Opera in the Outfield

Isn't that just a great event title? Seriously, what's not to love about that? Last night Karin Meilstrup and I took the metro downtown after work to the Nationals ballpark where they did a free live simulcast from the Kennedy Center of Puccini's opera, Tosca. It was a pretty cool idea. We sat on the lawn of the stadium and watched the tragic story. We packed a picnic and enjoyed our dinner while we watched the show and listened to the powerful voices of some incredible singers. While understandably the sound quality is significantly diminished by hearing it over stadium speakers, it was still really a fun way to see an opera.

I haven't had the opportunity to see very many operas before in my life, but I definitely feel like it is an under-appreciated art. (This may turn into a bit of a cultural rant.) For some reason I am a sucker for music in a foreign language. I think this happened to me when I was a freshman in college in my Humanities 101 class. The more I've thought about it though, I think one reason I really enjoy it is because it gives me the opportunity to enjoy the the sound of the human voice as an instrument without being distracted by the words of the song. It is absolutely amazing to me what the human voice can do. The expressive quality of the voice makes it one of the most versatile instruments and artistic mediums. Like other art forms which are "high brow" (a term which incidentally is derived from phrenology), I feel like opera has an ennobling quality because it demonstrates in a powerful way the mastering of human potential and total self-control in at least one aspect. So don't knock it until you give it a try!