Happy Birthday Andre
Rieu!
In order to escape the fury of this
Florida's hurricane season, and refusing to
suffer through Hurricanes Charley, Florence and
Ivan, I flew on Continental Airlines, and had a
marvelous flight to Rome, and exchanged this
weather's madness for that of the turmoil of
Rome, with its heat, unreasonable traffic and
hundreds of roaming tourists.
I attended a Papal audience celebrating the
feast of the Virgin Mary's birth, with 2000
other people from all over the world, including
Poland, Brazil, Ireland, and USA. The Pope
looked weary and slurred his words even in
Polish and Italian when he was reading a
statement about violence by adults against
children, specifically mentioning the Russian
massacre. The exceptionally warm welcome he
received from the pilgrims seemed to enliven him
a bit as he weakly waved to us, and smiled when
greeted by a group of musicians playing tunes
from Zakopane; much to the annoyance of the
Polish Cardinal who kept trying to speak while
they played louder.
Happiness was the peace and tranquility I
found in the Tuscan hills that Frances Mayes
wrote about in UNDER THE TUSCAN SUN. I stayed a
few kilometers outside of Cortona, the ancient
Etruscan City, at the Hotel Portole, and I must
again thank the owner, Franco Lunghi and his
family for an extremely comfortable and
delightful stay. I can heartily recommend his
establishment and his restaurant served the most
delicious Tuscan food. Please contact him at:
www.portole.it, or portole@technet.it, for
reservations. Mille grazie Franco!
The highlight of my sojourn was ANDRE RIEU'S
Cortona Concert, held at the door of the Gothic
Basilica Santa Margherita. At first the virtuoso
violinist appeared tired as he came on the
outdoor stage which had been erected a couple of
days earlier, but once he started playing a
waltz on his Stradivarius under the blue lights
in the breeze of the Tuscan night, we all
transcended into a world of musical fantasy,
forgetting all our worldly cares. When the
melodies of his Johann Strauss Orchestra
prompted us to stomp our feet and clap our hands
to the effervescent Radetzky March, Andre broke
into his usual rambunctious self and teased the
audience; particularly poking fun later at our
off-key rendition of the Toreador song. Soprano
Carmen Monarcha came to our rescue doing a
fantastic job singing an aria from Carmen, and
soprano Carla Maffioletti excelled in singing
Mein Herr Marquis from Die Fledermaus; and if I
am not mistaken, managed a E or F above a high
C. I would love to hear her sing Les Filles de
Cadix at a future concert. Also, a Dutch singer
by the name of Suzan Erens was as cute as can be
as Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz, replete with a
blue dress, singing Somewhere Over the Rainbow,
in a pure, clear tone. However, the piece de
resistance was the operatic rendition by the
three sopranos singing from Franz Lehar's The
Land of Smiles, in their lovely Chinese
costumes. Even their facial expressions had been
rehearsed to perfection. The orchestra was
marvelous and full of fun as always, especially
when the male chauvinists in the orchestra
started clapping when Andre made reference to
the Chinese women's habit of hiding feelings
behind a smile and being submissive to their
men, the female members of the audience booed
them. (I had nothing to do with the first Boo!)
After the intermission, Andre was at his
best, and was totally relaxed as he struggled
with his Italian irregular verbs, amusing
everyone with his grammatical nonsense as he
introduced the songs. Another one of my favorite
moments was his trademark of playing the violin
beautifully with the audience dancing in the
isles to the Blue Danube Waltz, whereby he
lingers on a moment which stops the waltzers in
mid air, as he, the maestro, always in command
of both the orchestra and the audience, decides
how long to hold the magic. He interspersed both
comedy with classical renditions, covering every
taste; and for a finale, a dramatic rendition of
music complete with flashing lights and thunder;
but which unfortunately I did not recognize, as
there were no programs available. The audience
would not let him off stage and he was forced to
play more melodious tunes to our delight, under
the mystical blue lights catching the glimmer of
the stars on a memorable Tuscan night.
Andre's Cortona Concert was truly a
successful evening, made even sweeter when he
received the Premio Cortonantiquaria IV Edizione, and was presented with a magnificent
trophy by the City of Cortona for his
contribution of making it more famous
world-wide; if that is at all possible. Bravo
Andre Rieu! He also mentioned that it was
possible he might do another concert in romantic
Cortona next year. He is now on his way to
perform in Asia. Arrivederci, Andre.
Remember, keep a song in your heart.
Romantically yours,
Alinka Zyrmont
