i love music...

all kinds. Except for some C & W and some rap/hip-hop, I think music is one of the most important things in our lives. It captures moments in memory; it emotes joy, happiness, sadness and every other emotion in our existence; it records important personal and public events. I wake with a song in my head each day. I hear music in my head all day long. As William Congreve wrote in his play The Mourning Bride. Act i. Sc. 1

Music hath charms to soothe the savage breast,
To soften rocks, or bend a knotted oak.

My favorite form of music is opera. I love going to the opera. I have had a subscription to the Lyric Opera of Chicago forever. When I travel to Paris, it is usually the reason I'm going. I've met many opera stars. June Anderson, Placido Domingo. Renee Fleming. Franz Grundhaber. Mirella Freni. Rockwell Blake. The list would go on. It's the same as anyone who has an interest in rock groups, rap artists, etc. Just on a more sophisticated level to some. What I've learned in meeting them is that they are just people who are doing their job and love it.

I have friends who can't believe that I will go to see an opera over and over because they say it's the same every time. My response. "So is going to a baseball game. It's the same thing every time. Same rules. Same nine innings. Same ball. Same bat."

"Oh, no. It's different every time. Different teams. Different players...."

That's opera too. Different cast. Different singers. Different productions.... They then get it.

Here is the perfect example. A version of Nessun Dorma by the most unlikely of singers - Aretha Franklin - that gives me goosebumps. Especially, at the end with the Vincero.



beautiful...

thanks for the heads up to crooks and liars. I never knew this existed.