That was the title of this year’s end-of-the-season for the Friends of AVA, a paid membership of lovers of all things AVA. The Friends of AVA is a wonderful group that supports the resident artists in more ways than just purchasing tickets to the operas. They have been known to like AVA singers so much that they will travel across the globe to hear them sing. They also donate close to $60,000 annually to the scholarship fund, which helps to keep AVA as a tuition free program.
I went out on a limb and thought I’d try something a little different, so the event was held at The Restaurant School in Philadelphia. The premise of the evening was to pair off the music and food. It was a stretch when the first course featured The Pear Fisher’s Duet and In questa reggia from Turandot, paired with an Asian noodle dish, but everyone loved it.
The singers for the evening were Jessica Julin, giving her farewell sing in Philadelphia, mezzo- soprano Cynthia Cook, tenor Taylor Stayton, and baritone Steven LaBrie, under the musical direction of Michele Scanlon.
We packed the place to the rafters with fellow AVA opera lovers, but the best part for me was watching the culinary students and chefs flying out of the kitchen to hear this exquisite music in their restaurant. Many commented how wonderful the performances were, and for many this was their first experience with opera.
We ended the evening with operetta (what else?) and a sing-a-long, actually giving the audience a chance to sing with the residence artists.
We’ve already booked The Restaurant School for next May, so we can do it all again!
#1 Amilia and Pau Batastini, Bert Hubbard, Dr. Rosalie Burns
#2 Barbara Donnelly (green) with Gene and Nancy Stewart
#3 Evie Minor (right) with Dan Pantano and friends
#4 Adrienne McCauley, Barbara and Sylvan Savadove, Dr. Emmeline Abella
I am pleased to say it is interesting that this blog has a great variety of viewpoints to better understand the situation and that is what most caught my attention and has a great variety of comments
Posted by: Antique Autos | October 30, 2009 at 05:14 PM