Over the years that I have been writing this blog, I have shared that I am involved with the American Opera Society of Chicago. I was president for 6 years, the first in the history of the organization to hold that position for that length of time. And too, a position that I felt quite honored and humbled to have held as Mrs. Rockefeller McCormick was the first president. The organization has evolved over the years, but what has remained the same is the desire to promote young artists.
Each year, AOSC holds a scholarship competition in March, well sadly, except this year. In fact, when COVID raised its ugly head back in March, we had just completed our competition for 2020. So, we were quite fortunate to have gotten it in before everything shut down.
Like everyone, figuring out how to function during COVID posed quite the challenge. Thanks to Zoom, we have continued to have board meetings. But sadly, we have not been able to hold any of our events, and showcase our scholarship winners. So, what to do?
The answer was to start a blog, and once again, I am quite honored to have been asked to write the blog. I love everything about music, so I see this as a wonderful addition to my creative life ;)
This past summer I had the opportunity to fly with and become friends with our top vocal award winner for 2020. He has an over the top personality that just draws one in, the kind of person that makes everyone in his presence feel special. The board felt that a video of the 2 of us talking about opera and what he has been doing during COVID would be especially interesting to our membership.
So many of you have been so very kind to me over the almost 11 years that I have been writing this blog. You have stuck with me during the times when I just haven't felt like writing, and encouraged me to keep going. Don't worry, I am not abandoning this blog, but I wanted to share that I will be writing a weekly blog for the American Opera Society of Chicago. And, I felt that the best way to make the announcement would be to share the video that I made with the amazingly talented Christopher Kenney. The video is about 28 minutes long. Be sure to stay to the end as Chris will have you laughing...at me ;)
Rhonda
