God created the universe in 6 days! I am creating Musical Bridges’ 16th season and it takes me a LOT longer… I have many colorful elements that have yet to come together. God had to play with Light, Dark, Water, the Firmament you know… and I have to play with the dates available at a venue, for the guest artists, around San Antonio Symphony, San Antonio Arts and the Chamber Music Society scheduling, Spring Break, Passover, Easter, Fiesta and Luminaria, one-of-a-kind world class unique programing, potential funding for it, volunteer availability, guest artist’s hospitality logistics, collaborations with other organizations… and did I mention funding, and did I mentioned funding? Sometimes I wonder if to play with Light, Dark, Water and mountains would be easier…

I have a universe of my own and my building material is unique. I like to play with different genres and create truly one-of-a-kind projects – a musical melting pot that makes my blood boil with excitement. How does the combination of Flamenco from Barcelona and the St Petersburg String Quartet performing in the same concert sound to you? I find this idea incredibly invigorating! Thank goodness Alla Aranovskaya- the first violin from the quartet did not blink when I asked her if they are open to this project. “Sure!” she said, “no problem, we will come up with something spectacular!” Flamenco dancer Jose Emanuel Alvarez dazzled us as a part of our tourist routine in Barcelona last summer and now we are negotiating his visit to San Antonio as part of our inaugural International Festival.

When Cristina Pato from Yo Yo Ma’s Silk Road Project was performing for Musical Bridges in San Antonio this season, she introduced me to some weird musicians. I am spending hours on Youtube playing with idea of bringing in the FANTASTIC clarinetist Kinan Azmeh of Syrian origin. Born, raised and educated in Damascus, now completing his doctorate in New York. His playing of the classical repertoire as well as his own compositions is mesmerizing.

By weird, I mean extremely talented one-of-a-kind musicians who hold the highest educational degrees in western music, but at the same time they feel comfortable in the worlds of music at large. They improvise and are highly influenced by their cultural and ethnic roots. Their esthetic creates a magical universe of music – music without borders.

The Israeli-Palestinian classical piano duo Duo Amal, is another first for us. Two young musicians bridge very difficult historical borders just by playing together. I decided to bring them to San Antonio and include them in our festival because I love the idea! Their repertoire consists of well-known compositions as well as pieces dedicated to them that reflect their cultural backgrounds. They are young, handsome piano virtuosos with a blessing from maestro Zubin Mehta himself. As an outcome of my recent Trade and Cultural Mission trip to India, the world’s best tabla player, Sandeep Das will bring authentic performances to San Fernando Cathedral and our Kids-to-Concerts. We anticipate 10,000 kids will be introduced to Indian culture by his dazzling performances.

I am not a god and would not want to be one, (Okay, I might consider being Aphrodite if you insist, but only her!) My season-creating neurosis is a big part of a one-of-a-kind fun I have every spring. I am well on the way to creating our 16th season. My next challenge is to figure out a way to combine a famous Cuban violinist, an innovative ballet company from Dallas, and a Mexican Chamber Orchestra. I am shaking with anticipation of creating a delicious combination of flavors showcasing the mise en place in their artistic glory in one harmonious masterpiece. Identifying the best international artists and producing them in unexpected multicultural programing brings me as close as possible to the divine entity and creates a truly one–of-a kind esthetic – Music Without Borders!

“Anton, how many times do I have to tell you to get off the Internet? We need to leave NOW!” Anton is glued to my Mac mesmerized by Richard Strauss’ aria on DigitalConcerts.com sung in perfect German, that Anton very much appreciates. “Mom! Give me a minute; I cannot leave in the middle of the phrase!”

“Daniel, get off the piano, stop playing at once! It is time for lunch”

Last week Musical Bridges was hosting Lilya Zilberstein and her two sons, Anton 16 and Daniel 22. I fed them, drove them, and as we say in untranslatable Russian folk –became a mother for all three of them for the time being. In return I got to witness an old European tradition of musical generations in the making. Lilya’s husband Alex, is a trumpet player and she is a pianist. They met at University in Russia. Their two sons are pianists just like Lilya. Not only do they play piano in the normal sense of the word, they live it.

Prior to their arrival I convinced Lilya to stay at the hotel across the street from me, although I know they would have preferred to stay at the house. The morning after arriving in San Antonio, I got a call from her at 9am, “Anya, Daniel refuses to eat hotel food and prefers to have breakfast at your house.”  After a Russian-style full-blown breakfast my musical guests adopted my two grand pianos in different rooms. This was the beginning of my musical weekend.  My house came to life with the beautiful sounds of piano.

