A Night At The Opera

**cck** · 15th July 13, 07:25 AM

Several aspects of this thread have caught my attention. Between about 1985 and 1995 my wife and I made numerous trips to Santa Fe, primarily to attend the opera. That was before my kilt wearing days and in the 12 -15 performances we attended I never saw a kilt being worn. I am glad to see that is no longer the case.

A few months ago the Texas Scottish Festival was taking place in the DFW area and during the same time the Ft. Worth Opera was having its season. The wonderful versatility of the kilt. Worn with a casual shirt to the Scottish Festival Saturday afternoon, shake the dust out of the kilt and change to an Argyll jacket and bow tie for the opening night of The Daughter of the Regiment, move to a Crail jacket and regimental stripe bow tie (I am a bow tie enthusiast) for a matinee performance of Ariadne auf Naxos on Sunday. We dined with friends prior to both performances at nearby restaurants and, as expected, the kilt attracted several nice comments. I saw no other kilts being worn.

To my limited knowledge, I can only think of 3 operas set in Scotland (Macbeth, Lucia, La Donna) and I had never seen the latter. When I saw the discussion of its performance in Santa Fe, I looked up the possibility of flights to Albuquerque and tickets. That was a bit costly, but I found that the entire performance of La Donna del Lago from the Royal Opera was available on YouTube. While watching an opera on the computer lacks a great deal, it was indeed a fabulous performance. I was surprised it was available and would certainly recommend it if you are an opera enthusiast. One can't beat the price.

**JonathanB** · 15th July 13, 07:58 AM

The Royal Opera production assumed a certain awareness of Scottish history and how Scottish history has been seen differently. It begins with Joyce Di Donato in a glass case (the Highlands are now a museum piece) and ends with Juan Diego Florez in a Royal Stewart kilt, recalling George IV's visit to Edinburgh, which was arranged by Walter Scot, who wrote the original poem.

**cck** · 15th July 13, 08:43 AM

Originally Posted by JonathanB

The Royal Opera production assumed a certain awareness of Scottish history and how Scottish history has been seen differently. It begins with Joyce Di Donato in a glass case (the Highlands are now a museum piece) and ends with Juan Diego Florez in a Royal Stewart kilt, recalling George IV's visit to Edinburgh, which was arranged by Walter Scot, who wrote the original poem.

It is interesting to compare this with the 1992 Milan production with June Anderson.

**JonathanB** · 15th July 13, 08:46 AM

It was clever clever in a way that so many international opera productions are nowadys, but it was a great improvement on the previous Covent Garden production with Marilyn Horne looking silly in a kilt.

**cck** · 15th July 13, 09:00 AM

I totally agree on the cleverness of the London production and very glad it was made available (although I don't really know why) to be seen on YouTube. Will they do a similar staging in Santa Fe? Their stage is different. The Milan version was very dark and drab - perhaps more true to the time.

**JonathanB** · 15th July 13, 09:40 AM

I've just looked through the programme. There's nothing about the production being with another opera company, which happens a lot. It doesn't look as though it's going to happen in this case.

(The Covent Garden programmes usually give a production history of the work in case of all the C20 productions and the lead singers. Since there was one production within my memory - Frederica Von Stade and Marilyn Horne - and it was frequently performed in the early C19 you'd have thought they'd provide the information this time. All they said was the night I went was the 59th performance of the work at Covent Garden.)

**cck** · 15th July 13, 01:15 PM

I checked the casts. The only singer doing both productions is Joyce DiDonato. On the subject of Joyce, the recent Met Opera production of Maria Stuarda was on TV here yesterday. Not set in Scotland, but about a Scot. Incredible voice, incredible roles.

**JonathanB** · 15th July 13, 01:44 PM

Isn't she wonderful?

**gordontaos** · 16th July 13, 03:59 PM

Good news!
An additional performance of Rossini’s La Donna del Lago has been added on Monday, Aug. 19 at 8 p.m., since all six performances were sold out prior to opening night.
This is the first time in the 57 year history of the Santa Fe Opera another performance has been added.

**James Hood** · 6th September 13, 03:35 PM

Atending an opera...

...under the stars...

...kilted...

...with valued companions...

...'does not get much better than that, does it?

Thank you for sharing.