My Friday Night posted on Monday Night
So it took me four days to type this. Damn carpal tunnel.
Recital - Michael Schade and Russell Braun, Roy Thomson Hall, March 28, 2008
Out of the blue, I was presented with a free ticket to this performance - colleague Romulo approached me in the afternoon and asked if I had any plans for that evening. Other than a rousing date with the grocery story, not much. So he asked me if I’d like to join him and his girlfriend at Roy Thomson Hall for this recital!! I was blown away! I was wanting to go but concert tickets these days are through the roof! So we agreed to meet in the lobby of RT Hall at 7:30. I decided to treat myself to a lovely dinner at Big Daddy’s Crab Shack beforehand. It’s right across the street from the Hall, and you can’t beat their food! So as soon as we closed up shop, I headed out to the streetcar.
Even after 20+ years working in this city, I can never get used to the types I encounter on the street, or on transit. As I went to hop onto the streetcar, I was almost mowed down by an angry woman with a fierce accent and a mighty temper, who STOMPED off the streetcar with not so few angry words for the driver, who apparently couldn’t tell the difference between King St and Queen St. and BAH!! Spit!! Hurl anger and abuse! Lovely. She walked away and crossed into the intersection was almost run down by traffic. Which was, of the course, the fault of all the F*CKING DRIVERS!!! All righty! I take my seat near the front behind two young women who are being happily conversed at - not “with” but “at” by a lovely young Jamaican woman wearing the freakiest blonde wig I’ve ever seen and whose mouth never stopped moving. She was having a very enjoyable conversation with herself, all smiles and laughs and astute observations about the selfish assholes, whoever they were, and the two women in front of me looked like they wanted to crawl under their seats. I just love public transit. Oh, and it was all over the news today about a shooting on the subway last night. A girl got into a yelling match with three men, in front of a whole carload of people, and she actually pulled a knife on them. One of the men pulled out a gun and shot her twice, in the leg and in the groin. You can just imagine the pandemonium on THAT train.
Anyhoo, on to dinner. I had a small house salad with raspberry vinaigrette dressing and their deliciously decadent seafood fettucini ~yyyyum~ and very unnecessarily decided to blow my diet off altogether and have a chocolate mudslide for dessert. Because the restaurant was crowded, I ended up having to eat in the bar, which was fine. I shared a table with a lady who was also sitting alone, so I struck up a conversation with her. She was going to join her hubby at a play that evening - Shakespeare’s “As You Like It”. I mentioned the recital I was going to, and she expressed interest. We ended up having a lovely conversation about opera in general, and about the Met at the Movies series. So nice finding all these opera-files around!
So, after the nice leisurely dinner, I hopped across the street to the Hall. I was still early and plopped myself on a rail to wait for Romulo. Turns out he and his girlfriend were very early as well, so we got our tickets and headed into the theatre lobby to get refreshments and wait for the recital to start. We walked all around the theatre. It’s quiet lovely, really. Very small and intimate. Totally round. This is the third time I’ve been in this theatre. Peter, Paul and Mary concert one year, the next it was Eric Idle’s “Not the Messiah”; last year, I believe. The sound is excellent in this theatre. It’s a “twin” with Massey Hall. Where I’ll be seeing Gordon Lightfoot in a few weeks, whoo-hoo!!
So at 8:00 pm, our “host” for the evening came on-stage. He introduced himself as Bill Richardson, and the crowd said “Oh!” and gave him a nice round of applause. He’s one of the classical hosts on CBC Radio; we all knew his name, now we know what he looks like! *g* He reminded us that this recital was being recorded for later broadcast on CBC radio on Sunday April 20. I have to check out the time for that. I’d like to hear it again. He reminded us that, though Schade and Braun have performed together in cities all over the world, they’re true Toronto boys and are thrilled to be performing in their home town. They were accompanied by a terrific pianist, Carolyn Maule, who just happens to be Russell Braun’s wife!