Lilya’s professionalism never ceases to impress me; she is amazing! I remember a few years ago visiting her backstage during the intermission of her performance with the San Antonio Symphony. She had just finished playing Rachmaninoff ‘s 3rd piano concerto, yet here she was practicing Burlesque by Richard Strauss on an upright piano in her dressing room for her next performance in the US and was talking to us at the same time. Needless to say, Burlesque is incredibly difficult and to play and to talk at the same time is totally impossible, especially the final tempo.

After breakfast, Anton went to my practice studio, closed the door and examined my shelves of music scores. He picked a concerto for violin, piano and string quintet by Chosson and embarked on a sight-reading journey. Rob and I thought that it was Lilya playing and it turned out her little boy was performing the piece seeing it for the first time in his life. It normally takes 2-3 months for a very experienced concert pianist to learn this piece because it is very complicated. Anton has a sweet tooth and his eyes light up when he plays the piano, much like when he sees cream puffs from Costco.

Anton and Daniel were born into the world of music. Their summer excitement includes a trip to Aix-en-Provence for the Opera Festival in June, then summer courses in Austria. They pay for summer classes proudly earning money from their concerts. They know they are very fortunate and occasionally together with Lilya, they get an opportunity to perform with Martha Argerich-the Goddess of the international piano world. Normally it happens during Lugarno Summer Festival in Switzerland.

The boys speak German between themselves in a car and often giggle like two little toddlers. They also speak Russian and English equally well. On top of that, Daniel speaks Spanish, Italian and French… yes a French girlfriend is responsible for the perfect French accent…Daniel also made a pact with himself to compose one poem a day, so he goes everywhere with his little notebook and constantly writes verses.

It was great to watch them backstage while Lilya was playing Brahms. They listened to her with such respect and admiration!

I hope life will be kind to these two intellectuals who live and breathe music. I very much enjoyed spending a week with this second generation in the making!  I am sure they will proudly continue the legacy of their musical parents. Occasionally artistic inspiration gets in the way of reality. As the result of it, tomorrow I will go to the post office to mail to Germany the jacket and cell phone Daniel left at the hotel.

It is five in the afternoon, a gray and chilly day. Outside my window, maintenance people are cleaning the snow, one shovel at a time, synchronizing their movements. Fresh chilly air enters the room through the opening in my balcony; I am resting on my little couch in my cozy little room on the 6th floor of our Moscow apartment, it is 1969 and I am 8 years old. We are expecting guests later that evening and mom has ordered me to rest so I would not be tired later on. She is cooking dinner for the guests in our small kitchen outside my door and the intoxicating smell of food is mixing with the fresh smell of the pine tree in my room. I feel warm, safe and totally happy. I close my eyes and fall asleep.

Every year despite my father’s protests, my mom would honor my wish and buy a real pine tree. Then she and I would carry it on a trolley for 5 stops from Lujniki-the closest bazaar to our apartment building located in the hills of the Moscow River. It was so much fun to decorate it! We had a lot of beautiful toy animals playing different music instruments, bright magenta shiny glass ornaments and a golden three-tiered one for the top. With lights turned off, shyly standing in the left corner of the room, my tree looked like a little girl dressed for a festive party. We would buy ornaments all year round in anticipation for the next Christmas tree. We called it a New Year’s Pine tree because there was no Christmas in Russia at that time.

A lot has happened since then. When I turned 11 my brother was born and inhabited the left corner in my little room, the size of my current walk-in closet.  That year the New Year’s pine tree had to be moved to the middle of the room. Then, I grew up and brought my boy friend and later husband to this little room. Then, our son was born and I had to finally leave the nest. Our new apartment in Moscow was a lot bigger and the New Year tree has taken center stage in my living room every year since. Then, a few years later we moved to the US and joined forces with all other immigrants on a journey to success.  A little apartment in Bloomington Normal, Illinois became our home for our new American Christmas tree.

During our first Christmas in the US in 1990, I took a picture of my son Arseni in a white shirt and black tie, my idea of the successful American. That was a time of new hopes and new dreams in our new home in America together with the New Year’s Pine, now called a Christmas tree! Now, 23 years later, my son is successful lawyer, got the water polo coach of the year award two seasons in a row and is an MBA evening program student at UT. I guess that white shirt with the black tie I bought when he was six finally is starting to pay off. I have built a successful performing arts company and have a lot of room in my house for many Christmas and New Year’s trees now. America was good to us; our lives are full and productive.

