Last week I had two different gigs in two very different venues.
In the first one, I played Donizetti’s opera Lucrezia Borgia with the Loft Opera company. Loft Opera (www.loftopera.com) is an organization in Brooklyn that has an unconventional approach to presenting opera. Many of their productions are in warehouse spaces, with the audience circling the stage and the cast right up close. Their production of Lucrezia Borgia was in LightSpace Studios, a place usually used for photo and film shoots. I sat in the orchestra with my back against the benches where the audience sat - close enough to literally rub elbows with them. Everyone seemed interested in the harp, and I had conversations many of the people seated next to me - including a couple from the UK who were in New York visiting their daughter, and a woman who turned out to be the star of Loft Opera’s fall production of The Barber of Seville (along with her composer husband).
I had wanted to play with Loft Opera since I started going to their shows over a year ago, and it felt really great to get my foot in the door. It was just as much fun as I imagined it would be!
(Photo filched from Stephanie Babirak)
On top of all that, it was my birthday last week! What an excellent way to spend it.