Oberon's Grove

Autumn Leaves

Oberon's Grove is located in this forest at the northern tip of the Isle of Manatus, also known as Inwood.

The colors were dazzling this year, especially the golds. I am spending lots of time wandering the woodlands these days, enjoying the spectacular views of the Hudson River from on high. It is so peaceful here, hard to believe we are just 25 minutes from Times Square.

The park is home to many ducks, geese and seagulls, and this past Summer we had two egrets and a tern as well. In the past we have seen swans floating on the inlet.

Clicking on the images will make them somewhat larger. For those who live in the Metro area, I urge you to visit this natural habitat. Take the A Train to 207th, exit at the front of the train and walk two blocks west.   

The forest is equally lovely and restful during all seasons. You'll feel rejuvenated.

2006 NUTCRACKER #1

So I left the theatre last night after NUTCRACKER only to realize in the subway station that I had left my program with my scrawled notes & cross-outs and substitutions on my seat. I'll see how memory serves.

(This is my 9th consecutive season of attending NY City Ballet NUTCRACKERs. Prior to 1998 I saw it a couple of times on my visits. Now it's a regular fixture of my season.)

A guest conductor was listed but Maestro Kaplow materialized on the podium with no announcement; considering how often it's played and the use and abuse it has sustained in commercials and cartoons, NUTCRACKER is a wonderful score. The Snow scene and Waltz of the Flowers stand out.

Adam Hendrickson's magical Drosselmeyer and the heart-warming reappearance of two ballerinas who have been missing in action enlivened the party scene. The poised and attractive Gwyneth Muller & Henry Seth (a potential Drosselmeyer himself!) hosted the fete. Adam's characterization continues to deepen and darken. He is a young man but captures the wisdom and gentle irony of maturity. Seeing Kristin Sloan onstage again was a treat, as was sighting the long-absent Ashlee Knapp - both girls looked very fetching. Likolani Brown was a delightful Columbine but my missing program has me stumped as to who her Harlequin was; Giovanni Villalobos was a sturdy Soldier.

Elizabeth Walker led off the Snowflakes - a Southern belle swept into a blizzard. Scheller and Gilliland danced in this scene unannounced.  The choreography  is tricky here, especially dancing "on ice". The girls all danced through the eventual snow squall with flair.

Choosing NUTCRACKERs to attend is usually based on who is dancing Sugar Plum and Dewdrop. I like to see women in these roles I haven't seen dance them for a while or who are dancing them for the first time. It has been quite a few seasons since I last saw Maria Kowroski's SPF and she has been dancing so beautifully since her comeback. Tonight she radiated calm authority in the opening solo. Appearing in the sorbet tutu, the legendary  Kowroski legs ideally displayed, she and Charles Askegard gave us a grand pas de deux that was truly grand. The sweep and elegance of Maria's dancing and her uncanny extension were expertly shown off by Mr. Askegard's astute partnering. My impression is that this adagio is very difficult - we've seen it so often that maybe we take it for granted that the dancers will succeed; but to me the wrist catches, the flying leaps to the man's shoulder, the myriad pirouettes, the ride on the metal plate, the balances - all are a test of skill. In the coda, Chuck delivered a barrage of turns; then Maria swept back onstage and they polished off the piece with the audience cheering.

Savannah Lowery's delicious Hot Chocolate with Adrian Danchig-Waring's long-legged elegance led off the divertissement. Wei & I are huge fans of Faye Arthurs and she was splendid in Arabian - the amazing extension and the slow, languorous full split. In the finale, she brilliantly sustained the attitude poses before flying off with a big leap. Daniel Ulbricht (Tea) burst out of his magic box, ran forward, flew up in the air and nailed a sensational burst of turns. Daniel transformed this very short solo into a star turn. Aaron Severini's feather-weight Candy Cane was brilliant also; he leapt through the hoop with skill and a big dollop of charm. The Marzipan choreography - I have been told - is extremely demanding. Ana Sophia Scheller, one of the most fantastic dancers in this fantastic Company, danced it with virtuosity and dazzling charisma. I simply love watching her. Rob Fairchild's Mother Ginger was poised and somewhat demure.

