There was an email waiting for me when I awoke in the morning of Day 2. My lost luggage had been delivered to the front desk of the hotel at 12:05 am. Great news for the first real day of the program. The dinner and the orientation session the night before reviewed the program materials and identified the various venues we would be using, including dining rooms and classrooms.
The day begins, everyday, with a very adequate breakfast buffet, typical of fairly good hotels. Served from 6:00 to 9:00 am it makes for a leisurely start of the day with a full stomach and a clear head. The next thing on the agenda, everyday except the last two, is a lecture/discussion lead by Oliver Prezant, who is the person who does the pre-performance lectures before each performance. I can't say that I was immediately taken with either his information or his style of delivery. It felt a little like we were being talked down to. I've come to describe his presentation as a sort of advanced music appreciation class, with a lot of emphasis on what to listen for and historical and cultural background on the operas, themselves. His knowledge regarding opera is truly encyclopedic. I guess for me, he was an acquired taste.
His introduction to "The Righteous," the opera whose world premier we would see is a few hours was really quite good, especially at unpacking a very complex plot and introducing the principle characters. More of that later.
After lunch, we did a walking tour of the historic plaza area of Santa Fe. Our leader, Christopher, could point out and embellish the history and traditions of a variety of sites, especially those associated with Los Alamos and the development of the atomic bomb, Christopher has deep New Mexican roots and grew up speaking Spanish and English and carries a vast knowledge and loyalty for the many influences that contribute to the culture of Santa Fe. He calls the Spanish Conquistadors, colonizers, which should indicate where his cultural loyalties lay.
The statue above represents all the non-indigenous imports to New Mexico by the Spanish which brought a raft of diseases which decimated the native population. The statue commemorates the arrival of the "colonizers."
I have to say that Santa Fe has embraces its heritage with abandon. Virtually every building is adobe-mud colored and has that particular look and style associated with the region.
One of the interesting sites we visited was "The Miraculous Stairway." The Sisters of Loretto were brought to Santa Fe to educate the girls and they built buildings to that end. One of the buildings was a French style church. It is a beautiful church but someone neglected to design a way to get into the gallery/balcony. The sisters were clueless about what to do, so they began a novena. At the end of the ninth day, there was a knock at the door of the convent and a wondering carpenter was asking for lodging. The sisters said he could have lodging if he built them a way to get into the balcony and his handy work is still admired, today.
It was back to the hotel to prepare for dinner and the opera. I'll close with the first views I had of the opera theatre.
