OPOLE, PHILHARMONIC OF POLAND (DATE NIGHT)

My husband and I were on a date on Wednesday evening. We left work early and went to dinner before attended a concert at the Cathedral Basilica on Lindell.

The Opole, Philharmonic of Poland, one of Poland’s leading Orchestras, was founded in 1947. This is the first time the Opole undertakes a transcontinental tour of the United States. My husband’s great-grandparents came from Poland and it has been a long time since we attended a concert at the Cathedral.

The first half of the concert featured all orchestral works and violin soloist, Marta Kowalcyzk (left – above photo) and Music Director and Conductor Boguslaw Dawidow (right). According to the brochure, Ms. Kowalcyzk started her violin education at the age of 7. She was born in 1991 in Koszalin, Poland.

The second half of the program featured, Izabella Matula, Soprano soloist singing favorite Scared Arias such as Ave Maria by Franz Schubert and I know that my Redeemer liveth from “Messiah” by George Frideric Handel.

We used to have season tickets and enjoyed many great concerts such as Chanticleer, Vienna Boys Choir, and Westminster Cathedral Choir, London, England. Back when we had a few extra dollars, we became “patrons”, a fancy name for season ticket holders who also made donations. As patrons, we enjoyed reserved front seats, special patron entrance and reserved parking. Now we sit way in the back while cursing and giving dirty looks to those “filthy” rich people who are the enemy of the poor working class!

After 22 years, we thought a “date” would bring back romance in our marriage. We enjoyed the dinner (we both love to eat) and a fine cultural experience. The concert started at 8:00 p.m. and we did not get home until 11:15 p.m. That was way past our normal bedtime. We went straight to bed and our “date” ended with no further action taken place – haa haa.

After the concert, we went all the way up to the choir loft and took the above photo. The staircase was narrow and dark. I kept saying to CP that we would be locked in since no one knew we went up there. He thought it would be make it more romantic if we spent the night in the loft. CP did not think it was funny when I commented that all the stained glass windows would be broken from his reverberating snores!