Tonight was Opera San Jose’s opening night. The Crucible went very well … at least from what I could hear. (Will we ever get sound monitors? I suppose not. Sigh.) I think the audience, as seems to be typical of our opening night audience, gave a bit of a timid response after the first half. At the end some folks did finally stand up (and Opera San Jose audiences only rarely give standing ovations), but even then I couldn’t really tell if the audience as a whole liked the opera. San Jose audiences aren’t all that thrilled with 20th century music (sad, but true) so maybe this was too modern for them. i wonder. But I’ve also noticed that the opera opening night audience is often tentative. I’ve always thought they are reserved because they aren’t sure what to think since no review has come out at that point. After the first weekend audiences are more inclined to applaud loud and hard if we’ve gotten good reviews.

When I went to see the piano tech rehearsal last week I was impressed with the staging, the sets, the singing … it was all so very good. The only thing missing at that point was an orchestra. And we were there tonight. At least I think so. 😉

I did hear from a few audience members tonight, and they were ecstatic. Of course they were also friends of orchestra members so they may hear with “approval ears”. Robert Ward (the composer) was there, but I couldn’t really tell what he thought. The only comment I heard was that he wanted the celli to play louder. Heh. It’s so rare to hear “play louder” when it comes to opera.

We have seven more performances. I love the opera, so I’m enjoying myself!
—–