Original image by There Stands the Glass.
The death and destruction wreaked by the coronavirus pandemic is tragic. I was lucky. Blessed by good health while holed up in Kansas, I gained new appreciation for my expansive suburban home and marvelous life partner.
I took advantage of the free streams offered by the Metropolitan Opera on more than 150 evenings during the days of isolation. I’ve been looking forward to returning to Lincoln Center ever since.
Remembering I was dissatisfied with $25 tickets on a remote balcony at the massive opera house in January of 2019, I elected to splurge on seats to watch Donald Runnicles conduct Richard Wagner’s Tannhäuser on Wednesday, December 6.
The most expensive concert tickets I’ve purchased didn’t allow me to rub shoulders with masters of the universe. Instead, I was surrounded by fellow opera fanatics from the Americas, Europe and Asia who appreciated being close enough to Runnicles to hear the maestro’s strenuous gasps.
As with the National Football League, experiencing the event in person is in many ways inferior to viewing a polished television broadcast. Even so, I relished hearing the unfiltered voices of Ekaterina Gubanova, Elza van den Heever and Andreas Schager for the duration of the four-hour and thirty-minute performance.