Music and Theater

"In 1955, when I was 23, some friends and I biked through parts of Europe. Two of us spent a week in England, with time in London, then rode south to Stratford-upon-Avon.

"We lucked out and were fortunate to see 'Twelfth Night' ... with Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh!"

(excerpt from Myrtle Kastner's letter)

"After visiting Tibet in 1985, I always wanted to return to the Himalayas. July 1998 became my time to return, venturing to Ladakh, high up in the Himalayan area of India, on a group tour. ...

"When I mentioned to our guide that I had hardly seen any Ladakhi people (because they were following the Dalai Lama), he offered me the greatest gift possible: a private car and driver to take me to the Dalai Lama’s birthday party ... . Off I went."

(excerpt of letter from Marilyn Marx Adelman)

"In May 2015 at our timeshare ... just south of Salzburg, we were awakened by loud explosive sounds. Upon opening the window, we were startled to see beautiful fireworks spreading brilliant colors in the distant mountains. We were mesmerized for over 30 minutes as the sound-and-light display filled the seemingly deserted mountains.

"We were told later by the hotel staff that this was a customary way to celebrate a wedding in the area. ..."

(excerpt of letter from Phyllis Harlan)

[during an alpenhorn festival in Switzerland]: "One group was on a terrace high above St. Moritz. People loved the music. So did the cows, which left the pasture, congregated around the players and joined in! The musicians were out-moooooed and had to give up." (excerpt from Jon C. Lafleur's letter)

Reading the reader’s letter “Fado Experience in Lisbon” (Nov. ’20, pg. 12) reminded me of a similar experience my wife and I had in June 2018.

Instead of listening to the usual women fado performers one finds in Lisbon, we decided to visit a small university town in central Portugal called Coimbra, where fado is sung by men only, former students at the university.