From time to time, operas from La Scala in Milan are presented "live" via cyberspace at movie theaters around the country so if you are lucky to live near one these theaters, you may attend first-rate opera in real time. What a great way to see opera -- the videography captures the performers up close, even wrinkles and arm flab.
Three of my friends and I went to the Palace Cinema, a mere four miles from our house where we saw Richard Wagner's De Valkyrie, one of the Ring operas - live -- 10 am - 3 pm! The director of the orchestra was Daniel Barenboim. An amazing performance bringing Siegmund and Sieglinde together, brother and sister who become lovers (incest at its best) with the result being Siegfried, another 5 hour opera of the Ring cycle which Ed and I saw at the Lyric several years ago. Box dinners were offered during one of the intermissions. Today, a teary me wept as Brunnhilda tries to save Sieglenda with Brunnhilda's father, Wotan, banishing his beloved daughter by sending her into a deep sleep on a rock surrounded by fire. The La Scala performance has unforgettable special effects one of which is the last scene, where Brunnhilda and the rock levitate several feet into the air and large red balls descend representing the fire.
The Ring operas are complex and complicated as Maestro Daniel Beranboim explained during an intermission, and each is well over 4 hours.
--Judy
No comments:
Post a Comment