In the end I only saw one movie over the weekend and I must admit that Carlos Saura's Io, Don Giovanni left me pretty clueless despite Tobias Moretti's brilliant performance as Giacomo Casanova. I was sorry to see my favourite composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and his librettist Lorenzo da Ponte get involved in a cinematographic adventure that for my feeling didn't do them any justice at all. Maybe this never was the movie's purpose anyway, who knows. As I've said already: it left me clueless.

The weekend's highlight certainly was the cocktail reception of Hello! Canada at Birk's on Bloor Street, which we attended by invitation of David Hamilton, the magazine's publisher. David and his wife Julia are among the nicest people we have met in our first year here. They have been of tremendous help to us, personally and to the COC as well. On Saturday evening they managed to have a glamourous, warm and funny reception with lots of beautiful and happy people. Thanks for having us.

Tomorrow, the orchestra returns from its summer break and starts rehearsals for Madama Butterfly. Welcome back!