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March 23, 2006
New York – Three Houses of Love
The house of opera lovers: The Metropolitan Opera
This winter Finnish evening papers do not write headlines about Karita Mattila´s outfit on stage, because she´s dressed up as a young soldier lad in Fidelio. Despite the male costume I can immediately recognize her by The Voice. It flies freely above the other voices, strong, clear and rich of colours. She is a great artist, not just an opera singer but also an actress and a dancer. I still regret I didn´t take a flight to New York just to see her performance in Salome last winter.
When I closed my eyes in the narrow seat of the Metropolitan Opera I remember the last time I heard this magnificent voice. I woke up at home an early summer morning. Tuija Hakkila, then my neighbour and a great pianist, had rehearsals with Karita Mattila for their summer concerts in Finland. I opened all the eleven windows of the apartment and enjoyed three days of an unusual concert.
The Metropolitan Opera is a gorgeous building, especially inside. The portrait and art collections are beautiful, and the excellent store is a delight for any visitor. I wonder why our opera in Helsinki does not sell anything, and looks like a government office with some boring official art works hung on bare walls. These days the news are about their bad financial situation…But perhaps we have something better in Helsinki; Fidelio´s lighting-, set- and costume designs lacked ideas, were gloomy and uninteresting.
Posted by marita at March 23, 2006 11:12 AM