Bucket List - an opera and a ballet

[dk168]

What would you choose if you were to attend just one grand opera and one grand ballet before you leave this earth?

Where would you go?

For the ballet, I am considering the Nutcracker or Swan Lake (I have yet to go to a ballet, however, I know the music of a few).

For the opera, I am considering Aida, La Traviata or La bohème (I have seen a few others, like the Magic Flute, Madam Butterfly, Carmen etc. in smaller productions).

I shall probably go to The Royal Opera House in London for the ballet; however, I may travel to to Italy for La Scala or NYC to go to the Met as part of a holiday for the opera.

What would you recommend?

Thanks in advance.

DK

 

[Garnetgirl]

@dk168 If you’ve never been to a ballet, The Nutcracker is a great classic, and very accessible. My hubby and I saw it last Christmas, for the first time after about 25 years. (We used to go almost every Christmas back then). It was as enchanting as ever. We came away feeling like a couple of kids again.

For another opera, I would suggest Tosca or La Bohème. Both are wonderful, even though they are so sad. We saw Tosca years ago, and I still remember the ending…..

But I guess most operas don’t have happy endings - it’s not over till the fat lady (or someone else) dies!

 

[Bravissimo]

I saw Sleeping Beauty at the Kennedy Center. It was wonderful. The costumes especially. Seen the Nutcracker a few times too.

I’ve seen Carmen twice. The music is so terrific. Going to La Scala this Spring. Watch the second White Lotus and see Tanya’s trip to the opera. I understand they filmed it at La Scala.

I think ballet is a little bit more accessible, than opera because if you are English speaking opera is typically in another language. But in the US there’s subtitles. It’s fun no matter what!

 

[LilAlex]

Lots of concerts and theater but only one big-city opera and zero ballets. We saw Pagliacci at one kid's insistence. If you are doing it for the experience as a one-time thing, I would make it something where you are familiar with the music and where the venue is fairly accessible and you can get decent seats. The vocals are soaring and, well, operatic but that only gets you so far if you know none of the following: 1) story; 2) music; or 3) language. I found it less fascinating, musically, than a concert orchestra.

I would love to go to a ballet, come to think of it. There isn't one in my city and it has never been on our list when we travel. Tougher when everyone just has a carry-on bag!

 

[Cerulean]

Madama butterfly and swan lake (ballet). But since you’ve already seen Madama, I’d say the magic flute is absolutely delightful..hearing the queen of the night’s aria in person is really something worth experiencing. Make sure you see a production with a world class coloratura soprano…

For a nice opera house, Vienna’s is gorgeous! What a lovely city. There is a beautiful cake shop across the street where you can have a Sachertorte, a coffee (with some liqueur if you please) and hop over to the show.





For other operas, I also have a soft spot for the Tales of Hoffman but it’s lesser known…but the barcarolle is one of my favorite pieces of all time…a duet with sultry, deeper female voices is rare.

Dido and Aeneas is another favorite, but again, lesser known. Dido’s lament is achingly beautiful…if you want to hear a nice rendition of it, Jessye Norman’s is woah!

Samson and Delilah is another one..a beautiful French opera. For some fun listening…

Anyways, will stop there.

 

[Daisys and Diamonds]

i would like to see Giselle
my mum recieved a picture of a sceen from it for her engagment back in 1963 and it hung on their bedroom wall

i have seen swan lake
you must go see that one DK


i would be more than happy with the royal NZ ballet
Gary scretely knows lots of ballets because he went to primary school just up the hill from the royal NZ ballet and they would go to the dress rehersals

regarding opera i have no idea
we actually live in the city that houses the NZ opera school
we need to make an effort next opera week to go see something

 

[Mary Queen of Scotch]

Former ballet dancer turned balletomane, here.

Please, for the love of all that is holy, do not let Nutcracker be your first and only experience at the ballet! Scratch it off the list entirely.

The only reason they do that damn thing year after year is because it’s guaranteed butts-in-seats (family-friendly holiday tradition). It is, in actual fact, boring af. Act I is literally just children running around in party dresses and mouse costumes. Act II is essentially a series of vaguely racist vignettes. I think the ballet world has done itself a disservice by leaning so heavily on Nutcracker as the big moneymaker — if that’s the first ballet you ever see, you are not left wanting more…

So what *should* you see?

I’m partial to narrative ballets with great (read: tragic) storylines. It’s basically an unwritten rule that any ballet worth its salt ends in death. Usually suicide, murder, murder-suicide, spontaneous insanity, maybe a dash of consumption. You get the idea. (The Soviets changed all the endings to weddings for a brief period —people were depressed enough without swan-women killing themselves on stage lol — but thankfully we’re long past that little hiccup.)

Additional requirements: breathtaking pas de deux, virtuosic male roles, emotive artistry, extravagant costumes, lush set design, incredible music. And minimal townsfolk-dancing-a-mazurka type scenes.

Since you mentioned you’ll most likely go see Royal, I highly recommend one of the following. These were both choreographed by Sir Kenneth MacMillan when he was the artistic director at the Royal Ballet back in the 60-70s.

• Romeo & Juliet - maybe my favorite score (Prokofiev) and ballet, period.
• Manon

A couple other favorites in a similar, move-you-to-tears vein as the above:

• Lady of the Camellias
• Onegin

And some good Classicals:

• La Bayadère
• Le Corsaire
• Giselle (well technically this is from the Romantic period, not Classical, but you get the idea lol)
• Swan Lake
• Don Q is kinda fun, also.

