Take the Mountains Away!



Yes, definitely distracted!

This is almost too short for a post, but probably too funny for a tweet. By now you all know that my son Troy likes opera both live and on DVDs. Thus, it should come as no surprise that on Pelly's La Fille du Regiment DVD his favorite aria is "Ah! Mes amis".
Every once in a while he even tries to sing it himself, in a cute little basso, and accompanies his singing with a very serious face expression. (The lowest and the most serious version of the piece in the world, to be sure, but why not, anyway?)

As much as Troy likes the DVD, strangely enough, he prefers to watch Juan Diego singing 'Ah! mes amis" in concert, under the baton of Gustavo Dudamel, whom he lovingly calls "Doodah".
I could never understand how a 3-year-old could prefer a concert setting to a staged production, until last night I finally got a sound explanation.

So Troy asked to watch "Ah! Mes amis" on La Fille DVD, but as soon as he saw his favorite Juan Diego marching across the stage, along the green map-covered mountains, he said:
"Mama, let's take those mountains away from Mr. Juan Diego - they distract him from singing!"

Yeah, tell me about it: here in Toddler-Land we are having so much fun - you have no idea.

Faust: The Grand Finale

Still trying to get over the shock received from the gloomy, symbolic and terrifyingly real Faust that I saw in the Lyric last Friday, here I am reporting that my review has made it to the front page of Bachtrack, so all you have to do this time is to go to http://www.bachtrack.com/ and click on the picture that says Faust in Baltimore.

The review pretty much covers it all, so (if you are back from reading it) you get the idea of what an incredible show it was. True, there might have been a couple of things in this production that I did not particularly care for. For instance, as much as I like projected images in contemporary productions, I am a firm believer that when it comes to using special effects in opera, less is always more.

At some point Uzan (undeniably a director with taste and sense of style) neglected this rule and made the opera look like a Power Point presentation on the loss of moral values in modern society. Of course, an image of a gradually wilting white rose in the scene of Marguerite’s seduction looked tacky and did not do much, not for me anyway.The cast, incredibly strong both vocally and dramatically, needed no illustrations of the sort. They really played and sang it all.

In the bigger sense, however, it was a superb production, and the fact that I am still thinking about it now, a week later, convinces me that it deserves every praise.

Another pic of Troy's beloved Le Nozze di Figaro (staged by Bernard Uzan)

It  
was a bold ultra-modern vision of Faust and quite a shocker from Uzan, whose lovely and
very conservative Le Nozze di Figaro (see the image on the right) Troy and I  just saw in the LOB last month, and whose staging style can be defined with one word: diversity.

Back to the production, allow me to share with you a couple of  creepy Faust details that did not make it to the review.

To me, nothing in this production could compare to the two most intense final scenes: in the church and in the mental ward (the latter replaced the prison scene offered by the traditional libretto).

Imagine a crucifix in the middle of the stage. A statue of Virgin Mary on the left. Statues of an archbiishop and a saint on you right. A large black cross lined with silver neon hanging above the stage.

A priest in a black robe holds Marguerite’s baby while she is trying to pray, blessing it in a really creepy way. Of course, it does not take us long to realize that this is none other than Mephistopheles! Marguerite, however, has no idea because she has gone mad. To anyone but Marguerite with her distorted mind and cloudy consciousness, it is clear that it has been a while since the church has turned into a diabolic sanctuary. Eventually, Marguerite learns that too, but not until every statue comes to life and starts moving around: the saint shakes his head in disapproval, the archbishop mouths nonstop curses, Virgin Mary points to her in disgust and Jesus Christ gets off the cross to tear the baby out of her hands and take it over to the Devil, obviously, for a sacrifice.

Terrifying, but very powerful, is it not?

And then, of course, the mental ward.

The finale in the production was disturbing, yet, offered so much to think about: Marguerite’s soul is saved, but Faust now dressed in a straitjacket is taken away in a wheelchair by his demonic doctor Mephisto.
The church. The hospital. Places we go to in search of physical health and inner peace.  How many of you ever wondered at some doctors or (oh, horror!) members of clergy and secretly questioned if they are worthy of the robes they wear? Bravo, Mr. Uzan - you have said what many have been thinking but did not dare to put in words!

