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A non-baby related post!*
Jun. 22nd, 2008 08:47 amI went to the opera last night. San Francisco Opera's production of Handel's Ariodante, featuring Susan Graham and Ruth Ann Swenson. I went with my wonderful opera obsessed friend ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
ctiee, she of The Opera Tattler. We stood, as is our normal MO. Getting out, BY MYSELF**, doing something non-hospital or baby related was incredibly restorative. I could get lost in the music, which was beautiful and very well executed by the opera symphony. I drank champagne at intermission. I pumped in a bathroom stall. You know, the things you do at the opera.
The plot of Ariodante is typical opera nonsense: love, two couples, spurned desired, plotting revenge, mistaken identity - same old same old. Pretty boring, and the staging for this production was mighty enh. The costumes were luscious, so thankfully there was some visual distraction. However, in this opera to the two love interests are pants roles (male characters played by women, because the vocal parts are so high). I loved the modern gender queer quality of that, even though it's a very traditional opera technique. The two main characters - played by my FAVORITE sopranos, Graham and Swenson - are stock characters but those two singers have so much life in their voices that I can't help but be sucked in. They have powerful, exquisite voices. Graham has tremendous nuance and subtlety in her voice. I just can't say enough good things about them. Seriously. Especially Graham. If you have a chance to see her perform - GO!
The other great performance was the other pants role, Polinesso, played by Sonia Prina. I'm not a huge fan of the contralto voice, but Prina acted well and sang with such technical skill that at one point, her ornamentation was so fast that I wanted to stand up and yell "Holy shit, she did NOT just do that!"
All in all, a delightful evening well spent.
*Ok, so I lied. While writing this, I got a phone call from the NICU saying that Benn was out of breast milk, so I rushed over my morning pump's worth and got to feed him. He is up to 6lbs, 1 oz!! And I'm pretty sure he's going to be a redhead. And - HE'S COMING HOME TOMORROW MORNING!!!
**My mother has been here for 10 days, has one week more to go and I'm really struggling. In her efforts not to take up space, to be useful and not be a burden, she takes up twice as much space. She won't say what she wants. Her language is peppered with "Oh I shouldn't." "I need to..." and "I should..." She just wants to tag along with me. Which is fine, except I realized the last time I had any alone time was last week when I went to yoga. And Adam and I had only 4 hours to ourselves (when we went out to breakfast and then to the hospital Friday morning). We asked her for and hour and a half alone in the apartment yesterday morning and she got upset and offended. SIGH.
ctiee, she of The Opera Tattler. We stood, as is our normal MO. Getting out, BY MYSELF**, doing something non-hospital or baby related was incredibly restorative. I could get lost in the music, which was beautiful and very well executed by the opera symphony. I drank champagne at intermission. I pumped in a bathroom stall. You know, the things you do at the opera.The plot of Ariodante is typical opera nonsense: love, two couples, spurned desired, plotting revenge, mistaken identity - same old same old. Pretty boring, and the staging for this production was mighty enh. The costumes were luscious, so thankfully there was some visual distraction. However, in this opera to the two love interests are pants roles (male characters played by women, because the vocal parts are so high). I loved the modern gender queer quality of that, even though it's a very traditional opera technique. The two main characters - played by my FAVORITE sopranos, Graham and Swenson - are stock characters but those two singers have so much life in their voices that I can't help but be sucked in. They have powerful, exquisite voices. Graham has tremendous nuance and subtlety in her voice. I just can't say enough good things about them. Seriously. Especially Graham. If you have a chance to see her perform - GO!
The other great performance was the other pants role, Polinesso, played by Sonia Prina. I'm not a huge fan of the contralto voice, but Prina acted well and sang with such technical skill that at one point, her ornamentation was so fast that I wanted to stand up and yell "Holy shit, she did NOT just do that!"
All in all, a delightful evening well spent.
*Ok, so I lied. While writing this, I got a phone call from the NICU saying that Benn was out of breast milk, so I rushed over my morning pump's worth and got to feed him. He is up to 6lbs, 1 oz!! And I'm pretty sure he's going to be a redhead. And - HE'S COMING HOME TOMORROW MORNING!!!
**My mother has been here for 10 days, has one week more to go and I'm really struggling. In her efforts not to take up space, to be useful and not be a burden, she takes up twice as much space. She won't say what she wants. Her language is peppered with "Oh I shouldn't." "I need to..." and "I should..." She just wants to tag along with me. Which is fine, except I realized the last time I had any alone time was last week when I went to yoga. And Adam and I had only 4 hours to ourselves (when we went out to breakfast and then to the hospital Friday morning). We asked her for and hour and a half alone in the apartment yesterday morning and she got upset and offended. SIGH.