Book review: 'Heads in Beds' is a riot

Attention, travelers:  If you've ever wondered what goes on behind the scenes at a hotel,  Heads in Beds: A Reckless Memoir of Hotels, Hustles, and So-Called Hospitality will give you a gleeful glimpse.

It's so funny I am certain I woke up my upstairs noisy neighbors by guffawing out loud in many places. The book is simply written and is a fast read.

Jacob Tomsky is the author, and he's got lots to tell as he weaves his way from hotel valet driver up through industry ranks. (Alert:  Today's coarse language is the style, but, of course.)

Got tips?  Tomsky has some for you.   

If you are told "all rooms are alike," it's a lie. Surprise! Cash talks.

You want an upgrade? Gimme $20.

The mini-bar is yours for the taking (stealing). When it shows up on your bill, just say you didn't touch the mini-bar, and poof! Off it comes from your bill. Take everything, Tomsky writes in his breezy style.  You'll never be questioned. 

You can also check into a room, stipulating "no smoking," and after you get to the room, stuff the mini-bar contents in your bag, smoke a cigarette, and call the front desk to complain about having a smoking room, summon a hotel staff member to verify, and change rooms. Because the room is considered "non-occupied," no one will track it and off you go to a new room. 

If you complain too much and get on the wrong side of the front desk, look out!  How would you like a room under the 300 lb. gorilla who checked in just before you? 

If you make a racist or homophobic comment to the staff, listen for your room phone to ring all night, or how would you prefer automatic curtains which are stuck?

Never, ever book a room with a third party.  You always get a better room communicating with the hotel directly, but if you must use a third party, call the hotel before you arrive to establish "personal communications."

Always use a bellman and never, ever tip in coins.  (Tomsky says professional athletes are the worst tippers.  One left no tip after a bellman carried 14 bags to the room.  Names are omitted unless it's a positive anecdote.)

Included are lists for "Things a Guest Should Never Say," "Things a Guest Should Never Do," "Things Every Guest Must Know," "FYA-Finding Your Agent," and "Standard Lies That Spew from the Mouth of a Front Desk Agent."

The ending seems to repeat the contents too much, and perhaps it was padded to reach a certain page count.  Nevertheless, this book is fun.

Compliments to book designer Emily Mahon and jacket photographer Scott Nobles who created an eye-catching jacket, like the title.

Whatever shall Tomsky write for an encore?

patricialesli@gmail.com
 

WWII planes over the National Mall

WWII planes head toward the National Mall, Washington, D.C. on May 8, 2015 to honor WWII veterans on the 70th anniversary of the Victory in Europe Day, May 8, 1945/Photo by Patricia Leslie

 

In the far distance to the right of the Washington Monument in the picture above, beyond the piles of dirt on the National Mall (groundskeeping maintenance) come the first of 56 vintage World War II planes which flew over the Mall on May 8, 2015 to honor veterans and those who built the tanks, ships, and aircraft for the U.S. war effort. It was the 70th anniversary of the Victory in Europe Day, May 8, 1945.

 

Pilots flew the aircraft in historically sequenced formation, representing the war's major battles:  Pearl Harbor, Midway, Guadalcanal, D-Day, Battle of the Bulge, and Iwo Jima.  The sounds and rumbles of the engines in the distance which preceded the planes' appearances in the sky, heightened expectations among the crowd and were some of the exhibition's best effects, bringing back memories of yesterday when the nation was more united and focused on a common enemy.

 

Joining thousands who came to watch the 40 minute show, which began at 12:10 p.m., were more than 400 WWII veterans, according to an afternoon statement from the offices of the Arsenal of Democracy Flyover which coordinated the event with the Federal Aviation Administration, Transportation Security Administration, National Park Service, U.S. Secret Service, and U.S. Capitol Police.  Late television news reports said a fire caused one plane to drop out of formation during the flight (pictured below), but the Arsenal office said it was only a precaution.

 

About 20 of the planes will be on display at the Smithsonian's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center of the National Air and Space Museum,  at Chantilly, VA near the Dulles International Airport on Saturday, May 9, 2015 from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m.  Admission is free, but parking is $15.

