Thank You for the Music

Hip, hip, hooray! Now this is news a gal can moo about!

In fact, Susan (OC's Assistant Executive Director and Director of Development) and I were mooing and cheering about it earlier:

The Columbus Symphony Orchestra is back! And, the good news doesn't stop there. Where/When will they make their return? At our production of Bizet's The Pearl Fishers on October 24 & 26! Newspapers all over the country have picked up the story and most have included a mention about Opera Columbus. We love seeing our lovely company's name in print (the only way it would have been better is to mention the beautiful blogging opera cow)!

To read more about the CSO click here.

Have you purchased your tickets yet? If not, get on it!

Oh Come Let's Sing Ohio's Praise

Yours truly enjoying some pre-game activities with
Director of Production, Kevin, Director of Marketing
and PR, Lisa, and OC Board Member, Bill.

O-H...I-O!

What a glorious Saturday! I can't imagine a more perfect day - good friends, beautiful weather and OSU football at The 'Shoe.

On Friday, Kevin scored some last minute OSU tickets to the Troy game. Being a fellow alum (and HUGE Buckeye fan), Kevin invited me to join him. After hearing I was going to the game, Lisa sat in her office making comments (loud enough for everyone to hear) about how she's "never been to a game before" and how she "wished she could go, too." So, being the generous folks we are, Kevin and I asked her to join us.

We started game day the way every good fan should start - tailgating. We met up with one of our fun and fabulous OC Board members, Bill, and some friends from German Village. And, can I just say, the food was AMAZING. After grazing for a while we headed over the stadium and found our seats so we could watch TBDBITL make its entrance.

This moment always gives me goosebumps.

What a game! I'll admit, I was a little nervous going into the fourth quarter up by only four points. My dearly beloved Buckeyes sometimes can crumble at this point. But, freshman, Terrelle Pryor quickly put my fears to rest throwing two more touchdown passes making the final score 28-10. I can't wait to watch him the rest of the season (I think I may have a new crush, sorry Carl).

We left the stadium a little sun burnt, a little hot but very happy! Go Bucks!

My Kind of Town

Moos Flash: I heart Columbus. A lot.

Before Wednesday I would have bet money you couldn't find anyone who loves Columbus more than this cute cow; however, that morning I learned there are 47 people that might just love Columbus a little more. Those 47 love our amazing city so much they spend a lot of their time promoting it! If you haven't guessed by now, I'm talking about the staff at Experience Columbus.

Wednesday, I helped Eric and Lisa take some OC season brochures down to the Experience Columbus Visitor Center. We'd never been before and it's a fantastic place! Our new friend Ben, showed us around the center and then arranged for us to get a tour of the rest of the office (which is beautiful and full of marvelous people).

Ben is udderly fabulous and we clicked right away.

Here we are having a chuckle over the joke
I just told him. (What kind of milk comes from a
forgetful cow? Milk of Amnesia!)

Need to know what's going on in Columbus? Want to buy some Columbus based/themed merchandise? Want to know about Columbus restaurants, sporting events or performing arts events? Well, you can do it all at the Visitor Center!

They have all kinds of helpful things to educate you about the city I love. In the middle of the center there are several computers where you can look up events and even purchase/print tickets (if tickets are sold on Ticketmaster.com - *ahem* like Opera Columbus tickets).

Looking up some fun stuff to do this weekend:


On one wall of the center they have two HUGE magnetic maps. If you're not sure where something is Ben can point out (at lightening speed). That Ben, he's a smart (and cute) guy. Here Eric points out a super fun place to be, Opera Columbus:


I showed Ben the best place to put our Season Guide. Now when you stop in the Visitor Center, besides seeing Ben's smiling face, you can pick up an OC brochure (yay!).


On a different note, I want to give a quick shout out to an amazing friend - Amy Constantine-Kline. Some of you know Amy as your go-to-gal at the CAPA ticket office. Amy is moving back to her hometown of Pittsburgh and working at MCG Jazz. We thank Amy for all her hard work and wish her, and her family, the best of luck.

