Jason Shure sends in this photo from tonight's performance of Robert Ashley's That Morning Thing at the Kitchen. I saw the opera on Sunday afternoon; having developed a slightly obsessive relationship in college with "She Was a Visitor," the closing section of the piece, I was thrilled not only to witness the music live but to participate in the performance, the audience being asked to sing along with the phonemes of the phrase. It was the last event in a heavy-duty weekend that also included Peter Maxwell Davies's Kommilitonen!, at Juilliard; Philip Glass's Satyagraha, in the HD Live broadcast from the Met; and Honegger's Jeanne d'Arc au bûcher, courtesy of the Baltimore Symphony. Each had its virtues, but it was the Glass that left me really stunned. The work possesses an extraordinary aura, and, as Glass commented during one of the intermission features, current events have a way of catching up to it. I've been fairly critical of the Met in recent months, but for this flawless, deeply felt production there can be nothing but praise.