Bryan Hymel at the curtain call

Of course, because none of my opera outings ever goes without a surprise, this time it could not go without one either.

A flash back to the year 2002… Wow, really? Was it really 10 years ago?

Anyway, at that time the good-old Lyric was in a much better financial shape than it is now, ran four operas and one recital a season and sold 2^nd row orchestra tickets for $20.00 each, 1 hour prior to the performance. As you can guess, I saw most Lyric performances sitting that close to the stage. Soon after I became a 2nd row regular, I started noticing that there was always the same group of people around me, most of whom were opera students.
One of the inevitable side effects (or beauties?) of being a teacher is that you develop a phenomenal memory for names and faces.  I remember two ladies who used to sit right next to me on the opening nights of every production. The younger one was a petite brunette, obviously a student. The older one was a tall blonde, probably the girl's mom or aunt. 

Then at one point they stopped coming, which, I figured, was because the girl had graduated.

Left to right: Kristopher Irmiter (Mephistopheles), Bryan Hymel (Faust), Stefania Dovhan (Marguerite)

Stefania Dovhan (Marguerite) and Lee Poulis (Valentin)

One night, during an intermission still in my 2nd row seat I got into a conversation with an elderly lady who told me that she was from Kiev, Ukraine and that her granddaughter Stefania got her degree in singing in Baltimore and was off to Germany to continue her studies there. When the elderly lady was approached by a tall blonde who turned out to be the one who used to accompany the young girl, it all fell into place: I was talking to that girl’s grandma. Well, at least back then I thought it all fell into place, but now, 6 or 7 years later, I know that it really fell into place last Friday, when I saw Stefania. On stage. Singing Marguerite. Stefania Dovhan, my friends, was one of the leads in this production - and may I just say, she was fantastic! See, my friends, it is a small world after all, even when it comes to opera.
On this happy note, I am concluding my Faust journey and signing off till next time.

 Remember to stay tuned for more musical adventures though. This blog will be a busy place before summer (also known as the dead season for Baltimore and DC music lovers).
Cheers!

Interview: Bryan Hymel Talks about Faust

Earlier this week I was fortunate enough to do a phone interview with the internationally renowned and much sought after tenor Bryan Hymel. (I don’t say the word “superstar”, but if I did, I certainly would.) At only 31, Bryan has successfully performed in most major opera houses, including the toughest and most demanding of all,  La Scala. One year ago, at the 2011-2012 Season preview concert, Bryan won Baltimore opera fans over with his incredible rendition of Faust’s aria Salut, demeure chaste et pure. Tomorrow night and Sunday afternoon he will sing in the title role of Bernard Uzan’s production of Faust in our newly renovated Lyric.

Bryan was very pleasant and easy to talk to. He offered beautiful insights of his role, illustrating them with occasional singing of his favorite tunes from the opera.

Thus, without further delay, ladies and gentlemen, please meet Bryan Hymel.

R: Bryan, thank you so much for finding time to do this interview.

B.H: Absolutely, no problem.

R: Can you tell me a little about your childhood? How did you grow up and when did you realize that opera was "it" for you?

B. H: Sure. I grew up in New Orleans, not really in a musical family, but in a family that thankfully appreciated music. I started singing in a choir and taking piano lessons, playing the trumpet in a band – all in the fourth grade, because that was the first time you were able to do that at school. First, I loved trumpet the most, and then I got my braces on and started having more fun with piano, because it was a little less frustrating, and so through high school I concentrated mainly on piano. I went to arts high school: half a day to a regular school and half a day to arts high school down in New Orleans. And then there came time to audition for college. I auditioned for both piano and voice and got more scholarship to study singing than I did to study piano. So I thought maybe I should explore singing a little more, and I did. After my first year of the undergrad in Loyola University in New Orleans, I was “hit by the bug”, I guess you could say.

