On December 10th, our IDC class went to view the opera Tosca at the Metropolitan Opera House. This was my first time every going to an opera so I was quite curious to what it would be like but I was also very excited to have this new experience. When we go to the opera house and entered the auditorium, I was taken back by the immense size of the theater as I looked up and the ceiling continued to rise. I was also taken back at the immensity of the set that was being used from transitioning to the church, to Scarpia’s house to the castle battlements, each looked almost realistic. We had seats that were fairly close to the stage so the large set seemed to completely fill our scope of vision.  Due to the subtitles on the backs of our chairs, following the plot was fairly simple even though the performance was in Italian. As in some cases, when stories are translated and some of the feeling is lost in translation, I felt that this was not an issue because of the emotion that the performers put into the opera. As they performed,  you could really sense the drama they were feeling. Along with that, personally, I actually like that this performance was in italian rather than english because it gave me a more traditional feel on the experience of seeing this opera.

Each of the actors seemed incredibly talented, especially the performer who portrayed Tosca. Some parts that stood out in my mind were when she would hold those long high notes. Due to the immense size of the opera auditorium, I was also very impressed at the ability of all of the performers to be able to project their voice out to the audience without the assistance of any microphones or equipment. Each performer must have been very dedicated and it must have taken years to develop that skill.  As the first opera I have ever attended, Tosca fulfilled all my expectations on what i imagined operas to be like in my head. Personally, operas are not my favorite forms of entertainment but I will admit that the performance was outstanding and it was a very enjoyable experience to attend this opera.