Wednesday, September 27, 2006

Fans

Tonight’s strangest moment was not seeing my friend onstage at the Met, or running into several colleagues of varying levels, or walking around backstage knowing that in a few months I’ll know that maze inside and out.

The strangest moment came at the very end of the night. I said goodnight to RL (who sang wonderfully, totally exposed and very poised), who was off to the opening night party, and left via the Artists’ Entrance in the basement. I had a smile on my face, as I often do these days, and I’ve found that people often smile back; this was no exception. I passed a few folks and we exchanged smiles, but then I walked past three people and one of them said, “Are you Ms. So-and-so?”

“No,” I replied, “I’m not. Sorry.” Smiled, and continued walking.

Then he said, “No, wait: you’re Ms. Bird.”

And I stopped in my tracks!

“Yes, you’re Ms. Bird. I saw your picture in here. You’ll be making your debut in Trittico, right?”

Holy cow!! Recognized from a headshot in a season program on a night when I’m not even singing and when my new haircut is tousled and unkempt, far from the sleek look in my headshot. That’s a good memory, and obviously someone for whom opera is a passion. Maybe he reads The Concert! (If so, hello, and thanks for a great, if slightly unexpected, encounter!)

One of his friends had a camera and asked to take my picture. “We’ll have it with us opening night of Trittico, so you can sign it.” Wow. I can’t imagine how dazed I must look in that photo!!

More on Gioconda tomorrow (how often am I going to say that?), but now to bed. Walking home, recounting the story to CT the DT on the phone, I felt a bit like I had a post-performance high to come down from. Maybe the day will come when being recognized becomes tedious and annoying, but for now, I love it!

OT to boston_soprano: I’ll get right on that post about pitch charts! Ms. Shelton first introduced them to me on a 12-tone piece, so I know they work!

Good night, all.

2 comments:

Melissa said...

ooh! New haircut! Email me a pic, please... :)

Anonymous said...

Well aren't you fancy!! Congrats on the recognition.

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...