R: Needless to say that Baltimore audience is very excited about the upcoming production of Faust, and of course, about you singing the title role, especially after the Preview Concert last year.

B. H: Oh, yeah!

R: We loved you!

B. H: Oh, thank you.

R: Lyric Opera’s website describes this production as a production that “will offer a new dénouement to the story that will make us experience this opera like we never have before”.

Could you talk just a little about this production and what we are to expect?

B. H: Sure. Well, I think it is set in 2012. So the dress will be modern. The acting style is probably a little more modern as well. There is more natural movement and such on stage than you might see in more traditional productions. I would say that especially for Marguerite and Faust as his younger self, we are trying to capture more the feeling of the young people today. The thing is that whether or not you do it in a more traditional setting, just like Romeo and Juliette, people have always been young, people always fall in love, people always make mistakes and regret those mistakes. These are the things that we are dealing with here, in Faust.

I think it’s modern but it’s not crazy. I really don’t think anybody would not like it. Thus, for instance, the Garden Scene, instead of the Garden Scene in front of [Marguerite’s] house, is set in a flower shop. I would not like to give anything away, but the thing that Marguerite works in a flower shop is really sweet. And then it’s not so sweet anymore, when after the intermission things have kind of gone down hill for them as a couple, [it] gets spooky, which is cool because that’s what it should be.

The special effects, the projections that are being shown on the back, different images during the whole show, and during the Church scene there are some really cool things going on.

R: Sounds very exciting.

B.H: Yeah. Bernard Uzan is the director. I know he did Le Nozze di Figaro here. I don’t know if that was a more traditional [production]?

R: Yes, it was actually very traditional, even conservative.

B.H: Well, this will be a nice counterpoint, I would say.

R: What are the biggest joys and the biggest challenges in the role of Faust for you?

B. H: Let’s see, the biggest joys… I love the first scene. I love when [Faust] is by himself in his study and he has been up all night, he has been contemplating if this is going to be the end and if he is going to go through with drinking this potion and ending it all. It has so much material and juice, and vocally it’s a great scene.

Also, the last scene, the trio with (humming a tune from the trio). The music is just glorious.

And the most challenging parts are probably the Garden Scene, or the Flower Shop scene in this [production], because you have the aria, then you have the duet, and kind of the most difficult singing that takes place in that act. Of course, the Garden scene has its challenges, but the aria “Salut, demeure chaste et pure” is beautiful as well. I can’t complain about it. I am certainly not complaining, but I have to say it’s a challenging scene. And then the duet with Marguerite. Just to make sure that the soft singing is really sensitive, because you know, it’s not just about vocal acrobats being able or not being able to do it. You want to convey him falling for her and her falling for him and the sweetness [of it]. Every time [Faust] talks about Marguerite, she is chaste, and innocent, and pure, and modest, so it has to be imbued with that.

R: What is more exciting for you as an artist to sing a character that is sort of similar to you, or vice versa, a character that is your complete opposite?

B.H: Well, I think it is easier to do the one that is similar to you, but then again, fortunately, I get to do a lot of different characters. There is a pretty good balance of the ones that are similar to me and the ones that are not so similar to me. I think that composers, especially French and Italian [ones], wrote for personalities. Personalities and voices tend to go together. If you write for this kind of tenor, they are going to be different, but they are going to be similar in some ways as well. I’d much rather sing Faust as opposed to the Duke in Rigoletto, which is a jerk, and a womanizer and is not really my character. I love to sing Rodolfo and Nemorino, although Rodolfo I get to sing a lot more than Nemorino, who is just a more straight forward, heart on your sleeve kind of guy. Faust is like that. The youthful Faust is more heart on your sleeve. The older Faust in the beginning is more cynical, and that might be the only time when tenors get to play a really cynical character.

R: Besides singing, what are some other things that you are passionate about?

