The two biggest roles I ever did back in my operatic days were Rosina from The Barber of Seville by Rossini and the title role in Bizet's Carmen. Above is Rossini's crypt in Pere Lachaise. In 1887, twenty years after his death, his remains were moved back to Florence, but the crypt stands today, always adorned with fresh flowers from operatic fans.
Me as Rosina in The Barber of Seville, 1992
Bizet is still in residence here, interred in 1875, a few months after Carmen opened to less than enthusiastic audiences. He never knew that his opera would become one of the best loved and most performed of the entire operatic repertoire.
Me as Carmen back in 1995
WOW!!!! Look at you go!
ReplyDeleteA woman of many parts...I must not have been paying attention...opera. Do you still sing...our neighbor when I was growing up had trained as an opera singer and it was joy to listen to her as she worked in her kitchen. Brava.
ReplyDeleteMarylinn - Singing opera takes lots of dedication and several hours of practice a day. When I was doing this in the 1990's, I also had a 40 hour a week job and two children at home. Don't ask me where I found the time and the energy! But like so many things, we find the time for what we love to do. All that energy is now going into my art, but I do sometimes miss being able to hit those high Cs
ReplyDeleteErin
Do you just sing around the house, in the car? It is the same energy, isn't it? Any creative focus, any work of the heart.
ReplyDeleteMarylinn - I don't sing opera around the house - just can't hit the notes any more. But I do sing along with CDs. Margot and I love to sing show tunes on road trips!
ReplyDeleteErin