Opera! Opera!

Dot and I have just returned from an afternoon at the opera ... in Armidale of all places! It's amazing how a town of 25,000 people can muster a 60 piece orchestra, a choir of 90, and 4 of six soloists, not to mention >400 people paying members of the audience. And this was the second time through.

Have a look at the program, and you'll see that it was ambitious even though the pieces are popular and well-known. I, for one, have them all on disc. Despite the ambition, the music was very well done: the tempi were authentic, the musicians played ensemble with considerable skill and, to put it mildly, the audience were reluctant to let them leave the hall! As usual a couple of my bridge oponents were on stage, not to mention one of my doctors in the role of conductor - and was he good.

Here's what they played, which contained quite a bit of Bel Canto music:
Mozart: Overture to Marriage of Figaro AND Soave il Vento (Cosi fan Tutte)
Bizet: Habanera AND Toreador Song (Carmen) AND Au Fond du Temple (Pearl Fishers)
Massanet: Meditation (Thais)
Puccini: Un Bel Di AND Humming Chorus (Madam Butterfly) AND Nessun Dorma (Turandot)
Mascagni: Intermezzo AND Easter Hymn (Cavallaria Rusticana)
Donizetti: Chorus of the Wedding Guests and Chi mi frenain tal momento (Lucia di Lammermoor)
Verdi: Va Pensiero (Nabucco), Brindisi (La Traviata), Celeste Aida AND Triumphal Scene (Aida)

I thought the last item could have done with a couple of elephants and a pyramid or two, but I suppose they are in short supply locally.

Judging by the comment at the end, there will be another performance next year including Wagner, Strauss, and Janacek. I'm looking forward to seeing the final act of Gotterdamerung (excuse me the lack of umlauts) on stage where poor Brunhilde jumps on her horse Grane, they leap on to Siegried's burning funeral pyre, Valhalla burns to the ground and Rhine floods to clear the stage. I only hope they've got the stage technicians in Armidale to bring it off.

I'm sorry I can post no pictures; perhaps next year.

AS