B.H: Well, being from New Orleans, I love jazz music, and having played trumpet while  at school, I still love to go see trumpet players. I love to go see jazz. It’s hard for us to have hobbies per say, because we are traveling so much, but just to be able to go and see the different cultures and cities and such is great. For instance, we spent last summer in Santa Fe and I’ve never been [there]. Just to see how different the culture is with the Indians and with Mexicans and everything else was great. It’s completely different from New Orleans, yet, it’s still America. That was really cool. Fortunately, we get to do it all over the world.

R: You have been successfully performing on major opera stages all around the world. Are the audiences different from one another, and if so, do you have any favorites?

B.H: Do I have any favorites? The audiences in London have been really good to me. I sang in London in both English National Opera and in Royal Opera House a bunch of times, probably every year for the past five years. They were really a warm audience.

 La Scala was fine. I was really nervous about La Scala, because you hear stories of people getting booed, but I got a really warm reception from the house, and so that was nice. So I had really nice experiences in London and La Scala.

R: If you only had one opera to keep for humanity, which opera would it be?

B.H: My absolute favorite just for music and singing is probably Tosca, but I think, if La Boheme ended happier, it would be the one. There is so much in it: it’s so beautiful and so real. Probably, La Boheme is what I would pick. But there are so many great ones. In the French repertoire there are so many great pieces, but they are hard to cast and they are not in fashion right now.

R: Where do you see yourself 10 years from now?

B.H: I’d love to keep doing what I am doing. I’d like to have half of my career in Europe and half of my career here, in the US. I’d love for it to stay that way. I think in 10 years I’ll be probably singing some of the same rep and some of the heavier rep. Now we are trying to stick to kind of standard [repertoire]: Lucia, Rigoletto, La Boheme, Romeo and Juliette, Faust… you know, standard lyric tenor stuff. Probably, in the next 8-10 years I would like to go back to Tosca, maybe go to Aida.  Radames is the role I am really dying to do but in no rush to get to.

R: Bryan, thanks so much for your time again. I am looking forward to seeing you in Faust this coming Friday. Good luck with this production and your other projects and I hope that Baltimore Opera will be fortunate enough to have you sing again on its stage in the future.

Who is Afraid of Rachmaninoff?

Many are, but really no one should be! A least not if his works are performed by young vibrant musicians, like they were yesterday at the concert that I scheduled months ago for my music appreciation students. Of course, students or not, everyone was invited.

Jacque-Pierre Malan

Two friends and graduate students of Peabody Conservatory, pianist Solomon Eichner and cellist Jacques- Pierre Malan, treated us to an exciting 45-minute long program, which consisted of Cello Sonata in E Minor by Brahms and Cello Sonata in G minor by Rachmaninoff. This event had more people in attendance that I could ever remember at any of my events, and not without a reason. More often than not, having given up their cars due to their age or illnesses, seniors do not have that many opportunities to enjoy live classical music. Even those who claimed to be “afraid” of Rachmaninoff because he is “too heavy”, never regretted that they attended.

Solomon Eichner

Thanks to the energy and passion of the young musicians and a cleverly selected program, both Brahms and Rachmaninoff’s pieces got a fresh vibrant treatment, which was deeply appreciated by the audience.

Maybe these guys were no Richter or Rostropovich (at least not yet), but their utmost dedication to music and passion for music making were quite sensational.
Needless to say, I planned this event with Troy in mind. Embracing music while real musicians play real instruments right in front of you, is a rare and very enriching experience for any music lover. Sitting in the very first row, right in front of Solomon and Jacques-Pierre, Troy was at his best behavior, listening to the music and watching the musicians’ hands very carefully. At the end of every movement he clapped and screamed “Bravo”.

Both the musicians loved him. After the concert was over, they invited him to come up for a real hands-on musical experience. Of course, because we have a piano at home, Troy was more intrigued by the cello. Having noticed his interest, not only did  Jacques-Pierre let Troy touch the cello, but also he showed him how to play it and Troy played it ( to the best of his ability, of course). Then Solomon played some notes and simple note combinations for Troy on the piano, and almost every time Troy repeated them correctly.

