A Successful Week

I thought I didn't have anything to do this summer. Boy, was I wrong! I gave 6 concerts last week. On Saturday, June 12, I had the 2nd Basement Concert. It was such a pleasure for me to share 14 of my favorite classic broadway pieces, which included "Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered", "Many a New Day", and "Much More". All of the pieces were from shows that debuted between 1940-1960 and many were by Rogers & Hammerstein, as they ruled Broadway during that time. Keri Hughes won the name that tune game. She named all 14 pieces and the shows they were from and got almost all the composers as well! Wow!

On Sunday, I went to sing in Roswell Square with Michael O'Neal Chamber Singers. I sang "The Sound of Music" as a solo also. It was so hot! But the audience still enjoyed the chamber, folk, and popular music. After the concert, John, Debbie and I went over to John's house with Allen and Catherine to practice for Dinner and a Diva. I sang through Queen of the Night twice and I was soooo tired afterwards. Long day!

Tuesday night was Dinner and a Diva at Petite Auberge. I sang "Der Holle Rache", "Chi il bel sogno", "In quelle trine morbide", "Saper vorreste", and "Caro nome". That was a lot of high notes, but I was well warmed up and it went rather well. I would have liked to have known the words to In quelle trine morbide a little more securely, but my brain was full. And Caro nome was rather funny. I got stuck in a loop on one phrase and after singing it twice, I looked at Catherine like "Help me!" and she skipped ahead, played a chord really strongly, and got me going again. John said it was the extended version of Caro nome. Luckily, the audience appeared to have drunk enough wine not to have noticed. We repeated the same program at Sugo on Thursday night and I sang Caro nome perfectly. I was so vocally tired by this time that my F's were a little closer to E and 1/4, but no one is perfect and that is the foibles of live performance.

On Wednesday morning, I did 2 Dr. Seuss's back-to-back. We don't normally have school shows during the summer, so I was glad this summer camp had hired us. Capitol City needs all the income it can get to prepare for Tartuffe.

Lastly, on Saturday night, the Alba's held a lovely party in their beautiful backyard and I got to sing a duet with Lee Herring. I sang "If I Loved You" and "Where the Boys Are" solo and then Lee and I sang "More than Wonderful" and "Upon this Rock". I closed the night out with a sing-a-long of "Que Sera Sera". In between there was a bagpipe player. Very cool! And a wonderful performance by the Tuesday Diva's. They're so great!

Lee and I will sing those duets again next Saturday at "Sing for Christ" at Chestnut Ridge Christian Church. I will also sing "Upon this Rock" and "We Shall Behold Him". I'm so happy to finally be able to sing these songs that I grew up hearing my mom sing. Very sentimental!

Then, I have to start learning the music for the Capitol City Opera Company's annual fundraiser On the Lightside. This year it is the music of Rogers & Hammerstein, so I already know a lot of it. That will be Saturday, July 24 at Callanwolde. Several tables are already sold out, so people should go ahead and make reservations. www.ccityopera.com

I definitely need to be working on Tartuffe. The role of Dorine is slighty larger than I imagined and will take some hard work to learn. Hopefully, I can perfect it before September 10th when we open at Oglethorpe.

I have my calendar ready for all the Build the Basement Concerts for the rest of the year. I'll add that here as well. Phew! I think that's it!