One of my goals before coming out here was to make sure that I would partake in the cultural life. Part of that culture includes being able to attend ballets, operas, and symphonies on a regular basis. Well I'm happy to say that I've at least attended one of each of these so far, and there will be plenty more to see!
First I went to the Czech Orchestra at the Rudolfinum with Philippe. One of my co-workers had season tickets, but was feeling ill so he wasn't able to attend. I was really excited to go inside of the building and just feel like a grown up.. sipping champagne during the intermission, getting all dressed up, having a date to chat with.
It was a really lovely time. It's pretty comical, though, how the conductor goes in and out of the back doors just to receive more of an applause! Ridiculous! Seriously, after one song he would leave, and then come back and more clapping. Then at the very end jesus.. I thought it would never end! My hands started hurting!Ashley came out to visit me in November. We went to Muse which was amazing- not exactly in the same realm as the Opera/Theatre events that I'm dedicating this page to, but still noteworthy to talk about. We went to Munich to see them in the Olympic stadium, and I have never seen so many people at a concert before. It was the largest one I have ever seen, and it was packed for good reason. Muse is amazing! Loved their performance and love all their songs!
My school tries to hold staff events and that's how I was able to go to the Opera and Ballet for so cheap. The last Sunday that Ashley was here, just the night before she was leaving, we went to the opera and saw Carmen.
This is a story of a gypsy named Carmen who pretty much everyone in the town loves. A military man tries not to fall in love with her.. but of course he falls victim to her. She gets put in jail and he gets her out and they run away together. Then they start getting sick of each other and she starts falling in love with a matador. The military guy get jealous of course, and kills her in the end and then the police kill him. So a typical opera of love, betrayal, and murder. haha of course the opera was in French, but they had a screen above the stage with Czech and English subtitles. It's just freakin hilarious to see the translation of some of the things that they say. One simple sentence takes 5 minutes to sing. Gets kinda ridiculous at times.. but I loved the actual musical numbers.In December, I finally got to see a ballet and what better to see than The Nutcracker and A Christmas Carol. It was kind of strange that they mixed the two ballets together.. but it actually did make sense the way they did it. I have never actually seen The Nutcracker so I didn't have much to compare it with. I've only seen movies of A Christmas Carol... so all in all I was able to see two stories at once. Beautiful dances and costumes.. and I freakin loved the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies but the video didn't turn out so great.. oh well. Here's a different clip:
In March I went to Paris with Philippe to watch his brother's girlfriend perform at the National Opera House. She is a professional pianist, and I was blown away by her performance. This theatre kinda puts the Prague theatre to shame.. sorry Prague, but Paris definitely beat you on this one (among other things).
The theatre was huge, and the fact that she was performing with only 4 other people- violinists- it was just amazing! Great job Ruta! You can see her in the back- behind the piano- obviously.
