Opera Live-at-the-Met

Went to Live-at-the-Met at Palace 9 in So. Burlington this afternoon for Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor. What a marvelous performance! I have never been an opera fan, but these HD live performances are (for me) better than being there in person because of all the extra behind-the-scenes features.

The People’s Tenor Pits the Sniffles Against the Sniffs - New York Times

The People’s Tenor Pits the Sniffles Against the Sniffs - New York Times

Someone sent Paul Potts YouTube Aria, Nessun Dorma by Puccini, to me last week and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Read the column in the Times (above) for an insightful analysis of the phenomenon and controversy surrounding it. I thoroughly enjoyed Potts' performance.

Granted, I'm no opera buff although I've attended 3-4 operas in my lifetime. (The first was in Vienna when Carol and I were travel-camping around Europe while I was in the Army. We attended the Volksopera standing and leaning against brass rails in the back the whole time at a cost of 12 cents each!) But I truly enjoyed Potts.

And it created another link in my mind because Puccini lived and wrote in Lucca, Italy where Carol and I and our friends, the Mattesons, stayed for a week a couple of years ago while Carol and Gayle attended language school.

Nessun Dorma