The Last Day

 There is really not much to report!  I completed all my packing on Sunday night so that I only had a few items to add on Sunday morning, go to breakfast, check out and wait for my driver.  PSA at Santa Fe Airport was a mess last year and equally bad this year.  Maybe they think that have to slow down to earn their money.

We were held up for 40 minutes on the tarmac, this time, because of congestion at Denver.  Last year, we waited that long for a birth in Denver.  Either way, it adds a smig of anxiety about making connections.  Once again, all's well that ends well.

I feel I can be a little more frank in my summation of the trip than I was to the Road Scholar people.  There is no question that our tour leaders this year were barely adequate.  Two women of advanced age who seemed either unsure of themselves, or were mostly just going through they motions.  Oliver Prezant is very good at what he does, which is to introduce opera on a variety of levels to a diverse group of would be aficionados, and he does it so masterfully that the group does not realize he is actually controlling everything that's going on.  Masterful indeed!

I must comment on the group, this year.  Everyone was old!  I think there was only one woman under 60, and I was only one of two unaccompanied men.  But let me tell you, these were no ordinary old ladies.  Many of them had be coming to the Santa Fe Opera with Road Scholar for 6, 8, 10 years and were knowledgeable about other performance in other venues.  The subject in every conversation was opera, opera, opera.  What a treat to have 60+ people and no dud in the bunch.  I hope a lot of them will be back next year!

It seems apparent to me that The Drury Plaza Hotel is in some distress.  The meeting facilities were cramped, the food was certainly less varied that last year, and the room service was bad.  There seemed to be a lot fewer staff persons around, and those that were, seemed overly occupied.

The last hitch came with the taxi ride in from O'hare.  Of course, it was at 5:30 pm on a Monday night with the temperature at something close to 90 degrees, and bumper to bumper traffic.  It took more than an hour to reach Malibu East in an unairconditioned cab.  I was expecting a devastating bill, but was surprised and happy to discover it was right in the ballpark. 

I've already made my reservation for next year.  That's probably the most telling eval of all.

Day Seven-and-three quarters

 As it turned out, my knee was cooperative and I made it to the New Mexico Art Museum.  It is basically all 20th century art by people who came to Santa Fe in the early 20th century and stayed, either because the museum gave them studio space, or because they just fell in love with the culture and history.  On my way there, I stopped at a street vendor and purchased a ring to replace an amethyst which I have worn for a long, long time.  Its a good match to the ring I bought last year, and it wasn't very expensive, either.

Here are a few pictures from the museum.

Dinner and packing will end this day!  Concluding chapter, later.

Day 7

 Our final opera for this season was "The Marriage of Figaro" by WA Mozart.  It is a classic comic opera in the Italian style, despite taking place in Spain and being composed by an Austrian!  The performance, like all performances at Santa Fe Opera, was pretty much flawless.  The singers were excellent and well cast.  I was a little put off by the voice and physical appearance of Figaro, but I quickly warmed to his energy and commitment to the role.  I was looking forward to the appearance of Dr. Bartolo, played by Maurizio Muraro who came on Tuesday to talk with our group.  He was perfect!

The compelling aspect of the production was the set which consisted of a central structure which expanded and contracted to accommodate the libretto.  It was constructed on the turntable which rotated as needed, and it was all framed by sprockets suggesting a watch works, symbolizing the time frame of the opera which is a single day.  It proved to be very effective and added a great deal to the action.

It was only a little shorter that "Die Walkure", finishing up at 11:45. Another late night and a short sleep!

This morning, I went to early church at Church of the Holy Faith, just a short walk from the hotel.  This was my second visit and, while is checked all the boxes, I made me appreciate Church of the Ascension all the more.  The liturgy was in Rite I, and it took the most old fashioned language available in that rite.  The celebrant by nature seems to be on the sanctimonious style, of which I am less and less tolerant .  Nevertheless, I was able to get back to the hotel and grab some breakfast before our final session with Oliver.

I have to admire Oliver's skill set at engaging a diverse crowd in conversation while still imparting some significant music education and active engagement while also providing a bit of entertainment and humor.  I came away liking him better this year than last.  His final assignment for the groups was to write an aria for Dr. Bartolo that reflected his sudden assumption as father and husband.  It was a fun exercise of no real consequence and a good way to end out time here.

Our schedule for today has been amended.  We have lunch and the afternoon to ourselves, and the final dinner has been moved to 6:00 pm.  I'm going to venture out again this afternoon and hope my knee will take me to the New Mexico Contemporary Art Museum on Palace Street. 

I'll be leaving the hotel at 8:00 am, via Rob Rides and taking off at 10:45 for Denver and finally Chicago at 5:05 pm.  Of course there is a time change involved, but it will still be a long day!