The Waltz of the Flowers always presents the dilemma: who to watch?  Aside from the two soloists there are always corps girls in this number who demand my attention. Melissa Barak and Ashley Laracey in the leads compounded the problem since I love watching them both; they are so lyrical and gracious. I was able to quickly sneak a peak at the riveting Kaitlyn G, the delightful Amanda Hankes and Lauren King, and two quietly blooming beauties Dara Johnson & Ellen Ostrom; and then Megan Fairchild's Dewdrop took over the stage and I couldn't pry the opera  glasses off her.

Fairchild is a dancer who has slowly conquered me; I was indifferent to her when she first joined the Company but with each passing season and new role she has developed  her stage savvy and built on her technique in an impressive way. "Resistance is futile!" - her brilliant dancing in the pas de quatre of SWAN LAKE erased any lingering reservations and as Dewdrop she was thrilling. Her intriguing combination of technical strength and girlish delicacy were shown to fine advantage in the difficulties of this choreography. The precision of the turns, the flashing jumps and pristine balances were all Fairchild's to give and she delighted the audience. The best kind of fan is the fan you have won over, and I'll be looking forward to her performances in the future.   

Thanksgiving

I'm thankful for the little kid in the photo.

I'm thankful that his parents found a way around China's "one child" restrictions.

I'm thankful for his grandmother who took good care of him.

I'm thankful he chose an American university.

I'm thankful he chose New York City.

I'm thankful my wild oats had been sown.

I'm thankful his earlier relationships left something to be desired.

I'm thankful he called me.

I'm thankful he asked me to the movies that second day.

I'm thankful he puts up with me.

I'm thankful he's able to sleep late this morning.

"There is one person, one imponderable miracle, who alone fits into your world...and then one day love subsides and becomes so calm that you scarcely notice it anymore." - THE DUKE OF EGYPT by Margriet de Moor

That little kid grew up to be Wei.    

City Ballet Opening Night Gala

The programme of one complete ballet, one premiere and a bunch of excerpts didn't seem really cohesive. I would have preferred a nice solid 3-ballet evening. However, it was great to be back at the ballet watching the parade of dancers.

Andrew Veyette would have seemed ideally cast in Wheeldon's CAROUSEL but he was replaced by the excellent Seth Orza in one of his most successful roles to date. Kathryn Morgan is a very attractive dancer; it's not her fault that this piece has Alexandra Ansanelli's name written all over it. Krohn and Rutherford were excellent, and in the corps the outstanding couple were Melissa Barak & Sean Suozzi, two of City Ballet's most distinctive dancers.

I was impressed at how the dancers dove right into the difficulties of the SLICE TO SHARP excerpt. Wendy and Craig Hall held the audience enthralled with their mysterious adagio. Kowroski looks superb, and Sylve, Scheller, de Luz, Ramasar and Liang all brought back a flood of memories of the fantastic premiere of this piece last Spring. The steps, so swift and brilliant, make the pulse race.

The return of Janie Taylor after a long absence was a high point of the evening for me; she is one of my favorite dancers and I have really missed seeing her onstage. In PURPLE from Peter's ECSTATIC ORANGE, she and Sebastien Marcovici managed to be both angular and sensual. The piece reminded Wei & I of certain Darci/Jock Soto combinations. Marcovici has honed his partnering skills to the level of mastery, and Taylor's "steel magnolia" image - the inner strength and the outer delicacy - makes her fascinating to watch.

Daniel Ulbricht and Tiler Peck flashed thru the demanding setps of FRIANDISES with engaging flair. Sean Suozzi and Jon Stafford were especially impressive among the ensemble, notably Jon's multiple turns in in alternating directions.

The chunk of WALPURGISNACHT was the most wonderful part of the evening for me;  Kyra Nichols gave a beautiful performance of a role she has been dancing for years. The Nichols/Neal partnership has given me an awful lot of lovely memories. Kyra's announced retirement in the Spring will deprive the Company of a true lyric presence. Ana Sophia Scheller and Carrie Lee Riggins were scintillating demi-solistes, and Abi Stafford lit up the stage for me with her natural charm and polished dancing. Her's was in fact the performance of the evening from my perspective.

The new (to NYC) Ratmansky piece MIDDLE DUET was quirky and amusing, though I think the exciting partnership of Kowroski and Albert Evans was actually better showcased in Edwaard Liang's SOFTLY AS I SPEAK at the Miller Theatre earlier this year. Both the Liang and Ratmansky pieces have shown Maria K at what seems to be peak form. Albert Evans is simply a beautiful dancer, not just the way he moves and partners but in that deeper sense of commitment and personal warmth. The Ratmansky ends as the dancers become lackadaisical and finally slump to the floor for a nap.  Maria & Albert were very warmly applauded.

