Well, I am regrouping since the A to Z Challenge, and just getting back into taking and posting a picture a day. Also, thinking of looking into some of those fun photo challenges out there.

But, for today, thought I would share a little bit about my opera experience of yesterday: The Marriage of Figaro, presented by Pacific Opera Victoria.

Now, I can take or leave the opera. I used to play the string bass in orchestras so have played my fair share of operas, and when I was a singer I even performed in the chorus in a few (Madama Butterfly, La Traviata). But sometimes they are just long, overblown, and full of people singing as they die. But not Marriage of Figaro. Stands the test of time. And this production was great. Great sets, beautiful costumes, and the cast – really wonderful. Especially Cherubino.

Now, Cherubino is an interesting character in the opera. It is a male role that is traditionally played by a woman (a “trouser role”) and has a range of a soprano. But this time, it was played by a counter tenor, and he was amazing! His name is Ray Chenez, and here’s a link to his bio, and a video clip: http://www.pov.bc.ca/bios/chenez.html – yes, he IS a man! Wish I had a clip of his Cherubino!

If you want to know about the story behind the opera, Marriage of Figaro, there is information out there. I myself was most interesting in knowing more about Figaro as a story, because I knew there was another opera, The Barber of Seville by Rossini, which was based on a play by Pierre Beaumarchais (which was apparently banned).  The Marriage of Figaro is a continuation of that story, and is also from a play by Beaumarchais. There is apparently one more play, creating a Figaro Trilogy (shades of Star Wars and other movies that appear in sets of three), but I don’t know if an opera was composed based on that play (which was called The Guilty Mother). Oh, oh…I just checked and there were operas based on this play, but like the play, these did not become popular like the first two in the trilogy. Go figure (see earlier statement about movies in threes…)

But, enough rambling for today. To finish off this short post, here is a link to the Pacific Opera Victoria’s site on their production of Marriage of Figaro: http://www.pov.bc.ca/figaro.html, which was worth the three hours on a Sunday afternoon!