Going to the Opera in Montreal

Hi everyone!
No no, you didn’t go back in time during my Montreal week – this is just a recap post of this lovely activity I did this summer: attend the opera!

I’ve been to the opera before and I quite loved it. While I am 100 times more touched my dance because I’m a dancer – I still highly enjoy the opera. It’s so powerful, impressive and so gut-wrenching sometimes.

Anyhow, one of my besties from high school (yes we’re still besties all these years later) is an ambassador for the Opera de Montreal and so it means she gets two free tickets per show. Since I’m leaving so soon, she said that she would bring me to the first show of the season, Nabucco. I know, I’m a lucky girl!

So on Saturday evening I got dressed up – which I always enjoy – and headed into downtown Montreal to the Place des Arts (which I’m sure you can translate with minimal French skills). My friend was working the entrance – welcoming the VIPs – so I went upstairs and people-watched as people made their way into one of the most gorgeous venues in Montreal. Nabucco was almost 3hours long, including 2 intermissions. To be completely honest, I had a hard time following the plot at first because I kept being so engrossed by what was happening on stage and forgot to read the subtitles. Nabucco is an Italian opera – and because it’s Montreal, subtitles are included in French and English. After reading the quick recap of each parts, I finally understood what was going on!

Both N and I love to dress up so during the first intermission we took loads of photos! Selfie time! We had fun. Finally, after the opera, we were able to sneak into the after show cocktail because my friend is working for the opera! We had a blast – free wine, free bites of food, photos with photographers and we got to see the artists of the show as well! Overall, an amazing night! Thanks Nico!

{please excuse the low quality of the photos – I only had a small bag and only bit my mobile in}

On top of that wonderful evening – I was able to attend one more opera this summer!

Earlier in August, l’Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal put on a free public concert with opera singers and a choir of over 1000 vocalists. Since it was one of my favourite cantatas – Carmina Burana – I was eager to go! On that Thursday night, my mom and I met up and set out for the Olympic Stadium – the concert was to happen at the foot of the stadium.

So obviously with events like these – open to the public and free – it’s better to arrive early, which we did! We got there almost 1h30 early, sat down and ate sandwiches, waiting for it to start. We sat on the stairs – well that was a HUGE mistake because the entire empty section in front of us quickly filled up. Finally, as the concert started, we thought that perhaps it was done and we’d get to just enjoy the show. Well that was a big no as well! We sat in front of an empty path – which was another HUGE mistake because jerks who don’t care about the opera kept walking around for the entirety of the show! Some of them would stop smack in front of us to get a good view – completely blocking ours. No regard for others!

Anyhow, while I highly enjoyed the music and opera, the 1000s of singers singing the powerful O Fortuna, I really disliked the event as a whole. Public events like these fill up by people who are just curious to show up to a free event and that makes the enjoyability of such art very hard to do since people have absolutely no decency. Excuse the rant! I was so incredibly angry after the concert – I’m not one for crowds so I guess that was a lesson learned!

It was still a fun experience to have with my mom in retrospect! Since I’m leaving so soon – this summer I tried to really enjoy those nights out and fun outings with my parents. That was one of them and even though I raged part of the night, it’s still a fun memory that I shared with my mom! 🙂

Ever been to the opera? Do you have a favourite one?xx