Wonderworking Conductor:

Many years ago I played in an amateur orchestra in Manhattan. My cousin had played in the same orchestra a year before and told me this story. The orchestra was preparing a concert to consist solely of soprano and tenor opera arias. The conductor was a rather demanding old Italian. The singers were good musicians, not prima donnas. The music was not too difficult. Rehearsals went well.


On the day of the concert, as usual people arrived very early to warm up. The tenor was conspicuously absent. Ten minutes to concert time and: still no tenor. The orchestra principals gathered around the conductor, asking what to do.
“We shall begin as planned,” he replied. They filed out on stage and started the concert. Fortunately the first aria was for soprano.
Then they started the second aria – for tenor. There was a sense of hysteria in the orchestra. At the end of the introduction, the conductor turned to face the audience and sang the tenor part. He surprised the orchestra members with an excellent, well-trained, operatic tenor voice. He sang for the entire concert, which was quite a success.
But as for the tenor whose name was on the program – they never saw him again.