When I was taking my opera course in CEGEP we had a choice of seeing two live operas out of three performed in Montreal that semester. I wanted to see all of them, but due to pecuniary concerns, I had to drop Janacek’s “Turn of the screw”. I have been wanting to correct this for a while and the perfect opportunity appeared the last week when I saw Janacek’s “Jenufa” in Zagreb’s HNK (Hrvatsko Narodno Kazaliste).

The prices were ridiculously cheap ($25 for the best seats, how does that happen!!!) so we splurged for the private lodge. It was so exciting to go see an opera at the HNK. You see, I used to be quite in love with this theatre from the time my life’s ambition was to become a ballerina. I’ve only been to a handful of shows and not for many years. The repertoire of the theatre is very classical which,with exception of opera, does not really attract me and there are so many cultural events going on in Zagreb anyway, HNK always gets overlooked. When it comes to opera, I am very impressed. There seems to be a performance on every week compared to eight or ten performances per year in Ottawa. The theatre is small so even seated in the back you can see and hear quite well. The gold painted squiggles, carpets, cherubs, tiny lodges, etc, which would be absurd anywhe else give it so much charm.

As for the performance itself, I truly enjoyed it. I don’t know if I would listen to Janacek at home but the music was perfect for live performance. We also noted that Janacek succeeded in making the opera more realistic in that the score calls for divas that are ugly, heavy and old. Overall, great fun was had even with somewhat macabre opera .

A few years ago I saw Lucille Chung in concert and enjoyed it so much I bought her CD. I played it at home a few times but it really did not work out because I can only listen to the music in one room and I am never there for long. It makes it difficult to listen to modern piano music because all I hear is “plink, dead air, plink”.

Anyhow, not having the opportunity to really listen to this CD, I soon forgot about it until I read someone gushing about Ligeti’s Grand Macabre opera on one of the opera blogs I follow. I finally got around to bringing the CD into my car so I can listen to it when I am not moving from room to room and I am finally enjoying it.

Yesterday as I was listening to it I wished I had practiced some of these pieces back when I was taking piano lessons in the late 80’s. At my dance school we were allowed to practice on free pianos but goofing around was frowned upon. If I was practicing Ligeti, the people whose job was to chase the non serious kids off the pianos would never know whether I was playing some complex and critically acclaimed passages or was just goofing around.

Burt seriously, would not piano lessons be much more fun if they included some modern stuff and maybe some jazz? Even though I always enjoyed classical music I can’t ever remember actually liking any pieces I was practicing. The only tunes I remember enjoying playing were Frere Jacques, Fur Elize and some improvisations that attempted to sound like Ligeti, none of which I would be allowed to play on the school piano for fear of being accused of goofing off.

Plink plink plink!

And yes, I have embarked on a new and ambitious knitting project. Wish me luck!