As most of you will know by now, I am a big fan of the Meet ‘n Greet that happens at the Opera Center soon after the principals of any particular production get into town. It is not only a chance to schmooze with the stars and get a delicious free breakfast but, just occasionally, to get some genuine insights into a specific opera or production. Each Meet ‘n Greet tends to have its own personality. Sometimes the cast is just all a-swoony about being in Portland, sometimes thrilled to be making great music for a living and sometimes there’s a synergy among the cast that communicates itself and let’s us know this is going to be a fun production to experience.
This crew is the whole package. All bar two of the singers are making their Portland Opera debuts and are already in love with our fair city. They come from cities as far afield as Texas, New York and Minnesota but were unanimous in saying “I know I’ve only been here a short while but I think I want to move here!” They have all done La Bohème on a number of occasions and so bring a wealth of experience to their roles, and all showed a refreshing ability to be articulate about this opera and their part in it. Now, let there be no mistake, opera singers never seem to have any problem in speaking at length but actually articulating a cogent thought? – not invariably, I’m afraid. This cast also looks great – about which, more later.
Why do we love it so?
There have been two grand opera season openings during this week: Portland Opera and the Metropolitan Opera, and I am not in any way exaggerating when I tell you that I believe Portland audiences got much the better deal. Here we were treated to a delightful production of 
Four burning questions remain:
So, goodbye Mary Travers. For many years when we were young you gave a voice - and what a voice - to our passions, our dreams and our politics. Thank you. Before you passed I hadn't listened to PP&M in some years but I have listened to you quite a bit over the last few days and I have to tell you that you came back to me still fresh and powerful. I have picked this particular clip for a number of reasons including the fact that it is a song with which 
Rather more often than you might suppose, I am asked for my advice. Normally it is along the lines of "Operaman! This is the White House. Look, we are really keen to bring about world peace in the next few months; what do you suggest might be our most efficacious approach?" or "Operaman! As you have no doubt read, we here at CERN are experiencing major problems with our Large Hadron Collider. If you could give the particle physics some careful thought perhaps you could then let us know where we should go from here." As world peace doesn't seem to be on the immediate horizon and CERN is still spending billions of euros to ensure they don't find themselves with some iteration of the China Syndrome on their hands, you will gather I cast my pearls of wisdom to no effect. Be that as it may.
Last week I was fortunate to go to two special events here in town, one operatic in nature and the other just, well, very Portland. And now you get to read about both of them.