Hello Awesome POGO Blog Followers! Ksenia here (aka Queenie or 1st Lady...and sometimes Papagena) We are in our home stretch, two more weeks to go. This last week proved to be a toughie as many of us were battling icky sickies and allergies from the beautiful weather. We started off our week on Monday with two shows, one of which was in the Portland Center for Performing Arts. More specifically, the lobby of where the Newmark Theatre is (For those attending Rinaldo this week....p.s.- go see it! it's awesome, so much glitter and shirtless barihunkiness). The acoustics made it so easy to sing, which is not always the case for every space we're in. The performance was well attended and we even had a special appearance by little Mozart himself!

Later that day we received an emergency email that our next two days of shows had been rescheduled so we could have a completely healthy cast. We try our best to hand sanitize, and stay as healthy as possible but with 3 months of touring, it's bound to happen. Thursday we were back on the road with a show at Colonel Wright Elementary — a particularly vocally excited bunch (which we love to hear!). Friday was our marathon day, leaving at 9am to head out to Mosier for a show, heading back to The Hampton Opera Center for about a 40min. break then meeting back up at Providence Hospital for an evening show. You might be surprised to learn that a good handful of our shows are NOT at schools, but at community centers and are open to the public.

Friday was a long day for this little Queenie, getting up around 7:30am to prep, performing and loading in and out two shows...THEN heading out to support the Rinaldo cast members for their wonderful opening night, and getting home and to bed around 3am. Thank goodness Portland has some of the best coffee and brunch places around (please go to Screen Door and eat Praline Bacon, you can thank me later).

The whole POGO experience has been a real treat for me, and I hope that everyone can come catch our up coming shows at The Hampton Opera Center and see just how much fun we've been having on our tour.

Until next time friends-

Queenie/Ksenia, out


P.S.  My project back home, Opera on Tap Seattle, is doing a Portland Invasion show on March 24th at The Waypost 3120 N. Williams 8pm- Come see all your Portland favs!

Learn more about Portland Opera To Go here, and check out our schedule of public performances!