I had a pretty good seat in the mezzanine, about six rows from the front. The three aisle seats beside me were unoccupied, strangely, but it made for easy running-out-to-get-to-the-bathroom-before-the-hordes at intermission. The seat on my left was also unoccupied, but that was soon changed when the folks in the row asked me if they could move over one, because the lady’s view was sort of blocked by a “large person” in front of her. The lady turned out to be Braun’s cousin, as I was proudly informed by her husband, who sat next to me. The “large person” turned out to be a baritone whose name totally escapes me, but whom I’ve seen perform Verdi’s Macbeth a few years ago, and at one point, Michael Schade did say that this person was in the audience - he said the name, and I couldn’t make it out, but I realized it sounded familiar, and lo and behold, there he was, right in front of me!. I did manage to exchange a few words with him, but I never did get his name. He told me he’s now singing in Pelléas but I managed not to comment that unfortunately, I’d never be able to see it because ICAN’T AFFORD THE SUBSCRIPTION PACKAGES!!!! My reserve was admirable. *g*
(Note: I just looked it up on the COC’s web-site: His name is Pavlo Hunka!! Now THERE’S a mouthful!! And he’s singing with Russell Braun! http://www.bulavachorus.co.uk/main_pavlohunka.htm)
I have to be honest - the first hour of this recital had me totally depressed and turned off. German, Ukrainian and Russian folk songs about love lost. Sorry, no. Totally turned me right off. There were one or two pieces I enjoyed, but for the most part, it just left me bored. I almost decided to leave at intermission. But it was still early, only 9:00 pm, so I decided to give it another chance. Glad I did, too, because the second hour was much more lively, with some fun bits that allowed them to clown around a little bit. They have good chemistry together, and it shows in their singing. The host told us that they’d been good friends for about 20 years, and of course have sung together many times all over the world.
The recital ended around 10:00, and then we had three fantastic encores; the second one being the ubiquitous Pearl Fishers duet, which is a bit stale as far as I’m concerned, but it made the gentleman beside me very happy (THIS MADE MY NIGHT!!), and I have to say they did it very well (till the end when Schade experienced a bit of phlegm, but oh well) and the audience was on its feet in approval, and the last encore being a lovely little a capella German lullabye, which ended on a humming note, so very sweet, and put a perfect ending on the evening.
Well, then came time to go home. I made my way down to the PATH level, so I could continue to Union Station via the underground path. Which, by the way? Is extremely spooky when it’s 10:15 on a Friday night and not a single, solitary person is within sight. This is a path I’m used to sharing with hundreds of fellow pedestrians during a busy lunch hour, or at evening rush-hour. I really, really don’t like walking here when there’s no one else about. Got my 10:43 train just fine and arrived at the home station by 11:20, but still had to pick up my car at the mechanic’s shop which is right beside the GO train parking lot. You know, a commuter train parking lot is freaking spooky at 11:20 pm. Even spookier, when you have to walk around a 10’ high snowbank and wend your way into the mechanic’s parking lot, with not a single, solitary human being in sight. Thankfully, my car was waiting for me and I drove home without being mugged.
I was sated, both food-wise and music-wise. *g*
Thuh End.
Recital - Michael Schade and Russell Braun, Roy Thomson Hall, March 28, 2008
Out of the blue, I was presented with a free ticket to this performance - colleague Romulo approached me in the afternoon and asked if I had any plans for that evening. Other than a rousing date with the grocery story, not much. So he asked me if I’d like to join him and his girlfriend at Roy Thomson Hall for this recital!! I was blown away! I was wanting to go but concert tickets these days are through the roof! So we agreed to meet in the lobby of RT Hall at 7:30. I decided to treat myself to a lovely dinner at Big Daddy’s Crab Shack beforehand. It’s right across the street from the Hall, and you can’t beat their food! So as soon as we closed up shop, I headed out to the streetcar.
Even after 20+ years working in this city, I can never get used to the types I encounter on the street, or on transit. As I went to hop onto the streetcar, I was almost mowed down by an angry woman with a fierce accent and a mighty temper, who STOMPED off the streetcar with not so few angry words for the driver, who apparently couldn’t tell the difference between King St and Queen St. and BAH!! Spit!! Hurl anger and abuse! Lovely. She walked away and crossed into the intersection was almost run down by traffic. Which was, of the course, the fault of all the F*CKING DRIVERS!!! All righty! I take my seat near the front behind two young women who are being happily conversed at - not “with” but “at” by a lovely young Jamaican woman wearing the freakiest blonde wig I’ve ever seen and whose mouth never stopped moving. She was having a very enjoyable conversation with herself, all smiles and laughs and astute observations about the selfish assholes, whoever they were, and the two women in front of me looked like they wanted to crawl under their seats. I just love public transit. Oh, and it was all over the news today about a shooting on the subway last night. A girl got into a yelling match with three men, in front of a whole carload of people, and she actually pulled a knife on them. One of the men pulled out a gun and shot her twice, in the leg and in the groin. You can just imagine the pandemonium on THAT train.
Anyhoo, on to dinner. I had a small house salad with raspberry vinaigrette dressing and their deliciously decadent seafood fettucini ~yyyyum~ and very unnecessarily decided to blow my diet off altogether and have a chocolate mudslide for dessert. Because the restaurant was crowded, I ended up having to eat in the bar, which was fine. I shared a table with a lady who was also sitting alone, so I struck up a conversation with her. She was going to join her hubby at a play that evening - Shakespeare’s “As You Like It”. I mentioned the recital I was going to, and she expressed interest. We ended up having a lovely conversation about opera in general, and about the Met at the Movies series. So nice finding all these opera-files around!
