South Africa Diary Part 3 – Nice Work If You Can Get It

It’s Thursday, the day of the first concert of Renée Fleming in South Africa.  Suddenly it has all become real and I need to get ready for the show.

And, of course, that’s when the first problem hits.  I’ve brought along two shirts for concert wear and I have a little tradition.  Before any concert I iron the shirt for the night.  The folks in Edmonton are already used to finding me about ½ hour before the show merrily ironing way in my office.  But today I’m confused.  There doesn’t seem to be an iron or and ironing board in my room.  I place a quick call to the porter – “Could you send over an iron and an ironing board, please?”

“No.”

WTF???  Evidently at this ridiculous multi-million dollar resort there are no irons to be had.  If you want your shirt unwrinkled you have to send it to the valet.  Which is all well and good but did I mention I’m leaving for the concert in ½ hour?  Panic starts to set in but my wife decides to take charge.  She’ll just bring the shirt when she comes later.  Good then – I’m away.

The program is quite long.  Starting with the Barber of Seville we then do 3 Häendel arias, Forza del Distino, the Gerusalem chorus from Lombardi, the opening scene from Act IV of Otello, and the Siciliana, and that’s just the first half.  The 2^nd half is predominantly French.  Then there are three encores to wade through.  Renée is in fine form and very personable when she speaks to the crowd.  The orchestra sounds excellent tonight.  The only problem is that my feat hurt because I neglected to get new inserts for my dress shoes.  After 3 hours it’s all over and the folk seem greatly pleased.  I’m relieved that I didn’t screw up and leave one of the great voices of our generation hung up somewhere in the middle of an aria.  But honestly, it’s nice work of you can get it.

But the next morning we’re all hurting.  What with the late concert, the post-concert reception, and the 35’ drive back to Zimbali we’ve managed bout 4 12/ hours of sleep and we must away to the airport for our trip to Joburg. Or should I say Joburg/Pretoria.  Or should I say the megalopolis that once was two distinct cities.  Back in 1984 when I first visited there was a good 35 miles between these two cities, and Pretoria had the distinction of being “white by night.”  Now of course there is democracy in South Africa, but an even bigger change to this part of the country is that the two cities have virtually merged.  There has been so much development that I honestly don’t recognize a thing.

Our hotel turns out to be the entire Le Chatelat in the gated region north of Joburg.  When we drove into the compound Renée was up on the balcony of her room practicing her “Queen wave.”  Quite a hilarious moment.  This level of decadence had us all just shaking our heads.  Interesting enough, it is also indicative of the problems facing South Africa.  Dropping a small version of Buckingham Palace into a community overrun with 14’ walls while there is rampant poverty, crime, and AIDS just a mile away shows how difficult it has been for this country to truly integrate.  It is going to take another generation before all these barriers start coming down for good.

Although we are traveling with the KZN Phil we have left our chorus behind.  In each city I will have to rehearse a new chorus and get them up to speed.  My rehearsal with the Gauteng Choristers is happens in the evening.  I must admit that my expectations were pretty much rock bottom.  The rehearsal was in some mangy room in a run down “education university.”  The choir members seem nice enough, if a little ragtag.  Then I gave an upbeat.

Folks, I’m here to tell you that there are professional choirs affiliated with major symphony orchestras that can’t hold a candle to this 80 person ensemble.  They sing together, in tune, on time, with perfect diction, great use of vowels, and outstanding dynamics.  To add insult to injury every single one of them was looking straight at me, though I think I caught 3 of them taking a peek at their music once.  And the voices!! Mon Dieu!!! May the Goddess give me the wisdom to never, ever, underestimate people like this again.  The orchestra is going to be sooooooooooo surprised.

Dinner that night  is at the famous Moyo at Zoo Lake restaurant, something of a theme park with good food but interesting entertainment.  The whole party had our faces painted and I’m definitely sending the picture of Renée and myself to Jimmy Levine.  Heh!!!

Saturday morning it was time for our family to take a side trip from the group and head to the Elephant Sanctuary outside of Joburg.  Jen is the biggest elephant fanatic I know and it was such a delight to see her fulfill her greatest wildlife fantasy by meeting and interacting with these fascinating creatures.

We are planning a more extended safari to Tanzania in a few years to visit the giants of the forrest in their natural habitat, so this trip to the sanctuary definitely whets the appetite.

Concert tonight is in Pretoria, capital city of South Africa.  It’s been sold out for months.  As interesting as that may be for us Renée and I will be more interested in getting back to the hotel.  It’s her youngest daughter’s birthday today and we are gonna par-tay!