Yesterday I woke up to Claire standing at my bedside around 6 a.m. saying "Happy birthday, mama! You are 42 RIGHT THIS SECOND!"
We went to church, and then came home and had a fun family birthday party with my parents and Bob's parents and Stephen and Christy and the kids and Paula and Faith and Texanna. When we were full of Pei Wei and cheesecake, and couldn't move, we sat around chatting and drinking coffee, with my newly downloaded Cole Porter Songbook from iTunes essentials playing in the background.
Then Claire went off for a fun evening at Aunt Christy's (the kids rollerskated and then had dinner and watched Ratatouille before bedtime), and Bob and I headed to Ruth's Chris Steak House in Pasadena for a delicious dinner (the sweet potato casserole is so sweet that people order it for dessert with ice cream, our waitress told us) and then off to the Pasadena Civic Auditorium for the Hvorostovsky concert.
Bob and I listened carefully, and with the exception of a group of American music students, we did not hear anyone there who was not speaking Russian. It was wonderful.
Don't let anyone tell you there's no more fur in L.A. The women wore rabbit and fox and mink and ermine, and I'm pretty sure I saw some actual sable.
The concert was fantastic! It started with the Moscow Academy of Choral Art. I loved the women's dresses . . . they were a deep burgundy velvet, with square necklines and a band of gold that made an empire waste.
Then Dmitri came out, and he was tall and slim and all in black, with that wonderful white hair on top. I like his voice -- and you need a commanding baritone to carry the weight of Russian orthodoxy and history in each song. A tenor wouldn't work.
When the Moscow Chamber Orchestra came out, Bob and I liked Constantine Orbelian, who made everyone laugh as he shrugged when three of his violinists strolled in a bit late. They were all wonderful -- especially the strings.
Our favorites, however, were the Style of Five Folk Ensemble from St. Petersburg. I loved the domra the most (it made me hope Julie Christie would come strolling by) and the balalaika, and the exuberant accordian player. (Does this ensemble typically have five players? There were only three last night. But they were super.) The medley of Russian folk songs was our favorite.
I think my favorite Hvorostovsky song was "Blagodariu tebia", although he had two ovations that were also great . . . Orbelian turned around and encouraged the audience to join in, which they did. Bob and I, sadly, are not up on our Russian songs, but enjoyed listening to everyone around us.
We were seated in front of some Hvorostovsky groupies ... seven older Russian women who sang along most of the evening. They were definitely enjoying themselves. An usher eventually came and shooshed them before we got too far into the evening.
I was surprised at how many words I understood ... not sentences or even phrases, but words here and there, as if I were eavesdropping on a conversation just out of range. It was exciting, and I am so happy my Uncle Keith recommended it to us.
--Suzie B. (42 right this second)