As far as where to see it…

If this is truly a bucket list, One Ballet to Rule Them All situation, I vote Mariinsky or Bolshoi. *Especially* for something like Swan Lake where the corps de ballet needs to be perfectly in sync little robots (Americans and Brits sort of suck at that, comparatively).

A few other world-class options (far from an exhaustive list, but I think these may best serve your purpose):

• Royal Ballet (of course)
• American Ballet Theatre (superstar central - where you are most likely to see the Baryshnikovs of this generation)
• Paris Opera Ballet

Sorry for the rant, but I love this sh*t. Happy to help with more specific-to-you recommendations so you can fall in love, too.

 

[missy]

I love both the opera and the ballet and we were fortunate enough to go yearly before the pandemic.
It's hard to choose but if I have to I would recommend La Boheme or Madama Butterfly and Swan Lake or Romeo and Juliet.

 

[peachster]

Bolshoi for sure - probably Swan Lake. The Met NYC or La Scala, probably Magic Flute for fun but on the other hand Onegin is a strong contender. Was a season ticket holder to the Boston Opera Company, Boston Lyric Opera and Boston Ballet while I lived there many years ago. Was really such a pleasure.

 

[Mary Queen of Scotch]

Bolshoi for sure - probably Swan Lake.

@dk168 If you can see Svetlana Zakharova (principal/prima at Bolshoi) in specific, your life will never be the same again . She’s close to retirement, so giddy up!

 

[rainwood]

I'm a big ballet fan, and I vote Swan Lake. It's the only ballet that's ever made me cry. Where to see it? The Bolshoi is a given if you're willing to travel to Russia these days (I'm not). If you'd prefer not to go there, go to some other major ballet company who does it regularly in Paris or London of NYC.

I'd second the poster who said NOT the Nutcracker. The music is fantastic, some of the choreography is good in the second half, but it's just a whole different experience as the holiday standby for every ballet company on the planet. I'd also not recommend Giselle. I just saw it this past weekend and also saw it a number of years ago at La Scala when we were in Milan. It's a classic, with great technical solos, but the plot is wacky and I find the storytelling too old-fashioned.

I'm not an opera buff, and have only seen a few, but highly recommend a night at La Scala. That theater is magnificent and such a great experience. If you go there or elsewhere in Italy, be sure you've read up about the storyline. Most operas are sung in something other than English. In the U.S. and presumably the U.K., they have supra titles in English so you can follow along. I don't know if they do that in Italy. Be aware that most opera plots are melodramatic and wacky by modern standards, and it's often best to just let the music cascade over you rather than focus on the story.

 

[Pomelo]

@dk168 what a wonderful topic! If I may throw some non-traditional pieces into the mix…

The most breathtaking opera I’ve been to was Philip Glass’s Akhnaten - and it’s back at the ENO this season! The minimalist score with the maximalist production, and the unexpected voice of the main character was a real spine-tingling moment. It was my introduction to minimalist classical music and I have been listening to Philip Glass ever since. https://www.eno.org/whats-on/akhnaten/

La Scala is worth a visit but bear in mind that tickets sell out well in advance; we were standing for more than three hours which made Aida less enjoyable than a normal night out.

I haven’t watched much ballet but as per @Mary Queen of Scotch , I didn’t take to the Nutcracker. Manon has such a variety of dance, but I have a soft spot for the modern interpretations of Matthew Bourne. However, probably the most memorable ballet I’ve watched was on TV! It was Northern Ballet’s Dracula; I was transfixed by the animalistic movements and the pas de deux in this. https://northernballet.com/dracula

 

[RunningwithScissors]

Seeing an opera at The Met in NYC is an experience like none other. My husband and I are opera enthusiast and have seen operas at many venues, but nothing compares to the spectacle at the Met.

Why not visit NYC for the JAWS event and catch an opera at the same time? Let me know far enough in advance and I'll meet you there! (seriously, I would!)

 

[Garnetgirl]

My husband and I made a special trip to New York to see Cecilia Bartoli in La Cenerentola at the Met. A wonderful unforgettable performance.

 

[Cerulean]

@dk168 what a wonderful topic! If I may throw some non-traditional pieces into the mix…

The most breathtaking opera I’ve been to was Philip Glass’s Akhnaten - and it’s back at the ENO this season! The minimalist score with the maximalist production, and the unexpected voice of the main character was a real spine-tingling moment. It was my introduction to minimalist classical music and I have been listening to Philip Glass ever since. https://www.eno.org/whats-on/akhnaten/

La Scala is worth a visit but bear in mind that tickets sell out well in advance; we were standing for more than three hours which made Aida less enjoyable than a normal night out.

I haven’t watched much ballet but as per @Mary Queen of Scotch , I didn’t take to the Nutcracker. Manon has such a variety of dance, but I have a soft spot for the modern interpretations of Matthew Bourne. However, probably the most memorable ballet I’ve watched was on TV! It was Northern Ballet’s Dracula; I was transfixed by the animalistic movements and the pas de deux in this. https://northernballet.com/dracula

So jealous you saw Akhnaten

 

[dk168]

Seeing an opera at The Met in NYC is an experience like none other. My husband and I are opera enthusiast and have seen operas at many venues, but nothing compares to the spectacle at the Met.

Why not visit NYC for the JAWS event and catch an opera at the same time? Let me know far enough in advance and I'll meet you there! (seriously, I would!)

Thanks for the advice and offer.

I would probably plan a 2-city trip with NYC and Miami some time in the future, don't know when though as I already have plans for intercontinental trips up to 2027!

DK