So, after the nice leisurely dinner, I hopped across the street to the Hall. I was still early and plopped myself on a rail to wait for Romulo. Turns out he and his girlfriend were very early as well, so we got our tickets and headed into the theatre lobby to get refreshments and wait for the recital to start. We walked all around the theatre. It’s quiet lovely, really. Very small and intimate. Totally round. This is the third time I’ve been in this theatre. Peter, Paul and Mary concert one year, the next it was Eric Idle’s “Not the Messiah”; last year, I believe. The sound is excellent in this theatre. It’s a “twin” with Massey Hall. Where I’ll be seeing Gordon Lightfoot in a few weeks, whoo-hoo!!
So at 8:00 pm, our “host” for the evening came on-stage. He introduced himself as Bill Richardson, and the crowd said “Oh!” and gave him a nice round of applause. He’s one of the classical hosts on CBC Radio; we all knew his name, now we know what he looks like! *g* He reminded us that this recital was being recorded for later broadcast on CBC radio on Sunday April 20. I have to check out the time for that. I’d like to hear it again. He reminded us that, though Schade and Braun have performed together in cities all over the world, they’re true Toronto boys and are thrilled to be performing in their home town. They were accompanied by a terrific pianist, Carolyn Maule, who just happens to be Russell Braun’s wife!
I had a pretty good seat in the mezzanine, about six rows from the front. The three aisle seats beside me were unoccupied, strangely, but it made for easy running-out-to-get-to-the-bathroom-before-the-hordes at intermission. The seat on my left was also unoccupied, but that was soon changed when the folks in the row asked me if they could move over one, because the lady’s view was sort of blocked by a “large person” in front of her. The lady turned out to be Braun’s cousin, as I was proudly informed by her husband, who sat next to me. The “large person” turned out to be a baritone whose name totally escapes me, but whom I’ve seen perform Verdi’s Macbeth a few years ago, and at one point, Michael Schade did say that this person was in the audience - he said the name, and I couldn’t make it out, but I realized it sounded familiar, and lo and behold, there he was, right in front of me!. I did manage to exchange a few words with him, but I never did get his name. He told me he’s now singing in Pelléas but I managed not to comment that unfortunately, I’d never be able to see it because ICAN’T AFFORD THE SUBSCRIPTION PACKAGES!!!! My reserve was admirable. *g*
(Note: I just looked it up on the COC’s web-site: His name is Pavlo Hunka!! Now THERE’S a mouthful!! And he’s singing with Russell Braun! http://www.bulavachorus.co.uk/main_pavlohunka.htm)
I have to be honest - the first hour of this recital had me totally depressed and turned off. German, Ukrainian and Russian folk songs about love lost. Sorry, no. Totally turned me right off. There were one or two pieces I enjoyed, but for the most part, it just left me bored. I almost decided to leave at intermission. But it was still early, only 9:00 pm, so I decided to give it another chance. Glad I did, too, because the second hour was much more lively, with some fun bits that allowed them to clown around a little bit. They have good chemistry together, and it shows in their singing. The host told us that they’d been good friends for about 20 years, and of course have sung together many times all over the world.
The recital ended around 10:00, and then we had three fantastic encores; the second one being the ubiquitous Pearl Fishers duet, which is a bit stale as far as I’m concerned, but it made the gentleman beside me very happy (THIS MADE MY NIGHT!!), and I have to say they did it very well (till the end when Schade experienced a bit of phlegm, but oh well) and the audience was on its feet in approval, and the last encore being a lovely little a capella German lullabye, which ended on a humming note, so very sweet, and put a perfect ending on the evening.
Well, then came time to go home. I made my way down to the PATH level, so I could continue to Union Station via the underground path. Which, by the way? Is extremely spooky when it’s 10:15 on a Friday night and not a single, solitary person is within sight. This is a path I’m used to sharing with hundreds of fellow pedestrians during a busy lunch hour, or at evening rush-hour. I really, really don’t like walking here when there’s no one else about. Got my 10:43 train just fine and arrived at the home station by 11:20, but still had to pick up my car at the mechanic’s shop which is right beside the GO train parking lot. You know, a commuter train parking lot is freaking spooky at 11:20 pm. Even spookier, when you have to walk around a 10’ high snowbank and wend your way into the mechanic’s parking lot, with not a single, solitary human being in sight. Thankfully, my car was waiting for me and I drove home without being mugged.
I was sated, both food-wise and music-wise. *g*
Thuh End.