Starting a new topic because my slow beach connection can't handle 190 posts....I am excited!

Just got an email advising Roanoke area opera fans that we will be getting simulcasts this fall through Virginia Western Community College!

Hooray!

Oh, I missed seeing this! That is great news, Kay. How many are you going to go see?

They just got the website up and running, with a PDF of the schedule. Looks like I'll have to miss Don Carlos because of a long standing conflict.
http://www.virginiawestern.edu/events/opera.html

Hmmmm....based on the date of Barbara's response, this was about the time my computer crashed.

Kay: Speaking of Roanoke area opera. . .

This afternoon, my spouse and I attended a the opening of a concert series; the Virginia Chorale Trio. They sang a series of Broadway songs, very, very well.

Reading through the program, the short bio revealed an Opera Roanoke connection: the tenor is Scott Williamson. I spoke briefly to him at the reception; he knows you, of course (and I finally learned how to pronounce Koehler). The soprano was his wife, Amy. I don't know if you know the baritone, Steve Kelley, or the artistic cirector, Charles Woodward; their credits seem to be centered around Hampton Roads.

Soctt recently assumed leadership of Opera Roanoke from Steven White, who is on track for much bigger things. Amy acquitted herself very nicely in last season's "Lucia."

Hmmmm.....never thought there was a problem with the name...KOH-ler (my husband's family HATED the pronunciation with the long A but I run into it a lot)...on a trip to Austria and Germany we got called "Kewler" a lot.

May I assume that "Gran-zoh" is acceptible?

The long a sound is how it would have been pronounced in Wisconsin. I should have realized that in Arkansas, it would have been a long o. I can underestand the Germans considered the oe to be an o with umlaut, and "Kewler" comes close to that.

And yes, my name changed spelling several times over the years, from Grantzow to Granzow to Granzo to Granzeau. Accent the first syllable, the eau is a long o.



[This message has been edited by Pete (edited 09-27-2010).]

Mary Page has seen the Virginia Chorale; a pleasure I've missed out on. I'm working on attending one or two showings of the Met, myself.

I don't know what Amy's high note is, but she hit it several times Lovely lady, too.

With American surnames containing "-oe-", I figure it could be either OH or AY. A particular name might cause me to favor one choice or the other when I guess, but really I have to ask to make sure.

Had my husband's family favored the "ay" pronunciation, I would probably have been a pioneer in retaining the patrinomic after marriage...I don't think I could have gone through life as "Kay Kayler"...although I know of at least one who did...encountered her on the internet in fact.