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Tuesday, May 27, 2003

Perfect love is rare indeed - for to be a lover will require that you continually have the subtlety of the very wise, the flexibility of the child, the sensitivity of the artist, the understanding of the philosopher, the acceptance of the saint, the tolerance of the scholar and the fortitude of the certain.
-Leo Buscaglia, author, speaker and professor (1924-1998)

Monday, May 26, 2003

Performance List for Opera in the Gardens, May 25, 2003, Operatic Selections from the upcoming productions by current artists of San Francisco Opera with the SF Opera Orchestra, Kay Stern concertmaster, Ian Robertson Conductor

Il Barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville) by Rossini
Overture - Orchestra
Il vecchiotta cerca moglie - Catherine Cook (mezzo-soprano)

Die Zauberflote (The Magic Flute) by Mozart
Dies' Bildnis ist bezaubernd schon - Harold Gray Meers (tenor)
Papagena! Papageno! - Saundra DeAthos (soprano) and Brad Alexander (baritone)

La Damnation de Faust (The Damnation of Faust) by Berlioz
D'amour l'ardente flamme - Katherine Rohrer (mezzo-soprano)

Il Barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville) by Rossini
Ah, quell colpa inaspettato... Zitti, zitti - Greta Feeney (soprano), Harold Gray Meers, and Brad Alexander

Il Trovatore by Verdi
Tacea la notte placida ...Di tale amor - Angela Brown (an emerging famous Verdi soprano who won the 2001 Altamure/Enrio Caruso International Voice competition)

La Cenerentola (Cinderella) by Rossini
Nacqui all'affano...Non piu mesta by Mariatheresa Magisano (canandian opera singer and mezzo-soprano)

La Cenerentola (Cinderella) by Rossini
Miei rampolli femminini - Bojan Knezevic (baritone)
Come un ape ne'giornie d'aprile - Brad Alexander with Saundra DeAthos, Catherine Cook, Harold Gray Meers and Bojan Knezevic

La Boheme by Puccini
Quando me'n vo' by Greta Feeney

Pagliacci by Leoncavallo
Stridono lassu ("Ballatella") by Elizabeth Caballero (soprano)
Nedda! Silvio...A quest'ora? by Karen Slack (soprano) and Brad Alexander

Il Trovatore by Verdi
Mira, d'acerbe lagrime...Vivra! Contende il giubilo - Angela Brown and Haijing Fu (baritone)

Die Fledermaus by Strauss
Champagne Couplets - by all the singers
The free Opera in the Gardens concert was really great yesterday. Now my only dilemma is which opera to see.

1. Rossini's "La Cenerentola" - operatic Cinderella
2. Verdi's "Il Trovatore"
3. Berlioz's "La Damnation de Faust".

I think I shall have to see Faust, if I had to just pick one to see. It's a great story, and I don't think the company has done it before. They always do Cinderella, so I can always see that another year. Il Trovatore is an opera classic, but they'll probably do it again in a few years. I'm still bummed I missed the operatic St. Francis of Assisi, because they won't be doing that opera for awhile. Everyone who saw it said it was terrific.

Definitely have to see Faust.
There's a free blues concert in Golden Gate Park today. The fog finally burned off, even in my neighbourhood and it's sunny. I was going to go to see "The Matrix Reloaded", but it's too nice of a day to be inside for a movie.

Here's the lineup for the blues concert, Bobbie "Spider" Webb and The Smooth Blues Band, J.C. Smith, Fillmore Slim (AKA Clarence Slim), Bird Legg and The Tight Fit Blues Band, Rene Solis & the Persuaders, Shane Dewight, Emit Powell & The Gospel Elites. I've never heard of any of these performers, but it's a free concert and it's fun to sit in the sun and listen to music.