A Radiant Metamorphosis for Madame Butterfly

 Review of Opera Philadelphia's inclusive  Madame Butterfly, April 28, 2024, published in Broad Street Review:

https://www.broadstreetreview.com/reviews/opera-philadelphia-presents-puccinis-madame-butterfly

Photo by Sofia Negron

Marian Anderson Hall: A Well-Deserved Tribute, Long Overdue

Philadelphia-born singer Marian Anderson is being honored as she deserved with the rededication of  Verizon Hall in her name in June 2024. The announcement was made in the hall's home in the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts in Philadelphia on February 28, 2024, during a ceremony attended and featuring remarks by leading officials and performing artists, including Lt. Gov. Austin Davis, Mayor Cherelle Parker, and soprano Denyce Graves. The Kimmel Center is the home of the Philadelphia Orchestra, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, music director.

Below is further information from the Center's press release on the rededication and its implications for the City of Philadelphia, the sixth largest city by population in the United States. "Art and culture are part of what makes a city great," said Mayor Parker, the first African-American woman to serve in her leadership role. In an emotional speech, Nézet-Séguin praised the musicians of the Philadelphia Orchestra for their dedication to justice and inclusivity as well as to music. "No orchestra has a bigger heart," he said.

By Hans Kylberg from Stockholm 

Bagarmossen, Sweden - 

Marian Anderson 1933, CC BY 2.0, 

https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=102466538

Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Music and Artistic Director, joins President and CEO Matías Tarnopolsky (left) during the rededication announcement honoring the great contralto, Marian Anderson. That’s one of Marian Anderson’s gowns on the right. Copyright and photo by Margo Reed.

From the Press Release: Philadelphia Orchestra President and CEO Matías Tarnopolsk y and Music and Artistic Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin announced today that Verizon Hall at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts will be rededicated as Marian Anderson Hall in honor of the legendary contralto, civil rights icon, and Philadelphian. Announced the day after what would have been Anderson’s 127th birthday, the news marks the first major concert venue in the world to honor the late performer and trailblazer. 

Located in the heart of her hometown of Philadelphia, Marian Anderson Hall at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts will be a permanent monument to its namesake’s artistry and achievements, a reflection of the inclusive future she helped to engender, and an active testament to the intersection of music, art, and positive social impact. 

The Hall—home of The Philadelphia Orchestra—will officially be rededicated on June 8, 2024, and celebrated during the Great Stages Gala and concert that evening, featuring Nézet-Séguin and The Philadelphia Orchestra with actress and singer Audra McDonald, soprano Angel Blue, jazz pianist Marcus Roberts, and more to be announced at a later date. 

Yannick & Philadelphia Orchestra take bold but effective risks with Bruckner's Ninth

Reprinted from ConcertoNet.com - Review by Linda Holt of Bruckner's Ninth with Te Deum as the final movement:

 Philadelphia

Verizon Hall
05/05/2023 -  & May 6, 2023
Anton Bruckner: Christus factus est – Symphony No. 9 in D minor – Te Deum (Nowak Edition)
Elza van den Heever (soprano), Michelle DeYoung (mezzo-soprano), Sean Panikkar (tenor), Ryan Speedo Green (bass-baritone)
Philadelphia Symphonic Choir, Joe Miller (director), Philadelphia Orchestra, Yannick Nézet‑Séguin (conductor)

J. Miller, Y. Nézet‑Séguin (© Diana Antal)


Anton Bruckner struggled to complete his Ninth Symphony as he lay dying in bed in Vienna, Austria, in 1896. Sadly, when his life ended, he had completed only three complete movements of what was clearly intended to be a four‑movement composition. Over the succeeding decades, Bruckner scholars have tracked down and, in some cases, have almost come close to assembling enough notes and sketches to create a new edition. But fearing he would leave behind three orphaned movements without a strong finale, Bruckner supposedly offered a suggestion: just add his Te Deum as a fourth-movement substitute (some scholars insist it was the conductor Hans Richter who made this suggestion, which the ailing composer accepted without argument). No matter that the Te Deum was composed in 1884 and stylistically different from—some might even say at odds with—the three‑movement Ninth. It was one way, possibly the only way, to save the symphony from oblivion.