Every year with my Christmas tree, I get transported to my childhood into that small cozy room, the size of a walk-in closet on the 6th floor of our Moscow apartment. Filled with intoxicating smells of mom’s cooking in a small kitchen and the New Year’s pine in the middle of the room covered with shiny animal ornaments playing musical instruments. I am 8 again and nobody around me has aged a bit and mom still cooks and dad is still grumpy. I close my eyes and listen to synchronized snow shovels outside my window and breath in fresh chilly air coming thru the half open balcony. Little by little my body fills with warmth and I know that everything is going to be just fine.

Food is a lot like music; by highlighting ethnic and cultural flavors, food unites people through their senses. I love to cook and consider myself to be a somewhat serious foodie.  A big part of any culture is food and musicians love to eat. I would even go further and say they are addicted to food. We in Musical Bridges Around the World take food very seriously. We offer Russian/South-Texas mix hospitality filled with our pride and joy – the local cuisine. Las Palapas, Papasitos, Rosario’s and Rudy’s take a special place in the hearts of our international visitors. Authentic Tex-Mex food takes center stage on Facebook pages of our army of international musicians.

Cristina Pato, Victor Prieto and Anya at The Alamo!

All Musical Bridges guest artists get truly special treatment. Our Board of Directors and I make sure the musicians leave San Antonio well fed and charmed by our beautiful city. From my touring years, I learned musicians do no see much while traveling with concerts. They go from the airport to hotel, rehearsal, concert, restaurant, back to the hotel and airfare to the next performance. This is not the case for our guest artists. When planning artists’ itinerary. I make sure we carve at least a little time from their busy schedules for the San Antonio experience. We show them The Alamo, River Walk, The King Williams area, and the McNay. We call it – The tourist routine.

Rob and I eat rather modestly, (we are watching our waistlines), so when we entertain Musical Bridges guest artists I unleash the gourmet chef in me and exercise my culinary muscle to the fullest. There are colorful stories circulating in New York and some parts of Western Europe about my Armenian eggplants and homemade dolma.  Victor Prieto from Yo Yo Ma’s and Christina Pato’s ensembles is still raving about my lamb shish kabob and every time performing in Texas he secretly hopes there will be a backstage party at my house. He remembers San Antonio because of my lamb. He is from Galicia Spain, my shish kabob is Armenian, I am from Russia, and for him this is a part of the San Antonio experience.

Since September, Musical Bridges has presented musicians from France, Canada, Bulgaria, Spain, Germany, Pakistan and India, and there are a lot more to come this season.  I enjoy taking care of the musicians. I believe that was the reason Musical Bridges was born to start with. Musicians are like a separate race to me. It does not matter what country, religion, color we are, we have a common language and we understand each other on the fly. Musical Bridges grew to become a big organization now and I could delegate driving and feeding the musicians to someone else, but it is still my favorite part and I always am looking forward to the next concert, to the next group of the guest artists to take care of.

Image by steppelandstock.deviantart.com

We rarely talk about music; we just hang out together and eat. We all know we belong to an international brotherhood of musicians and we just enjoy each other’s company. Did you know the best time to visit Bombay is December – the wedding season, the food is free? In Granada, Spain in any Tapas Bar, if you are drinking your tapas are complimentary? Did you know the best place to eat pickled herring is in the Amsterdam airport in a booth between terminal B and C? It takes only two hours on  a Euro train from Nance to Rouffach in France. In August in Rouffach, storks are making nests and the babies are learning to fly from rustic red roofs? Did you know that the best place to eat Vietnamese food, besides in Vietnam, is in Montreal?

I love my time with the musicians. They take me on a truly international tourist routine.

The Grinch stole Christmas, but who stole Thanksgiving? Where are the beautiful fall colors, turkey cookie jars and tacky orange pumpkin napkin holders?  It is all about Christmas already! Everything is red and green and mighty festive. We are not through with Thanksgiving yet! Wait! Do not rush! Life is already too fast! I am a reasonable person and understand we need to dig ourselves out of the recession; consumerism is our saving grace and Christmas is the biggest fundraiser of the year. But don’t short-shrift Thanksgiving! It is the most important holiday for me and I look forward to it for the entire year. Yes, you might say… you can enjoy it without all these holiday trinkets-who needs all this crap any way, it is superficial and it is substance that matters! But I like holiday accessories and I insist that all of the trinkets are up until Thanksgiving Day and then, as God intended, I go to 75% off sales on Black Friday.

