Last night was the first Tosca rehearsal with The Savonlinna Opera Festival Orchestra, the Dream Team of musicians of the highest artistic caliber in Finland. They played incredibly well. The S.O.F.O. brought baritone Jukka Rasilainen to be at his best as the powerful Scarpia, the devil himself. The sound was amazing as the Savonlinna Opera Festival Choir 2010 of 86 singers for Tosca raised their performance to the level of Rasilainen.

And they were just rehearsing.