I'm done. Cultured-out. Ready for a trashy novel or six. Over the last nine days I have attended a Met HD transmission of Lucia di Lammermoor, seen The Turn of The Screw four times, been to Opera Theater Oregon's production of Camille/Traviata twice, attended the Oregon Symphony at the Schnitz and recorded and edited a reading of an entire Henry James novella onto disc.

I am not complaining, mind you. OTO's silent movie of Camille run with live music from La Traviata was as much fun as I have come to expect from this company and, I am happy to say, sold very well. I am told that the Valentine's night performance at the Clinton Street Theater sold 200 tickets and was received with great enthusiasm. I have accepted an invitation to be on the board of that organization and so can no longer purport to be a disinterested admirer of what they do. As regular readers will know I have been a fan of OTO ever since seeing their production of Carmen. I think they do very good, professional and entertaining work and I am delighted to have an opportunity to help their progress if I can. The picture above is of Valentino and Alla Nazimovain a still from this 1921 movie.

The Turn of The Screw was a real treat for me. I am an admitted Britten fan and was happy that Chris Mattaliano chose to do this work on the main stage. It is a creepy book and the opera managed to retain the creepiness and ambiguity of the original novella. The reaction from the audience at the Keller at every performance was very heartening. Those of you who missed it because you were not in town or had some other valid reason, I am sorry you were not there to help celebrate the success of a tremendous performance and a brave choice of opera. Those who didn't go because you thought it wouldn't thrill - shame on you! After the first entrance of Peter Quint which Elizabeth declared to be "Fabulous!" she leaned over to me and whispered "Oooooo....I would so go with him!" while Holly, sitting on my port-side told me during the intermission that in her mind her social-worker voice was saying "Those kids need more interaction with their peer groups, and age-appropriate boundaries! That governess needs to show a lot more leadership in normalizing their daily routine, and I really don't think she's doing the self-care she needs to in this environment." Strange creatures, women.

Every now and again I stumble upon a video clip of an opera singer that is so bad (I am talking Florence Foster-Jenkins bad) that I cannot resist posting it. Sooo...gakked from La Cieca, I bring you -

Please see Operaman's Blog of April 13th, 2009, explaining removal of this item.

I am told she is not a joke - that she is for real. Self-delusion is a terrible thing. To make up for it here is Juan Diego Flóres wowing the Met crowd with some Il Barbiere di Seviglia. Some of you may recognize this from the Met HD transmission.

It's hard to criticize him for standing there at the end just basking in the adulation, what? If it had been me I wouldn't have moved till the stage manager threw a bucket of cold water over me. I am so happy that Portland Opera is doing this opera next season. It really is one of my favourites and a clear example that masterpieces don't need to be tragedies.

Have a great week, gentle readers. La Calisto is going to be with us in no time and that is something I shall write about next week.