A Night At The Opera

When we first arrived at the apartment in Avignon, Anne-Sophie asked us if we would like free tickets to the opera if she could get them....we of course replied "Yes, please", and thought that would be nice if it does happen...

Well, two days ago Anne-Sophie knocked on the door with two tickets to the final dress rehearsal of Puccinni's Madame Butterfly.....we could go and see the opera for free...the theatre would be full of people connected with the opera, ballet, this production etc.....sounded really good.

Tickets For The Opera

Madame Butterfly

Luckily, we read about what happens in each act on the Internet, so we had a good idea of the story line before we went...which is just as well.....as you may know the opera is in Italian...and in all operas we have been to there is a screen above the stage that has a translation of the song words so that it is easy to follow the story, but being in France this was in French!!

Now one great thing for us is the fact that the Opera House is a two minute walk from the apartment, so we headed off at quarter to eight for an eight o'clock start....how great is that? No traffic or parking hassles!!! This classic building is next to the City Hall and was built in the 1850's. It has a beautiful, old fashioned interior and 5 levels of seating.....the only problem..na cameras allowed inside!

The Avignon Opera House

We had good seats on the second level balcony almost looking straight at the stage....got to be happy with that...the downside...being such an old theatre the chairs and leg room was quite small...but it was manageable.

Spectacular Interior (Not Our Photo)

The performance of Madame Butterfly itself was excellent, the lead soprano had the most beautiful voice..when she sang her on stage solo..."Un bel di vedremo" it was so emotional, so beautiful and clear it bought a lump to your throat, and a tear to your eye.....she was fantastic.

So thanks to Anne-Sophie we had a wonderful night out at the opera.

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