… went very well. At least in my little mind. And ears. (Can’t say eyes, since I can’t see the stage. Boo hoo.)

I received a few compliments, which was nice. But of course I am silly about all of that. One friend was saying I was sounding particularly good, and I said I was actually enjoying myself. But then of course the negavoice (just created that. Nice, huh?) started sayiing, “Uh-oh. Now you’re in for it.”

I say I’m not superstitious. (Heck, I can’t even spell the word without looking it up.) But I always fear that once I say I feel like I’m doing well, or that I’m comfortable, or I’m having fun, heaven forbid, I start thinking I’ll be failing quite soon. I get that same negavoice™ when I say something negative about someone else. (I even fear that writing about the difference between composers and performers might bite me … and I honestly didn’t mean that blog entry to be at all hostile or accusatory, but I’m guessing it seems so …?)

So I might not be superstitious. But I probably am. Eh?

In any case, back to the opera: It went well. My solos were fun to play (!). (Here comes negavoice™ again. Ack!) Cosi solos (the few I have) are just the sort I really do enjoy playing. The audience seemed to enjoy what was going on on stage. So that was good too. And they gave a standing O, which isn’t something OSJ audiences do all that frequently.

The story of Cosi is, of course, an uncomfortable one. Men pretending to leave their women (in the original to go off to war), coming back in disguise and romancing them, but switching girlfriends. Awful in oh so many ways. Even while we laugh. I don’t always care for switching eras for operas, but I think this one works in the way the video below is done: it takes place in the hippie era. The men, who are pretty straight business looking sorts, come in disguise as hippies. The women gradually change from the a mod look to hippies. It’s clever. And it works for me. Who’da thunk it?

(Too bad the overture isn’t posted … but the rest of the opera is. Go here to see the selections in order and from the start.)