 

If you can identify any of the planes below, write soon.  The pictures were taken from the west side of the Mall, near the Smithsonian Metro station.

WWII planes head toward the National Mall, Washington, D.C. on May 8, 2015 to honor WWII veterans on the 70th anniversary of the Victory in Europe Day, May 8, 1945/Photo by Patricia Leslie

WWII planes head toward the National Mall, Washington, D.C. May 8, 2015 to honor WWII veterans on the 70th anniversary of the Victory in Europe Day, May 8, 1945/Photo by Patricia Leslie

WWII planes over the National Mall, Washington, D.C. May 8, 2015/Photo by Patricia Leslie

WWII planes over the National Mall, Washington, D.C. May 8, 2015/Photo by Patricia Leslie

WWII planes over the National Mall, Washington, D.C. May 8, 2015/Photo by Patricia Leslie

A WWII plane (Lockheed P-38 Lightning?) over the National Mall, Washington, D.C. May 8, 2015/Photo by Patricia Leslie

WWII planes over the National Mall, Washington, D.C. May 8, 2015/Photo by Patricia Leslie

WWII planes over the National Mall, Washington, D.C. May 8, 2015 /Photo by Patricia Leslie

A WWII plane over the National Mall, Washington, D.C. May 8, 2015 /Photo by Patricia Leslie

A WWII plane over the National Mall, Washington, D.C. May 8, 2015/Photo by Patricia Leslie

WWII planes over the National Mall, Washington, D.C. May 8, 2015/Photo by Patricia Leslie

A WWII plane over the National Mall, Washington, D.C. May 8, 2015 /Photo by Patricia Leslie

WWII planes over the National Mall, Washington, D.C.  May 8, 2015/Photo by Patricia Leslie

A WWII plane over the National Mall, Washington, D.C. May 8, 2015/Photo by Patricia Leslie

A WWII plane over the National Mall, Washington, D.C. May 8, 2015/Photo by Patricia Leslie

While flying over the National Mall in Washington, D.C. on May 8, 2015, one of the WWII planes falls out of formation and heads towards National Airport for repair/Photo by Patricia Leslie

WWII planes over the National Mall, Washington, D.C. May 8, 2015/Photo by Patricia Leslie

WWII planes over the National Mall, Washington, D.C. May 8, 2015/Photo by Patricia Leslie

A WWII plane over the National Mall, Washington, D.C. May 8, 2015/Photo by Patricia Leslie

A WWII plane over the National Mall, Washington, D.C. May 8, 2015/Photo by Patricia Leslie

A WWII plane over the National Mall, Washington, D.C. May 8, 2015/Photo by Patricia Leslie

A WWII plane over the National Mall, Washington, D.C. May 8, 2015/Photo by Patricia Leslie

WWII planes over the National Mall, Washington, D.C. May 8, 2015/Photo by Patricia Leslie

A WWII plane over the National Mall, Washington, D.C. May 8, 2015/Photo by Patricia Leslie

WWII planes over the National Mall, Washington, D.C. May 8, 2015/Photo by Patricia Leslie

A WWII plane over the National Mall, Washington, D.C. May 8, 2015/Photo by Patricia Leslie

A WWII plane over the National Mall, Washington, D.C. May 8, 2015/Photo by Patricia Leslie

In the distance is one of the really big (!) planes flying back to its base after flying over the National Mall, Washington, D.C. May 8, 2015/Photo by Patricia Leslie

The mission is completed, and it's time to return to base after flying over the National Mall, Washington, D.C. May 8, 2015/Photo by Patricia Leslie

WWII planes over the National Mall, Washington, D.C. May 8, 2015/Photo by Patricia Leslie

WWII planes over the National Mall, Washington, D.C. May 8, 2015 with the "Missing Man" formation which ended the show/Photo by Patricia Leslie

 

patricialesli@gmail.com

Free noon strings and organ concert at St. John's, Lafayette Square, May 6

The U.S. Air Force Strings Chamber Orchestra will play at St. John's Episcopal Church, Lafayette Square, in a free noontime concert May 6, 2015.