While scholars continue to debate whether or not the Te Deum is appropriate, the Philadelphia Orchestra under the direction of Yannick Nézet‑Séguin took the plunge recently and went one step further. In two performances, Nézet‑Séguin not only substituted the Te Deum for the incomplete fourth movement, but also introduced the massive symphony with a sweet rendition of Bruckner’s motet, Christus factus est, sung a cappella under the direction of Joe Miller. Once I recovered from the shock of hearing the motet seamlessly transition into the instrumental first movement, all was well. Both motet and finale offer glorious music sung and played by some 200 artists, revealed in its original splendor if not the exact order Bruckner would have conceived. What followed was a stirring performance and a major step forward for the orchestra’s indefatigable director.


Nézet‑Séguin has matured tremendously in the 11 years he has been music director in Philadelphia. His earlier performances of classics were crowd‑pleasers, but a little thin compared with those by some of his illustrious predecessors. Despite the enormous increase in responsibilities in recent years, as he leads the orchestras of both Philadelphia and the Metropolitan Opera, his interpretative range has deepened. He senses and reveals the intention of the musicians, the composer, and his own understanding of a work and manages to sweep these impressions into a whole that connects the hearts and minds of listeners with great art.


Joining the orchestra and the Philadelphia Symphonic Choir were four excellent soloists in the two choral portions of the performance: Elza van den Heever, soprano, able to outsoar the mighty orchestral and choral forces around her, and Michelle DeYoung, mezzo-soprano, tender in the opening motet, commanding in the thundering Te Deum; Ryan Speedo Green, expressive bass-baritone, fresh from his critical triumph in Champion at the Met with Nézet‑Séguin; and Sean Panikkar, a light tenor of exceptional sensitivity.


To those who insist that a composer’s work is inviolable, I say this: Keep the original score as your lodestar. But don’t be afraid to take the occasional risk. Bruckner’s Ninth with enhancements can be an opportunity to explore undiscovered terrain, to hear other points of view, and learn to understand why the original work retains the status it has achieved.



Linda Holt

New opera, Champion: Too long but often lovely, says another champ boxer's child

Champion, Terence Blanchard’s new work at the Metropolitan Opera, has been getting a lot of press lately. It’s the first opera about a boxer, with bass-baritone Ryan Speedo Green in the lead as the ill-fated welterweight champion, Emile Griffith. But the themes are less about pugilism and more about universal human experiences of guilt, forgiveness, and compassion. Three dimensions of Griffith are revealed as this grand tragedy unfolds. Green’s Griffith is a young man disoriented in a new country, discovering his gay sexuality. Seasoned Met bass-baritone Eric Owens portrays Griffith in later years, riddled with dementia. Boy soprano Ethan Joseph offers a third dimension, a sensitive child abandoned by his mother to the care of Cousin Blanche, a sadistic religious fanatic (sung with tremendous depth and horrifying fury by Krysty Swann).

                                    Ryan Speedo Green as Emile Griffith (courtesy Met Opera)

At its best, the two-act opera in jazz crackles with vitality in simulated boxing choreography, providing an uneasy closure as the three faces of the lead character find cohesion and integration. At its worst, at three hours in length, it is too long, with an intro that drags on forever, and a conclusion begging to be condensed. The music performed by orchestra and jazz quartet, beautifully conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin, blends with the voices on stage, providing originality and richness (I hope Blanchard plans to create a concert suite from this varied and colorful score).

The pivot that Michael Christofer’s libretto swirls around is a championship fight in 1962 when Griffith loses control and batters his opponent, Paret, far beyond the limits of sportsmanship (in response to Paret’s use of slurs regarding Griffith’s sexuality). Paret dies 10 days later, but it turns out that he had received a damaging blow in the weeks prior to the contest. While Griffith may be not have been directly responsible for Paret’s death, he can find no peace, loses fight after fight, and retreats into a world of self-loathing.

The principal singers in this production are simply amazing. Green, so handsome in his role as the young Griffith, is everything a lead singer should be. His voice is consistently powerful and eloquent, his acting skills finely tuned, and such a well-paced boxing pas de deux with baritone Eric Greene as Paret. As I experienced the opera, large screen in my local movie theater, I marveled at the breathtaking voices, acting and dancing expertise of these three baritones (Green, Owens, Greene) singing in close proximity, not an opportunity that comes very often. As the elder Griffith, Owens displays some of the finest acting skills in opera today, matched to a voice that is one of the Met’s great treasures. “I kill a man and the world forgives me. I love a man and the world would kill me,” he says with ineluctable emotion.

