A Musical Feast

A couple of weeks ago, Sunday was an incredible day musically in the life of Orange County Think of it: I started out that afternoon headed for the Orange County Performing Arts Center, and there attended an Orange County Philharmonic Society concert by the Sistine Chapel Choir. At the end of that program, I went to the Westin South Coast Plaza hotel to pick up a preview by Jim Svedja of KUSC on the opera “Norma,” a presentation by Orange County’s own Opera Pacific.

From there, I headed to the Newport Harbor Art Museum where there was a charming mini-concert of Brahms’ music and the Liebeslieder waltzes, a preview for next spring’s Baroque Music Festival that has been held annually in Corona del Mar for the last 10 years.

When that was over I headed back to the Performing Arts Center, and just made it in time to hear Dame Joan Sutherland with full orchestra, cast and chorus in one of the early rehearsals for “Norma.”

Imagine this musical feast, all set forth on a single Sunday afternoon--not in New York, but here in Orange County. As I drove home I could not help but say to myself, “We have come a long way, baby!”

ELAINE M. REDFIELD

Fullerton

Please keep letters brief and include full name, address and phone number. Mail to: Orange County Calendar Letters, Los Angeles Times, P.O. Box 2008, Costa Mesa, Calif. 92626.