The U.S. Air Force Strings Orchestra with organist Benjamin Hutto will play the music of George Frederic Handel and Felix Mendelssohn in a free lunchtime concert at St. John's Episcopal Church, Lafayette Square, beginning at
12:10 p.m. Wednesday.

On the program are Mendelssohn’s Sinfonia No. 2 in D and Handel’s Organ Concerto in B flat and his Rodrigo Suite. 

Without a conductor or sheet music, the 20 active duty Air Force musicians can play Broadway show tunes, classic rock, bluegrass, patriotic, and classical symphonic selections.

All are invited to the concert, a lovely respite in the middle of the day.

St. John's Episcopal Church, Lafayette Square, Washington, D.C./Photo by Patricia Leslie

Hutto is the director of music ministry and organist at St. John's and the director of choral activities at St. Albans School for Boys and the Washington Cathedral School for Girls. He is a fellow and past president of the Royal School of Church Music in North America, and the composer of several hymns included in the 1982 Hymnal of the Episcopal Church.

Benjamin Hutto, director of music ministry and organist, St. John's Episcopal Church, Lafayette Square, Washington, D.C.

St. John's, known to many Washington residents as the yellow church at Lafayette Square, is often called the “Church of the Presidents.” Beginning with President James Madison who served the office from 1809 to 1817, every president has been a member of St. John's or has attended services at the church. A plaque at the rear of St. John's designates the pew where President Abraham Lincoln often sat when he stopped by the church during the Civil War.  Next year St. John's will celebrate its bicentennial.

For those on lunch break Wednesday, food trucks are located at Farragut Square, two blocks away.

Who:  The U.S. Air Force Strings with organist Benjamin Hutto

What: Music of Handel and Mendelssohn

When:  May 6, 2015, 12:10 p.m.

Where: St. John’s, Lafayette Square, 1525 H Street, NW, at the corner of 16^th, Washington, D.C. 20005

How much: No charge

Duration:  35 minutes

Wheelchair accessible

Metro stations: McPherson Square (White House exit), Farragut North, or Farragut West

For more information: Contact Michael Lodico at 202-270-6265 or 202-347-8766

The last of this season's First Wednesday concerts at St. John's is set for June 3, 12:10 p.m. when Benjamin Straley, organist at the Washington National Cathedral, will play.

patricialesli@gmail.com

Sci-fi Renaissance man Cosimo exits National Gallery of Art today (updated)

 

Piero di Cosimo, Liberation of Andromeda, c. 1510-1513, Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence.

 

The work above is featured on the cover of the catalogue* for the Piero di Cosimo (1462-1522) exhibition at the National Gallery of Art which closes today. The rendering shows the mysterious and eccentric Italian Renaissance artist "at the height of his poetic powers," according to the wall label copy. Centered is the sea monster ordered by an angry and jealous Juno to devour the Ethiopian coast after that nation's Princess Andromeda was deemed more beautiful than Juno. 

 

Visitors to the National Gallery may see 44 of Cosimo's 56 known works (a National Gallery spokesperson said the remaining 12 were too fragile to travel) before the exhibition leaves for Florence where a variation will be hung at the Galleria degli Uffizi, a Cosimo show co-sponsor with the National Gallery.  It is the first time the Galleria has co-organized a paintings exhibition with another museum.

 

The last time Cosimo's paintings were exhibited in the U.S. was in 1938 when seven were displayed at Schaeffer Galleries in New York. 

 

 Gretchen Hirschauer, associate curator of Italian and Spanish paintings at the National Gallery of Art, said Cosimo spoke "in a wonderfully strange language all his own," and Giorgio Vasari, writing about 500 years ago in Lives of the Artists, mentioned Cosimo's "strangeness of his brain" who may have lived "more like a beast than a man" who "had by nature a most lofty spirit." Cosimo lived mostly on hard boiled eggs and was so afraid of fire he rarely cooked.  When he was an apprentice in 1481, he helped paint the Sistine Chapel.

 

In six galleries at the National Gallery of Art, his mythological and allegorical scenes, portraits, and altar pieces  capture the fancy of adults and children alike and can serve as an excellent introduction to art history with some bizarre combinations of animals, humans, and religious subjects to spark conversations like,  "What do you think he was trying to say?" and "What does it mean?" Please, sit by me a spell and let's talk about this early Salvador Dali.

