As a person who grew up in the 21st Century surrounded by vast media entertainment such as cable television and the internet, I had never seen an opera before and I believed them to be boring. As a result, when I walked into the Metropolitan Opera, went up the spiral, red stairs, through the narrow halls, and sat down in my seat to watch Act 1 of Carmen, I was not expecting much. Three and a half hours later, I clapped for three minutes straight.

The best aspect of Carmen was the music. It told the story; it expressed anger; it signaled the entrance of a character; it expressed innocence. The music of Carmen established the tone for every scene and revealed every message to the point where all a person needed was good hearing to understand everything. I watched the majority of Act 1 without my translating monitor turned on (I did not realize what all those rectangular things were). However, I was still able to understand and feel the emotions of the characters because of the orchestra and the music they played.

The role of the orchestra’s music in Carmen revealed to me that the nature of a opera’s success is a duality. Success depends as much on the actors on the stage performing with all the passion in their bodies as the conductor, the violinists, the flutists and the rest of the orchestra playing their instruments in harmony to define the tone of a scene through their music.

Overall, I do not regret the three and a half hours I used Tuesday  night to watch Carmen. Rather, I was delightfully surprised with how enjoyable the experience was. Before the event, all I had on my mind was stress, thoughts about presentations and tests coming up soon and how I could be using my time then to prepare and study. However, once I sat down, all those feelings were gone and the only thing in my mind was how good Carmen was. I hope I can go see another opera one day.