self portrait in a tuba

While the brass ensemble and I were waiting to step onto the stage in the spacious foyer of the Wales Millennium Centre yesterday, I caught sight of myself reflected in the shiny tuba.

I am not a great one for self portraits but this seemed too good an opportunity to miss. 

On the left is a musician wearing a yachting cap, and you can see part of a stripy t shirt and a pirate-hatted musician on the right.

We performed SEA DOGS twice, and had a great time. Our audiences were mostly dressed as pirates, as were the ensemble and me. 

I am thinking of a series of self portraits, reflected in musical instruments.

Yo ho!

Lohengrin. opera. sandwiches. cake

I usually expect to doze comfortably through the second act of an opera, and awake with some good ideas for poetry in my mind. However, the WNO production of Lohengrin at Wales Millenium Centre this evening was so thrilling and beautiful that I stayed conscious for the whole evening.

Our usual Wagner tribute picnic in the two intervals celebrated the swan, of course. Here are the sandwiches, photographed on a stylish leatherette seat;

and here is the cake, with a curiously relevant cake tin in the background;