The female roles are equally impressive. Soprano Latonia Moore is spectacular as Griffith’s flamboyant mother Emelda. The way she modulates her voice around a sentence or phrase, flashing devious glances and demanding immediate obeisance: delicious! Mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe is oddly menacing as Kathy Hagen, the proprietress of a gay bar, with an array of lusty characters squirming and twerking around her. Camille A. Brown’s choreography is a visual feast of carefully knitted movements that seem to spring effortlessly from the storyline.

I felt a deep connection to this opera as the daughter of a featherweight champion boxer who fought in New Jersey and in Panama in the 1940s. Boxing has been and can still be a brutal sport, and a corrupt one. But it has provided a gateway through which many young men (and perhaps some young women), when outfitted in protective gear, can escape from poverty and anxiety into a world where skill matters and aspirations are more than idle dreams. I thought I’d dedicate this review to you, Dad, and for the memory of growing up with boxing gloves, jump ropes, and rosin in a pink-and-Barbie world.  

Linda Holt

                                                           Jacob "Jackie" Brown (center) 

                                                           fighterbrown.wordpress.com

   

 

 

 

 

 

Margaret Bonds, Sacred Music from the Heart

 Here is a link to my review appearing today in ConcertoNet, the international classical network. 

https://www.concertonet.com/scripts/cd.php?ID_cd=4974

Two new Beethoven novels focus on composer's early years

Invictus by L.L. Holt (Harvard Square Editions, 2019) was named a Finalist in the international Next Generation Indie Book Awards for 2021. Also known as the Indie Book Awards, the literary awards program recognizes and honors authors and publishers of exceptional independently published books in 70 different categories.

Holt's novel builds on the long-persisting legend that the composer Ludwig van Beethoven may have been, or been treated and discriminated against as, a person of color during his lifetime (1770-1827) 

The book is the sequel to The Black Spaniard by L.L. Holt (Unsolicited Press, 2016), a novel in which Beethoven breaks away, faces adversity, and takes Fate by the throat.

Award recognition is nothing new to this author. She has been mesmerized by Beethoven's music and life story since her childhood. Earlier, The Black Spaniard was short-listed for the GOETHE Book Awards for Historic post-1750s Fiction, a division of the Chanticleer International Book Awards. Invictus was also a Finalist for the Landmark Prize for Fiction when it was still in manuscript form (under the title, Intensia).

Holt's award is in an exciting new category designated for books that deal with issues experienced by Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC). She is currently contemplating writing a third and final novel about Beethoven as well as a fictional reimagining of the swashbuckling life story of the Chevalier de Saint-Georges, a prominent composer and swordsman during the French Revolution.

Invictus                           Beethoven age: 0-16    Order here:        tinyurl.com/bdch9drp  

The Black Spaniard       Beethoven age: 21-33   Order here:        https://tinyurl.com/5n79nact

 

Kairy Koshoeva's Piano Wizardry

  Musician profile featured the Broad Street Review (Philadelphia) March 16, 2023, edition:

http://bit.ly/42hWhSX

Photo by E.G. Schempf

Bronfman Shines in Firsova U.S. Premiere

 http://bit.ly/3Y5vqWP

Review in Broad Street Review (Philadelphia, PA) March 2023.

                                                                Yefim Bronfman, pianist

I Hate to Write Negative Reviews. However...

https://concertonet.com/scripts/cd.php?ID_cd=4941  

Excruciatingly slow and oddly pointless. Can this still be Beethoven? Review in ConcertoNet.com

L.L. Holt in 2022 virtual interview on music, critics, bloopers, and fun

 https://virtualvenue.feelitlive.com/fa8bac77-5d4b-445c-bcbc-d44f094bbc50

Here is a link to this lively, laugh-filled interview program conducted weekly on the Internet by Win Derman. Alternatively, search for FeelItLive, the Win-Win Show, Episode 55 with Dr. Linda Holt . Click on the link above, not the photo below.