People come here from all over the globe in search of a better life for them and a prosperous future for their children. Sometimes I meet people from places I did not know existed on the face of the earth. I have never seen so many different races and colors and so many different churches on the same street coexisting peacefully. Some older people never learn to speak English properly and keep their ethnic and cultural traditions, which not too many countries in the world would allow any way. We all come here, we survive, we find things to do and we are eternally grateful. This holiday brings all of us together and puts things in perspective, it reminds us who we are, where we came from, where we started and were we are heading. This holiday is the basis of all American patriotism. I cannot resist sharing some of the stories of my friends – first generation immigrants just like myself.

Yuri was a citizen of Belorussia.  During the civil war there, he packed his bag and bought airfare to Cuba, a long time friend of the Soviet Union. He got out in Shannon, Canada and asked for political asylum. He had with him one backpack and $5 in his pocket. Now many years later he is a practicing physician and the director of a large clinic. He will never forget why he came here. My housekeeper has college degrees from Mexico. She came here so her kids have a chance to move all the way up. She cleans houses and waitresses and still does not speak much English, but her older son is already in college, a 4.0 GPA student in Engineering and International Relations. She sacrificed her college education in Mexico to better her children’s future. Who knows, may be he will be our next Mayor or even the President.

I grew up in Soviet Russia and my friend Sujata in British India. It turned out we have more in common than one might think. I bought a sari and a Bindi on the forehead does not seems to be strange to me any more, but rather beautiful. I am an Ashkenazy Jew. Some treat it as a religion, some as a race. In the Soviet Union we did not have a choice to be religious, so for Jews of the Soviet era–it is a race. Just in case we forgot who we were, there was a reminder of it in our passports–line five: nationality-Jew. Our youngest board member Suhail, and our Marketing Development director Subia, are Indian Muslim. Both are first generation American and cherish their cultural and religious traditions. I think the American model of all-inclusive hospitality is the way to go. People do better when there is a great diversity, knowing each other helps us not to be afraid and hate comes from fear.

The Musical Bridges Board of Directors and staff are a true representation of America. We have Catholics, Protestants, Muslims, Russian Orthodox, Jews, Native American, Asian Indian, Russians, a Canadian, Puerto Ricans, and African-Americans. Many are new immigrants. Our programming reflects our diversity and we would like to think we are building World Peace, piece-by-peace. I insist, we deserve to enjoy every minute of pumpkin napkin holder shopping. In some peculiar way it awakens a feeling of deep gratitude to the country that took us all in and thankful we do not have a line 5 in our passport and nobody cares what color, race or religion we are as long as we do well together. Maybe I am an idealist but I believe that regardless of holiday trinkets and the All-American fundraiser we will be just fine as a nation. We are from everywhere and it is our strength. So, whoever stole Thanksgiving, please give it back to us. It is OUR Holliday!

Dimitri Pittas as Rudolfo in his 4th performance in 2 days and soprano Katie Van Kooten as Mimi
(Photo courtesy of Houston Grand Opera)

La Boehme, Houston Grand Opera. We just got comfortable in our red velvet seats when a non-costumed individual made his way to the middle of the stage with a mike in his hand. With a very heavily identifiable British accent he said… “Do not worry, I do not have terrible news! I am the Director of HGO and I want to let you know that tenor Dimitri Pittas, in the role of Rodolfo, will be singing his fourth performance in the past 48 hours due to the sudden illness of his understudy. He presented exemplary professionalism and everything will be great!” After these words I prepared myself for squeaking high notes of the overused tenor and mentally fastened my seat belts. Rodolfo was great and there were no wrong or otherwise unwholesome notes, high or low and at the end the show he got a standing ovation.

This little episode brought some memories of my life in show business. Here are some of them for your enjoyment…

May 2005, final concert of our 8th season – The program Russian romances and Russian folk, surprised?  We are experiencing one of those rain storms that destroy everything on their way.  Russian Bass Nikita Storojev and Tatyana his pianist and wife arrived from Austin on time and are waiting to start the show. Sergei – the balalaika player from Austin is not here and we have about 20 min left. I am worried and suddenly there is a call… “Anya,,, please do not worry… my wife just went into labor. I will be on my way as soon as we get the baby out”. Guess what? Do you think we cancel concerts because of the call of nature? Or babies get in our way? Nikita and Tatyana stalled the program until Sergei arrived by the second half of the concert. Now, all of us remember his son’s birthday and he knows the show must go on!

