Friday Night at the Opera

Half the day is gone and I'm just putting up my Tuesday post.

It is pouring rain here right now and will likely be like this all week. It was a glorious, sunny day yesterday though.

I wanted to share my photos from the opera I went to last Friday. It was performed in a small church called Canadian Memorial United Church.

It is a beautiful church.

(Photo Credit:  Church website) This is the church located on a busy Vancouver corner (Burrard & 16th Avenue)

I took a friend as a Christmas gift and she enjoyed it very much. She bought us coffee and cookies at the break .  The coffee was fabulous and the cookies were too. I believe the church was raising funds for its out of the cold program.

I've never been to the church before.  Apparently they have different outside events throughout the year.

(Photo Credit: Church website) - This is the main window of the church. Simply stunning.

The opera written by Giuseppe Verdi is Un Ballo in Maschera (A Masked Ball)  was ably performed by a new partnership between a  company called Opera Mariposa and another, called Heroic Opera. Both of these companies were formed by female opera singers for the purpose of giving more performing opportunities to young and upcoming opera singers.

(Photo credit:  Mariposa and Heroic Opera Brochure) - This photo aroused my interest to look for tickets.

The summary of the opera story can be found here. I chose not to recite the summary in this post because it is rather a long story and some of you may not be opera buffs. 
Let's just say, like any good opera, it is full of drama, love and tragedy.

People settling in before the show

Of course I could not get any photos during the opera but here are the photos I managed to get during the bows at the end.

Flowers presented to Sarah Templeton in the role of Amelia, Renato's wife and love interest of King Gustavo

Mark Pepe who played King Gustavo

A longer shot of the stage and the ensemble actors

Andrew Greenwood who played the role of Renato, friend and protector of the King

Director Adam Da Ros, who seems to have grown up in my small hometown. He brought this complex opera to life

It was my first time to the lovely church and my first time to see an opera in a church. 

The director remarked that he chose to keep the set design minimal and play up the features of the church itself.
I thought the idea worked rather well. 
The costumes were meticulously designed.
It's always lovely to see such beautiful period costumes.

The opera singers were all good and I mean that very sincerely.
Seeing the opera in such a small venue gave an intimacy and poignancy to the performance that isn't possible in a large theatre.  I enjoyed this smaller venue as I saw the same opera in a large theatre many years ago and it was nice to have the comparison.

Despite everyone being so talented, I still had a favourite soloist. 
She is soprano Sarah Templeton and her voice is absolutely marvellous.

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I have one more event to go to before Christmas; possibly two. I don't normally go to so many concert events in such a short space of time.
But as my plans are totally different this year given that it is the first time I will not have my dear late mom to visit.  Going to concerts and symphonies is something that is a real treat and at Christmas is even more enjoyable so I'm indulging myself this year.

I hope you too are getting a chance to see some marvellous musical events this holiday season.

Joining in with Our World Tuesday

Enjoy your week ahead.