Heavenly Voices at Casa Karma
This morning, a gorgeous pale blue sky after some inches of rain fell last night. The day and week seem full of promise; let’s see what happens.
Mango smoothies are always the right choice these days, in the peak of season, and made more enjoyable with dear friends like Sandra Bradley.
Our mutual friend, Georgia Darehshori, threw open the doors of her expansive villa, Casa Karma, for Labyrinthe last week, a 14-person a cappella ensemble.
If there are angels in heaven, I know exactly how they sound after hearing these voices, some returning to Casa Karma from last year. These singers and choir masters met in Italy over a decade ago, and once a year, they meet for a week, exchange ideas, and sing! One of them told me they live for the moments they are reunited. The thought of their reunion in Vallarta being one day closer sustains them throughout the year.
The audience heard madrigals, ballads, hymns, and more sung in a dozen languages. Just as the sun was about to set, we all went outside to watch and listen to the choir put the sun to sleep for the night. Led by lively Aquiles Morales, conductor of Vallarta’s Symphony Orchestra and a piano virtuoso, introduced each block of three songs performed throughout the evening. Lovely hors d’ouevres were passed, the wine flowed, and we left buoyed by the beautiful voices. I rode back to town with Act2PV owner Alfonso Lopez and his right-hand publicity maven, Marsha Ward Ross. Choral singing is what brought Alfonso from Texas to Vallarta in the first place over a decade ago. Alfonso began his career here as director of the Vallarta Gay Men’s Chorus – the first of its kind in Latin America and founded by our own Bob Bruneau. A lot of changes…
David Sabella continues to teach his Voice Workshops every Saturday from 11 to 2, at Mary Ann’s Ovations Piano Bar, at Act2. I continue to go to be amazed and enthralled by the changes made by Sabella’s students. His passion for the work is extraordinary, and he insists it keeps him going in the day-to-day runnings of a theater that mere months before was on the edge of collapse.
The students have formed a tremendous bond with one another. They sit quietly and watch Sabella reduce a singer to tears by stripping away protective layers bit by bit until they can answer the question, “Who are you singing to?” They have all had their turn having a “private moment publicly” in class. If one is struggling to reach a note, they ALL experience the same frustration, and I watch them doing the same exercises or breathing or whatever it is until there is a breakthrough and then, applause! Applause! I LOVE this class!
Bingo, in the same room a couple of hours later, was full of players. I think the city heard Sharon Gerber Scherer, current Scrabble Queen, bakes goodies and brings cookies, brownies, etc., to the games. I thoroughly enjoyed dunking my Snickerdoodle air fryer cookie into Sharon’s chocolate martini. Yummy!
Tomorrow, my two biggest pet peeves about living here in Paradise.