October 2008, McAllister Auditorium, “Bach in a Style of Jazz.”  The program included classical pieces as well as their jazz reinterpretations. On stage -Mark Cheikhet violin, Valéry Grokhovski piano, Boris Andrianov cello, Darren Cupper drums and Adam Booker double bass; all of them are brilliant musicians who freely navigate in both styles. It turned out McAllister auditorium has computers that run the lights. The concert took a little longer than the light-computers were programmed for and by the last number on the program, the musicians found themselves performing in pitch darkness. The  audience did not know how to react. “Is it a part of the show? Is it circus?” Do you think the musicians stopped, do you think they asked for light? No way! They pretended that nothing happened because everyone knows – no matter what, the show MUST go on!

Carolyn Sproule in The Italian Girl in Algiers in her green hat with bass Patrick Carfizzi as MUSTAFA (Photo courtesy of Housotn Grand Opera)

Next weekend we are hosting Carolyn Sproule, mezzosoprano from Montreal who now is a member of the HGO studio. I was very excited to hear her sing and meet her backstage in person while I was there. I emailed her the day before and was hoping to get a response the same day. She did not respond on Saturday. Sunday morning I got an email …”sorry to respond this late, yesterday I spent all day driving to Dallas and back for an audition.” She was wearing a fabulous silly bright green outfit with a large Moroccan hat as a part of the Italian Girl in Algiers cast. We met her backstage after the show, young, beautiful with a bright future ahead of her. After spending all day in the car and auditioning for the Dallas opera she went on stage and was brilliant in her feisty, flirtatious role. Because we all know- the show must go on!

I am looking forward to our French Impressions program next weekend. An old friend of mine, French pianist Hugues Leclère, is flying from Europe and will perform this concert as part of his world tour promoting French Impressionists. The project is sponsored by many French governmental agencies and large private corporations. Carolyn Sproule (without her green hat) accompanied by another member of HGO studios, pianist Elena Lacheva from Bulgaria, will offer a beautiful selection of Debussy’s songs and add to Hugues’s Debussy program a feminine touch. I hope nothing will go wrong, all the planes will land on time, nobody will get sick (God forbid) and pianos, both at my house and at San Fernando Cathedral will be to everyone’s liking. I am looking forward to another fabulous weekend of sophisticated music.

The show must go on!

Music makes everyone happy. A live performance gives us a feeling of a miracle in the making. I just got home from the Awards Ceremony and final recital of the 11th San Antonio International Piano Competition. It was great to see young artists from all over the world recognized by the panel of respected judges and the audience. It was a very special week for us San Antonians who love music! I cannot say who I was more impressed with, the pianists or the support team of donors and volunteers. Piano performance became the most important business for them all! There was one very happy, emotional family sharing the greatest art: MUSIC! The competition, in its 29th year, filled the week with master classes, workshops, musical presentations and many other exiting adventures. It felt like New York, New York! In some peculiar ways it reminded me of my years of University examinations, time when there are just two things in life that matter, you and your piano.

Musicians live inside a very unique and beautiful bubble. How do they get there? They build it inside out by practicing and learning and feeling. To be a musician is not really a profession-it is a way of life. Not everyone can be a concert artist. It take a rare combination of extraordinary talent, sensitivity, fast reaction, a photographic memory, a strong and flexible physique and the best teachers; but most of all, it takes a lifetime of dedication. International competition of this caliber gives a rare opportunity for outsiders to glimpse inside the beautiful world of a professional musician and The San Antonio International Piano Competition supporters received it with honor.  Many families adopted a contestant. They fed, drove and took care of these musical guests like their own kids. I bet they were worried about who would win and who would lose, probably even more than the contestants themselves. One of the host families was an old friend of mine, Dr. Sheila Swartzman.

Drawing of  numbers for performance order
Mieke Bennett and Mei Rui

She appeared in the row behind me before the third contestant on Thursday morning. “Mei is next. I am so nervous I can hardly breath.”  A young Asian lady appeared on stage in a silver dress and very, very high heels. My first thought was, “OMG, How in the world is she going to play in those heels!” Her performance breathed life into the concert hall and into all of us who were there. She started with Beethoven’s “Hammerklavier” Sonata No. 29. “How dare she play that at the competition!” said the snob inside me. Just to let you know, “Hammerklavier“ is one of the most difficult pieces written for the piano ever! It is difficult on every level, technically, musically but most of all intellectually because it is embedded with fugues. It is the “Hamlet” of the piano world and I would give a prize to any pianist who dared play it just for having the guts. Guess what! Mei won a special prize for Best Classical performance and made it to the finals!

