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I'm glad you enjoyed it. I did not even go which is unheard of for me if we were talking even 5 years ago. I thought about going to see Fabiano's Duke in Rigoletto while down in South Florida, b/c he has a certain amount of buzz going on, and what I have heard from his singing I have liked, but I decided against it. I know he's not going to be a new Pavarotti or even a Beczala, so I didn't bother. I just can't get enthused about opera anymore as horrible as that sounds. I am almost always disappointed. Nina Stemme's Brünnhilde in San Francisco was wonderful, but the rest of the cast in that Ring were pretty mediocre, and the Met's new Ring judging from the live HD transmissions into movie theaters is a total waste of time and energy, in my opinion. Lousy sets, singers all wrong for their roles, etc. If the Met's live HDs of its new Ring had made me happy I would be attending a Ring Cycle there, but I don't think I would fly up there to see it if someone handed me free tickets including a free flight to NY.

I personally think opera is in dismal decline right now, and this is why I have turned to ballet. Ballet seems to be experiencing a golden age. Not so in opera. It is pretty sad when I am wishing we had singers like Cheryl Studer and June Anderson around still. They couldn't hold a candle to people like Joan Sutherland or Montserrat Caballe, but things have gotten so bad that I would LOVE to see Studer or Anderson or Aprile Millo or Carol Vaness in almost anything compared to anyone today. I just can't believe I am longing to see mediocre singers!!! It is because things have gotten so bad that the mediocre ones seem like goddesses now!

Sorry to be so negative. I have just gotten too excited too many times in the last decade only to be disappointed. Here I thought the 80s and 90s were bad for opera. But in 2012 things are even worse!!!! I sit in total disbelief as people around me will cheer and give standing ovations to Natalie Dessay in her current vocal state. Even Renee Fleming who is a superstar in the opera world has too many swoopy mannerisms. I could go on and on......I love Angela Gheorghiu, but she cancels at the drop of a hat, so I never bother to fly anywhere to go see her. Anna Netrebko has a beautiful voice, and she was pretty good in Anna Bolena this past season, but I don't think someone who can barely trill should be singing bel canto repertoire. She's one of the top sopranos around today, and deserves the fame, but there's something about her singing that just doesn't do it for me. No chills down the spine.

There is nothing at Florida Grand Opera or Palm Beach Opera that I have any interest in seeing this season. I really can't believe it, b/c I used to go to everything down there. Oh, well.....maybe one day I will return to watching opera....

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