I will be glad when NY EXPORT: OPUS JAZZ drops out of the NYCB rep. It seems so dated. The dancers gave it their all; the notable partnership of Pazcoguin and Adam Hendrickson could be further explored. Suozzi again stood out.

In the finale of STARS & STRIPES Adam nailed his air turns to the knee combination and squired the fine soloists, Reichlen and Hyltin. Bouder & Woetzel team up well in terms of pizazz and an air of recklessness. Bouder slipped but she didn't fall; her bravura dancing was exhilirating. Damian's off-hand dispensing of turns and jumps is fun, and his bravado compliments Bouder to perfection.

Watching the gala party for a bit, black seemed to be the colour of choice of the ballerinas: Kyra, Janie T and Sara Mearns looked glamourous and Maria K's frock was a knock-out. She is spectacular.

{I've "borrowed" Paul Kolnik's photo of Abi in FEARFUL SYMMETRIES. It's a picture I love; last season for the Diamond Project it graced an enormous banner on the side of the State Theatre. Now it is available on postcards in the theatre lobby.}

UPDATE: May I draw everyone's attention to the Gala review of fellow blogger Ellen Thomas at her site, VIEW FROM THE FOURTH RING. There's a link in the right-hand column of this page.

Finding the Music: DYBBUK

Just in the weeks before Tower Records was sold and the liquidation process began, we were doing our usual preparation for the 2006-07 season at Lincoln Center. Bryan, my boss, and the two buyers would try to bring in as many different versions as were available of the operas, symphonic and chamber works that were to be presented at the various Lincoln Center venues as well as Carnegie Hall, BAM, etc. One of my jobs was to round up the ballet titles - not just the SWAN LAKEs and ROMEO & JULIETs but the shorter & less-known works to which much of NYC Ballet's repertoire is set. So in the past couple of years we not only found and imported several copies of the ballet version of MANON for the ABT revival but also the music for such Diamond Project hits as RUSSIAN SEASONS and EVENFALL.

One work I imagine people will be looking for this season is Bernstein's DYBBUK. I believe the Robbins ballet was last performed at NYCB back in the 1970s. I remember seeing a performance with McBride & Tomasson; my diary says little about it except that it was "dark" and I didn't like it that much.  But I am more than ready to see it again; now that I've grown up, it might make a very different impression.

I wanted to let readers know that the score of the full ballet has been recorded (it seems Robbins culled from the full work to build his "suite"). It's available on a two-disc Deutsche Grammphon set called JUDAICA. Bernstein conducts his Jeremiah and Kaddish symphonies as well as the ballet score. Voice buffs may be lured to the set by the presence of Montserrat Caballe and Christa Ludwig as vocal soloists.

Amazon has several new and used copies listed at prices which seem pretty reasonable for a 2-disc set. I found it by doing a search for "Judaica Bernstein" under classical music at the Amazon website. This isn't a plug for the disc (I haven't heard it) or for Bernstein, DG or Amazon. It's a shameless plug for NYCB, however.

Readers may feel free to pass this information along to other dance sites.

Ovation

One of the sad things about going to the opera over the years is the decline of The Ovation. When I started going to the New Met in 1966, opera was going through a sort of "last Golden Age". Night after night the casting lists were filled with names like Nilsson, Sutherland, Corelli, Rysanek, Tebaldi, Cossotto, Bumbry, Bergonzi, Tucker, Price, Siepi. One became accustomed to massive demonstrations of affection at the end of performances: the fans gathered at orchestra railing at the final curtain and called the singers out time and again. It was not unusual to have a ten or fifteen minute cheering session at the end of a FRAU OHNE SCHATTEN, a Moffo TRAVIATA, or Marvin David Levy's masterwork, MOURNING BECOMES ELECTRA.

Great ovations are part of operatic lore. Sutherland's "star-is-born" first LUCIA Mad Scene at the Royal Opera or the seventeen-minute celebration after Corelli & Simionato finished their duet in the famous La Scala HUGUENOTS. Callas stopping the show for five minutes in Act I when she returned to the Met in TOSCA. The final night of the Chereau RING Cycle at Bayreuth - booed at its premiere 5 years earlier - is claimed to have sustained 90-minutes of cheers.