My Country 'Tis of Thee

That's what all the cute kiddos had to sing for our Opera Columbus Youth Chorus auditions this past weekend. Now, let me say, as a young calf, I would have rocked the house with this little ditty. But, I digress.

We had an amazing turnout for our auditions on Saturday. All in all we had 46 kids, from all over Central Ohio, tryout for the chorus. They ranged in age from sassy 7-year-olds to sophisticated 17-year-olds.

From those 46 talented youths our lovely chorus mistress, Susie, and resident youth choral music expert, Jayne, had to narrow the field down to 20 children. Here I am giving them advice on how to select the best singers for the job: While the young opera-stars-to-be waited for their time to audition, I had the chance to hang out with a few. We chatted about everything from favorite school subjects (recess was a popular pick) to past stage roles to the OSU game (oy vey, what a game).

Here I am with a clan of Buckeye and opera loving Columbusites:

Miss S. and I strike a pose before I help her get measured for her costume:
Susie and Jane had a tough job. Thanks to everyone that tried out. Make sure you come see our production of Turandot in February to see 20 of the most talented kids in Columbus.

Celebration

Giving Charlene Brown, host of WOSU's Artzine,
some tips during an interview with Press about
arts and the economy (to air in October).

Whew. It's been a whirlwind of a week here at Opera Columbus. Not only did we celebrate Press' birthday but everyone is crazy busy getting ready for our upcoming production of Bizet's The Pearl Fishers (have you bought your tickets yet? Get on it by calling 614-469-0939). In honor of his birthday, I spent some time with Press this week (I even had to help him prep for a TV interview). We chatted and here's some fun stuff you should know about the wonderful guy that leads our company:

OPERA

First Opera: Mozart's The Magic Flute, an Opera Columbus production in the early 90s.
How you got involved with OC: A partner at my office and an OC board member at the time, Sheldon Chizever, invited me to attend a performance. His hope was I would get involved with the Board (which I did).
If someone said, "Ug, opera isn't for me," how would you respond: Have you tried it? It's not an elitist artform. It was originally created for the common class. This beautiful artform combines music, symphony, sets, acting, etc. It's colorful and full of pageantry!
What's your take on cows and opera: Well, if a cow wants to be excited about opera she should probably check out a production of Carmen. There are usually some fine looking bulls appearing with the toreador.

FAVORITES
TV shows: Days of Our Lives, Law & Order and LOST.
Books: The Green Mile and anything by James Patterson.
Music: If by Dean Martin and anything by Enya, The Beatles and Queen.
Ice Cream: Dolce de Leche.

COLUMBUS
Favorite restaurant: The Top on East Main.
Hidden gem: Tommy's Diner on East Broad.
Proof that this isn't a cowtown: We have amazing arts and culture here in the city and it's accessible to everyone. In other cities people can't be involved with multiple arts and cultural organizations due to cost or distance - here it's affordable and easy to get to and attend/participate.

FUN STUFF
When you were little, what did you want to be when you grew up: A baseball player.
What would people be surprised to know about you: I'm a huge OSU Buckeyes fan, but I guess that's not a surprise. How about the fact that I have eight different season subscriptions to various sporting events and eight different memberships/season subscriptions to arts/cultural organizations. I love sports and the arts - I do it all!
If you were stranded on a desert island what three things would you want to have with you: All I would need is Joan, my wife of 40 years.

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday, Press! September 10 was our Executive Director's birthday. The staff here at OC loves to celebrate birthdays (come to thinking of it they enjoy finding things to celebrate - I like these people). So, in honor of our fearless leader's big day we had cake in the afternoon and ventured to Hyde Park on the Cap for $4 martinis/cocktails after work (a perfect combination, if you ask me). Enjoy our photos from Press' Birthday Celebration Extravaganza.

Make a wish
(I'm guessing he was wishing there were more
roles for beautiful bovine in Opera productions.)

Most of the udderly fabulous Opera Columbus staff
(Lisa makes us wear hats then gets out of wearing
one because she takes the pictures - sneaky.)

