We Be Cultured

In addition to enjoying the colorful sights and sounds of musical geniuses such as the Scissor Sisters, whose concert highlights include the launching of florescent colored wigs out of air guns into the audience, I have now added opera to my musical repertoire.

For our first opera experience, we went to the Operatic Aria Competition at the Sydney Opera House this past weekend. This is a competition that identifies young opera talent. The prize for the winner is a $50,0000 scholarship to study opera anywhere in the world.

This isn't an event that we would typically find or seek out on our own, but our neighbor, Susannah, was playing violin in the orchestra and was able to get us tickets. To boot, one of Susannah (and Will, her husband's) friends was one of the six finalists in the competition.

We didn't know what to expect, but we were thoroughly impressed with what we saw and heard. We heard operatic aria highlights from the great composers and vocal ranges from bass to soprano. The singers were in formal ball gowns or tuxes with tails. It was really a great experience. To make things better, Susannah and Will's friend won the competition!

We capped off the night with a bottle of wine at the Opera Bar, which has to be one of the best settings in the world.

We will definitely be going back for more...and by more, we me opera...and wine.