Friday morning I learned from Sheila that Mei’s father had a heart attack Thursday night and Mei took a 5 am flight to New York to be with her father and had to withdraw from competition. I am glad I got a chance to hear her play and will bring her as a Musical Bridges guest artist next season. All our lives we walk a fine line between the joy and tragedy of our existence, and music, our fateful companion is always there for us. It was fascinating to hear the special prizes announcements: Leo Greenblum in memory of Sue Greenblum, Robert Cruise in memory of Constance Jones and many others. For these people music was a beautiful bubble binding them together before one of them was suddenly gone. By giving these special prizes to young players they bring memories of those wonderful days when they could share the gift of music. We are very fortunate to have our own International Piano Competition. By bringing together young artists and the local community it creates a cozy and beautiful bubble of Music. While we can, let’s enjoy it together!

Once upon a time there was an artist. It was she and not he as you might think at first. She was very talented, dedicated and brave. She also was very lucky. And she was lucky simply because she was discovered by a famous artists promoter. His name was Stieglitz and he lived in New York. His art gallery “291” was the hottest spot for the young artists and he was a famous photographer and an intellectual. He cared very much about where American Modernism was heading. He could not imagine his life, God forbid, in a modernist-less world. He considered New York to be not cultured after living in Germany for many years and he had never been to the wilderness of the Southwest. Yes, you guessed correctly, he was a little out of touch with the life of working America; he could care less about anything that had nothing to do with his small, but very beautiful on the inside, intellectual bubble. Georgia and Stieglitz fell madly in love with each other, got married and lived happily ever after, at least for a while…

One day, she and a group of her friends traveled to Santa Fe is search of her muse and it was love at first sight! She fell in love with its mountains, its valleys and with the color of its sky. To make a long story short, she decided to buy a house in Abiquiu and spend as much time as possible there. She lived in a little house with two dogs and was painting all day long. Guess what? Her intellectual husband Stieglitz who was missing her terribly in cold and gray New York was showing her work of warm enchanted lands in his gallery and the beauty of nature and her modernists’ style awed a lot of people and they started to buy her paintings for a lot of money. She showed to the intellectual world Indian Pueblos and majestic mountains made out of a hundred shades of the red clay. And one day, Georgia became famous! More intellectuals started to visit her in New Mexico and loved it as much as she did. By now you have probably figured out that it was Georgia O’Keefe.

Robert and I visited Santa Fe and of course, embarked on the homage to Georgia’s house this summer. New Mexico is truly a land of contrasts. Abiquiu is located about 40 miles north of Santa Fe. A scenic drive up Interstate 45 took us through majestic landscapes coexisting with quite disturbing poverty. Half way to the middle of nowhere we lost all connections with the civilization – the signal on our cell phones. After about 30 minutes in a car we arrived to Abiquiu Inn, a small charming hotel located in the middle of nowhere where it is quiet and beautiful. Georgia’s house, still in the middle of nowhere, is filled with priceless intellectual properties from Stieglitz’s archives, modernists’ furniture gifted to her by the designers themselves… and I mean things like Eames’s famous chair. Modernism is my very favorite art period and it was weird to see all of that in the house facing the most austere wilderness, the million dollars view from her studio window.

Here comes the money part: New Mexico is one of the poorest states in the US and despite that Santa Fe is an oasis of culture like you would not believe! And as we well know, where there is culture, there is money. If you suddenly feel the urge to buy a masterpiece and drop some serious money, where do you go? Believe it or not, you are not going to New York or Los Angeles–you go to Santa Fe.  There are 250 world-class art galleries in a town of the size of Victoria, Texas. If you miss World Class Opera in the middle of the hot summer, where do you go? Yes, you guessed correctly, you go to Santa Fe once again. If you are a serious foodie and need to feast your taste buds on French, Southwest, Italian, Japanese and many, many, many, more cousins. Where do you go? You go to Santa Fe. Guess who just started wineries? Guess who can afford a high-end Chamber Music Festival? Guess where you can see various shows on any given night?

There are many music and art lovers living in San Antonio and at least once a year many of us fly to Santa Fe to see the opera, to stroll along the Canyon street with its 250 galleries and to check out new restaurants. Now multiply this modest number of us to as many cities as possible in the US and you will get the general bulk of a cultural tourism. Some of these tourists fall in love with the place from the first sight, just like Georgia did and they buy houses there. They buy houses first and then they start supporting an opera and other cultural and educational endeavors. With time this support a little by little snowballs into a very prosperous cultural oasis in the middle of the desert in one of the poorest states in the country. Quality of art defines quality of life and as we know well life is short so we better enjoy it while we can. People choose to live closer to the greatness of human civilization that the art is.

