Peter's Opera Page

Nights at the opera

The Royal Opera House Covent Garden. Click on thumbnail for bigger picture. The pictures were taken during the period it was being refurbished and there was not much to see as it was enclosed in a very large plastic bag.

Grand Theatre Leeds home of Opera North. I have seen many memorable performance here including Boris Godunov which was sung in english in the original version not including the Polish and Cromy forest scenes.

Closer to home is my favorite opera company Opera North and I have spent many happy hours at the Grand Theatre in Leeds.

I also enjoy visits from small scale companies to the local leisure centre and the Brewery Arts centre in Kendal

Four very cheap nights at the Royal Opera House. For many years Midland Bank have sponsored the Midland Bank Proms at the ROH. Proms is a misnomer as no standing is allowed, instead all the seats are taken out of the stalls and the 'prommers' sit on the floor. My first trip to the proms was in 1992 when the entrance fee was £8 a night. I was slightly doubtful about comfort knowing that the floor was polished wood; very thoughtfully they laid a nice thick carpet.

I was amazed at the wonderful friendly atmosphere and the mixture of young, middle aged and old. Anything less elitest I could not imagine. It was nice not to have to dress up. One young man was dressed in a pair of swimming trunks.

The opera I saw were:-

Salome. Maria Ewing who sang Salome has come in for a lot of criticism in recent times but she really did give the most wonderful performance. The scene at the cistern after Herod ordered the beheading of Jokanaan and the final scene of the opera were chilling.

Der Fliegende Holländer The title role was sung by James Morris. Julia Varady took the part of Senta and gave a marvelous performance and is a real stage animal. I expected to see here as Aida a two or three years later but was disappointed when she didn't turn up and was replaced at fairly short notice. The set took up most of the stage and was a moving platform which went up, down, tilted and spun and sometimes as if by magic a new scene came into view. Some of the magic was lost on me because of my seated position as I could see the machinery between the platform and the stage proper. While waiting to go into the Opera House I noticed Ian Judge the director looking rather worried and thought afterwards that he was expecting some engineering problems. Due to this high tech set the opera was played without an interval resulting in lots of stiff limbs and sore bottoms.

La Boheme Anthony Michaels-Moore who is one of my favorite baritones was singing Marcello. I have often heard him in Opera North productions in Leeds. Angela Georghiu took the role of Mimi; a fine voice and a very pretty lady.

Samson et Delila Placido Domingo sang the role of Samson and Olga Boradina was singing Delila. As usual Domingo gave it his best and was well supported by his Delila. This was the last night of the week of the proms and the show was displayed on a giant screen in the piazza outside the Opera House. This was a free show attended by thousands. This was the 21st anniversary of the Midland Bank Proms so as a special treat we were deluged with confetti in the stalls. Afterwards we were given a fireworks display (outside the opera house). So ended the best four nights in London in my life.

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