In the movie *The Turning Point*, someone refers to Tulsa as the city to
which "the [ballet] company finally, finally comes", implying, I suspect,
that it's something of a cultural backwater.

I've never been to Tulsa, and wouldn't presume to speak for it.  (I
suspect the place may have been sold a bit short in the remark.) I've been
to Kauai, the most northern and western non-privately owned island in the
state of Hawaii for many a winter vacation now and, idyllic a haven for
my wife and me as it may be, it's less than a major cultural center.  Its
only public radio station that I could get on the car radio comes in from
Honolulu and sounds like a battlefield transmission in a WWII film.  It has
a Borders book store in its largest shopping mall containing a classical
CD section in which the recording of Lalo Schifrin conducting the Vienna
Symphony Orchestra in his Liliuokalani Symphony was still in the bin where
it had been the last two years.  While all the shops, from the popular gift
stores for tourists to the more elegant boutiques in the expensive hotels,
contain disk upon disk upon disk of "Hawaiian" music sung by people whose
names sound like Charlie Kamanawanaleia...or some New Age stuff, none carry
this symphony, which, even if it doesn't stand up to the Eroica or the New
World is as interesting a bit of music as all that ukulele stuff they hawk.
(More disturbing is that none of the staff at Borders were aware of the
symphony either, and because it was alphabetized under "Lili'uokalani"
rather than "Liliuokalani" it didn't show up on their computer.)

That said, let me remind my readers that Kauai is the island we have
been coming to since before the 1992 hurricane and ever since.  We find
it enchanting and, but for conflicting opera tickets this year, has been
the place where we like to spend Valentine's day.

This year "the Company finally came" to Kauai, in the form of the San
Francisco Opera Company Singers.  (Actually, I don't want to sound too
condescending; there is an ongoing recital program, the hawaii Jazz All
Stars being scheduled for next month, and last year the pianist Stephen
Osborne was scheduled to give an interesting recital a few days after we
had left.) The San Francisco Opera Center conducts training programs for
aspiring artists, including the prestigious Adler Fellowship Program, a
performance-oriented residency program for advanced singers which offers
individual training as well as roles in special productions and in the
company's international main stage season.  Up to 11 Fellows receive an
11-month residency contract and take on roles in San Francisco Opera
performances.  All of the performers at this concert on Kauai were Adler
Fellows.  They were:

Soprano Tammy Jenkins, from Las Cruces NM, a 1997 Metropolitan Opera
Southwestern Regional Finalist who had appeared in SFO's productions
in *Manon* and *Peter Grimes*; Soprano Donita Volkwijn, from Capetown,
South Africa, a national winner of the 1995 Leontyne Price Vocal Arts
Competition and district winner of the 1994 Metropolitan Opera National
Council Auditions; Mezzo Elena Bocharova, from Magadan, Russia, a 1998
Merola Opera Program participant, who has sung in *La Traviata*, *The
Medium*, *The Marriage of Figaro*, *The Gift of the Magi*, *Il Ballo delle
Ingrate*, *Die Fledermaus*, and *Magic Flute*; Tenor Todd Geer, who has
served on the voice faculty at Cornell, a 1998 Merola Opera Program
participant, who has sung in *Traviata*, *L'Elisir d'Amore*, *Barber of
Seville*, *La Boheme*, *Faust*, and *Carmen*; and baritone James Westman,
from Stratford, Ontario, a recipient of awards in the 1997 George London
Competion, the D'Angelo International Competion, and the Licia Albanese
Puccini Foundation Award.  He has been chosen to participate in this year's
Cardiff Singer of the World Competition.  He participated in the 1998
Merola Opera Program and has sung in *La Traviata*, **Madama Butterfly*,
*Emperor of Atlantis*, and *Pulcinella*.  Mark Morash, Director of Musical
Studies, accompanied them on the piano and, after one of the scores
threatened to slide off the stand, Managing Director, Mchaels J.K.
Savage turned the pages.