This is a tale of how intellectual comes to the desert in the middle of nowhere and makes it rich. And the lesson of this tale is – Art touches everyone in a profound way and brings prosperity where it is rooted.  And now, my dear curious children, it is time to bed. Do not let the bedbugs bite.

Read about Santa Fe’s Art District

Wagner’s THE RING stands on its own. There is nothing in the world of the art that it can be measured against! Yes, even Beethoven’s 9th and Mahler’s 5th, even Othello and Boris Godunov shy away from this unprecedented artistic giant. The only wonder of the world I can compare it with is the Great Wall of China or Taj Mahal. The Ring of the Nibelung is a cycle of four epic operas, in sequence: The Rhine Gold, The Valkyrie, Siegfried and Twilight of the Gods. Wagner created it from the ground up, starting with the story, then libretto, totally new musical language, unheard of orchestration. There are no arias or recitatives; there is no familiar opera structure. The story dictates the flow. The music becomes a canvas intertwined with the leitmotivs of people and subjects and emotions, even the sword has it’s own leitmotiv! These leitmotifs are full-blooded characters of the story and a major pain for music students who have to take endless tests on them as a part of Musicology courses. I remember those joyful years…

I always knew one day, when I grew up, I would go to some faraway opera theater; let’s say Bayreuth Theater, camp there for a long time and see THE RING. I have seen bits and pieces here and there and love the music. Although individual operas of the sequence are sometimes performed separately, Wagner intended them to be performed in series. I thought that it is embarrassing for a professional musician not to sit through the entire Ring at least once in a lifetime. I love opera, do not get me wrong, have seen a lot of European and American productions, I am a subscriber to the Houston Grand Opera and am a big fan of Live in HD. Rob and I saw a lot of great productions from the Met, my favorite theater ever. But 16 hours of Wagner!!!!!! I was getting ready to get ready for psyching up to it. Wagner’s THE RING was hanging over my head like a mighty sword that one day would have to come. I was dreading the inevitable.

KLRN has presented THE RING from the Met, in the comfort of my bedroom for four nights in a row and totally unexpectedly. I did not even have time to contemplate to see or not to see! I knew this was my chance to pay my dues and see THE RING. Just in case it would become intolerable I had the remote set up for Chopped on the Food channel, just in case you know … it would get too heavy and too dark and too boring. I got comfortable in my bed and turned KLRN on. To my dismay, I did not see Chopped that first night, I missed Master Top Chef on the second day, Extreme Chef on a third night. I could not stop watching, I was longing for a commercial break so I could quickly run to the restroom without missing anything. The staging, the voices, the music, the acting, my favorite Levine! This production bursts in creativity, it marries visual art and movie and singing and technology and everything! I loved the continuously moving sculpture! How cool is this! Wagner would go nuts if he saw it!

In the mystical world where gods casually stop by just to plant another intrigue, and women are the wearers and the greatest punishment to the Valkyrie is to be by the man and serve his needs and the great love between brother and sister is okay and healthy baby of them rescues his aunt and falls in love with her. This is the world where animals and humans (sorry, gods and semigods) speak the same language. Dragons can become a giant and a giant looks just like a Japanese sumo wrestler, not scary at all, I would even go farther and say he was sort of sweet. This is the world where the heavens and mountains and forests and caves and underworld all seem to function together just fine. In the production characters interact with nature projected by the holograms; the forest is filled with moving creatures, water reacts to a touch. The set, the background is so captivating by itself that it is not possible to stop watching! It is even unfair to the singers, who effortlessly sing the most difficult parts EVER. Siegfried is an amazing tenor from Texas who they found at the last minute to replace the one who was originally scheduled and got sick. How it is even possible! How can you find someone who can sing SIEGFRIED in a blink of an eye and this great!!!

Ken Howard, tenor from Texas, as Siegfried

A few years ago Rob and I were in Miami on vacation and we decided to see Romeo and Juliet by Charles Gounod Live from the Met in HD at a local movie theater. The theater was pretty packed with older couples. Juliette was Anna Netrepko and Romeo was Roberto Alagna, needless to say that production was spectacular! The second act starts with the bedroom scene when Romeo and Juliette in suggestive outfits, in a bed that hung from the ceiling. You could see Juliette’s naked parts of the body strategically placed for a viewer to enjoy, sometimes a part of her shoulder, sometime her leg, seductively intrigued you from slowly descending bed. Half way through the opera something went wrong with the transmission … and the sound stopped. To our dismay the public even did not think of leaving. Both gentlemen and ladies were glued to the screen with their mouth open. Opera made it to an R-rating for erotic content, CONGRATULATIONS!

