“Tonight is especially special as it marks the return of live performances after an 18-month hiatus,” Meecham said, eliciting yet another round of applause.

Friday night indeed felt special, new and glorious on this kind of first day of high school. We were all butterflies and high expectations, with a healthy dose of nerves fed by 18 months of silence, isolation and worry in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.

And then there we were, lining up by the now running fountain in historic Eckbo Square, presenting vaccination cards and IDs to the very patient crew who looked as happy as we did. to be back.

Inside the hall, cheerful reunions as people recognized each other through face masks before the house lights flashed and the band members, also masked, sat a little higher on their chairs.

As far as we in the audience had anticipated, it surely pales in comparison to what the musicians felt on this stage.

But it was obvious once they started playing. There was a surge of excitement mingled with a sense of measured abandonment from the opening of The Star Spangled Banner – an age-old tradition that begins every season of TSO – to Tchaikovsky’s mind-blowing finale.

Drawing inspiration from Gomez, fresh out of his pandemic European exile with a short haircut and shiny wedding ring, the orchestra took us on an exotic musical vacation that ended in the early days of Hollywood with the “Festive Overture “coppery and cinematic by William Grant Still. then dropped us off at a square in the city of Argentina for Piazolla’s tango on “The four seasons” by Vivaldi.