Yesterday was the first of many wonderful afternoons of opera here at Lake Chapala. With thanks to the Opera Guild of Chapala probably around 200 – 250 locals (my guess) were able to watch the HD live performance of Puccini’s Turandot simultaneously with many thousands of people around the world.
Bringing the Metropolitan Opera of New York HD simulcast to Lakeside was no small feat, I’m sure. There are substantial costs involved and it couldn’t have been done without the support of the MovieSpace theater at the Laguna Mall. There are English and Spanish subtitled theaters available. Tickets are 300 pesos ($15/USD) at the door or less if you buy season tickets. All the links included here will help you decide what’s right for you.
If you haven’t seen one of these simulcasts it is an incredible experience. The photography is fantastic, and so intimate that you can throw away your opera glasses! Intermissions are a wonderful mix of short interviews with the artists, clips from past performances, and the scene backstage as the sets are changed. The lights in the theater are brought up and down along with the lights in New York and in my theater people clapped along with the New York audience also!
Yesterday’s performance of Turandot was spectacular in every way, and the sets by the late Franco Zeffirelli were stunning.
The host for the performance was soprano Angel Blue who will be singing the female lead later in the season in Porgy and Bess. She introduced us to the upcoming performances and I have to say I am excited for all of them, maybe especially Akhnaten by Philip Glass.
I feel very grateful to have access to such world class opera right here Lakeside. All the links above will give you information on how to get tickets and to the Opera Guild, if you’d like to join. I will be joining ($1300 pesos) to support this wonderful effort and also their mission to provide admission to Jalisco Opera students at no charge.
Marylee
October 13, 2019Terrific news, thank you for this!
Nancy
October 13, 2019You’re so welcome!
Contessa Jewall
October 14, 2019How fabulous! It is almost better than being at the Met in person. Have been to the opera there twice now and it is a true thrill. We have a movie theatre here in Kelowna that does the same thing but I have never attended. I will now. I love how you described the lights going down and up in the movie theatre, the backstage scenes and the audience participation. I certainly will make an effort once we get back from Mexico. When I was a child my mother would make us sit and listen to the opera on the radio, direct from the Met every Saturday afternoon. The day before she would prep us on the story of the opera we were about to hear. Thank you so much for sharing this.
Nancy
October 14, 2019Contessa, you will love it, I’m sure! We are very lucky that there are some passionate opera lovers here who have made this happen! Oh, and a funny thing, a friend wrote and said she was watching Turandot in Sebastapol, California! I wonder how many people we know will attend at the same time around the world?
Contessa Jewall
October 14, 2019What fun! Soon we will be emailing friends about watching a performance at the same time then afterwards enjoy a glass of wine as we FaceTime about it.