Anticipation is building as the 2012-13 season of Live From The Met gets under way at Guadalajara’s modern, large-capacity Teatro Diana, one of a handful of locations in Mexico where high-definition, digitally pristine transmissions of 12 live operas will be beamed straight from New York’s Metropolitan Opera house, complete with close-ups and between-acts interviews.
The operas will show on a large screen at noon on 12 Saturdays from October 13 through April 27, 2013.
Residents and visitors to Puerto Vallarta can also watch the operas this year, as the Teatro Vallarta is hosting them for the first time (see box on page four).
“It’s not better than live opera, but it’s a good option, an opportunity to hear singers that will not come to Guadalajara, to see the top level of opera,” said opera producer Ernesto Álvarez, who is perhaps the city’s most visible and engaging music commentator. One of Álvarez’s platforms is the hour-long Spanish commentaries he offers to Live From The Met patrons before the shows at Teatro Diana.
Álvarez sadly noted that live opera in Guadalajara has dried up in recent years, while attendance at the Met events has seemed static.
Still, he was enthusiastic. “Live From The Met is more economical and comfortable than seeing an opera in person,” he added. “The screen is gigantic, the sound is fantastic, and there are no bad seats.” (Some less expensive seats at Teatro Diana do require climbing lots of steps, however.)
Without doubt, the economical cost at the Diana is a major attraction. Seats at the Met in New York fetch up to about 500 dollars, while the top, red-area tickets at Teatro Diana go for a mere 250 pesos, or about 19 dollars. (The Diana offers a freebie if you buy 11 tickets and a 50 percent discount on one ticket if you buy five. Check www.teatrodiana.com. Also, the Chapala area group VIVA La Musica will charter buses to the Diana for the series. Tickets are 300 and 400 pesos, available Thursdays and Fridays, 10 a.m. to noon, at the Lake Chapala Society. Or call 376-766-1801.)
And while at the Diana you won’t see the eye-popping evening dresses seen at past operas at Teatro Degollado, which probably outdo the garb at any opera in the world, the audience usually includes local music notables, and they sometimes dress up.
Teatro Diana staffer Ivan Vazquez expects attendance this season to continue its slow growth. “Little by little, more patrons are coming. In the first season, there were more than 4,000 viewers total. In 2011-12, we had 8,000.” Vazquez said that he has been gratified to see the response of the audience.
“The majority of course are seniors, including people from Ajijic, whom we are very happy to see. And every time, the crowd is younger and more diverse.”
The only disadvantage for English-speaking opera lovers at the Teatro Diana will be that subtitles are in Spanish. That won’t be a problem for “The Tempest” (“La Tempestad”) as it is in English, the only one of the 12. And of course, the live, backstage interviews shown during intermission are in English.
Local publicity bills the recently composed “La Tempestad” and the much older “María Estuardo” (“Mary Stuart” also known as Mary Queen of Scots) as “estrenos mundiales” or world premiers. But in actuality, they are premiers at the Met, “The Tempest” having had its world premier in London in 2004 and “Maria Stuarda” in Milan in 1835.
But this Met performance of “The Tempest” is nevertheless steeped in high anticipation. Based on the Shakespeare play, the opera “The Tempest” was recently composed by Thomas Adès and received acclaim the few times it was performed in recent years. Both opera expert Álvarez and Teatro Diana staffer Vazquez bill it as one of the operas they are most excited about this season, even though it is relatively unknown.
Verdi’s “Rigoletto,” set in Las Vegas in this Met production, was also mentioned by the two men as a favorite. (Both “Rigoletto” and Donizetti’s “Elixir de Amor,” another Met offering this season, were recently performed in the Lakeside area’s Auditorio de la Ribera in traditional productions.)
Álvarez and Vazquez also have a warm place in their hearts for Donizetti’s “Maria Estuardo,” Verdi’s “Otelo” (based on Shakespeare’s “Othello,” with themes of racism and jealousy), Berlioz’s large-scale “Les Troyens” (“The Trojans”) and of course Verdi’s epic “Aida,” set in Egypt with all its scenic splendor. Álvarez looks forward to Wagner’s “Parsival” (based on the Arthurian knight Percival’s quest for the Holy Grail), although he recognizes that Wagner’s long operas are not “accessible” to many opera goers.
Obviously, the season is heavy on classic inspiration, whether based on Shakespeare or other historically interesting events, and heavy on settings in ancient places.