Piero di Cosimo, Allegory, 1500 (?), National Gallery of Art, Washington, Samuel H. Kress Collection. 

The wall label copy for Allegory (above) says the winged woman becomes a human form of an idea, "the triumph of virtue over human passion."  Meanwhile, the mermaid at the bottom of the painting is supposedly a symbol of lust.  Is she searching for more victims?  Or, attempting to escape the angel who may overtake the siren? Let's discuss.

Piero di Cosimo, The Finding of Vulcan on Lemnos, late 1480s, Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, CT. 

 

Above is Vulcan, the son of Juno (again!) who has been expelled from Mt. Olympus as a punishment for his mom's meddling in the Trojan War which Homer describes in The Iliad.  (Just in time for Mother's Day.  Welcome, son, to the Garden of Earthly Torments!)

Piero di Cosimo, The Adoration of the Child, c. 1490-1500, Toledo Museum of Art. 

Piero di Cosimo, Detail from The Building of a Palace, c. 1514-1518, Collection of The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, the State Art Museum of Florida, Florida State University, Sarasota, Florida

 

Palace (above) was originally brought to the U.S. around 1890 as one of  a collection of 300 works hung in Alva Vanderbilt's "Gothic Room" in her summer residence, Marble House, in Newport, Rhode Island, according to the catalogue.*  Around 1927 the painting was sold to John Ringling whose museum was under construction at the time, rising from its own wilderness in the Florida swampland, and similar in many respects to Cosimo's Palace.  Cosimo was not recognized as the artist until after Ringling's purchase.

Piero di Cosimo, (above, left) Two Angels

c. 1510-1515, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; (above, right) Two Angels, c. 1510-1515, private collection, New York; (bottom) Madonna and Child with Saints Vincent Ferrer and Jerome, c. 1510-1515, Yale University Art Gallery. 

 

The three fragments above, now owned by different museums and collectors, were once part of an altarpiece Cosimo created for the church of Santa Maria Novella in Florence.  The National Gallery's display is the first time they have been together in 100 years.  It is believed both sets of angels were separated from the original in the late 18th or early19th century, perhaps to sell to tourists.

 

Among the 40 private collectors and institutions which have loaned art for the exhibition are the Honolulu Academy of Arts, the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa, the Philbrook Museum of Art in Tulsa, the National Gallery in Prague, the Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest, the Louvre, the Superintendency of Cultural Heritage for the cities and museums of Florence and Rome, for Umbria, and the provinces of  Florence, Pistola, and Prato.

 

*A 240-paged color catalogue in hard and softbound is (update:  was) available. (The catalogue has sold out and re-printing at this time is unknown.)

 

What:  Piero di Cosimo: The Poetry of Painting in Renaissance Florence

 

 

When: Today, 11 a.m. - 6 p.m. Sunday

Where: Main Floor, West Building, National Gallery of Art, between Third and Seventh streets at Constitution Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. On the Mall.

Admission: No charge

Metro stations: Smithsonian, Federal Triangle, Navy Memorial-Archives, or L'Enfant Plaza

For more information: 202-737-4215

patricialesli@gmail.com

On a 'Carousel' ride at the Olney

Carey Rebecca Brown (left) is Julie Jordan and Dorea Schmidt is Carrie Pipperidge in Olney Theatre Center's Carousel/Photo by Stan Barouh

Ladies and Gentlemen, round and round we go on the merry-go-round of life, hopping off every now and then to ponder, maybe make a change or two, and jump back on board to join the circus of life. 

Attention, theatre lovers:  If you haven't seen Carousel, this is a "must," and if you have seen it, you'll enjoy the music and story all over again at the Olney Theatre Center  with its largest ever orchestra (12 pieces, under the direction of Christopher Youstra) and a large cast, too.  (The big ones seem to be the most enjoyable.)

