a great night of opera

Hello once again from Santa Fe! I'm happy to report that Brenda's show on Saturday went smoothly and the audience loved it, which didn't come as a surprise to me because this is one of the most enjoyable productions I've seen in a long time. As I mentioned last week, the show is made up of two operas: Mozart's The Impresario and Stravinsky's Le Rossignol. The first opera is hilarious - in large part because Brenda gets to fully release her inner diva - while the second is more serious and contains some incredible set transformations and stunning music. And to top it off, the performance only lasts two hours and fifteen minutes including the intermission. It doesn't get much shorter than that in opera. As far as I'm aware, these two operas have never been put together in one performance before, but after the successful performance on Saturday I wouldn't be surprised if this production starts making the rounds to opera houses around the country.

An odd couple that makes for a great evening of opera.

 It was a nice night to be in an open-air theater.

 The cast, conductor, and production team at the after party. Note the dueling divas (Brenda and her friend Erin) front and center.

While Brenda was neck deep in opera last week, I found time (surprise surprise) to go hiking. It was a beautiful day and I enjoyed exploring a trail I'd never hiked before.

 The trailhead is near a local college and you have to hike for 30-45 minutes before you've completely left the city behind.

 These rocks at the peak make for a good lunch spot.

 Go land trusts!

Don't let my pictures fool you; the weather hasn't been perfect everyday. We had a brief hail storm last Thursday (hence the little white balls in this picture).

Now that Brenda's opera is up and running, it's time for guests to come and see it! Our first guests are my parents who arrive this afternoon. It's hard for me to believe that I haven't seen them in person since December. We can't wait for them to get here. We're also excited that Brenda's Aunt Marilyn and Uncle Ron are coming into town today. Brenda will certainly have a lot of supporters in the audience for her performance tomorrow. Speaking of guests, I should probably clean the place up a bit before they arrive. I hope you have a wonderful week, and I'll talk to you next Tuesday!