 

Classical music takes a turn to the East with positive results

I was privileged to discuss contemporary classical music in China for this new documentary produced by the Central Conservatory of Beijing. You may view the entire 30-minute documentary on YouTube or Facebook (The Violin Channel). My comments are from counter 16:40 to 22:00. 

https://www.facebook.com/theviolinchannel/videos/2811575689090788

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mv2zjKS6IYk

 

 

Link to newspaper article on Linda Holt's lifelong obsession with Beethoven

 https://princetoninfo.com/celebrating-beethovens-birthday-with-a-regional-devotee/

Review of 3-minute 40-second Ode to Joy performance by Igor Levit

12/15/20 Eve of Beethoven's 250th Birthday

This was also published in ConcertoNet.com

Igor Levit, the young German-Russian pianist, knows how to get to the heart of a matter.

In 2016, he delayed a performance to address the audience on tolerance and human rights. This May he live-streamed Erik Satie’s Vexations for a global audience, repeating the same four lines for nearly 20 hours to express the frustration of artists during the pandemic. Without fanfare, he has recorded the complete 32 Beethoven piano sonatas for release during the composer’s 250th birthday year.

Now, on the eve of that birthday, I have the pleasure of reviewing something much shorter, but perhaps even more to the point: Levit’s performance of the Ode to Joy from the Ninth Symphony, as transcribed by Franz Liszt. This transcription is less than four minutes in length but acts as a punctuation mark for all we have suffered, endured, and perhaps triumphed over in the memorable year of 2020.

The transcription begins at the point where the cellos and basses softly announce the familiar theme. It ends with some Lisztian flourishes and sinks back into the simplicity of the opening well before the first words ever heard in a symphony: “O Freunde, nicht diese Töne.” (“Friends, let’s not have these somber tones.”)

Of course, there are no cellos, basses, and baritones in this recording. There is only Igor Levit. And Beethoven.

The theme begins meekly, in naked simplicity. It is a handful of seeds—plain, homely, covered with soil—sown by a farmer with a great vision. The farmer knows it will take much work, much cultivation to bring these small unprepossessing pieces to fruition. They look like little bits of stone, with no value. But with care and nurturing, they take root and sprout. Fast forward to a time when all the previously untilled land—everything we think of as dirt, mud, and filth—is covered with glistening greenery, and the seed has turned into a cornfield, a forest, a living world.

Beethoven’s music is nothing if not organic. Like seeds with careful tending, the tendrils of his music spread and insinuate themselves into our souls. A man of the cloth as well as a composer and musician, Liszt knew what he was doing when he took Beethoven’s own development of this theme early in the Ninth pretty much as is, then let it grow naturally into an inevitable conclusion. Liszt hands it off to the performer, and it is up to Levit to interpret the shape and flow of this little piece over the course of three minutes and forty seconds. This he does with customary brilliance, turning a short-lived miniature into a harkening of eternity.

And so together, we may say, Happy Birthday, Herr Beethoven. And thank you.

                                                                                                                                              --Linda Holt

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Review of Simone Dinnerstein's new album in ConcertoNet.org

http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/cd.php?ID_cd=4595&fbclid=IwAR0A5KMcjna4hDWQYoQfbWs-XIJD6i7GuxLf86HMN9sq-1Rdr_5Jg6kmgro

Rabinovich and SCO: delightful classics at Lammermuir

by Linda Holt

Life is seeping back into the worldwide classical music community, and, to quote Fred Rogers, it’s a “lovely day in your neighborhood” when musicians of the caliber of Roman Rabinovich and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra are playing Mozart and Beethoven live for all to stream.

I caught the Israeli pianist and a quintet of SCO musicians on the last night of the Lammermuir Festival’s concert series September 19 (a Janacek opera was scheduled to follow on the 20^th). Like practically all musical events in spring, summer, and autumn of 2020, the Lammermuir Festival was rattled by the consequences of the pandemic, but emerged unbowed in September rather than April or May, and with a schedule of performances different, but in no way diminished, from original expectations.

Performed in the 250-year-old Holy Trinity Church in Haddington, East Lothian, Scotland, Saturday evening’s concert featured a socially distanced subset of the SCO playing Mozart’s plaintive String Quintet No. 5 in G minor K. 516, followed by a real treat: a chamber rendition of Beethoven’s Third Piano Concerto in C minor, Op. 37 arranged for string quintet and piano by Vincenz Lachner.

