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The (Valk)Cure for What Ails You

Terri Van Valkinburgh, Assistant Principal Viola

On opening night of Die Walküre, Nov. 1, the downbeat came at 5:30 and the last note floated out at 10:30. To celebrate our 5-hour romp through this bad boy, we in the orchestra had an opening night party where we served a cocktail created specifically in honor of this opera. There was a lot of brainstorming during rehearsal/performance breaks in the weeks leading up to this - how can something as monumental as Die Walküre be captured in a glass? Debates raged and chairs were thrown. Ha, just kidding, we're not the chair throwing types. However, we ended up, thanks to our crack Research and Development team of violinist Teresa and her husband Brian, concocting a lovely sipping drink that really must be just sipped due to the opera's complex characters and all that grand drama. Ha, just kidding again, it's because whiskey. Lots of it. Why whiskey? Two words: pain killer. Here's the recipe: Wotan - 3 parts Old Grandad Bourbon - Wotan will soon be a grandad in this opera (don't ask why, the situation is kinda 'squishy') Fire - 1 part Fireball cinnamon whiskey (for, you know, fire) Bitters - for Fricka, Wotan's long-suffering wife (although she could probably jettison that 'long-suffering' status with a lawyer and a hobby) two maraschino cherries (Wotan's adult twins, the reason things are 'squishy') 1 sprig rosemary (represents a significant tree in the opera where a significant sword resides that can only be retrieved by a hero who ends up naming it 'Nothung', meaning 'needed' in German) After dreaming up this adult beverage we needed/Nothung to call it something so we threw the idea out to the musicians, and those good creative people (who, to be frank, were probably a little loopy at that point) didn't disappoint. It took more debate and chair throwing (ha, again, not our thing) but we're happy to give you this lovely addition to our repertoire, the Much Ado About Nothung.


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