My roommate and I have season tickets to Washington National Opera. We got a sweet deal through their Generation O program for folks under 35. I was on the fence all summer about subscribing for the season, and then got the email with the ticket prices for Gen O...and immediately got tickets for every opera of the season. We saw Barber of Seville back in September, had tickets for Falstaff in late October (my stomach buggy self had to give my ticket to a friend), and then managed to schedule a Thursday Ariadne Auf Naxos closely followed by a Saturday performance of Wagner's Gotterdammerung. I didn't notice the proximity of those two until a few weeks ago.
Ariadne was....meh. I was entertained, and I enjoyed the opera...but I wasn't blown away. And the tenor who sang Bacchus...was...well....bad. Like... Maureen and I kept looking at each other and rolling our eyes bad. I know they had some tenor disasters...this was the 3rd person scheduled to sing the role, but still. I could have listened to Irene Theorin sing their duets by herself and been happy. So on to Saturday...
To be honest, I was not looking forward to Gotterdammerung. I knew the back story of the Ring cycle, Wagner, why it was being presented in concert instead of a full production, etc. The performance was scheduled for 5 hours. 5 hours of opera in concert...I wasn't sure if I'd make it! My ADD roommate figured she couldn't sit still through it, so she gave her ticket to a friend of ours who is a singer. Honestly, if J wasn't singing in the chorus...I probably wouldn't have gone. What a huge mistake that would have been!
Wow. The music, the singing, the power...it was just amazing. I did get tired of sitting, but I could have listened to that music and almost all of those singers for 5 more hours! Wagner operas seem to be a polarizing force...people either love them or hate them. I wasn't sure which I'd be...until the orchestral interludes in Act I grabbed me and took a firm hold on my emotions! It really felt like being transported into another world. The singers were so animated without real staging, that I really forgot it was just a concert version of the opera. I enjoyed Irene Theorin' voice in Ariadne, but she was phenomenal in Gotterdammerung. I also loved her dress...black and sparkly, and yet, understated.
Anyway, it was a great night. Since there were 2 intermissions, I had champagne twice. :)
**In other news, this weekend, we have our own Chorale concert...with a little opera thrown in, so I've been in rehearsals all week. I'll also be embarking on a 19 mile running tour of DC on Sunday. Stay tuned for a report on that one...
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