RIGA — Call me pretentious, call me elitist, but I am an opera guy. I watch opera every time I can. I was a long-time subscriber of the L.A. Opera in Los Angeles and the Lyric Opera (before it closed) in Baltimore. I am known to fly to San Francisco to watch opera. I have endured 17.5 hours (four operas) of the Ring Cycle performed live in the Los Angeles production (watched over two weekends), and I saw it again a couple more times in the DVD recordings. And just to brag, I have a truly huge collection of opera on DVD.
I am a Puccini fan—Madama Butterfly, La Bohème, Tosca, Manon Lescaut, Turandot. I have watched Madama Butterfly performed in Los Angeles, in San Francisco, and in Baltimore. Who knew I would watch it again the fourth time in Latvia, of all places?
The key to culturally-rich traveling in Europe is balancing the touristy attractions and some culture. I suppose it would be a little pricey to catch an opera at La Scala in Milan, and the cheapest Vienna Boys Choir performance costs about €75 in Vienna; but it was surprisingly inexpensive to attend opera at the Latvian National Opera in Riga. I watched Madama Butterfly for €20, which is basically the price of two Long Island Ice Tea in this city.
For another €18 (again, probably the price of two McDonald’s combo meals in this city; or around ₱1,100 with a generous exchange rate), I watched the ballet At the Blue Danube the next day. The experience, of course, was priceless. The performances were moving, and I’ve always liked the beautiful interior of theaters: the red velvet seats, the gold-leafed Art Nouveau (or Art Deco in some theatres) walls and ceilings, the giant chandeliers, and the often stunning sets.
While developing this story, I was looking at the audience. There must be a lesson here somewhere. From father Aldis and teenage son Bruno at Madama Butterfly, I learned that the Latvian National Opera is government funded so that the tickets can be sold very cheaply. Bruno, who is into rock musicals, still thinks it is important to expose young people to other forms of music like the opera. He even thinks themes in Madama Butterfly are relevant to the Gen Z and Alpha Generation because everybody still experiences love and betrayal.
Mother Zana and seven-year old twins Mark and Marcel were seated next to me at the ballet. I liked that the boys were suited up because the Latvian Opera and Ballets encourages dressing a bit when attending theatre performances “as these are special celebrations of life.” I like the idea that every Latvian can watch ballet and opera because they are affordable, but I like more the idea that people are taught to respect high art.
On dress code: As a tourist, you should be okay in your jeans and sneakers; but no T-shirt and shorts please. Then again, you are attending high art. Dress up a little!
We do not have opera culture in the Philippines (although I did see the Noli Me Tangere opera by Felipe de Leon at CCP sometime ago); still, we can always expose our students to classical arts like opera and ballet even just through videos. You see, there’s a world beyond TikTok dance craze and videoke singing! In our time, there is also a big need to transcend mediocrity!
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(Peter Solis Nery is a multi-awarded Filipino poet, fictionist, filmmaker and playwright who divides his time living in the Philippines and traveling around the world. He is a Palanca Awards Hall of Famer, and the first Filipino author invited to the Sharjah International Book Fair in the United Arab Emirates.)
