A present? For me? Really?

This was a busy musical weekend in Portland. I have now lived here for about five years but am sometimes still astounded by the rich variety and high quality of the musical life in this city. It seems like it never stops. We are so lucky.

I attended the PSU Symphony Orchestra's concert at Kaul Auditorium, Reed College, yesterday afternoon. As I sauntered around the lobby I spotted conductor Ken Selden approaching me, his hand stretched out in greeting. "I have a present for you today!" he said, gleefully. "As we had some flexibility in the programming and I knew you would be here, I have included some Elgar for you!" Is this a sweet man, or what? The center-piece of the concert was a performance of Concierto de Aranjuez with Cuban guitarist Manuel Barrueco. I happen to know this work extremely well and am very fond of it, so my over-riding feeling when attending a live performance of it is usually along the lines "Please don't mess up one of my favourite pieces!" Yesterday I had no such concerns. Maestro Barrueco is a consummate artist and his performance thrilled me. Yes, actually thrilled me. I could have wished for larger orchestral forces but the playing was crisp and had all the right feel to it. The frighteningly exposed cor anglais solo in the second movement was played with aplomb. I chatted with Maestro Barrueco during the intermission and was immediately struck by what a warm and charming man he is (that's us in the picture). I hope he comes back to Portland very soon. Oh, the Elgar piece? The Serenade in E minor. Played beautifully.

Bravo, PSU Symphony and two thumbs up and my thanks to Maestro Selden.

Back in October I wrote about the gentleman who owns the grocery store near to my apartment, and how I found out that he is an opera fan and that he is married to a lady named Thaïs, after the Massanet opera of that name. The blog post about them is here. Well, last week, they celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary and it seemed to me that the occasion provided the perfect excuse for me to invite them to Portland Opera as my guests. Yes, I know it may seem that Così fan tutte is not quite the message of congratulations one might wish to give a couple on their Golden Wedding Anniversary, but I thought that, after having been together so long, with all of the ups and downs marriage brings over that time, that they would be able to laugh at an opera that accuses women of being fickle and doesn't exactly show men in the kindest of lights, either. So, on Saturday evening, Wendel and Thaïs Pilger joined me at the Keller Auditorium for the opera's closing night. They had dressed to the nines and turned up bang on time and looking maaahvellous!

Nixon in China. Orth in Portland.

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I had been to the Stars of Così concert where, among others, Robert Orth had performed. What I did not tell you was that on that very day I had purchased a copy of the new, concert version of Nixon in China, starring Bob Orth and Tracy Dahl, both of whom appeared in Portland Opera's production a few seasons ago, and both of whom will be reprising their roles in the upcoming Vancouver Opera production. I asked Bob to sign the insert to the CD package and that is what you can see right here. "To Operaman!" Incidentally, while on the subject of Vancouver Opera's production I should mention that they have just begun an excellent on-line study guide for Nixon in China which will last for a total of four weeks. It is free of course. I have signed up for a couple of reasons: I think I would like to learn more about this opera which, while I enjoyed it when I saw it here, I believe would improve with a more detailed understanding. Also, I just love Vancouver Opera! Their web-site and all of their communications and community stuff (Twitter, etc.) is first class. And who can resist their manga strips? I'll be reviewing the album and the study guide within the next week or two.

Super Bowl XLIV