Carmen:Bizet

So I was a bit slow on this post. Sorry about that! Carmen was FANTASTIC. I was so excited to hear this opera, kind of a milestone opera in a viewers career. I loved it. I loved that I already recognized some of the music and I loved that it was a busy, active show.

Can't recommend it enough!

Must See Rating: *****

CARMEN!!!!

Super excited for the opera tonight! The girls and I are going to get some super yum dinner and then watch this bad girl bring the whole house down.

And for your viewing pleasure, The Muppets sing the Habanera.

Porgy and Bess: by George Gershwin

First up for the 2011-2012 season was Gershwin's Porgy and Bess. Once again I was watching a "modern" opera with English lyrics. Unfortunately two big immediate strikes against it. But even without those two big biases I still didn't enjoy this opera.

I suppose I should start with the things that I liked though to be fair. I liked that we were watching the primary artists. There was no secondary cast so that was really nice. I enjoyed several of the artists individual performances Gwendolyn Brown (Maria) was magnificent and I always enjoy Gordon Hawkins (Porgy) even though this was not my favorite role for him.

My complaint with this opera was two fold. One, it sounded like a musical. When the overture began it had the flavor of a musical to it, so when the artists began to sing in operatic form it was odd and disconcerting to say the least. I kept wishing that either the music was different or the style of singing was different. Not something to fault any of the artists on. They did fabulous with what they had. It was a underlying problem with the opera itself rather than any individual performance. Two, the opera uses dialect which is important to the story line but completely bizarre to listen to. Imagine a person saying the line "I's loves you Porgy. I's yo' woman." But instead of hearing the entire sentence as words the last word of each sentence is a trilled opera note. Alarming and unusual right?

Finally, I just didn't really love the story line. Honestly. Many parts were interesting and I enjoyed the role of Sportin' Life. But overall it was just not my favorite.

Must See Rating: **

Die Zauberflöte: by Mozart

Die Zauberflöte (otherwise known as "The Magic Flute") was the final opera of the season. I had been anxiously awaiting this opera since it is the one and only opera I actually own and am familiar with. It has taken me all week to process the opera experience and now I finally feel semi-prepared to give my review.

Pros: I LOVED this opera. There is something to be said for intimately knowing an opera. And not just one or two famous arias but the entire thing. From the moment the overture started I was transported back in time to my bedroom. I am 17 years old and I am blasting this opera for all to hear at 6:15 am. It was amazing. The overture was handled masterfully by the orchestra. It was like I was listening to my recording all over again. Tamino was brilliant. Papageno was outstanding. OUTSTANDING. The staging and the costuming were both fantastic. It was everything I had hoped for and then some. Also, since I had only ever heard the recordings of the opera I was unaware that there was so much actual dialogue in between arias. It made the story so much more understandable.

Cons: I really only had a few items that marred the experience. The biggest one was the soprano who performed the role of the Queen of the Night was a bit shaky in the upper register during her aria O zittre nicht, mein lieber Sohn. She struggled a bit in her second aria Der Hölle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen (video is shown above) but overall it was better than the first. Possibly part of my perfectionism is the amount of times I listened to the recorded version. There was not going to be a lot of leeway allowed for it to measure up to my expectations.

My only other distraction was with costuming. Tamino's first costume so strongly reminded me of Prince Humperdink from the Princess Bride. It took me until halfway through the seond act to finally place why it looked so familiar. And Monostatos costume looked exactly like one of the flying monkeys from the Wizard of Oz. Other than that it was practically perfect in every way.

Must See Rating: *****
This absolutely makes my list of good operas for first timers.

Getting Excited

The Magic Flute is coming up in just 2 and a half weeks. I am super excited. I have been waiting for a LONG time for this one. It is the only opera that I own on CD. It is going to be wonderful to see it played out. I just hope baby boy does well while I am gone. That is going to be the real trick!

Don Quixote: by Jules Massenet

There is one bad thing about the season tickets Penny and I have for the opera. And that is the performance we see is the next to last one of the opera's run. Which means if one of us gets sick then we have very limited wiggle room to reschedule. Such was the case with this fourth opera of our season. Penny came down with the stomach flu and was unable to attend. Fortunately my dear friend Joanna was available to take her place and give me some company in Seattle.

Don Quixote was actually a relatively short opera. We were walking out the door right at 10:05 which is absurdly early for most operas. However, being 9 months pregnant and crammed into a little seat is not the most comfortable so I was happy to see that it was relatively short.

Pros: Wonderful fast moving opera. Nice chorus numbers interspersed throughout the entire opera. There was a HORSE and a DONKEY on stage. No joke. Don Quixote and Sancho Panza both rode them multiple times throughout the opera. It was pretty amazing. I was very impressed that the animals did not balk at the lights or the noise or the person sitting on their backs singing VERY loudly. The orchestra was brilliant as well. I am guessing the opera must not be super complicated because they seemed sharp the entire time. But then again what do I know!

Cons: Was there a con to this opera? I don't know that there was. The biggest negative was that two women were singing the part of two men. But I am sure that was how it was supposed to be. I just find it irritating.

Must See Rating: *****

The Barber of Seville: by Rossini

Got to experience the brilliant Barber of Seville last night. It was funny and very well done. One thing I really enjoyed was the fact that the music was so incredibly recognizable. The above clip is a Bugs Bunny cartoon that uses the overture from the Barber of Seville as the backdrop. I would highly recommend it to anyone who wants to give opera a chance.

Pros: Very fast paced fun loving opera with lots going on. Visually you are never bored and the set design was wonderful. Vocally it was a very fun opera to listen to as well. The first act is an hour and a half long, which is quite lengthy by normal opera standards. But the time goes quickly because of the recognizable score and the abundance of action within the plot.

Cons: Sadly the overture, which is incredibly familiar, was not played super tight. I don't know if the strings were having an off night or if they just needed to have another rehearsal or two. The section that was very obviously off you can hear in the above video at about minute 3:30. It should be dead on but they seemed as though one or two players were off. Of course I still enjoyed it but my dear opera companion Penny was quite disappointed. And after she mentioned it then I recalled it too. But it is the difference between a musician and an non-musician listening for sure.

Must See Rating: *****