Hobnobbery

I'm pleased to report that your erstwhile heroine has spent in the last two evenings in the presence of the rich and appreciative. On Sunday, I sang at a fundraiser for the Philadelphia Singers, which, as I'm sure most of you know, cancelled half their season abruptly a month or so ago. One of the board members offered up her house (dare I say mansion?) for the event, and it was quite a swanky affair with some of the best food I have ever tasted in my life. I never thought I could have a mouthgasm from a grape stuffed with toasted coriander seeds. I'm going into fits of rapture just thinking about it.

Last night I sang at another fundraiser, this time for Music Theater Group, a wonderful little off-off-Broadway theater company in New York. I had performed in a workshop of a chamber opera called Arjuna's Dilemma there several years ago, and have been involved in that show ever since; this summer, Doug Cuomo (the composer) asked me to sing in a recording of the piece, which was a huge honor, since I got to sing with two of the members of Anonymous 4. So when I got the last-minute call to sing a snippet of the piece at this fundraiser, I jumped at the chance. This fundraiser was in a penthouse in Manhattan with a gorgeous 360-degree view of the city by moonlight. The food was not quite as good as Chef Fritz's creations, but I certainly wasn't put off, by any means.

One thing that struck me about both events, though, was how incredibly appreciative all these people were of the arts. At the Philly Singers fundraiser, it was great to be able to see everyone's faces during the performance and watch them get caught up in the music. And for the Music Theater Group fundraiser, although I couldn't really see the audience because of all the lights, I was stopped after the performance by many people who exclaimed how haunting the music was, and how much they would love to hear more about the piece.

It just proves to me that there are still people in this world who love watching the kind of stuff I love to do. There are still those who understand how rich and meaningful music and theater can be to people's lives, and who are willing to support it. Granted, that bunch of people may be dwindling these days, but there's still hope. I still believe art has a place, a very important place, in society, and I am not the only one who thinks so.

I just hope more people with deep pocketbooks can continue to help us starving artists out so we can continue our craft.