Castleton is a busy place with non stop activity from 9 am to 10 pm. There were no performances yesterday, just rehearsals for the Beethoven 9, the final rehearsal for the concert version of La Bohème, ongoing production rehearsals for A Little Night Music, and the assorted coachings, classes, singing lessons........
I was at the Bohème rehearsal in the afternoon. The cast for this concert performance which will be such a treat for the people of Manassas, Virginia on Saturday evening included Rebecca Nathanson as Musetta, Cory Crider as Marcello, Jonathan Beyer as Schaunard, and Brandon Cedel as Colline - all busy with other things during these weeks here. They are joined by two "guests" - Jennifer Black (Mimi),) and Jonathan Burton (Rodolfo) - a very strong line up of young American singers. Lorin Maazel, masterly as always in this perfect but notoriously difficult opera, graveyard for many conductors, once again inspired the young orchestra and soloists to reach a level way beyond any reasonable expectations. He may be a hard taskmaster - but he gets the job done!
Joining us now for a few days is Marlena Malas, a dear friend of many years standing, who teaches at Juilliard, Curtis, and the Manhattan School of Music, as well as running the program at Chautauqua. It will be a pleasure to be seeing a lot of her in the coming days. She starts work at 9 am this morning and works through until 6:15. And then, no doubt, she will be at the Carmen performance this evening. She is tireless.......
It is another hot day - naturally! I will have one of my classes at 12:45. They are getting them fitted in.........
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