A Journey Into Opera

(new updates added to bottom of page 21st March 2012-my first opera in cinema experience!)

Embarking on the opera journey .... here I'll record a little of the journey I have made into the beautiful world of opera, not necessarily in the right order, my memory is not that good! This page will be likely to change from time to time as I add bits and pieces at the bottom as I remember them.

This is where it started, some time in October 2010 (and perhaps the only bit I remember in the right order) by going to the ENO website looking for any ballet they might have on offer and on opening up their website home page this beautiful aria was playing, sung by Christine Rice at the time, couldn't find a clip of Christine singing this but this clip of Juliana Gondek singing same aria, Deggio dunque, oh Dio, lasciarti from Handel's Radamisto, will certainly do in her place

Having heard this beautiful singing I was intrigued and decided I just had to investigate this opera stuff further!

Hey, but wait a minute - why was I looking for ballet in the first place. Inspired by a brief trip to Moscow to see one of my very fave bands - U2, performing for the first time in Russia (says a lot about why I got into opera and classical music so late in life, when pretty much all I have immersed myself in so far has been rock and pop), I passed up on a visit to the ballet during that oh too brief trip, but made a mental note then to give ballet a try once I got home and a few short months later found myself enjoying Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker in a theatre not too far from me, not just the ballet but really Tchaikovsky's beautiful music too. So indirectly rock has lead me to opera and classical music by some convoluted pathway.

The first full opera that I saw, on the Sky Arts 2 TV channel was this production of Prokofiev's L'Amour des Trois Oranges, I was captivated by the simple charm of this and loved the way this production was staged, though I had nothing to compare it with from any previous knowledge ..... could this really be opera!!!? It's delightful, enchanting and I would definitely recommend it as a first taste for anyone who has not seen opera before.

[I adore the piece in this clip where the doctors all sing together whilst diagnosing the prince's condition]



Quite soon after this seem to remember Puccini's La Boheme hitting the radar. It was Jonathan Miller's ENO production, originally broadcast live on TV, being repeated. Fabulous acting, incredible singing .... but oh dear ...... in English it just didn't seem to sound quite right (I still needed subtitles to understand it, lol), what a great shame, have since found out that all ENO productions are in English so I guess I'll not be going there on a regular basis .... unless for ballet perhaps. Ah well, at least it was an introduction to Puccini's heart-rending story ..... one of Puccini's heart-rending stories I should say.

Jonathan Miller's La Boheme starring Alfie Boe

More Puccini had to be on the menu, but this time (hopefully) done properly. Had always fancied Madama Butterfly, one of the few operas I had actually heard of I guess. Searched through Amazon dvds and came up with this film version. WOW! Ying Huang is such a beautiful, believable Butterfly, she sounds incredible, was totally bowled over by this, emotionally ripped to shreds, but heck that's what Madama Butterfly/Puccini does, eh?

Can't imagine there will ever be another Butterfly for me.

Mozart's The Magic Flute/Die Zauberflotte came to my attention somewhere quite early on with the broadcast on Sky Arts 2 of The Met's Julie Taymor production. Found it quite delightful, even though it is sung in English, in particular the performances from Nathan Gunn (Papageno) and Ying Huang (Pamina). I love this clip

I also purchased the Royal Opera House production of this on dvd, could hardly appreciate at the time quite how spectacular Diana Damrau's performance as Queen of The Night was, but now I believe I fully appreciate what an absolutely stunning performance this actually is. WOW!!! Just LOOOOOOK at this!!! Incredible, yes!?

Another knockout for me was seeing my first Carmen (Bizet), and WOW what a Carmen she was. It was The Met Opera's production that I saw on TV starring Elina Garanca and Roberto Algna. Elina Garanca was just awesome and instantly became one of my favourite opera singers

and now for another TV viewing of mine, it knocked my socks right off and introduced me to my very favourite male (update: he now shares my fave male spot with Tenor Jonas Kaufmann) opera singer, the georgeous Russian baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky. Dmitri has THE LOT as far as I'm concerned, great looks, a simply divine voice and acting skills that just blow me away! Here he is as I first saw him in Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin playing the role of Onegin with the stunning American soprano Renee Fleming as Tatiana.

Rigoletto - (Verdi) starring Placido Domingo in the title role, with Julia Novikova as daughter Gilda and Vittorio Griggolo as the Duke, this was first broadcast live on TV over two nights in September 2010 - I caught up with it early in 2011 when it was re-broadcast in full,  not having seen Rigoletto before I just loved seeing this, and thought Placido Domingo and Julia Novikova were lovely together as father and daughter as can be seen in this video clip - some divine singing from them both

I would add that any of the above operas would make a wonderful first taste for anyone wishing to venture into the wonderful world of opera who has not yet done so.

MY FIRST OPERA IN CINEMA EXPERIENCE - THE MET LIVE IN HD
IPHIGENIE EN TAURIDE

(added 21ST March 2012)


26th February 2011 - bit precise eh, hahaha but a special date for me as it was my very first trip to the cinema for a Met Live in HD performance, had no idea quite what to expect but was very excited as this was The Met's production of Gluck's Iphigenie en Tauride and it featured the one and only Placido Domingo - LEGEND - what a prospect, but must admit was a little daunted at finding very few other people in the cinema .... time of year, don't remember the weather being very bad, perhaps just not a popular opera (can confirm that on all other occasions the cinema I attend is packed to the rafters for The Met Live in HD performances so can't explain what happened here). Religously read through the synopsis provided then watched in delight as the story unfolded before me on the cinema screen, and the performers, oh the performers looming large on the big screen, the close-ups of their singing, I was totally entranced by the sheer perfection of these world class stars, including Susan Graham and Paul Groves - a truly magical experience, think I must have floated out of the cinema on a cloud of pure joy. Afraid there's no huge selection of youtube vids to be had with this, but here's a little trailer with some great pictures