John Fenster

@mountmccabe

I love bodies of water and opera and other music/theater. Cats, baking, tea. They/them. Westchester County.

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John Fenster@mountmccabe· 2d

Two tell teal curtains surround yellow neon letters that read Edinburgh International Festival and a small screen that did the same plus Beth Taylor & Hamish Brown. Just a bit of a piano is in the lower portion.

John Fenster@mountmccabe· 2d

Beth Taylor in recital with Hamish Brown

Hildegard von Bingen 0 Ignee Spiritus (Antiphon) (circa mid-12th century)

(Approx. 3 minutes)

Holmès 20 Mélodies No.15 (circa 1880s)

XV. Pareil à la mer profonde

(Approx. 3 minutes)

Holmès Les Sept Ivresses No.2 (circa 1880s)

II. Le Vin

(Approx. 3 minutes)

L Boulanger Reflets (1911)

(Approx. 3 minutes)

Cameron Biles-Liddell The Breakers (2024)

1. The Storm

II. Twilight

(Approx. 12 minutes)

Traditional Orkney folksong, arr. Cameron Biles-Liddell The Grey Selkie o' Sule Sker

(1934)

(Approx. 5 minutes)

Smyth Three Moods of the Sea (1913)

I.

Requies

II. Before the Squall

III. After Sunset

(Approx. 12 minutes)

Interval (20 minutes)

Hensel Schwanenlied No.1, Op.1 (1837)

(Approx. 4 minutes)

Converse Cassandra Cycle (circa 1950s)

I. Cassandra's Entrance

II. Under a Lullaby

III. Vanity of Vanities

(Approx. 9 minutes)

C Schumann Lorelei (1843)

(Approx. 3 minutes)

Tailleferre Pancarte pour une Porte d'entrée (1959)

II. Désinvolture

IV. Cours

VI. Sainte Nitouche

X. Le Serpent

(Approx. 6 minutes)

Stuart MacRae Medusa (2026)

1. Children

II. Statuette

III. As I am

IV. Dichotomy

V. Serpents

(Approx. 16 minutes)

John Fenster@mountmccabe· 2d

This paragraph from a preview article from the Guardian really tells it: www.theguardian.com/music/2026/a...

Screenshot from article. Black text on a white background:
Is there self-censorship in the opera world? Do writers hold back from tunes, bold stories and jokes for fear of not giving the opera hierarchy what they think it wants? Mazzoli thinks the answer is simpler.

"During all my time in the American development system, no one ever told me that my job as a composer was to be a dramatist.”

John Fenster@mountmccabe· 3d

The Susan Bullock

Susan Bullock on stage smiling at bows. She is wearing a white gown spattered with (fake) blood. There are several people behind her, also with blood on their costumes

John Fenster@mountmccabe· 3d

The Galloping Cure by Missy Mazzoli and Royce Vavrek premieres tonight

Tall yellow poster with blue/purple bars in a window. Says Edinburgh International Festival at top and The Galloping Cure at bottom.

John Fenster@mountmccabe· 4d

First pic I took in Scotland: Eurasian Magpies

Three Eurasian Magpies together and another one across the green. These black and white birds are on a grass lawn in front of an old brick building

John Fenster@mountmccabe· 9d

Didn't even have to jump

A metal bridge across the gap between two trains. A person is crossing in great plaid pants and yellow sneakers

John Fenster@mountmccabe· 11d

Ready for Camp Miasma

Cardboard standee of A creature holding a spear above a sign that said Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma

John Fenster@mountmccabe· Jul 7

I was so close to hitting grind

Coffee grinder on a marble counter next to a digital scale. The grinder is missing the cup the ground beans would be collected in. There is a window with a shade in the background. It almost appears to be in black and white.

John Fenster@mountmccabe· Jul 5

I loved that shrine at the end of Rheingold

Bows at the end of an opera. Several rows of spectators are in the foreground, in white seats with red cushions. On stage is a long row of people holding hands. Behind them are tall columns and a human-sized shrine, gilded and ornate.

John Fenster@mountmccabe· Jun 29

Not an ornithologist but I've also been seeing crows with open beaks

John Fenster@mountmccabe· Jun 20

Black Swan! New dance musical by Dave Molloy, book by Jen Silverman, direction and choreography by Sonya Tayeh

Banner on the corner of a building that says Black Swan in all caps with a black feather

John Fenster@mountmccabe· Jun 15

Twix

Tabby cat sitting up backwards on a dining chair; left paw resting on the back, right paw dangling over, face inquisitive but also pleased

John Fenster@mountmccabe· Jun 11

The program does say they're using the Haas. A land of contrasts!

View of the stage in Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall. It is packed with chairs and already has an orchestra's worth of players warning up. There is elaborate wainscoting (I think) and three harps.

John Fenster@mountmccabe· Jun 6

Anton Bruckner under Semyon Bychov

Program page. Text reads

New York Philharmonic
Semyon Bychkov, Conductor

BRUCKNER (1824-96)
Symphony No. 8 in C minor (1887, rev. 1889-90; ed. Nowak, 1955)

Allegro moderato
Scherzo: Allegro moderato -
Trio. Langsam (Slow). Scherzo da capo
Adagio. Feierlich langsam, doch nicht schleppend (Solemnly slow, but not dragging)
Finale: Feierlich, nicht schnell (Solemn, not fast)

THIS CONCERT WILL BE PERFORMED WITHOUT AN INTERMISSION.

John Fenster@mountmccabe· May 30

I picked the right restaurant for brunch before today's matinee of Frida y Diego

Dark blue wallpaper with flowers and repeated portraits of Frida Kahlo blowing a pink bubble with gum

John Fenster@mountmccabe· May 28

Elim Chan conducts the NYPhil. Great to have a chance to hear Carter Brey as the soloist in the Saint-Saëns concerto before he retires at the end of the season.

Program page held with an elevated view of the blurry stage in the background.

New York Philharmonic
May 27-30, 2026
Elim Chan, Conductor
Carter Brey, Cello

Noriko KOIDE (b. 1982)
Swaddling Silk and Gossamer Rain (2022; New York Premiere)

SAINT-SAËNS (1835-1921)
Cello Concerto No. 1 in A minor, Op. 33 (1872)
Allegro non troppo
Allegretto con moto
Tempo primo
(played without pause)

CARTER BREY

Intermission

PROKOFIEV (1891-1953)
Selections from Zolushka (Cinderella), Opp. 87 and 107 (1940-44)

John Fenster@mountmccabe· May 25

While I stood on the driveway the crow flew to the front of the garage, then to the diagonal wire to the house essentially directly over me, then to the garden bed wall where I left treats. Actually picked up the bag but didn't get very far with it

Black corvid on a power wire with blue sky and light clouds above

Ziploc bag of peanuts on the edge of an asphalt driveway, the crow a bit beyond looking away

John Fenster@mountmccabe· May 25

Yesterday the crow was sitting on the bird feeder so I knew it was empty but was uninterested in the feeder after I filled it or any peanuts, etc. Then today it was negotiating with two blue jays in the cherry blossom tree