My first exposure to opera occurred while I was living in Salt Lake City. I’d come home from work one afternoon and as I was putting the key into the door, I heard opera music coming from inside my apartment.
There were two reasons that I found this odd. I lived alone and I didn’t own any opera music. I stepped back from the door to examine it, first to make sure I was at the correct door then to look for signs of tampering. Everything looked normal, but I was at the back door and couldn’t determine the integrity of the front door.
I suspected that a burglary was taking place and that the culprits had decided to lounge around the house and enjoy the stereo system before they departed with it. I’d heard about things like this happening, but Salt Lake City wasn’t known for its cultured criminals. My heart raced as I entered the apartment.
“Hello? Who’s here?” I shouted. I couldn’t hear my own voice over the music. Louder, I shouted again, “Who is in here?” and as I walked further in I saw candle light flickering in the bathroom. The surrealism increased rapidly.
From around the corner I peeked into the bathroom to find my best friend from Seattle immersed in the tub and engulfed in bubbles. He’d found himself in Salt Lake, found the key to may apartment, let himself in and made himself at home.
“What in the hell are you doing?” I asked.
Tonight I’m going to my first opera performance here in Columbus. It wasn’t until about two months ago that I even knew that Columbus had an opera company, and I’m not even sure how I stumbled upon Opera Columbus’ web site.
I’m not overly passionate about opera, though I’ve always enjoyed the voices of Andrea Boccelli, Charlotte Church and Cecilia Bartoli. Discovering, however, that Columbus has an opera company was enough to entice me into buying a ticket.
Its not that I’m overly interested in seeing a performance, but I am interesting in seeing who is supporting opera in Columbus. In living here for eight years I’ve never heard one person mention Opera Columbus and that is why I purchased a ticket. A sense of curiosity opened my pocket book.
Tonight Opera Columbus is performing Puccini’s Turandot. I know nothing about either except for the fact that Puccini died before completing the work. Fortunately, Opera Columbus has a synopsis of the show on their web site and the staff uses both a blog and Twitter to spread the word.
If you’re curious about opera in Columbus you can take advantage of $10 tickets for tonight’s and Sunday’s performance so long as you purchase them at least one hour before the curtain rises. Call 614 469 0939 for more information.
Perhaps I’ll see you at the Ohio Theater tonight.
Jeff,
What a wonderful post! We’re thrilled you’ll be joining us tonight. I hope you enjoy the show. If you’re curious about Opera Columbus stop by the information table. We’d be happy to tell you about all the things we do (beyond grand opera). Thanks for your support.
Lisa
So what did you think?
I thought the performance was amazing in many ways. Mind you I have nothing to compare it to, the only instrument I can play is the radio and I know nothing about vocal training.
The setting, being the Ohio Theater was marvelous, of course. The staging was beautiful as was the lighting and costumes.
The super-titles were necessary for me because I only knew the the basics of the story line, but I found them distracting. While I needed to understand what was happening verbally, I didn’t like having to shift focus away from the action. I suspect this isn’t an issue for those who are familiar with the opera – and if I were to see Turandot again, I wouldn’t necessarily have to depend upon the super-titles.
The over-all production values kept me thinking about how fortunate I was to be able to see such an event. So much of what we do these days is viewed on flat panel LCD’s, either our TV’s or our computers so to see something so large, grand and beautiful is truly unique. At least it is for me.
I ran across some people I knew at last night’s performance that I would have not expected to see at an opera. I suspect they thought the same when they saw me. I’ll probably buy tickets to this summer’s performance of Mikado and now I know some friends who might be willing to join me.
There were a wide range of people in attendance and I was delighted to see that. I had somewhat expected to see a lot of “blue hair” but all age ranges were visible. Frankly, there were more young people in attendance than I would have imagined. The fact that ticket prices are within reach of most income levels makes this possible and should remain important to Opera Columbus and all other arts organizations in Columbus.
A lot of work goes into a production like Turandot. And whether or not I become a life-long fan of opera or not isn’t the point. What’s important for me, and the greater Columbus metropolitan area, is that there are people who care deeply about such things and are willing to work diligently to produce events such as Turandot.
Passionate work is the most important kind of work that city can hope to retain and attract. An investment of $10, $25, or $75 a couple of times per year, for me, is worth keeping people like this in Columbus.
Nice post Jeff. I especially like your second to last paragraph in this response where you mention people caring deeply about such things. If more people recognize this in your city, or any city, Columbus will become a Great(er) city. It’s important to support cultural events, even if they are not “our thing”. It all adds so much to the culture and feel of the town.
I had a friend who was a big baseball fan and a big opera fan. She had season tickets to both. Others have faded from opera because they “didn’t get the ‘bang’ for the buck.’” Opera is expensive!
Garry has seen three Toronto Opera performances this season so far and he thought one incredible, one was stupidly staged and poorly acted, and the third good. I look forward to hearing more of your views on Columbus’ cultural scene.
Thanks- I appreciate your post a lot because you represent a viewpoint that is hard to come by- the truly “new” opera-goer. I was in the chorus of Turandot so it means a lot to hear you say that you enjoyed it. And you are right- a LOT of work went into the show. Like many my co-chorus members, I work full-time and have a family, so we do it because we love it. We do get paid a small amount but that’s definitely not the motivation. Thank you again and I hope you continue to attend!
A friend called tonight saying that he’d read this thread about Opera Columbus. He said he’s always wanted to go but felt it may be too ‘high brow’ and didn’t know anyone who’d be interested in going.
Now he’s considering Mikado this summer.