I've moved this post back to the top by way of (somewhat forceful) reminder. It's today. Listen.
Of course after a year of my rhapsodising, you're tired of reading about Yvonne Kenny. And after December, and my ten thousand posts on the subject, even tireder of reading about her performance in Poulenc's La voix humaine. However if by any chance you're not, and fancy hearing the thing itself: you can.
ABC Classic FM, which can be listened to online, will broadcast Opera Australia's "Love in Two Acts" (that's Rossini's Il Signor Bruschino followed by Yvonne in La voix humaine) on Sunday January 8th at 8pm Melbourne/Sydney time. That's 9:00am GMT, 4:00am EST, and you can convert it to your own timezone here. Cast lists, synopses etc. are available via Opera Australia's calendar - I'd provide a more specific link but can't get my head around their website enough to do so. Just click 'See What's On' and bring up the listings for December 2005.
Listen to it if you can. I realise I have pretty much no credibility where Yvonne is concerned, but even apart from all my biases, this is an incredible performance which you may have no other opportunity to hear. Skip the Rossini by all means - it runs about an hour or so - but if you possibly possibly can, hear Yvonne. Not just for my sake, but for your own as well.
Obviously I'll be listening to it. Though in a way this is just icing on the cake. All I need is the score to prompt me, and I remember almost everything: the English translation, the way the orchestra played this phrase or that, the lighting, what she was doing on stage and, best of all, her voice. I was afraid that that would fade - but I still recall how she sang every phrase. But memories, however cherished, will become more faint in time, and although she's recording the opera for Chandos, there's a world of difference between the stage and the recording studio - so I'm overjoyed to find that, after all, the moment has been preserved. And to tell the truth, I'm almost as excited about the broadcast as I was about the performances themselves: none of the magic has worn off. Besides which, there's that terrifying high C which I simply cannot wait to experience again. My heart races just thinking about it.
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