Opera Madam Butterfly, 8:15pm, August 7, 2015, Wolf Trap National Park for Performing Arts. We got 2 tickets a few days before, and decided that my youngest daughter and I would go. I didn't know what to expect from Madam Butterfly. I saw it some 30 years ago at the Sky Bridge Theater in Beijing, performed by the China National Opera. I don't remember my impression of that performance, except that afterwards in the theater lobby I ran into one of my college teachers whom I had not seen for a few years and who was in Beijing on a business trip. At that time China was only opened to the outside world for a few years, and I was young and eager to learn things about the western culture. I guess that was part of the motive behind my going to see Madam Butterfly. However the performance obviously did not impress me, maybe because I already considered classical Italian opera too old of an art for people of my age, or maybe because I considered romance a potential disruption to a man's pursuit of beauty in "pure" knowledge and reason and therefore failed to connect emotionally to the opera's romantic love theme ? Whatever the reason was, that experience did not make me an opera goer, as evidenced by the fact that in the 29 years after I went to see an opera only once and that was last year.
The time came. We got to the Filene Center on time. The stage design was unique and eye catching. The full orchestra was on the stage in the back, leaving enough room in the front for the opera. Several nice looking projection screens were hung from the ceiling, providing enough space for background projection and visual separation of the orchestra and the opera. The applause from the audience ushered in the conductor, the music began to flow, and, unexpectedly, I was blown away immediately. Act after act, scene by scene, aria by aria, captivating moments came in one after another, some breath taking, some heartwarming, some heart breaking. The passionately powerful delivery of the "Madam Butterfly Aria" Un Bel Di Vedremo by Alexandra Loutsion brought the audience to their feet. The talented singers of the Wolf Trap Opera, backed by the full force of the National Symphony Orchestra, displayed the full splendor and charm of Puccini's master piece which has inspired generations of composers. I am thinking that maybe certain things will never get too old, and they are called "classic". Also, getting old may not be such a bad thing after all for a man, and maybe "pure" romance and love can be profoundly beautiful in their own right. I am sure that my conversation about music with my youngest daughter in the future will include opera. Am I going to be an opera goer? I will find out in the next 30 years.
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