Day Seven - Cincinnati May Festival - 2008

I have only one word for the opening night of May Festival.

Wow.

The excitement was electrifying. The audience would not stop yelling, "Bravo!" at every opportunity. The soloists were incredible. The orchestra was in top form. The chorus had some shining moments. The show was stopped for bows twice -- once for tenor Salvatore Licitra, and once for baritone Marco Caria, who had to come back on stage after his exit because the audience would not stop applauding.

When it was all over, at 11:30 pm (one of the longest May Festival Concerts in memory), we were drained. The long line of soloists taking their bows with the conductor and the chorus master stretched along the front of the stage, and charming little girls came out with flowers for all (one entertained us by taking a bow herself and blowing kisses to the audience with both hands).

So The Opera-Which-Must-Not-Be-Named came off beautifully, despite the curse. Well, there were three of us in the chorus who were on the disabled list -- a bass with a broken foot, an alto with a broken toe, and me with a torn up ankle -- so maybe we had a small touch of the curse, after all.

Click here to read a review.

Day Eight will commence with a Saturday morning, 9:00 am rehearsal, and conclude with an evening performance of the Zeisl Requiem Ebraico and the Beethoven Ninth.