Funnies from the opera pit: opening night of La Boheme, spaghetti flies off the stage & attaches itself to the music of the 1st oboe. Later, a glass of water tips over onstage & proceeds to flow to the edge, dripping for several minutes on the head & left side of the 2nd bassoon. Maybe more adventures to come???
Our shuttle picks us up in a short while, and we’ll be back on the west coast this evening. This trip has been incredible, and I’m so glad we were able to make it happen. I so rarely take vacations, but doing something like this reminds me that I do have an awfully good time!
Below are some photos from yesterday. We went down to the Wall Street area. We saw the World Trade Center site (yes, it hurts to see it). We had lunch with Brandon near his current workplace. We walked. And walked. And went halfway over the Brooklyn Bridge and back.
I’d post more, but we have to head on out now! See ya on the other end of the country!
*dies a billions times* I’M GETTING A NEW OBOE! And it’s WOODEN! ^_^ Squeeee!
I’ve been having this craving to learn to play the oboe. And then I saw how much they cost……….
… especially since one of them is my brother?! (Can you guess which one is Timothy?):
I am looking forward to Dan’s photos; I can promise you they will be much much better! The two above were taken from my iPhone, set on that backwards setting. I notice those are grainier than the normal setting. Ah well.
Thank you, Jennifer, for including me in Così fan tutte: Some Assembly Required!
Larry King: Do you think you could sing like, uh … let’s say, uh … Pagliacci?
Snoop Dog: There ain’t much I can’t do, Lare.
Okay … no words from me (after this intro) … just listen and watch, and maybe ponder a bit or scratch your head! (Thanks, Paul Barrett, for this!)
Just a few from my iPhone to share today … remember you can click on them to see them larger:
It was great fun to meet Sarah Loveland-Gill. We were oboe buddies (and tacet buddies as well … there’s a good amount of down time in Così):
You play the oboe, too? That’s VERY different armature than the flute… isn’t it??
Dan and I went to MOMA yesterday. It was wonderful, although of course we didn’t come close to seeing it all. I did get to my favorite rooms, and enjoyed Starry Night. I took pictures of various contemporary works that included music in some way or another. But taking photos of paintings really doesn’t work all that well. Still, I’ll post a few here. Because.
After that we met up with my brother Timothy, his wife Margaret, as well as Brandon and Lia. What a wonderful dinner at a vegetarian Korean restaurant! But what a shame that Timothy and I had to race out, missing dessert, because we needed to get to the Gershwin Hotel for Così. (This reminds me, I never DID get a picture of the Gershwin hotel, which has a rather interesting entrance. Oh well!)
No pictures right now … I’m too tired to go through them, and I think I should attempt to get to bed before 12:30 this time. Perhaps I’ll get some up later. Time will tell!
Only today left for New York City fun. We head home Friday. This really has been a very fun trip, and I can’t believe it’s about to end. I’ll be happy, though, to get back home.
There’s no place like home ….
Nothing that includes me, but here are a few clips from last night’s event:
This first is something you never hear elsewhere!:
Act I Duet “Al fato dan legge”
Ferrando – tenor Brian Anderson
Guglielmo – baritone James Bobick
and my favorite of all, Act I Trio “Soave sia il vento”
Fiordiligi – soprano Caroline Worra
Dorabella – mezzo-soprano Jennifer Berkebile
Don Alfonso – baritone Dennis Blackwell
Just when i think i’ve got my embouchure sorted on my oboe, i go and do a silly thing… Like start playing my alto sax.. Will i ever learn!!!
Dan was the photographer of the Così evening, and will be again tonight. He has sent me a few “quickies” and have given me permission to post them here for all to see … so here you go!
Michael of MMmusing (@mmmusing on twitter) was the “twhistorian”):
Jennifer (@gaspsiagore / @operamission) conducted, played harpsichord, talked, cleaned the bathrooms … oh … wait … not the last one …:
Singers Jennifer Berkebile (Dorabella) and Caroline Worra (Fiordiligi):
Singers James Bobick (Guglielmo), Brian Anderson (Ferrando) and Dennis Blackwell (Don Alfonso):
Some of the orchestra:
Yours truly (and the back of my brother’s head, along with his bassoon):
We were allowed to drink on the job … that was a first!
Must buy oboe reeds. Seriously. Dead lips…
I’m just home from night #1 of operamission’s event, ‘Così fan tutte: Some Assembly Required’. I really had a great time … no pressure, nice people to play with, and great singers, too! Dan was there taking lots of pictures, so I’m sure we’ll eventually get some up here.
What fun it was, too, to meet some people I’ve been reading for a while, either via Twitter or blogs (or both!).
I realized, after we went through the numbers we would play tonight, that we oboes barely played at all. Geesh. I’m guessing the audience now thinks we are just the laziest people of all!
Another great thing about tonight was that my brother, Timothy Emerson, played first bassoon for the evening. I doubt we’ve played together for … gee … maybe nearly 30 years! So this was great fun, and we do it again tomorrow. HE has a lot more to play. That’s as it should be, don’t you think? I mean … I think my brothers should always have to work harder than I do. Somehow that feels right!
The rest of the day was spent at the Met. Here are a few pictures to share with you. I’ll let them speak for themselves for now:
Here is the “event”, red room and all:
