October 05, 2007
My heart is back in Napoli
With all of the excitement opening the season of the Pittsburgh Opera, it was difficult for me to imagine that I would spend the second week of production for Madama Butterfly many miles away sailing along the Italian coastline! I felt as if I had just met the new family of Resident Artists and the cast of Butterfly, and with all of that excitement and preparation, I couldn't wrap my mind around the amazing opportunity that lay before me.
The afternoon of the exciting performance for the Rising Stars concert, it finally hit me! I felt like one of those game show guests who had just won a cruise-- yet I was going not only to enjoy the view and see the sights, I was also given the opportunity of a lifetime to perform along the coastline that inspired many of the works I regularly perform.
That opportunity was requited last evening during our performance of light Italian-inspired song and opera. It is rare that one gets to perform for an audience that over the past few days, Deb, Dean and I had gotten to know so personally. To add to the feeling that we were performing for people at this point we had considered friends, we had just begun a cruise of some of the most visually inspiring coastlines in the world!
Deb kicked off the program with the Italian Street song making a visually stunning entrance along the back staircase! It was a truly memorable experience to perform this piece within days after being in Napoli and literally hearing the mandolin players on the streets and in the dining area on one of our lunch excusions.
Shortly into the program, Dean was also able to experience singing "Santa Lucia" having just passed near this body of water! As a coach, I can honestly say it was an inspired performance!
Above all, the performance was special because we were performing in an intimate space where we could see the expressions of the audience-- the laughter, the tears, and looks of bliss from the full audience of colleagues, passengers, and crew!
The evening was overwhelmingly received, and not only were the artists granted an ovation after the concert, when we arrived for dinner, we were greeted with applause from the entire ship! Seated at the table, it hit me what a rare and beautiful adventure we were on: not only were we seeing monuments, works of art, and natural landscapes that have inspired centuries of artistic achievement-- we were able to share how inspired we were by this setting and experience with an entire ship of audience members doing what all of us love to do: perform!
The afternoon of the exciting performance for the Rising Stars concert, it finally hit me! I felt like one of those game show guests who had just won a cruise-- yet I was going not only to enjoy the view and see the sights, I was also given the opportunity of a lifetime to perform along the coastline that inspired many of the works I regularly perform.
That opportunity was requited last evening during our performance of light Italian-inspired song and opera. It is rare that one gets to perform for an audience that over the past few days, Deb, Dean and I had gotten to know so personally. To add to the feeling that we were performing for people at this point we had considered friends, we had just begun a cruise of some of the most visually inspiring coastlines in the world!
Deb kicked off the program with the Italian Street song making a visually stunning entrance along the back staircase! It was a truly memorable experience to perform this piece within days after being in Napoli and literally hearing the mandolin players on the streets and in the dining area on one of our lunch excusions.
Shortly into the program, Dean was also able to experience singing "Santa Lucia" having just passed near this body of water! As a coach, I can honestly say it was an inspired performance!
Above all, the performance was special because we were performing in an intimate space where we could see the expressions of the audience-- the laughter, the tears, and looks of bliss from the full audience of colleagues, passengers, and crew!
The evening was overwhelmingly received, and not only were the artists granted an ovation after the concert, when we arrived for dinner, we were greeted with applause from the entire ship! Seated at the table, it hit me what a rare and beautiful adventure we were on: not only were we seeing monuments, works of art, and natural landscapes that have inspired centuries of artistic achievement-- we were able to share how inspired we were by this setting and experience with an entire ship of audience members doing what all of us love to do: perform!
