I know you all think that the life of a diplomat's wife is an endless whirl of glamorous receptions, drinks parties and illegal parking. In reality, it's hardly ever like that, although I must admit that on the rare occasions that I do get to sample the diplomatic high life, living up to the stereotype is thoroughly enjoyable. Yesterday was one of those days.
At 4pm Simon called and asked if we could cancel our cinema tickets for the evening as he had a better offer. At 7pm, we find ourselves, in black tie, in the stalls at the Kennedy Center, five rows back from the stage, watching Plácido Domingo's US debut as Bajazet in the first night of Tamerlano, with an invitation to a reception for the opera company at the Residence afterwards.
It really was a very special evening. The opera itself was wonderful (Handel wrote the whole thing in THREE WEEKS) and the cast absolutely superb. I don't know enough about the subtleties of baroque opera to attempt any sort of analysis, (you can read the experts here and here), but I found the entire performance totally mesmerising, despite the rather unpromising premise of an opera about Tamerlane the Mongol conqueror, his torment of the captured Ottoman Sultan Bajazet, his desire to marry Bajazet's daughter, and an extremely messy love quadrangle.
The post-performance reception held at the British Ambassador's Residence was a dinner buffet for cast and crew and some VIP donors. It was great fun. The cast were rather late to arrive and I caught myself whispering to Simon 'Is Placido here yet?' - not often you get to use that line. Domingo gave a wonderful speech thanking all those involved in staging the performance. Talk about charisma. He is 67, with the energy of a 27 year old, has 130 roles in his repertoire (more than any other tenor), holds the position of General Director of the Washington National Opera as well as a similar role in Los Angeles, conducts as well as performs, and was recently voted the 'greatest tenor of all time' by a panel of opera experts convened by the BBC Music Magazine. And he was still going strong when we left the party at 1.30am. Bravo!
I woke up this morning and could hardly believe we had had such a wonderful evening - it really was amazing. The only downside about the whole experience is that what I am about to post will mean that I shall now have to work even harder to convince you all that this is not the norm.
Photo by Monica Lopossay, Baltimore Sun. April 28, 2008
For once have sat down to read your most amusing blog - enjoying it sleepless at 5am... We too had Tamerlano, at least a couple of arias of it, performed at the Emirates Palace a few weeks ago by the English Concert. I immediately downloaded the Se Pieta on return, completely haunting. Sadly no dinner with the Soprano...
Posted by: Andrew | May 16, 2008 at 09:25 PM