[As usual notes to myself to remember shows I've seen but maybe of interest you] 

Last night I went to the Austrian Embassy for one of the "Embassy Series": An Evening in Vienna. It was
basically a double recital: songs from
Viennese operettas performed by a tenor and a soprano making their US debuts and violin/piano duets of Fritz Kreisler's Viennese music. 

Although both singers were very good, I was most impressed by the soprano. Not only were her voice and technique excellent but so was her mixed acting and singing. At the beginning of the recital she performed the Schwipslied from Wiener Blut. Men can act drunk and easily get away with it as humor; it's a much more touchy and difficult proposition for a woman to act drunk. The singer did it very well and was also able to slide from tipsy/drunken laughter to the text and back again without violating the music. The performances of the four Kreisler pieces were also excellent. 

The recital was performed in a fairly large 2½ to 3 storied multi-purpose room of the embassy, holding maybe 400 people. Again it was so nice to hear the human voice without amplification. The whole program should appear below. 

After the recital there was a reception with light drinks and food [at the bottom right of  the program cover the smudge is from a delicious Linzertorte]; the highlight was a seven or nine layer Marzipan Torte being used as a birthday cake. 

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