On Friday night, we saw a wonderful production of Puccini's "Madame Butterfly", performed by the Salt Marsh Opera at the Mashantucket Pequot Theater. The singing was absolutely stunning, bringing tears to my eyes on more than one occasion, and the small orchestra, led by my good friend Simon Holt, was smooth and lovely in their playing. We both loved the performance, and Cia played her CD of the opera for a good part of Saturday.

Then, last night, we attended the year's opening performance by our beloved Eastern CT Symphony Orchestra, and it, too, was a special evening. The Beethoven Lenore Overture was played with beauty and great power, and the clarinetist who soloed in the Mozart concerto was simply brilliant. The final piece, a long symphony by Richard Strauss, was a bit overwhelming for me, but I loved the way it gave the orchestra a chance to really show their skills. We felt proud of all of them when the performance was over -- and appropriately, at the end, our conductor, Toshi, made most of the orchestra players stand at different times so the audience could honor their individual playing.

Today, Cia had a girls day out with Amy, Avis, and Ava at the Florence Griswold Museum's annual "Fairy Village" exhibit. She came home very excited by what they saw, and I'm sure the young girls and Amy went home happily dazzled by it all. 

Below are photos from fairyland.