AN EVENING WITH SIMON O'NEILL

Mollies in St Mary’s Bay was alive, as it often is, with the sound of music, and this time it was our splendid tenor Simon O’Neill. The evening was very suitably introduced by Simon’s tutor and mentor Frances Wilson.

I had the pleasure of the company of Jenny Gibbs, Tom and Anne Morris and Willie Hill and Coral Mazlin-Hill for a splendid five-course meal, interspersed with delightful commentary on Simon’s career thus far. With snippets of an aria here, a demonstration of voice type there, Simon gave a mixed audience (including Josh Kronfeld) of 40 persons an amusing and most interesting ride into the world of opera through his eyes. He ended by displaying a contract with La Scala Opera for a tenor role in Verdi’s great opera Otello for 2011/12/13. Well done Simon. It was delightful to be with you again and to have the pleasure of Carmel’s company, where she could relax knowing that twins Tom and Grace were safely asleep upstairs. A great and memorable evening. Thank you Simon and Mollies.