March 3, 2020

my namesake is a mezzo-soprano

Last month, she joined a tribute at Ten Broeck Mansion in Albany, New York 
with her ensemble from the Mimi O'Neill Studio of Voice. The program was called
”Romantics to Ragtime: A Celebration of Song, Poetry, and Art.” Tickets were $5, 
with limited seating; refreshments were served following the performance.
A local poet shared the work of Lord Byron, Langston Hughes, and Emily Dickinson. 
An accompanying series of portraits was exhibited in the gallery of the house, 
which was built in 1797 and has been on the National Register of Historic Places 
since 1971. I am telling you this because somewhere on this earth, there is a place
solos are being sung in old houses in the middle of winter, girls pointing their voices
to the back of the room, and an audience looking directly into their faces, and listening.