Zurich diary

This is my home away from home. I know what to say about breakfast, can even conduct a conversation if required. This morning there was not enough coffee.

Minimalist productions are the norm, it would appear. Remember, they are vaguely modern but of no particular style and mostly black and white. I have a friend who complains that she likes opera for the costumes--of which there are currently none. Cecilia wore a wedding dress at the beginning and an unflattering off-white nightgown the rest of the time.

That's what I'm here for, of course, to see Cecilia Bartoli. The mirror aria--Juno gives Semele a magic mirror, and she sings "Should I persist in gazing, myself I shall adore"--was an endless string of comic business executed by the mistress of opera comedy herself, Cecilia Bartoli. At one point she looks at her feet in the mirror and smiles in admiration.

I met people from the forum. K is younger than I imagined and loves only Cecilia and Maria Callas. He is too German and too serious to tease about Anna Netrebko, whom he loathes, but I gave it my best shot. Other forum members like her, though. I didn't bring my camera because K scorned them, but in the autograph session everyone had one.

I had chocolate with my friend Ursula in the Cafe Schober. Be sure to visit here if you are in town.