First Post
October 14th, 2008Hi and welcome. I am new to this and yes I hope you may be interested in Classical Partners. You can find out more by going to www.classicalpartners.co.uk OK that is the end of the advertisement. I hope that this blog will allow me to share some experiences with you that you will find interesting. So here goes… I have just come back from a weekend in Florence. We had great weather and great food and went to see Tosca at the Teatro Comunale. It was fantastic. It was such a nice change to see an opera that was staged as it was originally intended. There were no spaceships or anything like that and the sets were truely spectacular. There must have been at least 60 people on stage for the Te Deum at the end of Act 1. Marco Berti as Cavaradossi was magnificent. What a voice! Unfortunately the same can not be said Daniela Dessi as Tosca. She was clearly unwell and having struggled through Act 1 was replaced by Annalisa Raspagliosi who really gave it everything. Have a look at http://maggioblog.splinder.com/ for some great pictures. Even though at times the orchestra was a little overpowering the standard of playing was superb. I am sorry but I don’t know who the cellist was but they deserve a special mention. Anyway this all set me to thinking. How do they do it? Good stalls seats were just Euro 50 but if you go to a touring opera in a provinchal theatre in the UK you will have to pay that much and as for a big production at Covent Garden well you know what I mean.