It goes without saying that Troy felt on top of the world and could not get enough of that communication.
I took the most fabulous pictures of Troy playing a gigantic cello and carrying a "grown-up" conversation with the musicians, but do not want to post them here, since this blog is open for anyone to read. However, I will be happy to share those pics with my friends. So if you are a friend of mine and are reading this blog, let me know and I'll be happy to share them with you.

And one more thing:  if you have been afraid of Rachmaninoff, that was probably because you did not know his music that well. Believe me, this composer is very enjoyable and not as "heavy" as some people think he might be.
Cheers!

Twitter Whirlwind: Heroes vs Villains

My hazelnut extra cream latte tastes great. Mmmm-mm....

How many of those do we get to read on Twitter?
To say "a lot", would be a major understatement.
A while ago, like many others, I, too, was fascinated with tweets of that and similar kinds. The possibility of letting the world know about my immediate thoughts and current actions looked almost unreal, yet very tempting. And then I noticed something that started bothering me: those tiny tweets were addictive, hence usurped my time, the precious time that I was supposed to spend writing this blog.
I had to put an end to it, which I did having reduced my Twitter activity to one (all right, sometimes two tweets) a month.
Yesterday, however, quite unexpectedly I should say, I got into a fascinating Twitter discussion about operatic heroes and villains, initiated by none other than Erwin Schrott, whose question
What do you think? Is Don G a villain or a hero in disguise? caused a real opinion explosion on Twitter.
 The discussion became fast paced and took abrupt turns, quickly leaping from Don G to Scarpia and, quite shortly, to the comparison of the two "charmers" and their motives. In mere moments, still retaining its fun spirit, it turned from just a lively conversation to an opera whirlwind.
Opera tweeters kept shooting comments in English and Spanish both to Erwin and one another, getting more and more carried away as they received new questions from Erwin, who in his turn commented on each tweet he liked and retweeted them for everyone else to see.
An interesting thing for me was that having tweeted: The true hero in disguise is Leporello. On another thought, maybe not that much of disguise, I received this answer from Erwin:
That's interesting! Never thought of Leporello in "hero" terms.
Wow... How surprising was it to hear this from the singer, whose Leporello actually gave me that thought??!!

An even better moment of the whirlwind was when someone remarked (frankly, without much reason to go that far down the imagination lane) that had Scarpia ever had any luck with Tosca, he would forget her and move on to the next victim quite soon, to which Erwin replied: "Would he keep a catalogo as well?".
This catalogo question inspired me to write:
"Catalogos? Had DG and Scarpia lived in 2012, DG would tweet about his conquests and Scarpia would blog about his."
Apparently much entertained with that comment,  Erwin got inspired to joke about every character of Mozart's opera, imagining who they would become and what they would do in our excessively social-network-ed world of 2012.
My two personal faves were:   "In 2012, Don G would write a blog, and he would be on Facebook too. And Leporello would tweet the catalogue"
and
 "Masetto would be a 'guido' from Jersey Shore".
The bottom line is, this was a great operatic (and mind you, very brain stimulating!) discussion.

The point that I am trying to make here is not that my tweets were liked, retweeted and commented on by an opera superstar. Not at all, even though, of course, it's nice to know that they were.
My point is that Twitter can be great for things other than sharing what pasta you are having for dinner or how much you do not want to get up in the morning.
Not to sound like a snob - those things are important and good for sharing as well.
However, if you are into opera, "follow" the right people and read what they write, every once you might get into a real opera whirlwind!

On this happy note, have a great weekend, everyone, and - may music prevail!

L'elisir d'amore: Troy's 1st visit to the Met

Exactly one year ago I published a blog post called A Day of Gifts to describe the day when my mom and I went to the Met to see Juan Diego Florez, Diana Damrau and Joyce DiDonato in Rossini's Le Comte Ory. Today, a year later, I realize that as much as a day of gifts it was for us then, no day or gift could even come close to March 31st, 2012, when for the first time in his life my son Troy journeyed with us to NYC  to see his favorite Juan Diego Florez, Diana Damrau and Alessandro Corbelli in Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore.



