A Day at the MET(s)–New York City (Again)
After a quiet Christmas holiday, the family turmoil began slowly to settle. I read that mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves-Montgomery was giving her final Metropolitan Opera performance in Porgy and Bess during the last weekend of January. I decided to take the opportunity to get out-of-town and witness the performance. This would be the second time I’ve traveled to New York to see the opera/musical (depending on the approach of the musical presentation one used)–previously for the 2012 Broadway production with Audra McDonald and Norm Lewis. I also saw the 2019 production via The Met in HD, so I was really looking forward to seeing it live. I took Amtrak to New York because it’s so hard to drive and park in the city safely that I feel like the Silver Bullet is much better off parked at the train station. I’m no longer used to getting up early enough to make…
Seein’ the DMV: Concerts and National Aquarium
Two Concerts I don’t normally post about musical concerts I attend because I don’t like to write reviews. However, I’m going to spend a little time touching on three concerts I attended in July, but the bulk of the post will cover my second visit to the National Aquarium in Baltimore. Since my return to the DMV, I have taken as much advantage as I can of the stage events offered here. This summer, this has included concerts from the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra’s Summerfest schedule–an all-George Gershwin program and movie music by John Williams, plus the performance of Carl Orff”s Carmina Burana, performed by the National Symphony Orchestra, soloists, Choral Arts Society of Washington and the Children’s Chorus of Washington. The Gershwin concert started what was a very busy week on Sunday, July 20. The program included his Cuban Overture, excerpts from the opera Porgy and Bess, Rhapsody in Blue,…
Two Major Backtracks–New York and Porgy and Bess Plus Grotto of the Redemption in Iowa (2012)
While looking for the blog post describing my 2012 trip to New York City to see the musical adaptation of Porgy and Bess before it left Broadway, I discovered that I hadn’t actually written a post. Then, I realized that I was also missing a post for the visit my dearly departed Momma and I made to the Shrine of the Grotto of the Redemption in West Bend, Iowa. At this point–nearly thirteen years later–my recollection is incomplete, but I’ll try as best as I can to explain what led to the pictures I captured. Unfortunately, the camera I used for the photos did not record GPS locations, so I found general GPS locations and added that information so that maps could be generated on my Piwigo pages. The Grotto of the Redemption, June 30 My mother, Cora Jones, flew out to Iowa for her second visit in June of…