As you all know by now I am coming to end of my 13 year stint at COT - a really wonderful time and a huge bonus to be in this exceptional city for an extended period.  I will be writing more about this in the coming weeks as I come to grips with a change in my life and look back on these happy and productive years.

Today was just a fun day - I had ny last auditions for COT this morning.  We heard two singers and hired them both!  What a way to go out!  But of course these are not my last auditions here in Chicago.  I will be back next April for Neue Stimmen.

After the auditions I was supposed to go out to lunch with a colleague.  But it was all a trap as I was dragged into our conference room which was all decked out with streamers and lanterns - a surprise farewell lunch party!  My lovely staff, colleagues, friends - they are all that - had also invited some "retired" special guests, young people who have moved on from COT in recent months and years to fame and fortune!!  That was so nice - and delicious too.  Excellent Indian take away!

I am actually leaving the office to my successor from Friday - an excellent idea so that he can feel unfettered by my presence, and our wonderful team can make the transition smoothly and happily without this ghostly spirit looking on.  And in any case I am off to London on Wednesday, to performances at Glyndebourne and Garsington, and also for a short break in Tuscany. I will be back in Chicago on June 26 to begin the complicated packing process.......but the blog will continue.  I am trying to decide what to call it!

This evening I was at an enjoyable "house warming" for the excellent law firm Baker and McKenzie who recently moved to fabulous new quarters on the top of the expanded Blue Cross/Blue Shield Tower.  They are on the 50th floor (and a good many on either side of it I fancy) with stunning views of the city and the lake.  They had some 300 people there - a lovely relaxed affair.  They are good people.

Tomorrow there is more fun to be had, including meeting Cardinal Marx, Archbishop of Munich! More anon.....