On Tuesday 24 June I attended Mixed Precipitation’s Midsummer Swig at Open Eye Theatre, a benefit to raise money for their picnic operetta. It was a fantastic evening of drinks (including sangria and watermelon margaritas), food (the salmon, melon, basil affair was fab), and music (the Bernstein was particularly enjoyable), all amongst the friendliest kind of friends.
The operettas the group performs late in the summer quite wonderfully combine two very marvelous things: music (of course) and food. But, not just any food. A whole five course tasting menu using foods grown locally right here.
And not just any music. Last year they performed a retelling of Beethoven’s Fidelio with a secret agents twist. This year we will be treated to punked English opera, a telling of King Arthur.
If this wasn’t wonderfully marvelous enough, they perform their operettas in community gardens and various other green spaces. I thoroughly dislike those horrible audience-performer divides that happen all too easily on stages in concert halls. While I understand that that setup has its time and place, I’m increasingly excited that groups like Mixed Precipitation are bringing music to these unconventional spaces. Snooty opera brought down a peg or two, indeed. What more could we ask!
In order to bring music and locally grown food to these spaces, Mixed Precipitation currently receives generous support from such organizations as the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council and the Twin Cities Opera Guild, in addition to the Wedge Co-op, the Eastside Co-op, Mississippi Market, Gardens of Eagan, Women’s Environmental Institute, and Coastal Seafoods.
But, they also depend upon donations from music and food and garden enthusiasts like you a la other great organizations like Minnesota Public Radio. (Are you a sustainer? I am! Start today!) So, I urge you to make a donation to this glowing gem we have right here in Minneapolis, so that you can become a part of a phenomenon that is permeating the metro in every blade of grass, every savory sensitivity for fare, and every heart for music.
I get paid this Friday. How much will you give?
And I hope to see you later this summer for some Arthurian legends!