Day 6

 Last night was the SFO  production of Die Walkure, and true to form, the production was innovative and enlightening.  In previous productions that I have seen, the setting was rather traditional, i.e. a sort of woodland/Germanic scene.  This production was very intent on presenting the opera as occurring in two separate time frames, one temporal and one eternal where the gods play.  The opening scene is a sort of 1920's kitchen (with an ash stump, of course).  As that is cleared away during act 1, leaving just the  ash stump.  Act 2 is set in a stylized forest scene where gods and humans interact but on different levels, and Act 3 is Valhalla, more of less.

Interesting directorial innovations include the presence of shrouded, mythical figures representing unspecified forces playing on the scene.  There is  kind of permeable boundary which allows for them to enter the scene and disappear.  Although it was a little unnerving at first, I found it an interesting addition which emphasized how much of the action was out of the control of the human characters.

As predicted, it was three-and-one-half hours and got us back at the hotel and 1:30 am.

The morning with Oliver was about unpacking the groups reaction to the production which was diverse but mostly positive,  Again, there was a short introduction by Oliver to "The Marriage of Figaro", which is tonight's performance. 

We have "fee time" until 7:00 pm which we gather to pick up our tickets for this evening.  There are no meals being provided, but that is hardly a hardship since we've been eating very well, all week.  I may venture downtown on my own to visit one of the smaller museums, or take a nap, or just do a little shopping.  I guess that's what free time means. 

My attempt at filling up the afternoon with productive exploration was a failure.  As soon as I stepped outside and took a few steps, it was obvious to me that my knee was not going to tolerate even a modest walk.  When I was  here, last year, on several occasions, I tried to tour the cathedral, but always at the wrong times.  Today, since it is so close to the hotel, I thought I'd try again and was able to spend some time there.  There is what appears to be an appendage to the main church which is actually the original building to which the larger edifice was appended and the original altar reredos has been preserved as a feature of a prayer chapel.  I've attached pictures of some features of the cathedral, beginning with the original structure and expanding into the present parish church.

Day 5

 Rigoletto!  I'm just not a fan of Verdi and although there were excellent singers with amazing voices and stamina, the libretto is overly dramatic and tedious.  I know that Italians have a reputation for high emotionalism, but the extended arias of Verdi tax my patience.  The director's choice of costuming and sets did not enhance the production.  Rather they often seemed to trivialize and distract from the main story.  There was one stroke of brilliance on his part, IMHO.  He cast the Duke as a young, handsome, charismatic and privileged man who is all out for himself and what he can get, regardless of the consequences to others.  We've all met people like that, and it lent an extra air of credibility to the role.  Another unique feature of this performance was a stunning sunset visible though the open back of the theatre.

Oliver's session this morning was more and more about Rigoletto and featured many of the criticisms I had.  Not enough time was spent on Die Walkure which is the performance, tonight. Three and a half hours!  Home by 1:30, the tour guide says.

After a nice lunch (meatless for me, because I'm an old fashioned catholic), we made our way back to Museum Hill where there are two very large museums.  One, The Museum of International Fold Art, I perused last year.  The second The Museum of Indian Arts and Culture, was definitely on my to do list this year.  I was not disappointed!  Wonderful native artifacts in every room, videos of cultural patterns still practiced, today, and a gift shop that I somehow manage to explore without buying anything!

Here are a couple of pictures:

Tomorrow's blog post may be a little later than usual.  I may actually need some extra sleep!

Day Four

 Last night, we were treated to The Santa Fe Opera's production of "La Boheme"(sic).  It was an excellent production!  However, I was a little disappointed in the design and the direction.  Understandably, my expectations were very elevated due to the reputation of SFO productions.  Two things stand out: The entire second act which is always a challenge to stage because of all the activity, children's chorus, military band, café festivities, arguments, etc., was crammed into roughly half the stage, which is already much smaller than most big opera houses, and: the direction that had all the male singers turned to face the audience and sing at full volume, when in principle they should to interacting with one another.  Also their volume often drowned out the women who have beautiful parts to contribute.  Perhaps the absence of nuance in the men's performance was the greatest loss.  Overall, it was still a fine performance.

This is a picture of the 1st act scenery:

Our Thursday morning session with Oliver rehashed the performance.  I was a little surprised that others also found objections to the same items I identified.  Never content with a quick overview, Oliver decided to spend more time teaching us about "directorial choices", something none of us will ever have a reason to do!

Finally, we had a guest speaker who had been a bass player in the SFO orchestra for 41 years.  He did a lot of demonstrating of the music we are going to encounter this evening at "Rigoletto" by Verdi.  Although I have seen and heard this opera several times, I have yet to really embrace it, probably because it's Verdi.  Pulling out certain things to listen for may be helpful.  We shall see!

We had lunch at Pranzo, a favored Italian restaurant in downtown Santa Fe.  I had eggplant parmesan because I'm giving my lower gums a break by not using my lower denture.  The eggplant was really delicious!  The restaurant was promoted as being one block from where the bus would drop us.  As it turned out, it was more like three long blocks, with no shade and temps at 90+ degrees.  Of course, that meant that there was also the return trip to the bus which then took us to Nuevo Mexicano Heritage Arts Museum, located on Museum Hill, just off the Old Santa Fe Trail.  It is a small museum and most of its contents reflect native arts in the Spanish colonial era.  There is a very small section that shows contemporary works of current New Mexico artists.  After an hour we returned

 to our hotel in time a little rest before dinner and "Rigoletto" tonight.

