Want to know how things have changed?
I have, somewhere in my condo, two front-row-center tickets to Kiri Te Kanawa's recital in Palm Beach. The event took place last night. I was in Cambridge, Mass.
Yesterday was the first day of Spring semester classes, and I was asked to be here for a course I am co-teaching. What's more, in the afternoon I met with my advisor and spent a wonderful hour discussing my next few years at this glorious university.
I don't regret having missed Kiri's recital. This from someone who used to say that the worst thing to happen in his life was oversleeping in his hotel room and missing Karita Mattila's recital in Paris...
I still attend performances. Recently: an exquisite recital by David Daniels at Jordan Hall; the first preview of Sunday in the Park with George at Studio 54; Deborah Warner's stunning production of Beckett's Happy Days at BAM, starring the extraordinary Fiona Shaw (bonus: spotted Kathleen Turner in the lobby); and the MET Chamber Ensemble's gratifying Webern/Berg/Schoenberg program with James Levine conducting and on piano, joined by Gil Shaham, Yefim Bronfman and the unstoppable Anja Silja, who looked as elegant as ever, and who, in delivering those grotesque lines, never failed to make us shiver to our bones.