In my own experience, there were raptures after TURANDOTs with Nilsson & Corelli and GIOCONDAs with Tebaldi. In contrast to today, when there is usually a single group bow, one set of solo bows and maybe a final bow for everyone, in the good old days the singers would be called out repeatedly. On the night of the famous Nilsson/Caballe TURANDOT the audience continuously demanded the two divas come forth. Soon they were hugging and kissing, further stoking the fires. The same thing happened when the great Wagnerian soprano Leonie Rysanek sang one of her last Sieglindes to the next generation's Brunnhilde, Hildegard Behrens. Ecstatic applause for two of opera's legends. (Rysanek later left the "Lotte Lehmann" ring to her younger colleague.)

Individual arias could stop the show for several minutes: Caballe in BALLO or Pavarotti in ELISIR. At the City Opera, Beverly Sills took five solo bows after her first NY LUCIA Mad Scene. For a few years, chaos was the order of the day at Sills performances.

At the Met, the lowering of the asbestos curtain signalled the end of the bows. Sometimes after 10-15 minutes of applause they would turn on the house lights and start to bring the asbestos down. This invariably set off a frantic demonstration. There were some nights when we actually stopped the curtain and the singers had to come out, ducking under the white sheet of asbestos which was only a few feet from the floor. Stopping the fire curtain was an exciting moment.

I guess the most memorable ovation in which I participated took place in 1989 when Dame Gwyneth Jones (photo above) sang her first RING Cycle Brunnhildes at the Met. My friend Paul & I booked this Cycle, the first time seeing it in the course of a single week. Originally it was to have been Eva Marton; then briefly it was to be Deborah Polaski. Finally Jones was announced. There was some trepidation: Jones had a reputation for being very uneven. Her rather woozy attack and variable wobble could be really disconcerting.

She started with the WALKURE and it was clear she was at her vocal peak; the voice was enormous, warm, steady and - most of all - supremely feminine. At the end of both WALKURE and SIEGFRIED she worked the audience into a frenzy. There were endless sets of bows, and huge gales of applause & cheers whenever Jones appeared before the curtain. All that paled when GOTTERDAMMERUNG ended with her mind-blowing (no other expression suffices) Immolation Scene. The Met seemed about to explode. Jones came out again and again: with her colleagues, with Maestro Levine, and by herself. Utter pandemonium.  In what seemed at last to be the "final" bow her colleagues began to applaud the Welsh diva. As she finally stepped out to leave the stage, the entire house began screaming and roaring, doubling a decibel rating that was already off the charts. She simply froze in her tracks while a massive wave of love washed over her. Needless to say, she had to come out several more times. I remember vividly the elation we all sensed when the thunder finally died down; we'd all screamed ourselves hoarse and our hands were burning. We milled around the lobby and in front of the House, not wanting the evening to end.   

         

It's All Because of Renata Tebaldi

In a way, I could say that I am where I am today because of Renata Tebaldi. It's simplistic, and of course there are a million things which influence our choices as time goes by. But it was Tebaldi who made me fall in love with opera; it was opera that brought me to New York City on my own for the first time in 1966;  it was in New York City that I - the proverbial small town boy - discovered that I was not the only male in the world attracted to other men; it was a fellow opera fan who introduced me to New York City Ballet; it was my devotion to opera and ballet that kept me coming to NYC from Connecticut for 22 years - and spending a fortune.  And finally it was the desire to have opera & NYCB at my fingertips that finally got me to move here in 1998. And once I did, I met Wei. So, I owe it all to Renata!

It was on January 12, 1959 that I happened to watch the Bell Telephone Hour; Tebaldi sang excerpts from MADAMA BUTTERFLY. I know the exact date because the performance has been released on video. This was not my first exposure to operatic singing; my parents had some classical LPs in their collection and there were snippets of Flagstad and Lily Pons on these. But nothing that moved me or drew me in like watching Tebaldi's Cio-Cio-San. That was the beginning.