Day Two-and-a-half

 Our first performance was "Turn of the Screw", an adaptation of a novella by Henry James, composed by Benjamin Britton, probably the most renown English composers of the twentieth century.  I expected the music to be difficult to listen to, but was surprised at both its harmonies and its appropriateness to the libretto.  The story, itself is weird, about a governess and two children who are influenced, or maybe even possessed by two ghosts who present as dangerous and/or potentially harmful.  The story progresses along the lines of the governess becoming aware of the presence of these two pernicious influences and her commitment to safe guard them. Ultimately she fails to protect the boy and he dies.  The your girl is rescued by the housekeeper and presumably survives once removed from the haunted estate.  The staging is interesting because there are two scenes which involve water, one a river, and the other a lake.  There is a lot of playing in the water, which can't have been easy to depict.  The opera leaves one with more questions than answers.

The staging is spare and all takes place in one room of the estate. Here is a picture of what we encountered as we entered the theatre for the production.  The set is open to the backdrop of the scenic location.

Our third day began with Oliver, who processed (endlessly!) the reactions of the group to "The Turn of the Screw."  Many hated it.  Some (including myself) found it interesting if a little confusing and ambiguous as to theme and storyline.  Others, of course, thought it was great.  The majority of the time was spent trying to understand the opera, which seems a waste of time, since Henry James intended for the story to be open ended and unresolved.  Oliver was his usual charming and provocative self and the whole thing went on too long for my tastes.

The end of the session consisted of a guest from the props department who talked about what is involved in providing props for a season at The Santa Fe Opera.  A lot of her conversation ended up being about the great advantage of being a intern at SFO and the great job prospects that derive from it.  She also offered some suggestions of props to look for in upcoming productions.

Lunch was at a local restaurant in Santa Fe, some walking distance from the hotel.  I ordered something I thought would be easy to eat, since I am having a little discomfort with my lower partial denture.  It was listed as a shrimp and avocado salad and it arrived ask advertised, but with the bed of lettuce being a combination of spring mix and endive, both of which do not meet my definition of easy to eat.  To make matters worse, I slopped dressing down the front of my shirt and it immediately stained!  I chose to not go on the walking tour of downtown Santa Fe, as I did that last year.  If you want to see pictures of that tour, check last year's post.

I walked back to the hotel on my own and passed by the plaza where there were some native dancers performing. I watched for a bit and then returned to the hotel for a nap!

Tonight's performance is "La Bohme", which I have seen more times than I can count.  Still, I'm relly looking forward to it as it is one of my favorite operas.

Day one-and-a-half

 Unlike the travel day last year, this one was trouble free!  The flights were on time and the service good.  The first day on these tours is always spend in something like and introduction or orientation, followed by at dinner and which we are all supposed to "get acquainted."  All I could think of was retiring to my room and going to sleep.   In order to catch my flights, I had to leave my home at 5:00 am for an 8:35 departure from O'Hare.  So, by 8:00 pm, I was ready to crash and burn.  Fortunately I was able to check into the hotel when I arrived at 1:30, which gave me plenty of time to unpack and get settled.  My sleep wasn't uninterrupted, but all together I logged in 10 hours!

Breakfast was the usual hotel, buffet fare, and was followed by our first session with our opera expert, Oliver Prezant.  Oliver always makes sure we all know that he is qualified as an expert in opera, general music composition, conducting, performance, etc.  Consequently, the first hour is always his resume, which I have to admit is rather impressive and always concludes with his dedication to music education.

We then had a guest artist, Maurizio Muraro, who is singing Dr. Bartolo in "The Marriage of Figaro" this year.  He has had a thirty year+ career in opera and has sung with many of the great conductors in the most renowned opera houses in the world.  He was most gracious in meeting Oliver's requests for different singing styles and demonstrated his versatility with his booming bass voice.  It will be fun to see him on stage in a few days.

The morning finished with Oliver giving us a very brief (and I might add) superficial introduction to "The Turn of the Screw", which we will see, tonight.

Lunch, and then off to the Opera House for what turned out to be a rather disappointing backstage tour.  It seems that there is so much activity around the evening's performance that several of the usual stops on the morning tour had to be omitted.  It was also 90+ degrees in bright sunshine.  Since much of the tours involved being outside, most of our stops were anywhere where there was shade.

Then it was back to the Drury Plaza to prepare for dinner and the evening performance.  I'm attaching a picture of the Santa Fe Opera House.

Santa Fe Redux

 That's right!  I'm on my way back to Santa Fe, New Mexico, for another Opera Extravaganza with Road Scholar again.  Last year, my since desire to record the events of the week were frustrated by the intensity of the experience.  I won't be so taken off guard, this time, and will try to manage my time more judiciously so that a post gets entered daily.  No promises, of course!  More, soon!