- Winston Sill/Freelance Photographer
David Coore (left) reminisces with general manager of the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel Eldon Bremner on the time when he opened the Jamaica Pegasus first in 1973. Both men were among those celebrating the hotel's 30th Anniversary.
Chester Francis-Jackson, Contributor
DOVECAKES, THE 'Windy City' is indeed going through a renaissance and how! Luvs, the city is determined to shed its image of yesteryear as the stomping ground for those who made high crimes and misdemeanours a way of life. It has opted instead for positioning itself as the Midwest's gateway to culture, high-finance and the good life! Luvs, it's like that, and then some!
Now, to be sure, Chicagoans are very proud of their history. They revel in the international attention the exploits of Chicagoans, past and present, have brought to their city! Mind you all, My Daahlings, for many of the inhabitants of this here fine city, there is indeed a sense of disquiet, with the legendary Sears Tower now being the tallest building in the United States, after the September 11, 2001 atrocities! The skyscraper no longer represent a sign of prosperity in the minds of many, but an ever clear and present reminder of the brutality visited on the American people, two years ago, last week Thursday.
America, however, still remains the great land of opportunity, the glitterati, high-glam and sensational events! Now, speaking of sensational events, sweet-things, over here in Chicago, the city is enjoying the last days of summer and how! Luvs, it is now an open secret, that indeed, the city of Chicago boasts one of the finest operatic traditions the world over. Its world famous Lyric Opera, is acknowledged internationally for its very grand stage productions. These productions are oftentimes so lavish, they rival the more showy productions of Broadway. Little wonder then, my dears, that the Lyric Opera is a Chicago jewel.
GROUND-BREAKING
With its home in the Civic Opera House, on Wacker Drive, in the city, the 49-year-old company, is as celebrated among the glitterati, as basketball is among the polloi! A fact not lost on the Lyric Opera of Chicago's governing council. And so it was to this end, that the council took the rather ground-breaking decision some four years ago, that since Mohammed was not going to the Mountain, they would take the mountain to Mohammed! Today, as a precursor to its season, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, now give an open air concert in the City's fabulous Grant Park!
The Lyric Opera of Chicago 49th annual season is set to kick off on September 20th. As a precursor, there was a gala and premiere of The Marriage of Figaro, last Saturday evening. The Lyric also took its show on the road as it joined the City of Chicago and the Grant Park Music Festival in staging its fourth annual Stars of Lyric Opera of Chicago In Concert, at Grant Park, in the Petrillo Music Shell, at Columbus and Jackson. That was a Parade of Arias, and then some!
Pumpkins, for those of you who have visited the Windy City, y'all know that Grant Park is one simply dee-vine open green space. It is fabulously accessorised with beautiful gardens, water founts gushing way up into the sky, and acres and acres of relaxing space. Now add to this simply wonderfully lazy space, the expanse of the marvellous Lake Michigan in the foreground creating an amphitheatre-like setting. This is ringed by a skyline of skyscrapers, racing towards the heavens, each outshining the other in brilliance as their lighted windows make for a postcard perfect and most picturesque view! Doves, it was like that and then some!
ORDER AND CALM
Now imagine a park with an estimated 25,000 people. The beauty here is the discipline, order and calm as they readied themselves for the 7:00 p.m. starting time of the concert. Indeed, it was a joy to behold couples sharing blankets, a picnic basket on hand; families sharing tables laden with wines, cheeses, fruits and other edibles; lovers sharing a chair; friends lying on the grass; mothers with their young children; fathers with their teen-aged children. They all waited with great anticipation for the start of no doubt of what was indeed, one of the summer's finest events!
And then it began! Sweethearts, at two minutes to seven William Mason, the Lyric Opera's General Director, took to the stage and welcomed the thousands gathered for the event. After thanking the audience for their support, he then turned things over to Lyric's Conductor Sir Andrew Davis. From there until 10:00 p.m., it was nothing but the magic of music. For my word, what a sumptuous feast!
Oh, in the name of all things precious and forever what a treat!
THE HUSH
Doves, y'all could have heard a pin drop following the hush that descended on the large crowd, when Sir Andrew raised his baton. And when the Lyric Opera Orchestra opened with Rossini's La Gazza Ladra overture, the hungry audience simply became one in rapt awe and appreciation. My Dears, it remained like that throughout, and then some, but what a night!
Dear hearts, Hawaiian-born and educated Quinn Kelsey, was the first soloist on-stage, his task Rossini's Largo al Factotum (Figaro), and as his voice lifted towards the night's sky in delivery, so did the spirit of his audience. There was nowhere to go but up from there on then. He was followed on stage by mezzo-soprano Lauren McNeese. This here lady worked Giacomo Meyerbeer's Les Huguenots, Nobles Seigniors, Salut with the mastery that defied her junior years! But sing, she can, and that she did, to fabulous applause!
There was one change in the programme, and that was Matthew Polenzani, a Chicago native, substituted for Michael Schade in doing Donizetti's L' elisir d'amour and Una Furtiva Lagrima. He simply went to town, justifying his stature as one of Chicago's finest tenors as he had the audience hanging on to his every note. And it was like that throughout the performances of Wayne Tigges, Isabel Bayrakdarian, Ben Heppner, Ruth Ann Swenson, Ildebrando D'Arcangelo. They all did samplings from this season's Lyric Opera's repertoire, which had the audience in musical ecstasy and beyond. The audience just allowed the music to transport them into the world of love, beauty and drama as typified in the musical presentations.
Now, you all know, they say it is not over until the Fat Lady Sings. Well when she took to the stage there was an accompanying silence, as indeed, her presence was the unwelcome sign that the evening of masterful music was coming to an end. And so Guang Yang took to the stage for her duet with the beautiful and fabulously talented Isabel Bayrakdarian to close the second half of the programme which was dedicated to Hector Berlioz ( in honour of the 200th anniversary of his birth in 1803). The Canadian-Armenian Soprano and the Chinese mezzo-soprano, aimed for the skies in Berlioz Beatrice and Benedict, and assailed the heavens with the beauty of their voices. The fabulous moon in the night skies glowed her approval. And then it was left to the Orchestra to punctuate the end of the feast, and for my word they did!
Luvs, it was flawless, and then some! But what a night! An ode to the beauty of music and the music's greatest instrument the Voice! As the chills still course, special thanks to Jack Zimmerman, of the Lyric Opera of Chicago Events, who made it all possible!
