An Acquired Taste

Like opera? I worked for the Santa Fe Opera for three seasons. Admittedly, this was in the costume shop, but I promise you that you cannot serve as an intern at a summer opera company without being deeply, deeply immersed in the music.

The Santa Fe Opera, like other opera companies around the country, runs a program that provides invaluable experience and networking in all aspects of its large-scale, nationally visible production company. Prop shop, costume shop, lights, sound, house management, publicity and performing- all areas have interns. (In fact, Madame Librarian, now that you’re retired and petless, there’s no reason why you couldn’t spend a summer down there as an intern. Think about it.)

Those three summers weigh a little more heavily than others in my past. The memories are sharp and clear. It was heady stuff, exhilarating, humbling and exhausting. We got a dorm room, a stipend and unequaled- and sometimes hellish- experience with REAL prima donnas, critics, elite audiences from around the nation, designers both grand and humble, and a LOT of homosexuality. Just saying. Pays to be a slight, blond boy if you want to get ahead in that world.

Anyway. Opera.

It’s an acquired taste. The SFO prides itself on staging both hallowed classics (Mozart comes to mind, especially the romantic-comic variety) and world-premiers. The more avant-garde works are often screechy, tough to follow and designed with an edgy, angular look. The classics are often in another language, but comfortingly familiar tunes (courtesy of Bugs Bunny episodes) keep freshman audiences feeling hopeful that they will, indeed, acquire the taste.

I’ve found that I can stomach even avant-garde or tragic operas better than performances of music alone. The symphony, the orchestra... I find myself scrutinizing the musicians’ interactions with one another, looking for friendships, animosity, respect, in-jokes. For me, the spectacle is as important as the music. (I assume this also means that I require both an explicit story and some actual WORDS, although it’s a theory that’s tough to test. Disney’s Fantasia attempts to deliver the music without the words, but it’s hard to deny that within the visuals, there are at least skeletal stories within that master-work.)

Anyhoo, I happen to be married to a fellow who chooses to download operatic selections into his MP3 player at a slightly higher percentage than his blues or rock downloads. He cleverly entered a raffle sponsored for members of our local public radio station, and WON tickets to the opera FOR VALENTINE’S DAY. He is SO smug about this coup. A pre-packaged date, to an event that he probably will actually like, but at least also delivers the satisfaction of being in the artistic elite.

An acquired taste.

This one is by Bizet, and is saved from being a true romantic tragedy only at the eleventh hour. The Pearl Fishers. I’ll let you know how I like it. Pretty pleased about the date, regardless.