Juan Diego Florez as Nemorino and Diana Damrau as Adina

 In New York ,where the edge between dream and reality is oftentimes quite blurry, this was a true day of gifts. And magic beyond all words!

Needless to say, knowing that Troy was right there to witness that magic makes me the happiest and most grateful mom in the world.

After a year of waiting, crossing days off on the wall calendar and discussing the power of believing in oneself, the big day finally arrived.
On a drizzly Baltimore Friday, March 30th, the train took us right to the heart of Manhattan, which in its turn, greeted us (oh joy!) with loads of sunshine.

It is common knowledge that hotel location is important when you travel. It is also common knowledge that when you travel to New York, hotel location is everything.

The magic started happening upon our arrival at the hotel, which was small, but very cozy and, most importantly, just 3 minutes away from the train station and 4 minutes away from the Met!!!!

Naturally, we had a chance to go there Friday afternoon for some memorable pics on Lincoln Plaza and a visit to the Met shop, which resulted in us getting "a real" baton (aka a souvenir pen) for Troy, a Rossini carricature card and this breathtaking and jaw dropping DVD, which was on at the time we were in the shop and was so stunning  that everyone just forgot about what they came for and stood there watching.

Back in our hotel, we enjoyed a fabulous stromboli dinner (single-handedly delivered by yours truly from a small pizzeria on the corner of Broadway and Doesn't-get-better-any-than-that).

Saturday morning flew fast, and before we knew it, there we were again, in the middle of Lincoln Plaza, in front of the Wagner’s Ring Cycle banner-bearing Met and the famous fountain which Troy could not pass by without a traditional penny toss and a scream: "Metropolitaaaan - hooray!"

I have to say that even though Troy was very impressed with the Met exterior/interior and especially with the famous crystal chandeliers, to my joy, he was prepared enough not to get instantly overwhelmed with all this beauty before the performance started. Each of his two experiences in Kennedy Center and Baltimore Lyric, though brief, certainly paid off. I have to say that at his young age, this guy is a toughy.

The Met staff was very accommodating having immediately offered Troy a booster seat!  What can I say - Bravi, signiori! With the number of kids attending their performances, they certainly know how to be prepared.

Having thoroughly inspected the pit and every cello, violin and horn in it, Troy was finally ready to go to his seat which was in Row G ( aka Row 7) in the orchestra.
How did we get to those seats?
Maybe one day I will devote an entry to getting the best for less and share some of my major money saving tricks, including how to get a hotel 4 minutes away from the Met and pay nothing for it. Meanwhile, let me just say that our seats were twice cheaper than the seats right next to us.

And so, minutes away from the beginning of the performance, except for the mothball smell from someone’s suit in the row behind us, and a dosing but fortunately, non-snoring fellow in front of us – it was mere perfection.

And then … up went the crystal chandeliers (which Troy followed with his eyes all the way to the ceiling)... Up went the golden Met curtain....

 and there he was, Troy's favorite artist, Count Almaviva, Prince Ramiro and Tonio in one, Juan Diego Florez, right in front of him! Except that this time it was Juan Diego Florez and his funny, naïve, touching, amorous and oh, such an adorable Nemorino.
Troy was so excited! He kept turning his head from the stage to us and from us back to the stage, smiling from ear to ear and whispering times and times again: "He is here! He is here!"

Has anyone noticed that every time Juan Diego is in an opera he performs a dance? That's because besides having one the most incredible voices in the opera universe, the guy 's got the moves!

Nemorino's very merry dance ( the inevitable result of abundant ‘caro elisir’consumption ) ranged all the way from line dance to Italian folk to pirouettes of L’Indiffirent to gypsy shoulder shake (the latter was a literal show stopper greeted with a long ovation) – and all that combined with the steadiest singing!!!

How does he do it - I have no idea, but I guess this is what "the sky" of vocal art is all about.

