May 2007 Archives

In listing various summer activities I’m sure I neglected many. For example, the Special Ops team (aka Orchestra Management) of Robert McGrath (aka Master Cylinder), Andrea Drinkall, Maggie Bailey and Ron Moberly (aka Orchestra Commando) – they were all awarded these titles at Carnegie – has been managing life in the pit at Opera Theatre. The Henchmen, besides repairing a couple doors, have been traipsing back and forth with music stuff (a highly technical term, I know) from Powell to the Loretto-Hilton in Webster Groves, and attending to the challenges of life in the pit (how to fit all those musicians in that little space and provide them with enough room to play those instruments – as much an art as a science in the figuring and reconfiguring). And, of course, the musicians who are toiling in the pit, buoying up the players on the stage.

Painters have started painting the interior of Powell Symphony Hall. The Henchmen were repairing a couple doors this afternoon. Kelly Kaduce sang Anna Karenina with all the tragic beauty the role deserves in Opera Theatre rehearsal. Linda Loeffel, staff member who retires this week after oh so many years, got to have her cake and eat it too at a farewell party. Circus Flora keeps expanding. Gary Smith, trumpet player who retires after opera is over after 41 years with the orchestra, told me he’ll go hiking in the fall, although he isn’t sure where. I listened to Christopher Theofanidis’ Rainbow Body this morning (May 8-11, 2008) and thought about Copland’s glistening harmonies and Whitman’s “I Sing the Body Electric” and something Patti Smith said about Robert Mapplethorpe: how he hurled beauty because he thought it was as good as anything else.

Today Stephen Lord led the orchestra through Bellini’s I puritani. And then, long after rehearsal was over and the musicians had left, I realized, that’s it: no more orchestra rehearsals at Powell. For now, the entertainment shifts to the east windows and Circus Flora.

A pleasant Memorial Day Weekend to all.

This morning the rental truck was outside to haul a few necessities to Anna Karenina rehearsal -- orchestra and singers joined at OperaTheaterLand today -- including a double bass in its tall, no-nonsense case.

Before the final act of La traviata, at the afternoon dress rehearsal Tuesday, conductor George Manahan had some unfortunate news for the musicians in the pit regarding the fate of the heroine, Violetta: “She dies.” The musicians let out a communal sigh of despair. Ailyn Perez, this summer’s wayward woman, dies and lives and sings quite wonderfully, by the way.

An inspiring juxtaposition: a percussionist wearing a Gretchen Wilson T-shirt for Anna Karenina rehearsal.

The fencing has gone up. A couple trailers and a few trucks are parked in the east lot. Some major AC units have arrived.

The KFUO Top 99 concert rehearsal concluded with some upbeat Tchaikovsky this afternoon. The Mikado opens tomorrow night and La traviata rehearsals continue and Anna Karenina and I puritani rehearsals begin soon: all for Opera Theatre. Everyone is still very, very busy, but summer feels so near, even on a day that began in the 40s here in the Lou. Violinist Becky Boyer Hall rehearsed in her Yadier Molina Cardinal jersey. Frances Tietov and I reminisced about the making of her Playbill article on life with the harp and despaired over the cool stuff that got edited out. And just as the musicians were heading for the exits following rehearsal, Diana Haskell had misplaced her E-flat clarinet, which she then retrieved with a mixture of relief and annoyance -- an E-flat clarinet an easy thing to misplace when summer is icumen in.

A bass drum sat on a stand just outside the backstage door this morning, placed there as the Henchmen were making room for the six university and high school graduation ceremonies to be held in the hall this week.

On the way into Mikado dress rehearsal yesterday afternoon, I met horn player Tod Bowermaster, who played as a member of the chamber orchestra in last weekend’s season finale of War Requiem.

Even when one is hauling out the end-of-the-season trash (as I was doing this morning), the sounds of La traviata (as the orchestra was rehearsing this morning for the Opera Theatre production) lightens one’s step.

The morning after the last performance of War Requiem was filled with the warblings of many flutes warming up for auditions. I proposed that the solo from “Aqualung” get thrown in to see how they can handle it, but it’s more Debussy instead.

I was just visiting the auditorium where the Henchmen were putting the final touches on the amazing expanding stage. Britten’s War Requiem demands a lot out of artists and crew. Because of the size of the full performance ensemble, the Henchmen constructed extensions to the stage area before rehearsals began. Then, when it became clear that it was still too cramped on stage – string players need to bow; singers need to breathe – they extended the extensions yesterday.

Is it the Devil that’s in the details or God that’s in the details? I think it was H. Ross Perot who proposed the former; Mies van der Rohe the latter.

I am taking a one-day hiatus. I will be back Thursday.

The gallant bassist Warren Goldberg usually arrives early for a morning rehearsal, as he did today. I held the door as he packed in his cumbersome instrument. Warren has a literary quality about him. He stood before the double-bass storage closet – a deep, tall backstage alcove – and sighed, “Back to the dungeon.” And then laughed at the irony.

I would add that Schumann is indeed tasty, like raw oyster on the tongue.

On the morning of the first Schumann 4 rehearsal, cellist Bob Silverman was in the alley on the south side of the hall smoking a cigarette. “I’m looking forward to some tasty Schumann today,” he told me.

For this morning's Coffee Concert that tasty Schumann can be combined with coffee and Krispy Kreme donuts. For those who need to top it off with a cigarette, they'll get a little wet on this misty, rainy Friday in St. Louis.

This morning I was privileged to observe the ritual polishing of the chimes. OK, not really a ritual since they hadn’t been polished in quite a while. They hadn’t reached the icky-stage of chime grime (a highly technical term, I know), but they’d gotten a bit dull.

A memorial service for Eliot Roosa, son of Greg and Amy Jo, brother of Norty, was held Tuesday afternoon at First Presbyterian Church in Kirkwood. We heard gracious words spoken.

Remember the ice storms of November? They knocked the Brahms Symphony No. 1 program for a loop. For those of you who were unable to attend those concerts due to the miserable conditions, you can still get your Brahms 1 fix with the Saint Louis Symphony Youth Orchestra this Friday night, May 4, at 8pm. They’re an awfully appealing and inspiring group of players and their last concert of the season is always something special, with some musicians playing their last with the YO before going on to other things, musical or otherwise. (A YO mom encouraged me to put in this plug back in winter and see, I haven’t forgotten. Never disregard a YO mom.)