A family feud and folk music

Another fine weekend of performance!  How lucky are we in Portlandia with all this art, music and culture? Very lucky, I say.

LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR

I had the opportunity to attend opening night for Lucia di Lammermoor, presented by the Portland Opera.

The plot, not unfamiliar, revolves around forbidden love and the eventual death of the star crossed lovers. A plot we all are drawn to over and over again, aren't we?

As a new fan of opera, I am not familiar with many of the operas put on stage and I find delight in the discovery of the story as it actually unfolds before my eyes.  I use all my senses to experience the opera.

In this case, all elements of this production possessed a "wow" factor that kept me thinking about it for days after witnessing it.

Elizabeth Futral's performance as Lucia was mesmerizing.  Her singing caused the telltale goose bump reaction I always seek when I attend any kind of performance.  I was reminded that I am indeed a fan of opera about six times that evening. When she filled the entire auditorium with her voice, I think each one of us in attendance left with pieces of Lucia.

The lighting and set design were beyond words possessing more then a few letters for me and my guest, Lauren.  We kept saying "Wow." and "Oh my." throughout the night. The image above captured one such moment and we were left with many guesses on how Scott Boleman and Christine Jones - along with the others on the team of technical and design experts - managed to take two, monolithic slabs of some kind of material and bring it to life with a few intentional turns and clever lighting. 

If you were able to get to the final performance in spite of the bizarre weather, you know exactly what I am talking about.

WINTERFOLK

The following night, Lauren, John and I attended the 26th Annual Winterfolk event at the Aladdin Theater.  Tom May, host of River City Folk, coordinates this annual event as a benefit for Sisters of the Road, a local non-profit restaurant that "offers a space to build community, empower ourselves, learn from one another, dine with dignity and organize for justice and human rights for all.

This year's event included performances by Jill Trenholm & Scott Docherty, Hanz Araki & Cary Novotny, Tom May & Chris Kennedy with Donny Wright, Jaspar Lepak, Dan Weber, Brooks Robertton & John Standfer, and David Mallett.

It was a lovely night of music -- it started at 7 pm and lasted a bit past 11 pm, as I recall.  The night ended with a tribute to the late Pete Seeger and had all of us on our feet singing "We Shall Overcome", a fitting way to leave the night. Enjoy this video of Pete singing the anthem.