I was getting my culture on

I was in the mood for a little opera last weekend, so my wife and I braved the potholed roads and frenzied drivers that make up Philadelphia on any given day, and headed into town to get our fill of some Mezzo Soprano.
If you took a gander at the playlists on my iPod you'd be hard pressed to find any opera on there. Adele is about as far outside the box that I normally go, away from The Who, The Stones and Pearl Jam, but I'm telling you, I'm thinking now is the time for me to download some classical female singing in a range that usually extends from A below middle C to the A two octaves above.
( Yes, I googled mezzo soprano)

Our little sortie into this world of  unfamiliar music didn't happen by accident. Our friend's daughter, who I shall call Sierra, was holding her  master's degree recital that day and the word had been circulating that this kid has some "pipes." We thought we would expand our horizons a bit, take the Bob Dylan poster down from the proverbial wall and check this kid out.

We were glad we did. I had no idea what to expect, what the recital consisted of or what mezzo soprano
was. When I first heard the phrase mezzo soprano I was thinking pasta with a cream sauce.

So, we arrived at the location just a few minutes after the scheduled start of the recital. (Parking sucks in Philly)
As my wife and I ran/jogged/walked fast to the auditorium, I said, "we're ok time wise, what's the chances Sierra is going to go on first."  Upon entering the building we quietly opened the door to the auditorium, as if we were sneaking into church late, and we were greeted with the sound of this amazing female voice belting out some kind of opera. My first thought was, oh good, we didn't miss Sierra because some woman is up there singing right now. When we turned the corner and got our first look at the stage, I had to do a double take. The woman on stage, who was singing this amazing mezzo soprano was Sierra.
BLEW     ME     AWAY!

The last time I saw Sierra she was probably in middle school.
This day I saw a poised young adult, looking beautiful, commanding the stage and mesmerizing the audience.

The next surprise for me was a master's recital was not your typical recital with 10 kids taking turns on stage playing one song each on the piano.
A master's recital ( as many of you probably know) is a recital lasting about 1 hour and only one person is on stage. This was her master's thesis for heavens sake. This was a big deal.
On stage was 1 pianist and Sierra.
For an hour.

Two things I now know:

1) Mezzo Soprano is pretty cool.
2) This kid has some PIPES!