Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Loving Opera@TheWaterfront in West Palm Beach

Palm Beach Opera held a community event Saturday, and I enjoyed every minute of it.

The event was billed as Opera@TheWaterfront. Ninety minutes of live opera music outside on the lush lawn of the Meyer Amphitheatre in West Palm Beach -- what's not to love?

The weather that Saturday was postcard-perfect, as if someone called Central Casting and ordered blue skies, a breeze that swayed the palm fronds and a temperature in the low 70s.

My favorite tenor, James Valenti, was there, along with the Palm Beach Opera Orchestra and its Chorus. And the whole thing was free!

People used the fans, which listed the afternoon's music schedule, to
shield their faces from the bright sun.


The opera folks received an $80,000 matching grant from the James L. Knight Foundation to underwrite this year's performance, which was simulcast to New York.

Also new this year, opera attendees could down load an app from the iTunes or Android store to interact in real-time with the event. A Follow Along section pushed out fun facts and concert information in real time during the concert. The app also contained the program list, translations of the arias from the Italian and German and bios and head shots of the singers.

I prefer the tenors' voices to sopranos. The women's voices seemed contrived to me. Which type of voice do you like?

Valenti caressing the words as he sings.

I also think the operas in Italian and French are much more romantic than those in German. Maybe that's why the former two are called Romance Languages, while German is more guttural and in the Indo-European language family. What language do you prefer for operas?


Another view of the stage.

One of the last songs was "Let it Snow" and the audience was invited to sing along. If you didn't know the words, they were on app.

She didn't need the app; she knew the words to "Let it
Snow" by heart.

In case you are wondering how this event fits into a fitness blog, allow me to explain. I parked in a garage about four blocks away on the third floor. I walked down one flight of steps, then practically ran down a long ramp to get to the ground floor before I could walk to the amphitheater. I racked up .8 mile with my walk to the opera. Plus, the garage parking was free because it was a GreenMarket day!

And now, for my numbers


I had my best walking day last week on Sunday, Dec. 7, 2014, when I walked:

Steps: 14,153
Miles: 7.1







3 comments:

  1. Nicely written, Jane. I saw the sign for the opera and wondered exactly what was happening... Sounds like a good event. We've gone several times to the Kravis for short versions of the operas that they put on for school children -- also quite good.

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