Morning began...

     Morning began with cacophony of sound. Hoards of small black birds vociferously circled the sky as the sun rose. Below my window shopkeepers opened their doors, people slowly emerged out on to the smooth, gray, stoned street. Their laughter and passionate conversations wafted through my room. There is not a cloud in the sky and the day promises great possibilities. This is the day of the festival and we are to take a tour of the museum in Sansepolcro as we begin our study of the works of renaissance artist Piero della Francesca. There will also be music rehearsals, zumba, and a master class for the musical theater participants with an exquisite professor that specializes in musical theater who is from Germany, Michael Dixon. Yesterday had a magnificent conclusion. The Italian opera singer, who will be playing the count in our productions of Le Nozze di Figaro,  joined us for the first time. There was a moment when he sang in the finale of act IV, the part where he asks for forgiveness from the countess, that was so touching. It seemed to ignite new inspiration for some of us. A bit later, we went out to dinner at a lovely little restaurant inside the city. We had wonderful conversation and a delicious meal.  I believe we succeeded in doing as the Italians do; we sat with one another and enjoyed each other.

                                                                                 a domani