My parents bought me my first 2-LP set of opera arias; I found out about the Saturday afternoon Met broadcasts; I subscribed to OPERA NEWS; I wrote fan letters to singers I heard on the radio. I used my tiny earnings from my paper route and working in my father's store to buy a few more LPs. I plastered a big bulletin board in my room with pictures of singers. My parents took me to my first opera at the Cincinnati Zoo. Then they took me to the Old Met.  But it was a lonely obsession; I had no one to share it with.

In 1966 when the new Met opened, I was allowed (freshly out of high school) to make my first trip to NYC alone. I got a room at the Empire Hotel and timidly went across the street to Lincoln Center. There I found a group of people sitting outdoors along the North side of the Opera House. "Sign in and take a number," said a girl who was minding the line. Somewhere I still have my tag; I think I was number 57. I sat down and soon people started talking to me; I suppose to the many gay men the sight of a novice seventeen-year-old must have been tantalizing even though I was pretty ordinary looking. But people were so nice: what operas did I want to see? What singers did I like? After 5 years of having no one to talk about opera to, I thought I was in heaven. I shyly mentioned liking Gabriella Tucci, who I had seen at the Old Met. So the Tucci fans gathered and we talked about her.

I ended up not leaving the line for 3 days and 2 nights. The late summer air was comfortable; we slept (or stayed awake) on the pavement. We sang thru complete operas: we sang all of TOSCA and someone jumped into the (empty) fountain at the end. People gave me soda, a few of the girls brought home-made baked goods. Pizzas were ordered, and Chinese take-out. Someone smuggled out a recording of a rehearsal of FRAU OHNE SCHATTEN  - a work most of us were totally unfamiliar with. I was devastated hearing the voice of Rysanek in that music for the first time. Franco Corelli served coffee one night; Franco Zeffirelli came out and got in someone's sleeping bag. News filtered out about the new productions that were being rehearsed. There was a flurry of excitement when Leonie Rysanek was spotted at the far end of the Plaza. The crowd, now hundreds strong, surged around her. In a panic, she gestured for security guards from the House to come to her aid. Once inside, she turned and waved to us.

Finally the box office opened; I got my tickets: TURANDOT, TRAVIATA, GIOCONDA, ANTONY & CLEOPATRA, RIGOLETTO. I had made my first friends in NYC; I had addresses and phone numbers of people who would send me tapes and get more tickets for me.

Grubby and ecstatic, I went back to the Empire. My pants were slipping down: I hadn't been eating. I took the bus back to Syracuse, asleep. My parents picked me up and took me home. I fell asleep in the bathtub.

Soon after, I was back in NYC for the performances I had bought. For some strange reason, I had also stopped by the New York State Theatre and bought a ticket for their Opening Night of Handel's GIULIO CESARE. Beverly Sills was singing Cleopatra. I had heard her already when NYCO toured to Syracuse and she sang Rosalinda in FLEDERMAUS. The CESARE was of course Beverly's "big bang". This was what I looked like during that summer of 1966; I loved this t-shirt and wore it literally every day until it wore out. My sweet Jeanette says I was "embedded in it."

COSI FAN TUTTE at NYCO

COSI has always been something of a problem for me. Great music, no question of that, but a little too silly in some productions and a little too long (though it's hard to say what could be cut). As I have gotten older, the darker side of the story has appealed to me strongly. It does seem a little unfair to say: women are like that. I think: people are like that. The male heart is just as fickle as the female. I speak from experience.

This was only my fourth COSI in the theatre; my first was in English at the Old Met with a spectacular cast: Leontyne Price, Roz Elias, Roberta Peters, Tucker, Uppman and Donald Gramm. That was a rather slap-stick production, sumptuously sung but played for laughs. That may have been why I was put off the piece for a long time. The new Met offered Kiri with Kathleen Battle as Despina and Maria Ewing in one of her best roles as a sexy, screwball Dorabella. But it was not until last year's excellent Met performance with Frittoli, Kozena, Focile, Polenzani, Kwiecien and Sir Thomas Allen that the opera finally bit me. Now I'm anxious to see it often, and it was the first NYCO presentation this season that I bought a ticket for.

The stage is dominated - indeed, filled - by a giant camera obscura in which Don Alfonso conducts his experiments in human nature. The camera opens to reveal a simple black room with white furniture in which the action takes place. The costumes are traditional: the ladies start out in all-white slowly adding colours (and loosening their bodices) as the story progresses. The "Albanians" are colorful but not corny. Don Alfonso is a reserved, slightly sinister figure while Despina is a stock soubrette.

