The Mercury News review of The Crucible is up. It’s mainly favorable. One interesting bit is that Mr. Scheinin thought we sometimes covered up the singers. Robert Ward (the composer) spoke to several of us after opening night, and then met with another musician the next morning, and said that he wanted us louder. He said it sounded as if we were holding back. And we were holding back. A lot. We had been told we were too loud at nearly every rehearsal. Mr. Ward was disappointed, or so it appeared. He felt that the use of supertitles actually allowed us to play out a bit more since the audience would be reading what was being sung.

So who knows? Maybe we were too loud. Maybe we weren’t. Guess it depends upon the listener.

I do know I am playing very softly much of the time. I often do this with Opera San José. I just chalk it up to young singers and I manage to deal with it (old reeds help!). It’s always a shock to get on stage for Symphony Silicon Valley because suddenly I’m playing too softly for the conductor and it takes me a while to adjust.

I felt that both performances this weekend went well, but I must admit that Sunday was terribly difficult for me; I was so tired I felt that even breathing was a challenging task. Everyone else seemed to be feeling much the same, so I’m guessing it was due to our full week. (And to think that we have it extremely light compared to big opera companies. I guess we’re a bit wimpy!)

So tonight it’s a night off (and a Giants game!) and I’m back in the pit tomorrow evening. The opera is a bit of a reed eater, so I’m going to have to spend some time with the little pests soon.
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