And now, my friends, I am done talking. Thanks to some ardent fan of Juan Diego’s with a video camera at hand, you can see exactly what we saw and hear exactly what we heard, if you kindly click here.

This and the rest of You Tube videos that are to follow were apparently taken during the very performance we were at, thus are all the more precious to us.

During the Met HD broadcast intermissions, the public is normally entertained with brief interviews of the stars as they are trying to catch their breath and take a sip of water. Since I did not interview anyone in the intermission, allow me to present a lively discussion of the opera's plot that Troy and I had in the Met lobby that afternoon.
Troy was familiar with the story long before we went to the Met, but in the manner typical for his age, double and tripple checked things that were of particular interest to him. I bet you will find it quite entertaining, especially if you have or once had a three-year-old of your own.

"Mama, Mr. Juan Diego bought the magic juice?"

"Yes, sweetheart, he did."

"From whom - from whom?"

"From a street magician, remember?"

"Yeah, I remember! Not a real magician, right?"

"Right, not a real one."

"But he opened the bottle and drank all the juice, all of it - right?"

"Right."

"And he ate a banana too, like Troy?"

"Aha."

"And he started dancing like that?"(immitating Juan Diego's moves to the best of his 3-year-old ability)

"Yes, he did"

"You like how Mr. Juan Diego dances?"

"Yes, I do. Do you?"

"Yeah! But the juice was not magic, right? Right?"

"No, it was just very sour juice, remember?"

"Yeah, I remember. But he thinks it is magic?"

"He sure does."

"And he thinks he will be cute and strong if he drinks it?"

"Yes, he does!"

"And Rosina... no, not Rosina. Ehh..."

"Adina?"
"Yeah, Adina. Adina will love him, mama?"
"Of course, she will! Ready to see how it all turns out?"
"Yeah, come on, mama, let's go back, come on!"

Wonderful, as Act 1 was, click to the next link to see for yourselves that nothing in L'elisir d'amore can ever compare to the Act 2 Una furtiva lagrima, the beautiful aria of Nemorino, in which he realizes that his Adina finally loves him!

And even that was not the end of our day of magic, my friends. Not at all! After the aria, greeted with an endless standing ovation, Juan Diego had another gift for us.

An encore! Yes, an incredible encore of the whole Una furtiva lagrima!

In an encore an artist usually feels free to do whatever he or she wants. Unfortunately, some choose to sing with a lower quality, not letting the public forget that generosity has its limits and that we are getting a free treat, hence should be happy no matter what.

Some artists do that - but not Juan Diego!

His encore was even more powerful than the aria itself, except that now, free to improvise and treat the music the way he wanted to, he went into cadenzas that none of us will ever be able to forget. And neither will you, if you kindly click here.

How lucky was Troy to have heard Juan Diego Florez in the greatest of vocal shapes, to have heard this amazing artist do the most heartfelt and breathtaking encore of Una furtiva lagrima? What gift is better than that?
I have to say that my son felt really happy and very special, bursting into a passionate applause after every aria and duet, and screaming: Bravo, Mr. Juan Di-e-goooooo!

And to me, his mom, his excitement, his joy and his delight was the best gift of all.

A lot can (and should be) said about Diana Damrau and Alessandro Corbelli, the two incrediblle consummate artists with an equal amount of vocal and dramatic talent, who get to bring beauty and sunshine to every production they are in. Had Donizetti still been around, I doubt he would pick a better cast for his opera than the one we were so fortunate to see on the Met stage that afternoon.

It was a day of magic - the kind of magic that only comes from being in the same theater, under the same roof with utmost Artists, unconditionally and whole-heartedly devoted to Music.

Unfortunately, I did not have a chance to sneak any curtain call pics. Thanks to our close proximity to the stage, there were too many eyes watching. However, I got to lift Troy up and show him the most glorious curtain call with the whole Met up on their feet roaring with excitement and gratitude for this incredible performance. He still remembers that feeling and that glorious curtain call.

And the pictures... Aren't the ones you see above just great?!
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(All the production photos are courtesy of the Metropolitan Opera)