Win & Loose

Win: Stars over Bulldogs in OT, again! Standing Stars 2 Bulldogs 2.

Lost: Sharks to Blackhawks in OT 2-3, Standing Sharks (alas)0 Blackhawks 3

LOST among a huge crowd at Miller Outdoor Theater! Truly, the hill behind the theater overflowed with people sitting in beach chairs, lolling on blankets! Even several homeless persons sprawled among their earthly possessions in rapt attention.
WIN for HGO's Reprisal of TOSCA, the opera by Puccini with
Clayton as Tosca, Vasquez as the evil Baron Scarpia

Cioffari in dual role as Angelotti and Jailer,

ably conducted by Eric Melear, soon to head for Vienna Staatsoper.
and Dolgov back to reprise his outstanding performance as Cavaradossi!

Here is Scarpia (on Scaffold) at mass in the cathedral at the TeDeum,

during which Scarpia sings of his desire for Tosca.

And that gives you the gist: Revolt, prisoner escapes, abnormal jealousy, greed, heated desire, love, art, religion, attempted rape, murder, political killing and, finally suicide, THE END!
All that set to stirring music, sung with passionate abandonment and acted out superbly.
Clayton in for the original Tosca of Racette, sang convincingly with a bright and strong soprano, credible as the alluring opera singer Floria Tosca, consumed by jealousy over imagined betrayal by her lover the Painter Cavaradossi, and so easily led by Scarpia to reveal the hiding place of the escapee Angelotti.

The Scarpia of Baritone Hector Vasquez was convincing in his relentless sexual desire, fed by Tosca's refusal to submit, he sang with sonorous voice and exhibited truly evil demeanor.

HGO Studio artist Bass Adam Cioffari (remember him from his well sung comic portrayal of the servant in XERXES, recently?) used his rich voice and considerable acting talent, with no holds barred, as the escaped prisoner Angelotti. And also in the cameo role of the jail guard in Act 3.

But the night belonged to Tenor Alexey Dolgov, who simply shone!
His voice soared above with a beauty of sound, in the famous arias in act 1 and 3. His acting ability was rather better than one expects from Russian singers. And deservedly he garnered the most applause. A night to remember, for sure.

Having sat through mayhem and more, one left with emotions spent, happily surfeited with the power of music!

A day off...

that used to mean so much, when working on a research project 10 hours or longer days into the night.

Now I am free to do whatever...as long as house gets cleaned; Laundry done and mended; Meals cooked or, as frequently the case, mic'ed ;-). Now I find myself doing oodles volunteering, mostly the less physical kind....after all one has to keep those little grey cells working while 'resting' them old bones ;-) With all those new health 'rules and taxes' .... keeping mind and body sane and healthy is a must!

Time for March Madness, or rather indulgent looking on, while Better Half watches, I have time to catch up my reading, so sadly neglected for several weeks(Book with wings-Dallas Museum of Art)

Mizzou is out of the running, so following the others daily, nightly, really is only fun for Basketball fans.

And some long overdue correspondence to friends in the OLD country, who are NOT on the web in any shape or form, needs to be done. And planning trips. Sometimes I feel the anticipation for and of such trips out weighs the actual experience - sometimes.

There will be a NEW opera by Heggie: Moby Dick

Clip below is NOT from it - as a joke....others composed on the theme Moby Dick!

HGO still has two stunning production in the works, The Queen of Spades

(sung in Russian)

and Xerxes(sung in Italian with countertenor David Daniels-I prefer the sound of the one above LOL)

plus a couple of TOSCAs ( one of the most iconic Toscas.. Callas)in Miller Outdoor Theater.

And not to forget the current production of La Boheme at Opera in the Heights, THE OH!

Below a clip of PARIS with Chares Aznavour singing about the life of Bohemians in Paris...

NOT from the Puccini Opera, but..even non opera lovers will enjoy this, ;-)!!

My ears and eyes are looking forward to all that!