała said, laughing. Anna Brunnlechner, the revival stage director, didn't mind the compressed practice period. 'I prefer a very intense time, also with a bit of adrenaline, than a very long rehearsal time where you can talk every detail,' she said. Bayreuth's sets and costumes were by the married artists Neo Rauch and Rosa Loy, dominated by the color Delft Blue — even Beczała's wig. Their Lohengrin is dressed like a 1930s electrician wearing a shirt and tie with overalls, arriving in a transformer and clutching a lightning bolt for a sword. Sharon, in an email to assistant director Eva-Maria Abelein he shared with the AP, called the opera 'the story of the decay of the angel.' 'Lohengrin is a bringer of light, and he is humble at first — he is a servant of a higher force,' he wrote. 'But the idea of a year of bodily pleasure, joy, love, four seasons … He can't resist it. And the character we see in Act II is arrogant, full of himself, and much closer to violence. In Act III, he is brutal with his new wife — because that's what he thinks humans do.' Beczała took over for the 2018 production premiere when Roberto Alagna withdrew 27 days before the first performance. 'Piotr is really exceptional,' Abelein said Saturday. 'He took one wrong position last night and then he came off saying, 'I'm so sorry about this.' I said, 'Piotr, it's not important at all because the way he acted is important.'' Surprise liquid refreshment Wolfgang Schilly, another Bayreuth assistant director, provided Beczała some special assistance for this year's opener. Beczała was thinking about 'In fernem land (In a distant land),' the third-act aria when Lohengrin reveals his name to Elsa. 'I could give a thousand dollars for just a little water before the aria but there's no space,' Beczała recalled telling him Thursday. Schilly had a tiny hole punctured in the set wall between where oversized insect wings were pinned, then inserted a straw attached to a bottle. An appreciative Beczała was able to sip. 'I'm not so sure that Neo Rauch is happy that we make a hole in his art,' Beczała said, smiling.
Winnipeg Free Press
2 hours ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Book Review: Louis Sachar's debut adult novel is a zany adventure of science and magic
Anatole isn't just any magician. He's the magician of Tiger Castle, whom the king of Esquaveta once declared to be the greatest magician in all the land. 'The Magician of Tiger Castle' is Anatole's chance to set the record straight. Not about his greatness — he fully accepts the title the king bestowed on him — but about what really happened in 1523 with the princess of Esquaveta, the apprentice scribe she fell in love with, the prince she was betrothed to, and the prisoner who was kept in the dungeon for 100 years. It's the debut adult novel from Louis Sachar, author of the Newbery Medal-winning middle-grade novel, 'Holes,' and the 'Wayside School' series of memorably wacky vignettes. 'The Magician of Tiger Castle,' out Tuesday from Ace Hardcover, is every bit as creative and endearing as Sachar's dozens of children's and young adult books that enamoured kids and teachers alike for decades. The novel is told like a memoir, first-person from the magician himself. Only, he's never been a true magician; we quickly see that he's more of a misunderstood pioneer of medicine and modern science. Calling attention to the thin, hazy line between science and magic, Anatole also dips into miniature medical history lessons. So, while you're following the story of this bald magician, hypersmart scribe and headstrong princess, you're also learning about why old-timey physicians wore beaked masks or how leeches are still sometimes used in medicine today. Though it's classified as an adult novel, 'The Magician of Tiger Castle' is fairly clean, with only one or two curse words, a handful of innuendoes and some light violence, but nothing explicit. You can read the surface-level story and have a great time, but Sachar also brings literary elements to the modern fantasy-adventure table. Chess games reveal the protagonists' strengths while mirroring their evolving relationships, as well as their increasingly complicated schemes. 'The Magician' is self-aware and fourth-wall breaking, stepping outside the narrative to explain a word choice or cultural context for the fictional kingdom set somewhere near modern France. The plot is like a zany Dungeons & Dragons campaign played with friends; the storyline is meandering but with a definite aim and purpose, and the characters are lovably boisterous (or hateful, in the case of the antagonists). It's funny, surprising, smart and weird, and fully lives up to the high bar you'd expect from a great like Sachar. ___ AP book reviews:
