After the investiture of Lisa Neubauer yesterday, her relatives and friends gathered for a wonderful reception at The Red Onion in the heart of downtown Racine. I ended up spending most of the time catching up with Lisa’s sister Sarah, who is a big opera fan and is working on her masters thesis right now- an exploration of the metaphysics of Wagner’s “Tristan und Isolde.” It was such a blast to talk with her – and it was an especially interesting example of how invigorating it is to talk with someone so incredibly bright and to feel like you have to dig all the way to the bottom of your toes to keep up with them. It was such fun if a bit exhausting- but exhausting in the very best sense of the word.
About halfway through our talk, Kate Potter Barrow called over to me from the other side of the room – “Gregory Berg! We need you over here!” So I excused myself and went over to see what in the world was so important – and doubting very much that it could be nearly as interesting as the Wagner discussion in which I had been engaged. Lo and behold, it was another opera story – – – and an amazing one. Kate was catching up with one of her favorite people, the grandmother of one of her students at Walden. (This woman’s son is a judge in town.) This woman was telling Kate that she was about to fly to New York City to attend the a performance of Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor at the Metropolitan Opera.
Here’s why the story is so neat. It turns out that this woman learned to love opera from her own mother, and together they enjoyed the Saturday broadcasts from the Met for many many years. Her mother’s favorite opera was Lucia di Lammermoor, a glittering showcase for many years for the French coloratura soprano Lily Pons- the fiery Maria Callas – and the stupendous Dame Joan Sutherland. And for decades, it was this woman’s great dream to see this particular opera live on the stage – and if at all possible – on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera itself. Recently, a film was in theaters called “The Bucket List” starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman, in which two elderly guys who are terminally ill decide to act on some longtime dreams while they still can. (I’m not sure why they call it their Bucket List, but there it is.) This woman is essentially acting on her own personal Bucket List and making this trip to NYC and the Metropolitan Opera . . . and she’s in her mid-80s! She will fly there- and a daughter is going to fly out from California (I think) and meet her there- and together they will experience this. Can you imagine anything more exciting? I get shivers when I think of her walking up to the Met – one of the most dazzling buildings in the world – walking through the doors – being ushered to her seat – the lights going down – the conductor coming out – the downbeat given – and the performance beginning. Talk about a dream come true! And when she’s in her mid 80’s! This lady doesn’t know it yet but I fully intend to invite her on to the morning show to talk about her experience; she is absolutely delightful and i think listeners, whether or not they’re opera fans, would be hanging on every word of this fantastic story.
May Natalie Dessay, the Lucia scheduled to sing for this particular performance, be in spectacular form – and may everyone else on that stage do their part to make it a night of sheer magic. After all these years, Mrs. Constantine deserves nothing less!
Pictured above: French soprano Natalie Dessay, perhaps the greatest Lucia in the world right now, singing the role of Lucia on a video. She is an incredibly gifted singing actress – and when she sings Lucia’s famous mad scene, you would swear that it’s not an act- that she has really gone insane. She is second to none as a creature of the stage and quite a singer as well.