A gentle de-flowering

As of yesterday, I am no longer an Opera Virgin.

Thanks to the recommendation of some friends in Hobart, I was encouraged to see the Australian Opera's production of Rusalka, (a Czech opera by Dvorak) which is part of their current Melbourne season. This is the first fully staged opera performance I have ever experienced, having only seen either concert versions or semi-staged versions (ie pretty much concert versions, with some vague costuming) in the past.

I think I'm hooked.

This was a lush production, with amazingly creative use of colour, light and texture in the set and costumes, and I especially loved the fact that they characterised the witch, Jezibaba, as a sleek, foxy, scientist, complete with scary looking equipment, lab coat, high-heeled boots and a dominatrix-like attitude. She was so cool (as I think I have said before, you can take the girl out of Science, but you can't take the science nerd out of the girl! :-).

Rusalka, the main character, was also amazing... a stunning soprano voice, and beautiful, emotive portrayal.. just magic.

I am very glad that among my friends here at theological college, one of my fellow candidates is a music graduate who loves opera. We have been to some MSO concerts together, and hopefully will get to some other operas and similar performances in the future (such as a local production of Masgagni's Cavalleria Rusticana, that I am keen to see later in the year).

And of course, being a student again means the ability to access the incredible bargains of "student rush" tickets for such events (yesterday we had seats in the "Premium Reserve" section of the theatre, which usually sell for $200, for only $44... what a bonus! :-).

It's also nice to have someone to go to concerts with. In the past, I subscribed to the TSO on my own, and had no qualms about attending concerts alone, since there would always be people I knew in the audience who I could chat with during interval or afterwards. Attending MSO concerts is a different kettle of fish. It feels a bit weird, actually, to look around Hamer Hall and not see familiar faces in the audience around me. So it's nice to have a companion to sit with and chat to about the music.