Salzburg, Jenufa 2001

By far, the most demanding job of 2001 was working as assistant conductor to Sir John Eliot Gardiner on Janacek's "Jenufa" at the Salzburg Music Festival. I had already worked on "Jenufa" at the Prague National Theater, but this time we were performing the new critical edition of the Brno version from 1908 (edited by Sir Charles Mackerras and John Tyrrell).

It was a very memorable experience which included comparing autograph manuscripts in Brno, coaching singers from the piano (some who had never sung in Czech before such as Hildegard Behrens), and most exciting of all was leading full company rehearsals in the Felsenreitschule (with the offstage musicians entering from what seemed like a mile away). It was heaven to be able to connect with such fabulous artists as Karita Mattila and Jerry Hadley!

Bob and Mary Ann Butler from California had just seen me conducting the ballet there. They visited me in Salzburg, and now they are starting to set a record for seeing me in the most corners of the globe. Besides joining my family at the opera in New Orleans, they recently met me in Bratislava too.