The Butterfly Effect

During the PBS Opera Week earlier this month Troy saw a glimpse of the Met’s Madama Butterfly with Patricia Racette in the title role ( exactly, the girl whose Tosca I reviewed earlier this month). He got interested and wanted more, but it was his bedtime, so PBS was off and to bed he went.

In the Kennedy Center Souvenir Shop I got this book for Troy, which he absolutely loved! Every time he sees it, he asks me to read it to him.

So I thought, why don’t I get the opera for him. After all, surprising as it is for a toddler to be into Puccini's music, the question is: why not? It's beautiful. And if he is old enough to love Verdi, he might as well love Puccini.

All right, I admit: there are people in this world who like Puccini much more than I do. Yet, I am not going to deny the powerful effect that Puccini’s music makes on human hearts, including the heart of my son, who hasn’t been able to get enough of that opera and demands to hear it again and again ever since the DVD arrived.

Even during our cuddling time these days he asks me to sing the Humming Chorus. Not the easiest thing to do, by the way, let me tell you that. But – I am trying to get the hang of it.

On another, yet still a relevant note, in Troy’s music class, one of the tasks is to move to a certain song with silk scarves in both hands. Before I could see that Troy was not that into it. I could see that it kind of did not make sense to him or maybe he did not like the music he was supposed to move to. Drumming or egg shaking has been a different story, but with the scarves…something was off.

However, yesterday I saw Troy picking up my two scarves and moving to the music of Madama Butterfly. He finally found his scarf music.

A Tosca with a Twist

If you are one of those people who believe that opera is dead as an art form, run Puccini in an American opera house and see it completely packed on a week night, just like I did last week when I opened my 2011-2012 season with Tosca at the WNO.
Originally, my outing was supposed to take place a week earlier, but because Troy was very sick, I re-scheduled it for a much later date.

Thanks to the wonderful and very accommodating WNO staff, I got a great orchestra aisle seat in Row T (12). Could not be any better!

Patricia Racette and Alan Held
photo courtesy of the WNO

I am happy to inform you, my friends, that my Tosca review made it to the front page of Bachtrack, as well as to the Bachtrack tweeter page. As always, go to

http://www.bachtrack.com/

(or click on it in my My Blogs section on your right) and click on the steaming Scarpia/Tosca photo on their home page. It will immediately take you right to my review, so you could read about an unusual and sizzling chemistry formed in this production.

Well, hopefully, you are back and in addition to everything you read in my review, I would like to say how disappointing it was to see Frank Porretta not coping with the role of Cavaradossi, especially because it was him who knocked down the walls of good old Baltimore Lyric with his Nessun dorma only some 10 years ago… Cynical as it may sound, anything has an expiration date, and voice is no exception to that rule.

To end my post on a more cheerful note, Puccini must have left very specific staging instructions for this opera. I have seen many Toscas, my friends, and in each and every one the scenery is almost ridiculously similar. Don't take me wrong - not boring similar. Rather, pleasingly similar or comfortingly similar. The church - Palazzo Farnese- and Castel Sant' Angelo. The painting of Maria Magdalena is always on our left and the silhouette of the angel is always present in Act 3. 

The Heavens Smile

See... See... The heavens smile!
So sings Neptune in Act 4 of the Tempest, my favorite opera by Henry Purcell.

And the heavens did smile at me a few days ago, when I won tickets to the Met to see the open dress rehearsal of Anna Bolena with Anna Netrebko in the title role today!

Sadly but naturally, I could not go for a number of reasons. Nor could I transfer the tickets to any of you, my friends, because there was supposed to be my name on the envelop. Thus, the tickets just got released when I did not show up at the Met’s box office to collect them.

The good news though  is that never again will I claim myself to be unlucky or state that I never win anything!

If I could be so lucky as to win free Met tickets, the heavens did smile at me! And guess what? I smiled right back at them!

Peabody: Troy's First Success

Well my friends, I have not blogged for a while, and believe me, had every reason not to.

My son Troy was very sick, and as much as it pains me to say it, dangerously sick.
Let me just say this: as soon as I brought him to the emergency room he was admitted and treated in the most urgent manner. Taking into consideration the usual speed of emergency rooms service, I trust you can make your conclusions.
And then there were days of slow home recovery with loads of medications and treatments, exhaustion and even despair about seeing no visible improvement. Believe it or not, my little one had a lot of will power during this illness and acted like a real hero. As soon as he could breathe well enough to speak again, he said: “Mama? Let’s go to music school!”

