On Sep 30, 11:34 pm, manitou <manitou...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> Life imitates art !!
>
> I had a somewhat parallel, though I guess more felicitous event on
> Wednesday.
>
> My friend Jennifer Dickson, who is an artist and a member of the Order
> of Canada, was invited to a private recital by Ben Heppner (once
> mentioned on a FRASIER opera-related ep) at Rideau Hall, official home
> of the Governor General of Canada (at present, the Right Honourable
> Micha=EBlle Jean).
>
> Jennifer's husband does a jazz radio show every Wednesday evening so
> was unavailable, so she asked me to escort her. [I'd taken her to
> dinner the previous week for her birthday at a tremendous new Italian
> restaurant, Chianti, owned by the former manager of a prior
> establishment and with a second chef due soon from --- where else? ---
> Milano. Only problem was we didn't want dessert, but the owner
> insisted on serving dishes we couldn't eat, then gave us gl***** of
> complimentary grappa which spilled on my Jones New York jacket -----
> doesn't this also sound like a FRASIER ep? The owner, a lovely man
> from southern Italy, also told us all about his stroek and brain
> surgery last July --- he's fine...]
>
> Heppner was appearing Saturday at a huge charity gala at the National
> Arts Centre. The private performance at Rideau Hall was related to
> 2007 being the 40th anniversary of establishment of the Order of
> Canada --- most invitees were members, or senior diplomats or
> something similar.
To continue --- pressed wrong button [typical Mercury retro halo
stuff...], I was told dress was dress up but not formal, so I wore a
dark navy/charcoal suit I've had since late 1992 and usually wear only
for funerals. Also was able to wear a (seeming) Hermes-knock off tie
by Armani which I've had for a while but hadn't yet worn.
Of course most people were dressed very formally, though there were
some almost in jeans and a few men with no ties. It was *very* hot
that day, the bizarre weather system we had from Bermuda for almost a
week. I stayed indoors with air conditioning on to prepare myself.
Heppner's program comprised a group of folk songs arranged by Benjamin
Britten, s group of songs by Tchaikovsky, Sibelius and Grieg, arias by
Wagner, Massenet and Giordano --- which he sang with orchestra at the
Saturday gala --- and finally a group of 'parlour' songs by Sigmund
Romberg and a few others. There was an intermission after the
Tchaikovsky/Sibelius/Grieg group.
The very posh printed program included a separate print out of the
lyrics for all the repertoire, except the final group of 'parlour'
songs.
Most people were following the lyrics and/or translations and --- you
guessed it --- thought the program was over after the opera songs.
Everyone stopped applauding while Heppner and his accomapnist left for
a final break, and assumed the performance was over.
Madame Jean had to get up to the microphone and asked people to
applaud to bring him back!
Overall not a too bumpy ride, except I noted Heppner was constantly
flat, and sometime sharp, in complex phrases, especially those
stepping up or down to long held notes, or when switching between his
clarion high tenor voice and his (sort of) reverse falsetto lower
range.
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