WNO re-emerges triumphantly

Despite the glorious weather, I spent the morning working to complete next Thursday's prayer video upload. I feel the need to clear some space to enjoy the coming weeks, as we're off to the Gower en famille next weekend. I also want to complete the upload that's due the morning after we return. I enjoy creating these things but not when I'm under pressure these days, when I have time but don't always use it wisely.

After lunch I walked into town to get some updated photos of the redevelopment work, also the current state of the city centre as lockdown eases.It's great to see lots of people again in the streets, many more now sitting to dine and drink at new outdoor restaurant facilities, many of them attractively designed, with colourful enclosures, and flowering plants uplifting the streetscape. A lot of hard work and a big  . I hope it pays off.

At half past six we drove to the Bay to attend the re-opening our our national opera house after 14 months of covid closure, with an hour's concert before an audience that was a tenth of the normal full house, everyone being correctly socially distanced in their 'bubbles'.

Just one entrance was open for check-in, and we were slowly and carefully channelled through the building to our appointed seats. This was a trial event to test the robustness of the in-house team's implementation of safety protocols.

There were fifty in the orchestra, seated on stage and another thirty singers of the opera chorus in the front stalls facing the orchestra. This actually worked surprisingly well in terms of sound balance, as the auditorium acoustics are so well designed.

The orchestra played with fervour and precision. I have never heard the overture to Rossini's 'Barber of Seville' played at such a breathless pace. Every instrument was clearly audible in a way no hi-fi disc could ever match. Sound from the orchestra pit, partly under the stage cannot be as clear as the sound emanating from down under is constrained by the smaller space.

After the overture, we had Figaro's famous opening aria, then the Cantique de Jean Racine from the chorus, an aria from a Massanet opera sung by WNO favourite Reecca Evans , Sibelius' New World 9th Symphony, and a song from a Bernstein opera with chorus and soloists to finish with. It was a moving and powerful event, filled with defiant hope and confidence for the future. Whatever happens in future, there will be music, there will be opera, and we'll be there!