LIEDERABEND IN BAHÍA
Sunday, November 16, 2008
It’s been only five days, but already the recital is fading into the distant past. But still, when we meet people on the street whom we know, they tell (sometimes again) how much they enjoyed the recital at the Museo de Bahía de Caraquéz last Tuesday evening. This praise (I modestly hesitate to call it adulation!) is of course milk & honey for performers. It comes even before money, of which there was none this time round.
We are already in the artist’s dressing room near the recital hall when Senora Mendoza de Quijeje from the Oficina de Cultura appears - dressed to the nines. She was quite a-tither because the Alcalde (the mayor) was already present in the recital hall, and, as she had predicted, the hall is quite full. People are in fact being turned back. Normally there is seating for 140 but they have added another 10 or 15 chairs along the wall aisles. In addition, about 20 people are standing at the back just inside the doors, and there even a few in the wings. We are very pleased as punch to see so many people attending. And the good news is that they were all still there after the intermission. That’s the real test!
The Alcalde makes a nice little speech, which we could not hear or understand from the wings. Then somebody reads out in Spanish the little blurb I had written about the cruceros (cruisers). Then at the intermission, he reads out our short potted biographies.
As far as both Kathy and I are concerned the concierto went really well musically. I can actually only see the first two rows of the audience; German halls are kept brighter so the performers have more visual contact with the listeners. This is lit more like a cinema. Some members of the audience tell us later that it has been a rather restless group and most hadn’t bothered to turn off their cellphones. Even the Alcalde, seated in the front row as he had promised a week or two ago, accepted one cellphone call. Alfredo, from the Saiananda retreat centre and school, was there and had brought a dozen high-schoolers with him. Apparently they spent most of the concert texting with their cellphones. We didn’t notice and we didn’t really care. We were just glad they were there and we never noticed any disturbances at all.
People clapped enthusiastically after each individual piece and the clapping usually broke out even before each piece was actually finished. Better than stunned silence, of course. We were even given three encores (Otra! Otra1 Otra!). It was nice to have friends like Wacho, Consuelo and his two girls, Gemita and Floriela come backstage to congratulate us, as well as Senora Mendoza, who appeared tickled pink that it had all come off so well.
Certainly it was an unusual programme (mainly German Romantic Lieder) for a place like Bahía de Caraquéz. But there you are! You never know, do you?
Sunday, November 16, 2008
It’s been only five days, but already the recital is fading into the distant past. But still, when we meet people on the street whom we know, they tell (sometimes again) how much they enjoyed the recital at the Museo de Bahía de Caraquéz last Tuesday evening. This praise (I modestly hesitate to call it adulation!) is of course milk & honey for performers. It comes even before money, of which there was none this time round.
We are already in the artist’s dressing room near the recital hall when Senora Mendoza de Quijeje from the Oficina de Cultura appears - dressed to the nines. She was quite a-tither because the Alcalde (the mayor) was already present in the recital hall, and, as she had predicted, the hall is quite full. People are in fact being turned back. Normally there is seating for 140 but they have added another 10 or 15 chairs along the wall aisles. In addition, about 20 people are standing at the back just inside the doors, and there even a few in the wings. We are very pleased as punch to see so many people attending. And the good news is that they were all still there after the intermission. That’s the real test!
The Alcalde makes a nice little speech, which we could not hear or understand from the wings. Then somebody reads out in Spanish the little blurb I had written about the cruceros (cruisers). Then at the intermission, he reads out our short potted biographies.
As far as both Kathy and I are concerned the concierto went really well musically. I can actually only see the first two rows of the audience; German halls are kept brighter so the performers have more visual contact with the listeners. This is lit more like a cinema. Some members of the audience tell us later that it has been a rather restless group and most hadn’t bothered to turn off their cellphones. Even the Alcalde, seated in the front row as he had promised a week or two ago, accepted one cellphone call. Alfredo, from the Saiananda retreat centre and school, was there and had brought a dozen high-schoolers with him. Apparently they spent most of the concert texting with their cellphones. We didn’t notice and we didn’t really care. We were just glad they were there and we never noticed any disturbances at all.
People clapped enthusiastically after each individual piece and the clapping usually broke out even before each piece was actually finished. Better than stunned silence, of course. We were even given three encores (Otra! Otra1 Otra!). It was nice to have friends like Wacho, Consuelo and his two girls, Gemita and Floriela come backstage to congratulate us, as well as Senora Mendoza, who appeared tickled pink that it had all come off so well.
Certainly it was an unusual programme (mainly German Romantic Lieder) for a place like Bahía de Caraquéz. But there you are! You never know, do you?
posted by rjb @ Sunday, November 16, 2008
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