At the beginning of April 2023, the musician Forbes Henderson came to our store with the intention of greeting me and inviting me to the opera The Nose, by Dimitri Shostakovich, at the Teatro Real, where he was part of the orchestra playing the domra and, as I was not in the store, he left his phone number so that I could contact him in case I accepted the invitation.
Tickets for The Nose
The truth is that I tried using all the possible options to get in touch with him, but the same recording always came out assuring that this telephone number did not exist. Of course I was interested in accepting the invitation, but above all, having the courtesy to thank him for his kindness.
We also entered his Facebook, but it did not accept messages. Then I had the idea of asking our UK distributor, Brian Whitehouse, if he had Forbes’ contact so he could give it to me. And so it was, so he sent me his email address to which I wrote immediately thanking and accepting his invitation.
The days passed without any news, until exactly two days before the performance of the opera ended, he answered my email, and got me two magnificent tickets, in the front row, for the next day.
Reunion with Forbes Henderson
It had been about 5 years since Forbes had visited me in the workshop, and it was a pleasure to meet again this time at the Taberna del Alabardero just before entering the theater. I attended with a good friend, Paloma, and we greatly enjoyed The Nose, so transgressive, grotesque, funny and surprising, with such excellent musicians and actors and dancers that made that afternoon unforgettable forever.
They had already warned me that the opera was “a bit difficult” but that I would surely like it, but those who told me this did not know how right they were.
I will add that, best of all -if possible- is that Forbes Henderson does not have a Ramírez guitar (yet), and that makes it even more charming that he had the nice detail of remembering me and inviting me to such an extraordinary and brilliant opera.
Amalia Ramírez
Madrid, 7 April 2023
