Just lucky, I guess

I am fortunate indeed to live in Paris. And gratitude, as you will see, is part of my constitution. My writing and my images are my grateful fruitions. Bountiful fruitions of a full and amply satisfying life… So far, that is!

Recently, I met up again with my wonderful high school music teacher Joyce Noble, who felt instinctively, when I was just 15, that I was ready to take professional singing lessons. And she personally saw to it, too, driving me to Rochester to meet a teacher at Eastman. In her 90s now, with the same twinkle in her eyes, she assured me, “Greg, your life has only just begun now!”

Writing has taken on new importance for me in the last few years. The encouragement received from countless friends and faithful readers like you has led to the creation of this place: an ongoing compilation of my essays, my photos, and my little memoirs. Great memories of singing of course, but especially of the amazing folks I met along the way, and the places I’ve been so fortunate to see.

I say grateful, for I have been up there with many of the most important orchestras, conductors, pianists, and talented singers of my time, in venues such as the Paris Opéra, the San Francisco War Memorial, and the Met, too, and festivals from Pesaro to Santa Fe, from Aix-en-Provence to Halle-an-der-Saale, from Jerusalem to Singapore and back; and when I stopped counting, a career encompassing over 60 operatic bass roles. In fact, my last onstage challenge was singing and playing the intrepid Don Quichotte by Massenet, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, at age 64.

The point is, I had dreamt of portraying the Man of La Mancha since I was 15.

“The impossible dream,” achieved.

Oh, and it was in Paris that I met my partner of 40 years… That worked out, too.

As I often say, “Just lucky, I guess.”  And I’ve only just begun.