Cast members kick up their heels in Olney Theatre Center's Carousel while a newly departed resident watches from above/Photo by Stan Barouh

Richard Rodgers (music) and Oscar Hammerstein II (book and lyrics) are on stage again, with another grand musical, not following the happy-go-lucky concept of most big-scale shows, but telling a story with a serious message.

Of those he wrote, Rodgers called Carousel his favorite musical, and Jason Loewith, Olney's artistic director and director for this production, says, in program notes, it's the "best musical yet written," a opinion similar to Time magazine's which called it the best musical of the 20th century.  (The Olney show is a celebration of the 70th anniversary of Carousel on Broadway.)

We welcome the enduring songs, "If I Loved You" and "When You Walk Through A Storm" which frame the drama of a carnival worker, Billy Bigelow, in the late 19th century who walks too far on the wild side while pursuing his love who becomes his wife, Julie Jordan, now expecting their first child.  Temptation and necessity lead Billy astray once more. 

Where does he land?

Domestic abuse, likely an unspoken issue when the play was brought to Broadway in 1945, is an underlying subject, skillfully woven throughout the presentation and one we hear plenty about now, with good reason.

With his rich, deep voice and strong presence, 
Tally Sessions was a booming Billy Bigelow when I saw Olney's Carousel, but he has since moved on to New York for School of Rock, replaced by Cooper Grodin, newly off the road as Phantom in, of the Opera). Carey Rebecca Brown is Julie whose delicate voice in many scenes does  not overcome the orchestra.  

Tally Sessions (left) as Billy Bigelow and Chris Genebach as Jigger in Olney Theatre Center's Carousel/Photo by Stan Barouh

 

A couple who play second-fiddle to Billy and Julie are the humorists and marvelous vocalists, Dorea Schmidt as Carrie Pipperidge and Eugenio Vargas as Enoch Snow, who court, marry and reproduce in grand fashion, delivering beautiful melodies and funny lines, which are welcome content.

A bad boy is as bad as his name sounds, Jigger (Chris Genebach), superbly convincing as the conniving scoundrel who tries to thwart one romance by stealing the girl, and enticing Billy to join him on the wrong side of the tracks. Does he succeed?

Tommy Rapley, the choreographer, created exquisite dances, especially the one for Billy and Julie's daughter, Louise (Maya Brettell), whose grace and style at the closing bring hope.

Costumes in beige and muted colors, designed in Victorian/Edwardian styles by Seth Gilbert, are faithful renditions of the time period.

Small lights which change colors outline large, almost complete circles, one inside the other, to carry the theme of the whirling carousel on which the orchestra, on a level above, plays. For most of the production a darkened stage sets the tone.

Other cast members are David Bascombe as Russell Sunday, Eileen Ward who is Mrs. Mullin, and Delores King Williams, Nettie Fowler.

The ensemble features MaryLee Adams, Ian Berlin, Gracie Jones, Christopher Mueller, Henry Niepoetter, Taylor Elise Rector, Leo Christopher Sheridan, Suzanne Stanley, Russell Sunday, Henry Barartz, Carlos Castillo, Joshua Dick, Simon Diesenhaus, Kevin Grieco, Griffin McCahill, and Nicholas Schaap.
The design team includes Milagros Ponce De Leon, scenics; Jen Schriever, lighting; Tony Angelini, sound; Zachary Borovay, projections; Ben Cunis, fight choreographer; and J. Morgan White, ensemble member and dance captain.

What: Carousel which is based on the play, Liliom, by Ferenc Molnar and adapted by Benjamin F. Glazer

When: Now through May 24, 2015 at 8 p.m., Wednesdays through Saturdays, with weekend matinees at 2 p.m., and a 2 p.m. matinee, Wednesday, May 6.   (Extended. Again.)

Where: Olney Theatre Center, 2001 Olney-Sandy Spring Road, Olney, MD 20832

How much: Tickets start at $38, with discounts for military, groups, seniors, and students. Recommended for ages 12 and up.

Duration: 2 hours and 40 minutes with one intermission.

Refreshments: Available for purchase and may be taken to seats.

