Now the Fun Begins

The Cleveland Orchestra and Chorus had dress rehearsal last night for Prologue to Mefistofele and Carmina Burana. Tonight the real fun begins.

I first heard the Boito Prologue to Mefistofele in D.C. in 1990 on a first date with a man I went on to have a very long relationship with. I remember sitting in my box seat in the Kennedy Center Concert Hall and drinking in this music, performed by the Choral Arts Society of Washington and the National Symphony. They had placed the percussion section stage left, in full view of the audience. My son was in his first year of boarding school, a new percussion student at Interlochen Arts Academy. Watching percussionists play with their toys always made me feel he was not so far away. The Boito features a whole lot of percussion instruments.

In the next phone call I had with my son (this was before the days of e-mail), I asked him, "what do you call that sheet of metal that you shake and bang?" He responded, "I don't know. A 'sheet of metal that you shake and bang'?!" I laughed out loud and this has been a code phrase for us for the ensuing twenty years.

Last night at dress rehearsal, I looked everywhere for the "sheet of metal". I can hear it. It sounds like thunder—very loud thunder. I love it! When I hear it I'm 40 years old again! But it appears to be positioned offstage—partly because of its size and partly because of its decibel level, I presume. I'll look forward to hearing it again the next three nights.

If you cannot attend the concert, you can listen live online at WCLV.com at 8:00 p.m. EDT, Saturday night, 5/8/2010.