“Well, my dear, you need to feel a lot better than you do now so your doctor could allow you that”

“Troy want to get better. Need to go to music school.”

One of Troy’s medicines was so bitter that in the hospitals it is usually IV-ed to the little ones due to its terrible taste. I explained to Troy that he would not be able to get better without it and would not be well enough to go to the music school.

Brace yourselves my friends: my little hero said “ Come on , mama”, opened his mouth, swallowed his medicine 100% spill free and said: Ok, let’s go to music school.

And every time the medicine had to be taken, Troy would open his mouth and swallow it as if it were chocolate syrup, no less, just because doing so put him one step closer to his music school.

I am still shocked at how much at his young age my toddler is ready to do not to miss his music class.

Finally, the big day came and Troy went to his 2nd class at Peabody Preparatory.

I like to be objective about Troy’s achievements, therefore, I am not going to say that at his 1st class he did an incredible job. That time he had a runny nose and even though he did just fine, due to this discomfort, he was not quite himself.

This time however, even though still weak from his illness, Troy did a great job during one of the rhythm exercises and his teacher Mr. Eric, who is Troy’s idol and god at this point, noticed that and actually praised him!
He told me “Troy is so good at it” and later made a remark on Troy’s great coordination of muscle and sense of rhythm, which sort of puts him ahead of his age group, and consequently, his class.

That my friends, was such a special moment, and not only for Troy who was almost overwhelmingly happy, but also for me. For the first time in my life I learned how headspinning and exciting it is to hear your kid’s teacher praising your kid.

After Troy’s class was over we walked back through the halls of Peabody, where Troy was mesmerized with the beautiful music coming from behind heavy wooden classroom doors. He looked at the students with musical instruments in their hands waiting to enter the magic world of the classrooms where music lived and ruled, and I know, felt like he belonged there. He, little Troy, was now a Peabody student too!

The Quintessence of Salome

Hmmm… This might be too short for a blog post, but way too long (and too cute!) for a tweet.
So, here - another post.

Earlier this week Troy and I discovered Opera Week on PBS, by bumping into the finale of Richard Strauss’ Salome with Karita Mattila in the title role.

Never mind the grown-up biblical plot. Never mind that Strauss’ music requires a well-trained ear of an opera connoisseur – Troy was mesmerized before I had a second to figure out which opera was on.
He sat on the couch listening quietly and seriously, without ever taking his eyes off the screen and then said something that only a kid of 2 years and 7 months could say: “ Mama, that man is sleeping on a plate?”

And that, my friends, is my weekend quintessence of Richard Staruss’ Salome for you.

Happy Friday, everyone, and don't forget about Le Comte Ory on PBS Opera Week tonight , the very one attended by yours truly back in April and most diligently described here. Check your local listings and start your weekend the right way!

Salvatore Licitra Dies at 43

On Monday, September 5th opera world lost a wonderful tenor, Salvatore Licitra due to a dumb scooter accident. I am particularly sad  to write about this premature departure because I saw the guy live in the WNO back in 2008.

You know how it is in opera world: if you see an artist live, you almost feel like you know him/her. My heart goes out to all who loved his voice and to all who mourn for the loss of a beautiful artist, a family member and a friend.

Had he only worn a helmet, there would be still plenty of roles, performances, recordings, reviews... instead of a coma, followed by a death at 43.

 In our ruthless world, when tragedy is almost a norm and by no means a surprise, one should probably get used to losses of all sorts and not be unhappy about them. Yet, it is sad beyond words that due to neglect of simple safety rules, another life ends just like that.

I wish I could offer a more spiritually uplifting ending to this post, but at this point I can't.
Complying with Licitra's will, his kidneys and liver have already been transplanted, thus helping 3 patients on the transplant list. Unfortunately, his heart and lungs, damaged in the accident,could not be used for transplants. According to the late tenor's brother, Fabio Licitra, "he was generous in life and generous in death".

Met Ticket Story (the Sequel)

About a week ago my Met envelope arrived. I opened it, checked the time/date/seat info and lovingly placed it in my special ticket storing box.

Last night the strangest of things happened. Another Met envelope arrived with exactly the same, absolutely identical order in it!
Hmm, not sure if I can say too much to praise the efficiency of the Met box office on Black Sundays, but they sure got themselves some ticket printer!

Have a great long weekend, everyone!