The acoustics of Holy Trinity are quite good, embracing the mellow, woodsy voices of two violins (Ruth Crouch and Gordon Bragg), two violas (Felix Tanner and Brian Schiele), and cello (Donald Gillan). The mood of their playing was soft and reflective in a work which often lends itself to emotionalism which some reviewers think is outside the scope of the classical tradition. Both approaches have their merits, and while my ears were perfectly content to resonate with the ensemble’s tender murmurings, a little more of that G minor Angst wouldn’t have hurt, especially in the third movement. But for pure loveliness and exquisite musical sensibility overall, you could not do better than this interpretation.

Roman Rabinovich pumped up the volume the instant his fingers first fell upon the keys, and oddly enough, it sounded fabulous with a mere five musicians (the second viola swapped out for a double bass played by Nikita Naumov) as his musical partners, as opposed to the full orchestra we most often hear.

Roman Rabinovich at Lammermuir

Rabinovich is an exciting musician to watch and listen to, and I don’t mean exciting in the sense of histrionics. While his facial expressions and gestures do reflect the moods of the music, there is nothing artificial about this performance. His playing—at once assertive and seductive—reveals the true, full-blooded Beethoven: the emerging Romantic, the technical wizard, the bearer of the Promethean flame. Rabinovich knows that Beethoven wields trills—the Milquetoast ornaments of an earlier age—as though they were light sabers, ready to slash through hypocrisy and liberate music from all restriction.

I was amazed at just how fine the SCO instrumentalists sounded in sync with this powerful but insightful unfolding of a familiar masterwork. With its passionate minor mood radically shifting to C major at the end, the concerto seems to foretell a return to life, perhaps even a resurrection. It’s an apt term for what musicians around the world are experiencing as they return to the stage, and not a bad metaphor to use in a church.

My review of another Lammermuir Festival concert appears in Bachtrack here:  https://bachtrack.com/review-video-purcell-dunedin-consort-lammermuir-festival-september-2020

 

 

 

 

 

Beethoven's 32 with Llŷr Williams

Llyr Williams's Beethoven sonata cycle, one of the most extraordinary feats of musicianship in our still new century, had been scheduled at the Guadalajara, Mexico, music festival in 2020 as part of the composer's 250th anniversary celebration. The series was deferred, however, because of the pandemic. (It looks as though the series will appear at last in Guadalajara in May 2024. Follow the artist's website for future details: LlyrWilliams.com ).

Instead of streaming from an empty concert hall in 2020, the program was recorded in Williams's own home. The cozy environment (one expects a tray of Welsh breakfast tea and scones to appear any moment) provided a refreshing new experience of one of Beethoven's towering achievements. Eight videos of the complete cycle appeared on YouTube during June 2020; however, were dropped at the end of the month. There may be a still photo or two from the recordings hanging around YouTube if you search diligently.

The good news is that Williams's cycle is available, audio only, in a 2018 recording made in Wigmore Hall. Search for "Beethoven Unbound" 12-CD set or mp3 at amazon.com or other music distributors.

Mastering "The 32" is the aim of many of the classical world's finest pianists, but Williams does more than that: he liberates them. With clarion-bright tones, a sure touch--powerful but never jolting--and a memory for every staccato dot and pedal release (impressive to a non-pianist like myself, but de rigueur for serious musicians ), the artist presents a Beethoven of intelligence, wit, and a universe of feelings: eager, bold, and mystical. 

Signum Classics, SIGCD527 - Recorded Wigmore Hall, London, U.K. - 12 CDs, Booklet in English - Signumrecords.com 

Re

Photo copyright Nikolay Nersesov

The Sounds of Silence

Listening to a lot of live music, YouTubes and streaming during the past few years has really sensitized me to the silence between movements in classical music. I rarely work with mp3s, but bought one today and was stunned to realize I couldn't tell how long the artist chose to pause, if at all, between movements.

In the recital hall, the artist decides how long to pause. That decision may be aesthetic, biological, or simply the need to wait for the pent-up coughing to stop. Yet that pause becomes part of the creative process. With digital recordings, on the other hand, the listener--you or me--decides whether to keep going or break for lunch.

