A Day at the Opera

Sunday, March 29, 2009 Mom had tickets to the Philharmonic Orchestra of Indianapolis' performance at the Pike Performing Arts Center in Indianapolis. The tickets were given to Mom by a wonderful Summer Trace staff member, Elle, whose daughter (who is expecting Elle's first granddaughter) is a cellist with the orchestra. Phil was watching NCAA Tournament games with his brother, Eric, who had flown in from K.C. for the weekend. So I planned to take Mom and Charlie (a good friend from Summer Trace) to the concert. On his way back to Columbus, OH, David stopped to see Gram...

...and escorted her to the car.

Little did we know what a TREAT we were in for that day! First we ran into our friend, Dorothy, whose father, Dick, had been a resident at Summer Trace. We invited her to sit with us. Then, we discovered that the program of operatic music by Giuseppe Verdia was presented as a tribute to Mr. P. E. McAllister for this years of support for Indianapolis opera and civic contributions to Indianapolis. Conductors and singers had been brought in from Chicago and New York and Senator Dick Lugar and others gave tributes throughout the a-m-a-z-i-n-g performance! AND there was a reception on stage afterwards! WOW!

Here are Charlie, Dorothy and Mom.

Here's the stage with Sen. Dick Lugar and Mr. P. E. McAllister seated at right.

Here are Senator Lugar (far right) and Mr. P. E. McAllister (next to him) taking a bow with the performers at the end of a wonderful and full afternoon performance!

At the reception on stage after the performance we met Elle's daughter.

Who then met Sen. Dick Lugar

Here's Mr. P. E. McAllister visiting with one of the conductors and one of the performers while a cameraman filmed everything.

The opera singer from Chicago came over and visited with us.

On this blistery cold day, I was glad to be able to drive right up to the door to pick up Charlie and Mom.

SOME VIDEO:
This is part of the performance. Click on the arrow to view.

Here is a video of Senator Lugar (far right) and Mr. P. E. McAllister (next to him) taking a bow with the performers at the end of a wonderful and full afternoon performance!