A gala event
Never mind Shakespeare’s play within a play in Hamlet, on Saturday night WBJC had a party within a party at the BSO’s Opening Gala. In a corner of the lavish tent adjacent to the Meyerhof, making a discreet rumpus, could be found Mark Malinowski wearing one of his signature bow ties and an unostentatious lapel pin of commendation from the Navy, Kati Harrison sporting a retro 60’s hairstyle and little black dress, Dyana Neal giving off an aura of the 50s in a flare-skirted lace dress and Cleopatraesque eye make up, and Word on Wine’s Mary Zajak dressed in shades of antique pink. Over the din of the crowd we held animated and shouted conversations about martinis, writing, movies, libraries—oh, and music. During the dinner before the concert, and at the dessert reception afterwards, we rubbed shoulders with the likes of Senators Barbara Mikulski and Ben Cardin, Congressmen Dutch Ruppersberger and John Sarbanes, and Lieutenant Governor Anthony Brown (the Governor was notable by his absence), to say nothing of the Maestra and our beloved BSO players. Then there was the centerpiece of the gala concert itself—the creamy-voiced “people’s diva”, Renée Fleming, in flowing gowns and teeter-inducing shoes, who treated us to arias by Lehár, Dvořák and Puccini, as well as songs by Rogers and Hammerstein. The BSO’s 2012-2013 season has kicked off in style!
BSO image of
Renée Fleming
The parting gift from the BSO was their forthcoming Naxos release of Mahler’s Symphony No. 1, so listen for that soon on WBJC.
Tags:Baltimore Symphony, fun, Mahler, music, singer
