I sincerely hope everyone out there had a happy and safe celebration of the New Year.  I myself continued my four year tradition of walking down to the Brooklyn Promenade, where almost no one is on New Year’s Eve, and quietly celebrating the turning of the annual leaf with some champagne, the fireworks, and the lower Manhattan Skyline. 

Much occurred during my absence including this fascinating piece in the New York Post…it’s just great.  I think neither Mozart, Beethoven nor Ives ever had stories like these to share.  Personally I’m happy the composer triumphed over his own circumstances.  It’s a long way from those New Year’s Eve celebrations to artistic success, sometimes we forget it.

The other good news is that a lot of us will have the chance to see Appomattox in a theater near us.  In light of the success the Metropolitan Opera is having with its live HD simulcasts of operas, the SF Opera has launched a similar initiative with a slightly different take on it. Rather than experiencing their productions with the thrill of the "live" element, the SF Opera is focusing on quality including the benefit of lots of post production.  I have seen the production on DVD (of which some was excerpted for use in the NY Times piece about Appomattox) and it’s really wonderful.  The encouraging trend is that more and more people are jumping at the chance to experience opera in the local movie house.