Parking: Abundant, free, and on-site

For more information: 301-924-3400

For more reviews of Carousel and other plays, go to DC Metro Theater Arts.

patricialesli@gmail.com
 

Pulitzer finalist 'Other Desert Cities' on stage in Vienna

Susan d. Garvey (on left), Kathy Ohlhaber, and Patrick David star in Other Desert Cities at Vienna Theatre Company/Photo by Matthew Randall

That Other Desert Cities was a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2012 and won five Tony nominations is not surprising.  It's a critic's play.

Which demonstrates in living color that things are not what they seem, folks, even though you may think you know-it-all.

Sometimes a minor character can steal a show. 

Like Jessie Roberts who is Silda, the mother's half-crazed, alcoholic sister, with a personality amplified by her flyaway hair, apparel, and funny lines which bring much needed humor and balance to the somber tone and message heard all night.

What darkness lurks beyond? 

Other Desert Cities is a family affair with father (Patrick David) and mother (Susan d. Garvey) pitted (or so she thinks) against grown daughter, Brooke (Kathy Ohlhaber) whose brother Trip (Jeff McDermott) is along for the ride, to tell his sister just how self righteous she really is.

Their older brother, Henry, is dead, and the negative aftermath of his passing are borne by the survivors who blame each other.  They lash out with mean and heartless words, similar to what audience members may think about saying to their own family members from time to time (well, maybe, not quite so extreme), but refrain from uttering to preserve family peace, or what remains of it.  (That would not happen here, of course, since there would be no show!)

It's Christmastime at Polly and Lyman's, the parents, which adds even more stress to conditions, especially with the holiday arrival of their "me-me-me-me-me, it's all about me!" daughter. 

Would you be surprised to learn it doesn't take long for conflict to erupt? And that Polly and Lyman share conservative leanings which happen to be the opposite of Brooke's?  It's 2004 and the Iraq War is raging.  But, not too much is said about it.

From beginning to end, it's all about Brooke, and how she feels and is affected by the family's tragedy. Never mind offending anyone else.  Never mind considering that she's not the only one. What does that matter as long as her new book gets published that lays out the horrors of her brother's death and how her family deals with it?  "I'm as sorry I'm a writer as you are," she says.  Amen, sister.  She got no sympathy from me.

On this Christmas trip home, you'll observe no pauses, inactivity, or boredom. Just heartbreak and enlightenment about those you love.

The outstanding set (by Skip Gresko) is what's to be expected of wealthy landowners living in Palm Springs, California.  In their large Western-style house, the living room has a curving beige stone wall with fireplace (into which is tossed a marijuana cigarette that Silda covets) and big windows which look out on a splashy, orangy sunset which changes with the time of day, I suppose, but being hooked on the dialogue, I didn't notice.  (What does that say about the script?)

That the Washington, D.C. area is blessed with great actors is well known, and, under the direction of Rosemary Hartman, the Desert quintet is more proof.  Especially the performances by Ohlhaber, David, and Roberts who seem so natural in their roles, it's hard to imagine them off stage as anyone but Brooke, Lyman, and Silda. 

Vienna audiences always turn out for good shows. I've never attended a production here which did not appear to be a sellout.

With contemporary street talk, Other Desert Cities is not a production recommended for children. 

This will be the last of Vienna Theatre Company's productions for a while at the Community Center since the center's renovation will soon begin, but the theatre troupe will find other places to stage.  You can't keep a good company down. 

Other key Desert Cities crew members are:  Richard Durkin, producer; Gerald Kadonoff, assistant producer; Mary Ann Hall, stage manager; Tigan Hughes, assistant stage manager; Chris Hardy, lighting designer; Benjamin Allen, sound designer and composer; Susan Boyd, costume, hair, and makeup designer; Jocelyn Steiner and Mary Frances Dini, set dressers and props.

What:  Other Desert Cities by Jon Robin Baitz

When:  8 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays on April 24 and 25 and May 1 and 2, with 2 p.m. Sunday matinees, April 26 and May 3.

Where: Vienna Theatre Company,120 Cherry Street, Vienna, VA 22180 (Vienna Community Center)

Tickets:  May be purchased online (vtcshows@yahoo.com) or at the box office.

