Today was wonderful.
A late-ish sleep with time to read the paper and drink some coffee alone in silence. Then off to choir practice at 10 before mass at 11:30. We sang
Salvator Mundi by Thomas Tallis (
pdf) and
Tantum Ergo from 4 Motets on a Gregorian Theme by Durufle.
We had tickets for Pucini's
Madama Butterfly with the Canadian Opera Company this afternoon, so I met Z after mass and we headed over to the Wilson TTC subway station as the Toronto Marathon was running right by the Four Seasons Centre making traffic crazy downtown. Z had packed a picnic lunch, so we sat in the car and ate, and then hopped on a train downtown.
The Four Seasons Centre is gorgeous. I'd been to a couple of free lunchtime concerts in the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre there, but never to an opera. To the left is a shot in the Amphitheater featuring a friend of mine from choir on the flute, her daughter on viola, and a family friend on harp. This was taken last fall.
A couple more pictures of some of the interior.
To the right are the steps heading to the upper rings. Below is a shot of the skylight over the staircase. The whole building is bathed in natural light with full walls of glass over University Avenue and Osgoode Street. More beautiful shots of the exterior and the main room can be found
here.
The opera itself was wonderful. It wasn't familiar to me, but between the
stellar cast,
incredibly sets, costumes, and lighting design, it was simply a treat for the soul. A tragedy, the last act was very moving, much more than I expected.
After it was over, we hopped on the subway (with lots of other opera-goers and members of the orchestra), and headed north to our car. We prepared a light dinner, Z took the dog on a long walk, and we settled in for a relaxing evening at home.
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