When you live in Chicago, you never stop discovering new cultural institutions and new activities. I don’t remember where I learned about the Haymarket Opera Company, but when I read about them, I knew immediately that I wanted to see their performance at least once.
Today it finally happened – I attended the last performance of Artaserse – an opera written by Leonardo Vinci (no, the other one!) In today’s performance, all roles except for one (Mandane) were cast by male singers. The opera was four hours long! (Good thing it started at 6 PM!)
The venue is very close to where I live (on the Fullerton Campus of DePaul), so it’s just over 30 minutes door-to-door.
The concert hall is small and extremely convenient, with a perfect view of the stage from any seat.
The production was very true to history in terms of acting, set, and costumes – everything was like the operas were produced in the 18th century, and that’s what Haymarket Opera is famous for.
Another thing I noticed was that the audience felt like a very close community, with “their usual seats” and such, and people were greeting each other before taking their places. Still, I was not miserable about being an outsider (and I survived a four-hour opera – some patrons left during the second intermission!)
Hettie's Reflections 