Time for cocktails! My favorite? Moojitos!

With Director of Production Kevin and Assistant Executive
Director/Director of Development Susan
(Don't we make a cute little family?)

Activities Coordinator Jeryl and friend Zoran.
(Bunny ears? That's so second grade.)

Press and his lovely, and fabulously funny, wife Joan.

We wrapped up the evening with birthday kisses!
(Actually this is probably what he wished for earlier.)

A Lovely Night

If you weren't at Genoa Park this weekend for German Village's Oktoberfest you really missed out on another one of Columbus' fabulous events.

It couldn't be a more perfect day for Oktoberfest. The sun was setting as we (my co-worker Lisa, another friend and yours truly) strolled along looking at everything from folks selling Buckeye crafts (Speaking of the Buckeyes, how about that game on Saturday afternoon? I was one nervous cow during a good chunk of the game.) to people walking around in keg hats. And, of course, there's the food. I thoroughly enjoyed the sour kraut balls from Hey Hey Bar & Grill and the three of us split a heavenly cream puff from Schmidt's while Lisa and I sipped on glasses of Riesling.

My favorite part of the evening (besides viewing the breath-taking Columbus skyline) was watching the air accordion contest. That's right - air accordion (think air guitar - accordion style). It was awesome. There's nothing like watching intoxicated individuals play their air accordions to the sweet sounds of polka.

I'd love to show you pictures of other interesting headgear (Carl, there were chicken hats!), the unique attendees, the food and the beautiful skyline reflecting in the waters of the Scioto. Alas, someone that I will not name (*cough, cough* rhymes with Visa) forgot to charge the camera battery. Seriously, can I get some qualified help around here? Instead you get a picture of me glancing over the nifty brochure they provided at the gate and reliving my lovely evening.

I Gotta Moo!

I am still super pumped after a fantastic lunch yesterday with co-workers Eric (our Director of Education & Community Programming) and Lisa (our Director of Marketing & PR/resident celebrity gossip expert) and Cindy from WOSU's Artzine.

Before I get into the fabulous-ness that happened during lunch, I just have to say that we at Opera Columbus love the incredible relationships and partnerships we have with so many of the phenomenal arts and cultural organizations here in Columbus (*ahem* another point proving this isn't a cowtown). We love collaboration here at OC!

Back to lunch...the four of us gathered at Northstar Café (I had the veggie burger and it was AMAZING), a local Short North eatery, to chat about possible Opera Columbus stories for Artzine. Being the genius and natural people pleaser I am, I led our discussions and pitched some stupendous ideas.

(Here I am leading discussion. Cindy and I had
so many great ideas about features for the show
Lisa and Eric could hardly get a word in!)

So my friends, if you're in the area, tune into Artzine on WOSU. Over the next year, you're going to be learning a lot about Opera Columbus and what goes on behind the scenes. I also have a hunch I'll be making my TV début *wink*. Stay tuned!

(After the meeting we ran into some hip, sassy,
professional ladies, much like myself: Sherri
from Victoria's Secret, Tracy from ZenGenius and Jamie
from Experience Columbus. Now that's hot.)

Oh Happy Day

I hardly slept all weekend. While I had a lovely time relaxing, following the latest election news and shopping at the outlet malls, I could not wait for Tuesday morning! Why? Because, silly, Opera Columbus single tickets go on sale today!

Ordering is super easy and the CAPA Ticket Office folks are incredibly helpful and basically plain awesome. You need to call our friends in the Ticket Office (614-469-0939) and order your tickets today. You can also go online and order tickets, but then you miss talking with the fabulous CAPA peeps.

Opera tickets make great gifts, too. I ordered a pair of The Pearl Fishers tickets for a couple of my cow gal pals back home and a pair of Turandot tickets for my fancy friends who love Neal E. Boyd on America's Got Talent (he sings the famous Tenor aria, "Nessun Dorma", from Turandot). And I think I may get a few tickets to The Mikado for some of my musical theatre loving friends.

Get on it. Order your tickets today (614-469-0939 or click here)! See you at the opera!