Dr. Atomic

Last night we watched Dr. Atomic "live" from the Met. My partner, a big John Adams fan, had turned it on. I was surprised to notice that the opera-aversion that I had experienced for the last decade and a half since dropping out of my program at the Peabody seemed to have gone. We sat and watched the strange beast that is contemporary opera "all the fun of sitting still, being quiet and listening carefully without benefit of traditional melody". But still it was cool- Adams did a great job of imagining what it must have been like to wait for the first test of an atomic bomb. The stage and light design were also very cool. (very little blocking- mostly standing still so the singers can sing over the orchestra)

Then I headed to bed and started to ask all those questions again: Why did I leave that one voice teacher and stay with the other one? Why did I listen when that crazy teacher told me to stop singing while I had orthodontics?

It's funny how the past heals in layers. I wish I could let go of all the "what ifs" and "whys" that cluster around that time in my life when I was preparing to be an opera singer, but it seems more time must pass. At least I can listen to Opera again.