interesting bus ride out to the opera... held in the new auditoriums by renzo piano - some of the only new architecture in rome - and quite beautiful and successful, i felt. the roman brick of the base really made it feel a part of the city. the honestly cockroach-evocative auditoriums poised on the top of the roman ampitheater that centered into the main plazza were excellent examples of design - they sound very wierd but were quite wonderful in person. grabbed some quick cafe food and a glass of wine before the opera... turned out to be not that great of an idea, by the end my head was... um nodding, at least a little :S erps ha. but the opera was delightful, 'The Rake's Progress" by Stravinsky - done in a classical style, not chromatic or dissonant like I had slightly expected. It was in English, but either due to the singing style or acoustics I couldn't really understand it anyway. They had the subtitles, of course... in Italian... they still helped, knowing a little of Spanish made it moderately interpretable - but it was more fun to just watch and enjoy the music anyway. We picked up a libretto on the break, which helped greatly, although the plot was pretty transparent, especially given the title. Very unique staging and beautiful stagehands, there's really a lot to listen to and watch in an opera (this was my first). I think maybe I like the purity of a symphonic concert better, but I didn't object to the opera style at home.
Plus there was the gorgeous concert hall - all mid-toned wood, veneered onto organic bubble forms coming out of the ceiling, not at all classical, but very grand and beautiful. Was an exciting day, Tony and I had been giddy about going to the opera all day and we all had walked many many a mile.
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