Opera vs. Fireworks

Concert under the stars tonight (well, it would have been under the stars except for the clouds and the light pollution!). I packed a picnic basket, grabbed a blanket, and enjoyed an evening of Stars of Lyric Opera at Millenium Park. We heard Denyce Graves, Nicole Cabell ( recent BBC Cardiff Singer of the World winner), Nathan Gunn, Matthew Polenzani, among others. Andrea Rost was ill, so she was replaced by Susanna Phillips from the Lyric Opera Center for American Artists. The first half of the program was Italian, the second half French.

It was in the second half, just as Phillips began singing bits of Massenet's Manon, that the competition with the fireworks at Navy Pier began. The fireworks were gorgeous, though a tad noisy, but she fared quite well. Polenzani, however, who followed her, had the misfortune to have the grand finale go off just as he was hitting the high point in "Salut, demeure". So he and the orchestra stopped. When the fireworks did the same, he said, "There's more!", and they started over to a rousing ovation.

The concert was a great success. The Pavilion, between the fixed seats and the lawn, holds upwards of 10,000 people, and it was packed. There were people on the bridges and adjacent lawns as well. What was really nice to see was the number of young people there. Still pretty white, though.

Tomorrow is the 9/11 tribute concert, with, among other things, Copland's Lincoln Portrait, which will be narrated by Sen. Obama.

Opera vs. Fireworks

Concert under the stars tonight (well, it would have been under the stars except for the clouds and the light pollution!). I packed a picnic basket, grabbed a blanket, and enjoyed an evening of Stars of Lyric Opera at Millenium Park. We heard Denyce Graves, Nicole Cabell ( recent BBC Cardiff Singer of the World winner), Nathan Gunn, Matthew Polenzani, among others. Andrea Rost was ill, so she was replaced by Susanna Phillips from the Lyric Opera Center for American Artists. The first half of the program was Italian, the second half French.

It was in the second half, just as Phillips began singing bits of Massenet's Manon, that the competition with the fireworks at Navy Pier began. The fireworks were gorgeous, though a tad noisy, but she fared quite well. Polenzani, however, who followed her, had the misfortune to have the grand finale go off just as he was hitting the high point in "Salut, demeure". So he and the orchestra stopped. When the fireworks did the same, he said, "There's more!", and they started over to a rousing ovation.

The concert was a great success. The Pavilion, between the fixed seats and the lawn, holds upwards of 10,000 people, and it was packed. There were people on the bridges and adjacent lawns as well. What was really nice to see was the number of young people there. Still pretty white, though.

Tomorrow is the 9/11 tribute concert, with, among other things, Copland's Lincoln Portrait, which will be narrated by Sen. Obama.