Admission:  $14

Parking: Lots of free parking on-site

For more information: 703-255-6360 or visit the website

To read other local reviews of shows still on the stage, click Other Reviews on DCMetroTheaterArts.

patricialesli@gmail.com
 

Rachmaninoff and Edgar Allan Poe star with the National Symphony Orchestra

Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849)/Wikipedia

Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943)/Wikipedia

 

My favorite composers were on the National Symphony Orchestra program Thursday night, and if you rush today, you can hear them tonight.

It was practically an all Russian evening, from the guest conductor, Vassily Sinaisky (who never used a baton), to composers Sergei  Rachmaninoff (1873-1943) and Alexander Borodin (1833-1887), to the vocalists, guest soprano, Dina Kuznetsova, and tenor, Sergey Semishkur.

Other nations represented on the platform, besides Americans who are members of the Choral Arts Society of Washington, the NSO, and Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849), were guest tenor, Elchin Azizov from Azerbaijan, and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) of Austria. 

Beginning the program was NSO's first performance of Borodin's Overture to Prince Igor, which began solemnly enough but soon gave way to vigorous double bass, building to a climax in a piece whose authorship is uncertain, according to the program.  (By day, Borodin was a professor of chemistry who had little time for composition, but around-the-clock he was an advocate of women's rights, founding the School of Medicine for Women in St. Petersburg.)

A NSO star, Loren Kitt, splendidly played the familiar but always welcome, Mozart's Concerto in A major for Clarinet and Orchestra, K. 622, in an almost nonchalant fashion, totally unruffled by the audience in front of him, and cleaning his instrument before he began, while the orchestra played on behind him.

The best composition of the night belonged to the second half of the program and Rachmaninoff's interpretation of Poe's The Bells: sleigh bells, wedding bells, alarm bells, and mournful bells, following life's trajectory, from childhood to adulthood to the grave, Poe's words augmented by those of Russian poet, Konstantin Balmont (1867-1942) as in "The Silver Sleigh Bells":

And their dreaming is a gleaming that a perfumed air exhales,
And their thoughts are but a shining,
And a luminous divining
Of the singing and the ringing, that a dreamless peace foretells.

From "The Mellow Wedding Bells":

Hear the mellow wedding bells,
Golden bells!
What a world of tender passion their melodious voice foretells!

From "The Loud Alarum Bells":

Yet we know
By the booming and the clanging,
By the roaring and the twanging,
How the danger falls and rises like the tides that ebb and flow

From "The Mournful Iron Bells":

What a world of desolation in their iron utterance dwells!
And we tremble at our doom,
As we think upon the tomb,
Glad endeavour quenched for ever in the silence and the gloom.

The beauty of The Bells was magnified by the voices of Choral Arts Society (under the direction of Scott Tucker and composed of 130 members, a few more women than men, my count) and the guests performers named above, so eloquent and professional in their deliveries, one could think of no better singers to be hired for such an occasion.

(Have you ever heard of the "celesta," one of three keyboards played in Bells?  Neither has Dorling-Kindersley, Limited, which published the Complete Classical Music Guide (2012) or David Pogue and Scott Speck, authors of Classical Music for Dummies (1997), who all omit the instrument defined in the American Heritage Dictionary as "a keyboard and metal plates struck by hammers (! (editor's addition)) that produce bell-like tones."  To the untrained, it makes sounds like one might imagine a grownup's toy piano would.  Delightful!  What a nice girl's name to bestow. Akin to "celestial.")

Who would have thought the night would become so glorious, and to think I just picked the performance for my #1 love, Rachmaninoff!

(Update:  At a later event I met a Russian scholar who told me if Poe were any other nationality besides American, he thought Poe would have been Russian, based on Poe's temperament. This was a man who said he read Poe's complete works every summer when he visited his grandmother.)

(Questions: Where were the floral arrangements usually found at the end of the aisles at the stage, and why were the first two rows of seats kept empty of concertgoers?)


What:  Borodin, Mozart, Poe, and Rachmaninoff

When:  Tonight, 8 p.m.

Where:  John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington, D.C.

Admission:  Tickets start at $10.

Duration:  About two hours with one 15 minute intermission

For more information: 202-467-4600

patricialesli@gmail.com