OPERA ~ "TOSCA" ~ By: Giacomo Puccini ~ We're Booked for Thursday Evening!

 A tale of desperate choices embroiled in art and politics concludes the Edmonton Opera season with "Tosca," Puccini’s darkest and most powerful masterpiece.

Puccini – Tosca April 9, 12, 14, 2011 – 7:30pm The Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium Sung in Italian with English supertitles

Tosca, a fiery and passionate diva, struggles with a deadly decision: will she surrender to Rome’s brutal chief of police to save the man she loves?

As an elementary student (I'm not sure now exactly what grade I was in, but it would have been during the very early Seventies), we were living in the Greater Vancouver area.  Even though it is now almost forty years later, I still remember our school field trips to the opera.  We saw "Carmen" (composed by Georges Bizet) and then the following year, we went again, and saw "Rigoletto" (by Giuseppe Verdi).  These two field trips made a big impression on me ~ the costumes (especially the fancy gowns worn in "Carmen"), the singing, and the vast size of the auditorium and the crowd.

I was excited recently to learn that there was an opportunity to take my own children to see the opera ~ thanks to an Education Program offered by the Edmonton Opera.  They will allow school children (and homeschoolers) to attend their dress rehearsals for a minimal cost ($20 for adults, $12 for Junior or Senior High Students, and $7 for elementary students).  The last production of the current season is "Tosca" by Giacomo Puccini and the dress rehearsal is this Thursday evening at the Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium on the University of Alberta campus.  I received confirmation this morning that our ticket request has been granted!

We were hoping that we would be able to go, so last Friday (after the Music Festival concluded) I borrowed two cassette tapes and a booklet about "Tosca" from the North Battleford Branch of the Lakeland Library, so we will be a little familiar with the work prior to attending the show.

And so we are "off to the opera" on Thursday night ... picking up our tickets in the lobby from the "Guest and Media Table" before 6:30 p.m. for a 7 o'clock start.  The performance is 2 hours and 45 minutes long ~ with two intermissions.  Since it is the dress rehearsal, the concession will not be open, so we've been instructed to take our own snacks.

I'm sure this will be another "field trip to remember" for the days and years to come!