I watched this La Boheme under Claus Guth's staging, which is very special for this opera. It is actually in the space, on another planet, hmm... particular right? The audience hated this new staging so much, that they kept yelling and shouting whenever they could, whenever there were no singing, throughout the show. To me, it was the first time to see La Boheme, this famous Puccini Opera. Not having seen a more classical staging, of course I loved it. The music was divin, I really enjoyed "Quando me'n vo'"!! The new staging seemed ok to me. I mean, we are doing these same big classics over and over again since such a long time. All they can do to make these works last is to adapt the staging to today's social context and tastes.......
As someone who had never seen La Boheme I enjoyed it. I am always grateful for the chance that I have to go inside the backstage and to discover the sets at a shorter distance after the show. A belated Happy New Year 2018 from the Palais Garnier! This Chagall ceiling never ages! This year, the Paris Opera will actually celebrate it's 350th anniversary. The King of France Louis XIV institutionalised the Paris Opera in 1668. I recently watched a documentary about the construction of the Palais Garnier in the late 19th and it is so impressive. It made me so proud to be here, once again! I also watched a movie, I hadn't been to cinema for sooooo long! The movie is "Echange de Princesse", about the war between France and Spain in the 18th century and how exchanging princesses of the two countries calmed the tension. The scenes were at Versailles, after all these years I am still a big fan of this castle. Absolutely enjoyed it and how funny that I like French history so much now. This year for New Year, I got invited to a party, a serious party with no dancing and drinking that I wouldn't like. But eating, a lot of eating. These are the fruits that I brought to my friends. Who could have imagined that I spent more than 1 hour choosing the fruits. When my friends asked me to bring fruits, first I brainstormed for several days, then on that day I went to several stores, supermarkets and fruits stores...... compared the fruits, then I spent an hour choosing the right amount and the types of fruit. I am not sure that this one hour was worth-spending on choosing fruits. However I was proud of what I got them. These are my favorite fruits! Hopefully my friends enjoyed them. And here I am on the walls of my business school! Impressive right? I am also very impressed by how nervous I got for minor challenges. Here's the story, yesterday night, I learnt that I had to do a variation full out at 9am in the studio. This is extremely early because that means I'd have to arrive at the Opera ideally 2 hours ahead to get myself warmed-up, and I had a performance yesterday evening. I got so nervous that I went home right after I finished my part (I missed watching the Act 3 danced by a guest artist), did my stretching and cool down and went to bed, set my alarm for 6 am. However I got so nervous that I didn't sleep well at all. This morning when I got up, I received a message saying that we had to cancel the appointment at 9am. Of course this is not great for me, but it let me see how I reacted to small challenges like this: I easily get so nervous and can't fall asleep. I should do better next time, but how? We will always react to situations, perhaps I should just accept the emotions and feelings and concentrate on what I can and should do. Happy New Year! |
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December 2018
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