Julius Rudel, who was such a dominant force during NYCO's golden age (the Sills-Treigle era of the 1960s to 70s), was back in the City Opera pit for the first time in years (can it be that it was 1981 when he last lifted a baton there?) He is a masterful old-school conductor: he doesn't make a statement about the work, he lets Mozart do that. His precision and warmth, his perfect tempi, and his ideal support of the singers gave enormous pleasure all evening. Like all the greatest opera conductors, he knows "prima la voce"...the balance between pit and stage is never out of whack. During Rudel's tenure, there was never any complaint about the "acoustics" at NYCO. He made sure that such delicate instruments as Patricia Brooks & Patricia Wise were finely supported rather than trampled upon. The calls for an acoustic overhaul on the State Theatre began when inexperienced conductors failed the prime directive: LISTEN to the singers. Rudel was very warmly applauded, notably by the musicians and singers.

Maureen McKay was unexceptional as Despina, and Ryan MacPherson did not have the liquid timbre and delicacy of expression that can make Ferrando's music so appealing. He seemed a bit tired near the end, but it's a cruel role in terms of both tessitura and stamina. I was a little disappointed in Sandra Piques Eddy, a very attractive woman who I have admired in the past. Her vibrato seemed more pronounced than usual and she strayed from the pitch with some frequency. In compensation, she harmonized beautifully and her portrayal was ideal. Kyle Pfortmiller is a good-looking guy with a nice, darkish tinge to his strong, lyric sound. Something of a revelation came from Julianna di Giacomo, replacing the much-anticipated Pamela Armstrong as Fiordiligi. di Giacomco, unheralded, sang with a velvety spinto timbre and secure agility. The voice is even and warm, and laced with a pretty streak of girlish vulnerability. She is a large woman and I sincerely hope she will not be urged to do any drastic weight reduction. That is always detrimental to the vocal support system; besides, she looks just lovely as she is.

In the 1990s I had the great pleasure of seeing one of the best Don Giovannis ever in the person of James Maddalena. Battling a horrendously bad production (at Glimmerglass), Maddalena managed to create, both vocally & personally, a memorable Don Juan. It was great seeing him again last night as Don Alfonso; his portrayal was the crowning touch of the evening. Of special note was his beautiful phrasing and vocal colours in the famous trio where we usually are entranced by the female voices and forget about the poor man. Maddalena evened the equation, balancing the piece and subtly insinuating himself into the tearful farewell.

The end of COSI always creates a dilemma: the philosophical words and the "happy-ending" music speak of reconciliation and forgiveness. But what are the four lovers actually feeling? In this production, the enduring mutual attraction of Guglielmo and Dorabella lets the curtain fall on a question mark.

RING Madness Continues

Still very much in a RING Cycle mode, I was grateful to my friend Dmitry who gave me a copy of the Seattle Opera's RHEINGOLD broadcast from their 2005 Cycle. This is a fast RHEINGOLD; conductor Robert Spano presses the music forward. In the prelude, the Rhine seems to be very turbulent. He continues his swift pace right to the end; the result is not a feeling of being rushed but of exhiliration.

The cast includes some excellent singers: Stephanie Blythe is a wonderfully indignant Fricka, her voice at its warmest; Richard Paul Fink is a capital Alberich and Stephen Milling sings grandly as Fasolt. Peter Kazaras is a bit slender of tone for Loge - I always like a more "helden" sound in this music; but he gives a pointed verbal interpretation. The magnificent Ewa Podles pours out Erda's warning with a flood of deep liquid-gold tone. The very dark-voiced Greer Grimsley is a strikingly sung Wotan, reminding me of George London in his approach, though I think Grimsley's voice is more attractive.

As a bonus, the Norn Scene from the same Cycle is included. Here we have Margaret Jane Wray as a strong but lyrical 3rd Norn and Blythe a magisterial 2nd. But it is the doom-laden voice of Ewa Podles, which seems to well up from the depths of the Earth, that casts a powerful spell over the music.

Dmitry's supporting my RING habit: today he gave me the 2000 Bayreuth WALKURE with Domingo, Waltraud Meier & Alan Titus, conducted by Sinopoli. I see I'm going to be hanging out at the Valkyrie Rock over the next week or so. Thanks, Dmitry!