The Musikverein rocks my world. I heard Anna Larsson (Mezzo-soprano), today, and it was unbelieveable. However, my musical experience did not start out so warm and fuzzy. Laura was nice enough to get tickets for everybody yesterday, however, she was under the impression that the tickets were for the Wiener Philharmoniker concert, which was also tonight in the same venue. Little did she know that the ticket website was feeding her lies. So, when the time came for us to head over to get our tickets, Laura calls me and says she's going to be late and asks me if I would pick up the tickets. Naturally, I agreed, and proceeded to the Musikverein. Once we arrived, I asked a nice lady where the will-call office was. She told me that for the Philharmoniker, it was down two blocks. So, off we went. Unfortunately, we got a little bit confused, and ran around for about a half hour between two different ticket offices selling tickets for two different concerts at the same venue. Arg! When Laura bought the tickets, the confirmation e-mail said they were for the Philharmoniker, but they were actually for Anna Larsson's recital, which we found out after running around like crazy people, and dealing with several very rude individuals. Finally we figured out where we were going, and got into the recital, albeit a bit late. The small portion of the first half that we saw, I actually wasn't too impressed with. To be fair though, I was not in the best of moods. Intermission came around, and we (meaning Ty, Laura, Britain, Emily, and myself) went downstairs to the main level of the hall, where we saw Joseph. After chatting for a few minutes, we proceeded to sneak into some empty seats. I sat next to a very nice man, and we spoke a little bit in German. Yay! From that point on, the recital got better and better! Anna Larsson has this big, rich voice (being a worldclass mezzo), and it was great for me to see how she used it. It seemed to get clearer and more inviting the more she sang. Maybe that will be me someday! She did a set of Grieg songs, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Grieg is a Norwegian composer, who I am beginning to really love as I listen to more of his work. She also sang a Wolf set, and two encores, one of which was a piece from Sibelius - awesome. I love being a part of the Viennese audience. The people here love music so much, and have no qualms about showing their appreciation, which I think is great. They always give the most sincere, enthusiastic applause and have no problem shouting "bravo!" if they think someone deserves it. I have such a fabulous opportunity over here to watch all of these famous singers, and how they practice their craft. I learn so much from watching and listening to them - not to mention it's so fun to attend so many concerts and operas!
P.S I might to go a ball next week. For real. I'll keep you posted! Bis bald!
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