Cleveland Orchestra Bach Lutheran Mass

Forgot the picture of our concert!!!

Cleveland 2010

So happy my Mom was able to come to the Bach in Cleveland while Dad
was at his umpteenth High School Reunion in Indiana. The concert went
well - it's such a beautiful piece (Lutheran Mass) but as we were
discussing with our conductor Frans Welser-Möst at our first
rehearsal, nobody ever does this piece! Such a shame. There's more
to Bach than the B minor mass, a couple of cantatas and some organ
pieces! On the second half was Rite of Spring and Afternoon with
Debussy's faun... :-) I can't wait to hear it tomorrow night, as
instead we were naughty and went to dinner!

We went out to dinner at Iron Chef Whatever his name is's restaurant
Lola with the other soloists, Kelly O'Connor and Andrew Foster-
Williams. FUN! and YUM! Fantastic dessert of brioche French toast
with syrup and BACON ICE CREAM! Who'd a thunk it but an American?

I'm in the throes of trying to source faucets and other sundry items
for our apartment in Turin, so Mom and I are on the hunt today! Wish
us luck! Here's the dress Mom got for me last year that I've only
started wearing this year - it's gorgeous! And she brought me a new
RED dress that I'll wear for the Giulietta Act of Les Contes
D'Hoffmann in Moscow. I can't wait! Thanks, MOM!

MOSCOW!

I leave tomorrow at the crack of dawn, but thought I should update
something on this blog, as I've been so busy I haven't had time to do
anything.

I have basically only taken pictures indoors or through the car window
this trip. One interesting one here was this one of a beautiful
bulding, now housing Pepsi and MacDonald's. How strange. Another one
I wanted to put up which didn't turn out well was the Plaza in front
of the Tchaikovsky Hall - it has been cordoned off as if they're doing
some big works there. In fact, they are fake works, I've been told,
because this was where protesters come every 31st of the month to
protest the blocking of the opposition in the capitol. Their
constitutional right to assembly is being abused, because any group
from the opposition is denied a permit to gather in Moscow. So every
31st, they show up here to proclaim their constitutional right to
gather and protest. And most of the time, they're arrested for doing
it, because they don't have a permit. It's Kafka-esque, but more
power to the people who are insisting upon their rights!