Sports & Wine


After our show on Friday morning, we left Sioux City and headed straight to the Des Moines Downtown Marriott, which was the site of the opera company's annual Food & Wine Showcase. The event is a big fundraiser for the company. Restaurants and wine suppliers set up booths, and attendees sample the different wines and foods on hand. It's a bit like a small and ritzy "Taste of Chicago," minus the portable toilets.


A stretch of road at dusk near Oelwein

We were to sing a short program at a pre-event in a separate ballroom. People paid an additional fee to attend this special presentation, which featured higher-end bottles and the auction of a Maytag wine chiller stocked with different wines. Each of the singers contributed a solo piece to the music program, which was rounded out with two ensemble selections and a jazz piano solo from Eric.

Our stage was located at one end of the large ballroom, and the wine vendors lined the three other walls. Members of local high society trickled in and congregated at the opposite side of the room, which is where the best wine and hors d'oeuvres waited to be sampled.

Opera singers are accustomed to being the sole focus of attention when they display their skills. When it came time to sing and only a handful of people bothered to turn away from their conversations or lift their lips from their wine glasses, it was not an encouraging sign. I was immediately grateful for the fact that our program was short and that I would sing my piece near the beginning.

A handful of patrons gathered at the tables in front of the stage, but the overwhelming majority continued at the other end of the hall with their banter and drinking. I must admit, though, that I cannot blame them in the least. I had the good fortune of sampling some of the hors d'oeuvres beforehand, and, given a choice, there's nothing that would have pulled me away from that part of the room. The sounds of our singing and the piano were surely lost amid the ongoing chatter, and it was soon clear that the best thing we could do was lower our shoulders and barrel through the program.

The sideshow format goes against the very nature of the singer, a creature who craves attention and affirmation in every situation. When you can't control what goes on around you, though, all you can do is smile and enjoy yourself as best you can. Though many of the paying guests exhibited a steely indifference that would have made even the most hardened New Yorker blush, the six of us refused to be discouraged. We sang as boldly as we could under the circumstances, keeping in mind the promise of food that awaited us at the main event.

The Food & Wine Showcase proved to be satisfying in every way. The food from the different restaurants was impressive in its scope and its flavor, and dozens upon dozens of wines flowed like water into thirsty goblets. As one might expect on a night when wine is king, cheese was in abundant supply. The Maytag booth was staffed by one of the women who hosted us at the dairy farm in Newton, and she remembered those of us who made the visit.

The reason this piece is titled "Sports & Wine" is because the Iowa State High School Wrestling Championship took over the city of Des Moines for the weekend. The Marriott, like all other hotels within a radius of several miles, was overrun with pubescent children and their chaperones. One couldn't walk ten feet in the hotel without encountering the sight and/or smell of hormones in flux. Elevators were in short supply, and if you were lucky to get one, the ride to your destination took a long time because kids had pushed buttons for all the floors already. When I'm subjected to these kinds of things, I marvel at my wife and her unflagging devotion to educating this country's adolescents.

It's a shame that the battery in my camera went dead before the evening even started, because the amount and variety of food and drink deserved to be photographed. It also would have been nice to capture the faces of my colleagues, which exhibited the kind of joy that a great party provides. After four weeks of touring together (and nearly two months together total), some tensions have started to simmer within the group. At least for one night, however, to paraphrase a famous adage, food conquers all. The seemingly petty arguments that arise over the course of a tour were temporarily moved to the back burner in the name of mutual gastronomic happiness.

Posted: Sun - February 27, 2005 at 06:41 PM      

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