June 19, 2000:
In the evening of June 19, after the "Sly" performance, for which only I had a, not just good, ticket, we had got an assent for a meeting with José Carreras. Of course we were a bit worried, if everything would go smoothly and if we could get into the opera at all. But at least we were on the list of visitors and they knew, that we were in Barcelona and in which hotel we were staying.In the shops in the Barri Gòtic and also in the nearby department stores you can go shopping very good. In the music department of the „El Cortes Inglés I really found a Carreras recording, which I hadn’t so far. The shopping spree distracted us a bit from our nervousness, but after having our lunch, we rather preferred to go back to the hotel. An urgent message was waiting for us. On the phone we were told, that Mr. Carreras would have no time after the performance, but that with his consent a meeting before the performance was possible. Our suspense was almost unbearable, when we got the pleasant message, that we should wait at 6.50 pm at the side door.
Elly and Jo-Ann decided to try to get 2 tickets in the box-office of the Liceu. I considered, that this would be rather pointless, because the performance was sold out since months. All the more I was speechless, when both returned with 2 relatively good tickets.
The meeting
We turned up already a long time before the agreed time at the side door of the Liceu. We were wearing our denim shirt with the embroidered url of our web site. We sure didn’t forget the permanent writer for the autograph, which we wanted to have on the backs of our shirt, as well as the program books and the gifts for José Carreras.
We had to wait for a while, after Mr. Carreras arrived with his secretary. While having a nice talk with Mr. Carreras we were able to give him our gifts, to take some photos and to get autographs, of course on our denim shirt, too.
"Sly" – the third performance
We were rather high-spirited, when we left the opera house, in order to return after a while, dressed up with our denim shirts, to visit the performance, which started at 8.30. My seat fitted perfect to my clothing. I was seated on the 3rd floor on a very lateral seat. When I had put my chair as far as possible to the front I was able to see about half of the stage by bending forward. However it didn’t matter so much, because I had already attended two of the „Sly“ performances. Nethertheless I was pleased, when I noticed that there was an empty seat on the 2nd floor next to my friends. From the beginning of the 2nd act on we sat together on seats with good acoustics and good view. We sure were an unusual appearance, at least because of our backs. Three marked (signed) in denim shirts.
Autographs and photos
The performance was excellent, which happens often with last performances. The applause and the bravi shouting between the acts and at the end of the performance showed us clearly, that not only we enjoyed the performance.After the performance was finished, we went to the side door in order to catch some autographs for our friends. Meanwhile we had some experience with these things, so we were standing right at the door, when Milnes appeared. He asked us to come in and distributed some autographed photos, too. The soprano Isabelle Kabatu was the next who gave autographs. After we all had got an autograph from the conductor David Gimenez, we did some photos with us and the artists. Till then I had always smiled at such photos, but somehow it was fun, not only for us, but also for the stars of the performance.
The end of the day – or not?
When Elly and I, after we had a little something to eat, were waiting for the porter to open the door of the hotel a gang of young pickpockets burst on the scene and tore off my bag. However, the fright was bigger than the loss, because I was just rather non-cash and the only document, which was in my bag, was rather useless for the thieves. Somehow I was gloating, that they didn’t get anything of importance besides of my identity card (though I deeply missed my only lighter). Later I got my whole identity card back over the German Foreign Office and our local lost property office.
Actually no nice end of a nice day, but it could have turned out worse and Elly corrected my mistake, it happened after daybreak.
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