Vienna

Saturday afternoon, I arrived with the entire San Francisco Symphony and the other soloist, Katarina, on a charter flight from Prague. I had a few hours to put things in order, send emails and rest at the hotel, then headed over to the Konzerthaus for a concert with the local chorus, the Vienna Singakademie. It was a bit of a rocky start, as the chorus seemed a little underpowered and the tenors continually flat. We had thirty minutes of break, then rehearsed bits and pieces with the orchestra. My husband and his friend best friend Onofrio brought me dinner - a half lobster and rice!! Yum! We then had another thirty minutes to get ourselves ready for the concert. At the concert, the chorus really stepped up to the bar and pulled out all their stops, and the concert was a huge success. We got a standing ovation from the Viennese public. Not an easy feat, I'm told. MTT seemed pleased. Mahler for the Viennese. Not a bad thing.

I've been to Vienna so many times, usually to see something director Peter Sellars was doing, so Vienna always reminds me of Peter. This time was no different in that respect. He had a show (Desdemona) whose last night was running at the same time as our concert, darn it. Next time... But at least I got to see some of the "Peter Sellars family!" He has worked with mostly the same team for years, and they do really become family after a while if you've ever worked with him.

My friends Kathy Kelly, Onofrio Colucci and Patricia Sellars came to the concert and we had a great time catching up a bit before they started to kick us out of my dressing room... Kathy and Onofrio joined us for a night crawl to Dreschler Café, where we met Jim Ingalls for a bite to eat. I found out my friends had seen Onofrio perform in Cirque du Soleil without knowing it (he was the clown who originated the role that opens O in Las Vegas) and that Kathy and Jim knew (and loved!) each other from working together at the Met years ago. It was fantastic to make all these connections. My favorite thing to do - see my friends from different lives enjoy each other!

Sunday, since we woke up the next morning and the world had NOT ended (some crazies were saying that a bunch of calendars pointed to 1am on Sunday morning being the end of the world...), my husband and I wandered around town with Onofrio and his wife and baby. It was a gorgeous day, and it was lovely just to stroll about and enjoy life as a Viennese person would. Here are some pictures.