The program, performed in the auditiorium of Kauai Community College,
was entitled "A Journey Through Opera & Broadway" although the only non
operatic pieces came after the intermission, along w/ more opera selections
as well.  It was scheduled for 7:30 pm, which left us at a loss about
when to have dinner/supper.  Kauai pulls in its sidewalks at 9 or 9:30,
foreclosing a late, after-concert dinner, and eating before the concert,
leaving us time to drive there and get lost and find a place to park, etc.,
would have pushed the supper back to a late lunch.  My wife solved the
problem by filching a few rolls and packages of Japanese seaweed from the
breakfast buffet, which we made into sandwiches in our hotel room where we
had soft drinks and fruit for dessert purchased at a local supermarket.  We
got to the concert w/ about ten minutes to spare and found that it had been
sold out (fortunately, we'd gotten out tickets in advance) and the hall,
which had open seating, was almost filled.  Since even at a Hawaii opera
concert people are hesitant about sitting in the front, we found two seats
in the center of the second row, which was fine.

It was a fun-filled evening with what we both thought was beautiful
singing, my wife being particularly impressed by Miss Jenkins.  Like all
the singers, she acted the parts she was singing although there were no
costumes or scenery.  When twice in the first number that she sang (the
Gavotte from *Manon*) the audience, most of whom, like us, appeared to be
unfamiliar w/ the work, broke into premature applause after she appeared to
have reached the final cadence following some extended vocal pyrotechnics,
she never lost her composure, just smiled held up her hands, pointed a
finger and resumed singing.  When whe finally reached the real end we were
almost afraid to applaud, but eventually did, w/ great show of
appreciation.

Other numbers included "Prendero il brunettino" from *Cosi* sung by the
Misses Volkwijn and Bocharova, "Ai capricci della sorte" from *L'Italiana
in Algeri* sung by Miss Bocharova who was not too desolate at having been
captured to serve in the harem, while Westman was rather upset and showed
his anxiety at the prospect of being castrated and serving as a eunuch in
the same harem.  Mess'rs Geer and Westman sang "Au fond du temple saint"
from *The Pearl Fishers* to thundering applause, some of it, I suspect, out
of respect for the immortal Bjoerling/Merrill performance that many may
have recalled and almost forgotten, and of which they were again reminded.
The two gentlemen also sang "Ah, qual colpo...Zitti, zitti" from *The
Barber of Seville* w/ Miss Jenkins, in which Mr.  Westman almost brought
down the house hamming it up as Figaro, impatient w/ the couple's
smooching, which was delaying their escape.  He sang a touching and
convincing "Die Provenza il mar, il suol" from *La Traviata* as well.  The
program also included "Piangero la sorte mia" from *Giulio Cesare* sung by
Miss Volkwijn, "La mort de Thais" sung by Miss Jenkins and Mr.  Westman,
"Smanie implacabili" from *Cosi* sung by Miss Bocharova, and wound up
before the intermission w/ a marvelous rendition of the quartet "Un di'se
ben rammentomi" from *Rigoletto* sung by the Misses Volkwijn and Bocharova
and Mess'rs Geer and Westman.

We had been promised examples of the Kauai Community College's culinary
faculty during the intermissions but, alas, could obtain only cookies, some
of which had the softness of hockey pucks while others that of shuffle
board disks.  We were glad to have filled up on seaweed sandwiches earlier.

After the intermission we heared "Viens, Malika...Dome epais du jasmin"
said on the program to be from Bizet's *Lakme*, an opera I didn't know
he had composed, until they announced the correction of the composers
name (Delibes, for those who may have forgotten), a cute little fly duet
from *Orpheus in the Underworld* in which Mr.  Westman buzzed musically
in the role of Jupiter who had turned himself into a fly in order to pass
through the keyhole to where Eurydice, whom he wanted to seduce, had been
sequestered; "Dein ist mein ganzes Herz" from *The Land of Smiles* sung by
Mr.  Geer; "Stranger in Paradise" and "And This is My Beloved" sung by the
whole group; "You Are Love" from *Showboat* sung by Miss Jenkins and Mr.
Geer, "Sing for your Supper" from "The Boys from Syracuse" sung swingingly
by the three ladies, and as a finale, the entire troupe singing "Libiamo
ne'lieti calici" from *La Traviata*, to a standing ovation from an audience
who clearly wanted, but understandibly did not get, more.

OK, so it wasn't La Scala and it wasn't the Met, and maybe it wasn't
even the SFO and we were wearing sport shirts, shorts and sandals and we
applauded in the wrong places, but everybody in the hall, whether on the
stage or in the audience seemed to have had a wonderful time.

Walter Meyer