View from the Podium, Conductor Eímear Noone: The Goddesses at Madison Square Garden

Performing at Madison Square Garden is something of which every performer dreams and although we were in The Garden's smaller 5,500 seat theater I nonetheless relished the opportunity to open the show with "Good Evening Madison Square Garden!" and told the audience how much I'd always wanted to say that.

What a dork!

Our orchestra for the night was The Orchestra of St. Luke's under expert concertmaster Krista Bennion Feeney (I much prefer the European non-gender-specific term "leader"). Krista was an absolute professional and consummate artist in light of some unforseen technical difficulties at the beginning of the show - the gods (and goddesses) of the theater were being mischievious as is their wont from time to time; I assured the audience that such were the joys of real live performance. Without skipping a beat Krista gracefully lead her section and her heart-stopping solos soared through the sparkly seventies-disco-esque rafters of the MSG Theater.

After an inauspicious start the performance with OLS was became one of the most joyful and exuberant of the tour. The musicians rose to the occasion and captivated the audience with their boundless energy and brilliance. The audience responded in turn and I found myself in the enviable position of being in the middle of this feedback loop of pure passion. Heartfelt thanks to Valerie Broderick, Jenny Kampmeier and the artists of the Orchestra and Chorus of St. Luke's.

The Zelda audience was as exuberent as ever and showed their love for the orchestra in no uncertain terms.

When I took out the Wind Waker baton above the roar of the crowd I could hear one guy yell "OH MY GAAAAAAWWD!!!".

I also spotted a stunning replica of Majora's Mask from the stage - it was unmissably enormous actually.

Performing for this audience never gets old...