Opera has proved its livability because it changes. I do remember times when in Bolshoi Theater we would see long productions with BIG SOPRANOS not moving much to say the least, situated in the middle of a period set that did not move at all. Although the music was always great and singing was okay most of the time, opera became old and boring. I think it is very smart to apply the latest in technology to opera staging, I think it is very smart to make it all move and capture our attention. It does not take away from music it adds to it, it makes opera comparable in the market that the world is. The Met was the first one to start Live in HD, they popularized opera this way and they make it accessible. Nowadays opera has to compete with live TV, movies, the Internet, iPhones, iPod’s and it is just the beginning. Metropolitan Opera has figured out that the SHOW should be entertaining or it will cease to exist and they lead the way in the world opera revolution.

Last night we had a very special visitor. I got up to let our dogs out at about 1 am and did not turn the lights hoping to not really wake up. I opened the door, my dogs ran out like crazy and suddenly very slowly showing off his beautiful tail walked in a Skunk. I was hoping that I was still asleep… but a horrifying stench started to prove the opposite. I was afraid to move and turn the lights on hoping that this thing would disappear and not spray me. There we were, a skunk and I, in a total darkness playing hide-and-seek. My brave dogs were long gone. After a few terrifying moments in the dark, to my great relief, I saw IT walking outside without losing its sense of dignity. I shut the door. Needless to say, we washed the floors, the dogs, our clothes, our beddings, our couches and our thoughts. Our dogs are clean as never before, but the stench occasionally reminds us about that special guest.

Photo Copyright Robert Michaelson

A few days ago Rob heard a disturbing noise from the back kitchen door reminding him of a gunshot. He came to check it out and found three hummingbirds laying on the ground after colliding with our glass door. They had a mild concussion and were a little woozy. He grabbed them from the ground to save them from our cat and very brave dogs, who prefer woozy half dead birds to a very much alive deer. He placed them on a tree branch checking for the life signs. Humanity of a medical professional and curiosity of the artist were fighting in him for a moment and the artist won. He picked up his camera and shot pictures of the half dead birds until he got a perfect picture. In a few hours the birds were gone and Rob had a fabulous portrait of a humming bird. We can only hope that the birds made it to Argentina and did not become a midnight snack for our half stray cat.

Last Wednesday we came home after dinner and were greeted by our German Shepherd Buddy, whose face looked like a little porcupine. Long black and white needles were sticking in all directions from his nose his mouth and on both sides of his face. He felt guilty and did not look us in the eye. He is a smart dog who understands human language, but to learn that porcupines are bad for him is beyond his intellectual abilities. Rob, who just got home from treating patients, silently got out his special surgical instruments and one-by-one pulled out porcupine needles until Buddy was as good as new. It was painful for the dog but he knew it needed to be done and he has blind trust in Robert.

Photo Copyright Robert Michaelson

We have a big family of deer living on our hill. They feel this is their property more than ours and always welcome my new effort to grow new species of plants. If I plant something that deer supposedly do not eat, they have a tasting party. Last spring I proclaimed a war on the deer and installed heavy duty plastic around every freshly planted Italian Cyprus. Believe it or not, one day I saw a handsome buck, a 10-point gentleman, effortlessly lifting my sophisticated covers and hospitably inviting all his girls to enjoy the feast. I am against guns, but at that moment if I had one in my hands we would be eating deer meat for the rest of our lives and I would not even feel guilty, at least for a while. They are beautiful animals but very much lack a sense of ethics…

I have lived in this house for the last 15 years. Over this time I have witnessed the drama of Cardinal chicks born in my hanging baskets, saw a Ringtail cat that very much reminded me of a monkey, accompanied a family of Armadillos, seven little babies and mama and papa on their casual mid-afternoon walk under my bedroom window and hosted a family of vultures on my roof while they were giving flying lessons to their young. I have cat allergies and our cat lives outside. Raccoons and opossums love cat food. Blue Jays and Cardinals actually prefer it to bird food. One day we will have a new species of the bird, the meowing ones. We are good neighbors and now, five of us (Rob, two dogs, a cat, and I) are sharing our Animal House with the lively stinking, singing, flying, crawling and hopping hill country animal community.