I was to be involved in a UCSC recital this Friday, but one of the musicians is ill so our part of the recital is off. Instead I believe we’ll be playing on February 10. That works well for me, since I’ll be doing Traviata and in town. So what was going to be a week with rehearsals has been altered a wee bit. I still need to drive over the hill to UCSC, as I’m playing with the orchestra this quarter, but I’ll have a wee bit more time off, which is nice and very welcome.
It’s really rare to have to cancel something, and in this case only our half of the recital is canceled. I do remember we had to cancel a Nutcracker once, due to a power outage, thunder and lightning one evening meant a canceled outdoor performance, and another time I recall leaving part way through an outdoor performance of an opera (I think it was also a power outage that time, but I’m not certain). But I’ve been in this biz since 1975 and those are the only ones I’m remembering at this point. Anyone else?
Back in the days of the old San Jose Symphony, there was a huge rainstorm that led to a lot of flooding. There was an in-school scheduled for the strings that morning — this was pre- e-mail and cell phones — and I actually struggled all the way down to Sunnyvale or wherever it was only to discover that school was closed and the performance had therefore been called off. That’s the only actual cancellation I can remember right now.
I do remember, though, the early fall of one season following the summer of “rolling blackouts”. Remember them? When Enron still existed and was jerking California around? This was toward the end of SJS when I was co-chair of the Players’ Committee. I lived in fear for several months that a rolling blackout would be called in downtown SJ on a concert night. Lost a lot of sleep over that one, but fortunately the dice rolled in our favor.
So you must have missed the Nutcracker cancellation? IIRC we played half of the show, but I could be wrong about that. I do remember feeling rather sad for the kids who were going to attend that matinee. (But of course still was happy to skip a Nut for a day.)
… and did SJS play on 9/11, or was there no work that night in any case? I know Opera San José went on with the show. (Some people were not at all happy about that.)
I don’t think we (SJS) were scheduled to play that day. We took a concert that was scheduled for some days later and turned it into a free community event; I think we collected donations for the Red Cross. The hall was packed. And yeah, I’m sure I missed the Nut cancellation. Woulda remembered that!
I do remember an SJS concert with Richard Stoltzman when the power went out and he chatted up and played solo for the audience by the emergency lights until they restored power. I also remember a Pops with Jose Feliciano that had to be reworked when his flight was cancelled due to fog at SFO; the Friday night show was dropped and moved to Sunday afternoon? or something like that… and I think maybe we added a short rehearsal with him on Saturday before the scheduled show that night. Lot of negotiations about what to do for the folks who had other gigs Sunday and couldn’t come. I think Dave Schoenbrun led the way on that.
Yeah, I sure remember the Stoltzman concert! Dan was stage manager at the time so he was scrambling to get stand lights up. Stoltzman played the Stravinsky … in a very dark hall!
I missed the Jose Feliciano concert … must have had opera or something.