Sunday 27^th December 2015

Actually it was a late afternoon at the opera – Sydney Opera House in fact.  Although neither of us is an opera fan, we really felt we couldn’t spend time in Sydney and not attend at least one performance.  I would have preferred to go to an entire opera so that I could at least follow what it was all about, but there was nothing on offer, so we settled for this performance of Great Opera Hits, on the assumption that we would recognise one or two when we heard them.  This proved to be true – we actually recognised three – but three out of thirteen makes for quite a long 90 minutes!

I found I enjoyed listening to the men’s voices, but really found it hard not to get bored and start making lists in my head when it was time for the women to sing.  The one exception was when the two ladies sang a duet which I recognised from the old British Airways advert. The whole performance was saved for me by the very nice chap, Guy Noble, who introduced the show, played the piano and held it all together with his amusing chat in between performers.  And also by Luke Gabbedy, who added a little drama to his performances, and whose Toreador’s Song I enjoyed enormously.  I apologise to any readers who are opera fans.  Each to his (or her) own.  Here is the programme:

In all, the whole experience of attending the Opera House was not to be missed.  

In the foyer, ‘The Possum Dreaming’ artwork.                                                    Waiting for the performance to start. Nice flowers.

Later we decided against the bus, and instead took the ferry across to Neutral Bay.  Couldn’t resist a few more photos as we passed by in the early evening light.