A Night at the (LA) Opera

Cast of Rigoletto - Los Angeles Opera - 5 Dec 2010

More like a superb afternoon at the opera, from the cheap seats in the upper balcony. The singers were just wonderful - especially George Gagnidze in the title role, Sarah Coburn as Gilda (such an exquisite voice from a pettite, pretty woman), and Gianluca Terranova as Duke of Mantua (dashing enough to almost understand why every woman the Duke courts falls totally in love with him).

To add to the experience, the sets with the clean lines and lighting of bright, primary colors, were a real visual treat (scenery by Michael Yeargan and lighting by Mark McCullough).

From the Met! - the next best thing to being there...

Can there be anyone as beautiful and hot as the Latvian mezzo-soprano Elīna Garanča playing Bizet's Carmen? (Of course not...and it is a rhetorical question.)

My opera loving friend TJ, her opera buff friend & I went to the movies on Saturday to see the Metropolitan Opera (NY City) live (in HD) broadcast of Carmen. Marvellous experience all around including wearing jeans and muching on popcorn (with increasing fervor) as the opera progressed. There are 3 more broadcasts in the 2009/2010 season coming up...look for it in a theatre near you.

Downtown Los Angeles from the Music Center

On a recommendation from two friends, last Thursday I attended the LA Opera's performance of Wagner's Die Walkure, at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion (partially shown on the right). Everything about it was exceptional, even for an uneducated Wagnerian like myself (luckily, the 'supertitles' make the plot understandable). The production, designed by Achim Freyer with costumes by Amanda Freyer, was other worldly and a modernistic spectacular. And I heard the incomparable Placido Domingo (as Siegmund) in person, for the first time.
The absolutely amazing main cast (1st row, left to right): Eric Halfvarson (Hunding), Anja Kampe (Sieglinde), Vitalij Kowaljow (Wotan), James Conlon (conductor - as one audiance member said, "They are so lucky to have him!"), Linda Watson (Brunnhilde), Placido Domingo (Siegmund), and Michelle DeYoung (Fricka). An interesting review of this new production (with a photo of a Ride of the Valkyries scene) can be found on LA Times Blogs - Culture Monster - LA Opera - Valkyries. (More photos from LA Times are here: Walkure-photogallery).