Wrap-Up

This note was cross-posted a few weeks ago at The Standing Room, a blog written by M6er Sidney Chen.

that’s my head, directly above the white cap on the bicyclist

During the course of last night’s performance, I honestly had no idea how many people were in the audience; there could have been, like, 5 people total, for all I knew. The house lights were all the way down and the stage lighting prevented me from seeing anything beyond the first couple of rows. I do remember thinking at one point, gee, it’s strange that these people are sitting so close to the stage; people don’t normally sit there unless they have to. And some part of my brain registered the fact that there were bodies in the loge-like seats on the side, but I chose not to give it much mind. So I hope my face didn’t register the shock too obviously when the house lights came up for the composer acknowledgment after the second bow, because my first thought was actually, WHOA, who are all these people?!?!? I’m told that there were even a dozen+ standing-room folks in the back of the house.

My sincere thanks to everyone who turned up, and for being such a responsive and enthusiastic audience. And thanks also to everyone who took the time to say hello afterwards and express the things that the program made them think about and feel. It means a lot to me that so many of the things people said went far beyond and far deeper than the usual “you have a lovely voice” or “well, that must have been hard!” type of comments. It was a very satisfying evening from the stage, and I hope it was equally so out in the seats.

Some reactions are up on Anne-Carolyn Bird’s and Darcy James Argue’s blogs, if you’re curious.