I had no idea that negative space between sections could be so important in listening to a multi-movement composition. And imagine the reverse. What if a sound engineer decided to chop up Beethoven's fluidly unified String Quartet #14 Op. 131 into seven separate sections with a big fat pause between each? Maybe this already has been done. I'm glad I haven't heard it!

In a different medium, Asian water colorists for centuries have recognized the value of space and visual silence in their art. Negative space helps us look at an image in a specific, controlled way, and creates a sense of scope. It also gives the work of art a chance to breathe. Space and silence are elements of meditation necessary for not only our restless minds, but also for the contemplation, understanding, and sense of union that we attain in great art.

Musically, Beethoven is famous for incorporating rests in his music, often with fermatas, that can be downright uncomfortable. Or heavenly. Is it time to recognize the space between movements as an essential element of a musical work? Or is it too human to matter?

Beethoven the Philosopher by L. Holt distributed by Academia.edu

Academia.edu distributed my article, "Beethoven the Philosopher," today to its international email list. It was featured in 2015 in the journal, Philosophy Pathways.

https://philosophypathways.com/newsletter/issue194.html

Beethoven under the stars - A kiss for all the world

What has more than 8,000 feet, thrives on heat and humidity, and loves Beethoven’s 9th?

Why, it’s the audience attending Yannick Nézet-Séguin’s first gig at the Mann Center in Philadelphia’s Fairmont Park!

More than 4,000 attendees were recorded at the SRO event June 24, though it’s hard to keep track of seated patrons when there is wine, beer, and Rita’s Ice to purchase in the open-air lobby.

Events at the Mann are festive occasions, and one does not hold performers to concert-hall standards, but Nézet-Séguin and the Philadelphia Orchestra did very well. From his opening words, clearly visible and heard via two large screens and speakers on both sides of the stage, the conductor set the tone for an evening of inspiration and perspiration. It’s as close to camping as classical music lovers generally get, but comfortable and fun in a way that classical music can and should be.

The first half of the program featured Yannick conducting the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra in Beethoven’s Egmont Overture. Nice work, youth, and a performance worthy of a mature professional ensemble. But the fact that the Philadelphia Orchestra was not to play this work seems to have been a closely guarded secret. I was as surprised as anyone to discover that talented young people would be performing, not the orchestra I expected to hear.

The Overture was followed by a lively rendition of four sections of the Philadelphia Community Mass, an imaginative work that merges contemporary musical riffs with the classical structure of the Latin mass. This was conducted with grace and fervor by Nolan Williams, Jr., featured an impassioned Philadelphia Community Mass Choir. I have a feeling we’ll be hearing more of this Mass and more from Dr. Williams in the greater Philadelphia community, and that’s a good thing.

Of course, the reason most of us attended this Monday night concert was to hear the Philadelphia Orchestra perform the Ninth Symphony of the creative genius Nézet-Séguin rightly called the greatest symphonic composer of all time. And you can also refer to him as the greatest creator of string quartets, piano sonatas, and a few other genres.

One of the charms of hearing the orchestra in an alternative venue was the change in perspective. From where I was sitting (in the green seats under the awning), the performance looked like an animated conversation between Yannick and principal timpanist, Don S. Liuzzi. Both men, wearing white, have a commanding presence and infectious energy. Their powerful gestures reinforced the centrality of percussion to this fiery musical experience, that starts with a throaty murmur in the first movement, percolates in the second (taking every repeat), and rises like a sweet permeating perfume in the third. The fourth movement, of course, is a universe in itself.

The performance of the entrance of the main tune in the fourth movement had to be the softest I’ve ever heard, making the later shouts of jubilation all the more intense. As befits a conductor seasoned in the ways of opera, Nézet-Séguin sculpted the dynamics and drama of the work to bring out maximum contrast and development.

Things that could have been better? A more pronounced articulation of the shocking discord that appears twice in the opening (it was hard to hear over the timpani). I suspect the heat and humidity also weighed heavily on the quartet who sang just before the final chorus.

All in all, however, it was a captivating night. At the conclusion, a shower of glitter and balloons fell on the jubilant audience, followed by fireworks, and I couldn’t help but hope the great Master was looking down from heaven, hearing restored, with a kiss for all the world.