More from May 17, 2008 Samson et Dalila in Concert

OK. this came as a total surprise. I had expected to receive the earlier one seen here, because my friend, who took it with a digital camera and then had to figure out how to make a print of it, told me it was coming. But this one was a complete surprise.

If I haven't mentioned it already, this performance was the culmination of over four years of planning and dreaming of singing this role. It should have allowed me an afterglow lasting several weeks, at least, where I could have been the person who sang that role, talking about it to friends, the way one talks about a prom or a wedding, but it just so happened that the very next day there was some ugliness at work, caused by mistakes that, yes, I was partially responsible for, but that wouldn't have happened if we hadn't outsourced a lot of work to the Philippines! So that work problem ended up front and center on my screen (and everyone else's) which meant no one asked about or was interested in hearing about my special day. (Even I didn't have the energy to deliciously daydream about it.)

I don't know about other people, but for me, a major achievement is special not only in and of itself, but also in that it affects my feelings about myself. So no matter how dreary my daylife was (and believe me, it was dreary!!) to a handful of people on one afternoon, I was a real diva. I mean what I did wouldn't bear discussing with the Forum crowd, who are off auditioning for C and D houses for a paycheck, but to laypeople, I'm a singer.

I've often thought if I had lived in a small town, I would really have been a diva doing something like that, since it would have been the extent of most people's exposure to opera. But not here in the Big Apple, alas.

So now it's back to work. On my art, I mean. And yes, on my freelance editing, which is nice because it's something I do but it doesn't define me. If I walk into the supermarket with all my makeup on, no one knows if I'm a copy editor, a paid performing artist, or a lady of the evening in the morning (apologies to Rogers and Hart).

My Big Day - May 17, 2008

It's taken two years and three days, but I finally got a photo ( a print, that I had to scan with my new printer)of My Big Day, aka, the concert production of Samson et Dalila that I put on at the Lutheran church where I sing.

For people who perform operatic roles all the time, this may not seem like much, but to me, let's just say it was a big expletive deleted deal, to quote Vice President Joe Biden.

It was as big a deal as a prom, a wedding, or a senior recital.

Ever since my life was changed forever on February 15, 2004 when I sang "Mon Coeur" in a Valentine's Day service at the Unitarian Church, with my oft-discussed mentor as my strongman , I had a little plan in the back of my mind to sing the role of Dalila somewhere, somehow.

This just sort of fell into my lap. The Lutheran church was having a concert series as part of a capital campaign so I put Samson et Dalila in concert on the schedule. We didn't have a chorus or a ballet, or an orchestra, just three singers (the bass, who did yeoman duty in three roles, isn't shown here) and a fabulous pianist.

I don't know if the role is a totally perfect fit for my voice - the tessitura is a bit low and at the end of 45 minutes of singing I had to open my mouth and sing a high B flat (had me in mortal terror for six months but thanks to chugging a quart of Muscle Milk I actually did it) but the role sure is a totally perfect fit for my personality and I had a ball.

For a variety of reasons, I haven't had the energy to try this again with another opera, but my wheels are spinning now, and if I don't get cast in someone else's production, I am going to come up with something.