I received an email today from the Student Programs coordinator offering tickets for a youth/student night at the Santa Fe Opera. I called up a gal I’ve been seeing on and off for about 8 months now, and since we had planned on hanging out tonight anyway, looks like we’re going to the opera! One of the best parts? Since they’re student tickets, they were $8 instead of the usual $170, and they’re in the 4th row! Woo whoo!! Another best part? Today’s my birthday, so it was quite a nice surprise to be able to check out our first opera instead of the usual dinner and a movie (although I would have been able to talk her into cooking for me, but still).
I’m pretty pumped. 
ETA: Here’s the show we’re going to see:
Falstaff - 9pm Monday, June 23
Verdi amazed the musical world when he crowned a lifetime of operatic tragedies with this richly comic portrait of Sir John Falstaff, featuring a flood of melodies, inexhaustible rhythms, and a quicksilver orchestral palette. Verdi’s librettist, Arrigo Boito, put it best when he said, “We got all the juice from that Shakespearean orange, without any of the seeds.”
Most excellent! Maybe after the show you can do a little opera of your own, wink wink nudge nudge.
Most likely. 
And just when I thought I might be able to open a thread with a bit of class.
Wow! Lucky you two!
Enjoy, and report back on how good it is or isn’t.
Lucky you!
Falstaff is a great opera. The “Vien qua…Labbra di foco! Labbra di fiore!” duet between Nanetta and Fenton is amazing. It’s on my iPod “Frequently played” list.
Goodness, I’m impressed. Part of the reason the tickets were so inexpensive (I mean, come on, they were practically free!) was because it was the last dress rehearsal before the season started. In the middle of the second act, they had a bit of trouble getting the scenery into place, so they stopped the show while the stage hands fixed things. They restarted from the beginning of the scene within 45 seconds, though, so wasn’t much of a distraction at all. For some reason none of the front 3 rows were taken, so we basically had front row seats. We couldn’t see the symphony at all, which I usually get to enjoy watching also.
Fortunately, Santa Fe Opera has subtitle screens on the back of every seat, so I was able to follow along much more readily than trying to pick out all the Latin roots from the Italian. The open air style of the Opera was really nice. I gave my date my jacket to cover her legs, but I felt awesome in the 70 degree breeze, and it had just rained beforehand.
The thing that struck me the most was that even though the opera was written 115 years ago, the human condition hasn’t changed, and it was really easy to relate to all the characters. Especially when they’d get drunk (they drank a lot of wine!), and then wake up hungover the next day. And chasing tail, there was a lot of that, also.
I couldn’t remember the names you mentioned, Bricker, so I wasn’t able to pay particular attention to that duet, but the entire experience was lovely, and I’m very glad I got the opportunity to experience it.And yes, Auto, we had a little opera of our own. I think the encore of that performance was better.
Had it been Wagner, I would hate you. As it is, I am merely jealous. 
I am very envious. There was an off-chance I’d have tickets to tonight’s dress rehearsal of a different opera, but that fell through.
Still, I’m glad you enjoyed it, Santo Rugger.
So, you hit the high notes eh? Glad to hear it