A Happy Birthday in the opera with Maria Guleghina

My Christmas Holiday started with a 7 hours long ride by bus to Oslo. Unfortunately the bus was overheating and I was stuck near the oven. It was too hot to sleep and I could not move because the bus was full. When I finally was in Oslo I was so eager to get out that I promptly forgot my mobile phone. It was near-disaster but luckily the bus was still at the terminal so I got my phone back and could take next bus home to my parents. When I texted my mother to say that she did not need to meet me, I would take a taxi from the train station because the wheels of my luggage did not work, she mis understood it. My mother thought that I needed to take taxi all the way home from Oslo. It was my fault, my text message was confusing, and the wheels was just frozen so after the ride from Oslo and home they worked. Still, I did have too much luggage and it was good to just sit in a taxi and relax instead of struggeling with all my bags and luggage.

I was finally home. It was Wednesday before Christmas. Everything should be tip top. 7 hours near the hot oven in a crowded bus and my eczema flaired up. It was everywhere. Later I got pain where my eczema had been. Worst was the pain in my hands and shoulders. It began to be doubtful if I would go to Oslo to see Maria Guleghina as Tosca in Oslo for my Birthday.

So Little Christmas Eve, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day could have been better. With good food and iPad everything feels brighter. 2nd Christmas Day it was hardly better. But finally on Monday the 27th I felt normal. Hope for my Birthday shone. And then finally it was the 28th and I was back in Oslo. So many people everywhere...

I had thought to shop something but I decided to go straight to the opera. This time it was not too cold in Oslo. Both Greer Grimsley (Scarpia) and Miroslav Dvorsky (Cavaradossi) seemed to have been affected by the weather but Maria Guleghina (Tosca) was as her usual self. I was sitting on 3rd balcony on the right side. I could see more of the stage than on December 19 when I sat on Parkett right. From the beginning I could hear that Miroslav Dvorsky was not in his best form but that did but that did not hinder him from singing a fine Recondita armonia and an exceptional E lucevan le stelle. Only in the last duet it happened he lost his voice painfully. Luckily at his side a great collegue, Maria Guleghina who grasped his hands and comforted the tenor with her presence and her big voice and as a miracle the tenor found his voice back and that made the last duet even more moving. Tenor and soprano make it part of the opera. It was a happy opera night for Maria Guleghina who sang one of he finest Vissi d'arte. Maria Guleghina's interpretation of Tosca is always something to admire. She put her heart and soul into every part she sings. At this moment it is her Tosca and her Abigaille that I most admire.

After the opera I found the stage entrance and I went in to wait for my idol. I was alone, people left the opera house and there she was, the Diva with her beautiful assistant. Maria Guleghina and I are friends on Facebook but I never thought the Diva would look at me and say "it is your birthday, isn't it?". And then she sang me Happy Birthday in a natural, un-operatic way. And her assistant took a photo of me with Maria on my Birthday. O lucky day!

If I did not have to change my stoma in the interval of act 2+3 and again when I was home before midnight everything would have been perfect. But who cares, I met Maria, and she knows me, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Hurrah for me and la Guleghina!!
For more reviews from my travels, see www.operaduetstravel.com