Tonight’s opening-night performance of Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde with the Santa Fe Opera was over two years in the making.

You may remember, two years ago I was headed out to play here when Covid cancelled everyone’s summer (and year’s) plans. I used the first two-week (of 8) reservation and camped here, anyway. Sometimes playing bass under the awning next to my trailer at the foot of Black Canyon Loop trail. One sunny day, two ladies stopped to listen and clapped when I finished. Turns out, they worked in the costume shop at the Opera and told me Tristan und Isolde would be rescheduled 2022.

Logistically, this summer required the most elaborate planning I’ve ever made. Covid, more Covid, and New Mexico fires made it even more-so.

I have blog posts planned about this summer’s travels, but cell signal is hard to find at the ski basin above Santa Fe. I’m writing this in the parking lot at Santa Fe Opera before I go in to warm up.

But most importantly, the two ladies at the trailhead were right, and in an hour, after a 2-year wait, the curtain rises on SFO’s first-ever production of Tristan.