by Mickie

The concert was wonderful! Andrea wore the same tux that he wore in Washington, and it was a little big on him. He’s lost some weight since Washington. He looked like a little boy in his papa's tuxedo. Who cared, because he looked fabulous, and I have never heard him sing so beautifully. Such passion, such emotion. The crowd was wild, and gave him standing ovations after a lot of the songs. Steven Mercurio, the conductor, was very serious during the first half - the arias.



But during the second half, when Andrea sang the Neapolitan songs, Mercurio was a big goof! During "O Sole Mio" he poked Andrea in the ribs with the baton. Andrea stayed focused, and didn't crack a smile. But between songs he and Mercurio would laugh together, and goof around. When Andrea would try to leave, Mercurio would turn him around and push him out there to take more bows and Andrea couldn't help but laugh! During "O Sole Mio" Mercurio got the audience to sing along, and Andrea would wait just a little to give the audience a chance to start singing. It was fun! During "Brindisi" Mercurio made the audience clap along. He's pretty great. My pet peeve was that the audience would begin to clap before the songs were over. For example, when Andrea sang the last "dormire" in "Romanza" you couldn't even hear it for the applause.

The soprano , Ana Maria Martinez, was unbelievably good. Young, pretty, and a voice that was VERY beautiful. She just glowed when she sang, and they were great together. Of course, when it was over, everyone wanted more, the applause never stopped, and everyone was stamping their feet. But it was over. He was so fabulous this evening. I thought he could never be better. But oh, then there was Philadelphia...