I finally have time to recount how the opera went. Well, it received a standing ovation! An easy crowd since it was part of a Holodomor conference, but they paid attention (I was in the audience) and it went off splendidly, despite some iffy moments in rehearsal and since they were NOT typical fidgety Americans who are not accustomed to lengthy opera productions. Very few slip ups in the orchestra, and the singers were spot on. Virko missed one line but brought the musicians of the Kiev Camerata back around and he conducted them with a decisive baton. Chorus and principals were spot on. A lovely reception afterwards, lots of typical heavy hors doeuvres but lots of wine, too. A little contrasty after an opera about the forced starvation of millions of peasants! My momentary brush with greatness: while trying to reach my seat, I walked the transverse aisle from stage right to left mid-house. I had to stop b/c a set of photographers were snapping a lot of photos of a row of people sitting on the transverse aisle and so I politely stopped to let them get their piccies. I was not about to photobomb an obvious effort to get photos of dignitaries. I had stopped in front of a man who was part of the group being photoed. In a rather annoyed tone, he said something that in Uky that seemed the equivalent of move it along, Tootsie and he waved me on. I shot a smile at him, hurrying by once the cameras stopped clicking, and realized after I had passed that it was Viktor Yushchenko, former President of Ukraine! The one Putin poisoned. I took several photos of him later on to confirm my identification when I was trying to get back stage. When I had tried to take my seat, it was occupied by one of several Orthodox prelates, so I asked a man who I thought was an usher for help. He pointed to a dreadful seat near where I was standing, which I knew was NOT my seat since I had located it during rehearsal. I then realized he was security and knew nothing of the seating system, so I went in search of an a actual usher or usherette. Found a young gal, who consulted with an older usherette. She then marched me back to the same area, looked around, looked at my ticket and pointed to the very same wrong but available seat. By then, aware that security was everywhere and my seat was not far from Yushchenko, I just took it. I had already been a challenge to his security once. In the end it was good b/c I was able to tell Virko and the singers that the sound was good even in the bad seats on the extreme sides. I took crappy pictures without flash so as not to disturb others and especially the singers and musicians, but also got a lot of candid shots at the reception afterwards. Virko was dually feted and honored, and I was next to him greeting tons of old Ukies. There is going to be an official biography written about him and I met the editor of that volume. Lots of the old gang of composers were there. There will be a video recording of the performance come out as well, and you will know of it when it is ready. This could take a while, since we are dealing with Ukraine here. Thanks for all good prayers and thoughts!
Posted on: Sat, 23 Nov 2013 03:07:25 +0000
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