What was your first opera?

[symphonyb]

how old were you and who took you? this was something I've wondered about.Many of us were intro'd to this music somehow I would love to hear our beginnings. Mine was Rigoletto and I was 11.My parents took me.

 

[Lake]

the small hero was first,then the student prince. I started going to opera type plays at age 6.my grandparents and parents were opera buffs.

 

[HawaiianTropicalDude]

Grade 6 our school allowed band people to go see J. Strauss Jr. >>DIE FLEDERMAUS. a fun opera,and one I will always remember.
I would love to see Rigoletto.How was that?

 

[jayem]

I didn't see an opera until I was in grad school in my early 20s. The mother of a friend of mine gave us tickets to Gounod's Romeo and Juliette. Atlanta, where I was living, was one of the cities on The Metropolitan Opera's spring tour. I was a little surprised at how much I enjoyed it.

 

[stonetoflesh]

I can't recall actually sitting through an entire opera, even in college... Unless one counts watching the film of Berg's Wozzeck, but I don't really. My favorite opera experience was being the orchestra percussionist for Britten's Turn of the Screw; I don't count that as seeing an opera either, since I was a participant.

I'd like to see Wagner's Ring cycle-- but not in a single sitting!

 

[romaneagle13]

The first one I ever listened to was "The Marriage of Figaro". The first one I ever saw on stage was Rigoletto at the Kennedy center with the Washington Opera in the early 1990's. I was about 18-19 years old. My mother took me, although she isn't crazy about opera. I have loved it ever since and the first one I took my husband to was, ironically, also Rigoletto. He really liked it.

 

[Dewi Sant]

Does the Mikado by Gilbert and Sullivan count?

I was in that . I was 15.
It is an opperetta but id oftenly called a comic opera.

Otherwise my first opera will be in November when I go to see Bizet's Carmen at the age of 17.

 

[Diane_Windsor]

I've never been to an opera.

Diane

 

[Silverlin]

opera rules!

 

[Silverlin]

Mine was The Magic Flute, i was 14 and took only myself to go see it.

 

[jmikey]

My first Opera was Carmen. Performed by Aretha Fanklin. I always considered her the Queen of soul, but her performance touched me in such a way that I became further interested in Opera. Although I am new to it, I am almost into it as much as blues, but not quite.

 

[The Theory]

"Street Scene" by Kurt Weill, as performed by the Lancaster Opera Company.

If by "first opera" can mean "performed in" and not "seen"... I was around the age of 12 or therebouts and played one of the kids. I'm wanting to say Charlie Hildebrand... but I could be wrong there.

Ironically, the first opera that I "saw" was also a Weill piece. When I went to the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Canada I took a detour to see the local production of the 3 Penny Opera.

 

[strangelittlefaerie]

The first opera I listened to... who knows, I think I was in the womb!

First opera seen on stage - Saint-Saëns' Sampson and Dalila. Think I was about... 10? Loved it.

My poor husband. I took him to see his first opera. It was a double feature that unfortunately started with Purcell's Dido and Aeneas, which is a wretched introduction to opera.

 

[OrthodoxServant86]

I have yet to attend an opera live, but the first opera I listened to in its entirety was Wagner's Lohengrin (or was it Mozart's Don Giovanni? Either way, you can't go wrong )

Peace,

-Justin

 

[Kehaar]

Madama Butterfly

 

[UberLutheran]

Verdi's Aïda, which I saw when I was 7.

The next one was Verdi's La Traviata, which I saw when I was 8. My mother loved the opera and had the piano-vocal score, which I borrowed and learned cover-to-cover when I was 9.

The next one was Mozart's Don Giovanni, which I saw when I was 10 (and also learned the piano-vocal score cover-to-cover).

 

[rebel_conservative]

dvd of the NY Met's 1989 production of Carmen, with Agnes Baltsa as Carmen, I love it.

 

[mindalan]

The Mikado by Guilbert and Sulivan. I checked it out in videoform from a library.
I laughed until I cried.

 

[romaneagle13]

My first Opera was Carmen. Performed by Aretha Fanklin. I always considered her the Queen of soul, but her performance touched me in such a way that I became further interested in Opera. Although I am new to it, I am almost into it as much as blues, but not quite.

Aretha Franklin did Carmen? How cool...I knew she was a great singer but I never knew she did opera.

 

[Dikki]

My first Opera was Carmen. Performed by Aretha Fanklin. I always considered her the Queen of soul, but her performance touched me in such a way that I became further interested in Opera. Although I am new to it, I am almost into it as much as blues, but not quite.

Is that available on cd? I would like to hear it!