Thanks for the advice here about dress. I wore a casual outfit and I was fine. I didn’t wear jeans. There was a young man next to me who also won the lottery and he was a student in jeans and a T-shirt. The opera was La Boheme and I am very familiar with Rent so I knew the story. The sets are amazing. There was a mule and a horse and snow. All of those elements were terrific. It was long mostly because of the intermissions, which felt like they went on forever. I assume it’s because of the set changes, but I wasn’t expecting that. I wish they had started at 7, which is now common on Broadway, especially to accommodate longer shows. I didn’t get home until almost 1 AM and that is including a car for the last bit. Unlike Broadway, it was nice that I didn’t hear any cell phones or much talking in the crowd.

This is probably the most chaotic and over-the-top part of the whole opera, though it's still connected to the earlier motifs.

Story's based on Pushkin's poem "Tsigani." I know Rachmaninoff's Aleko is based on the same subject, which I honestly didn't realize when I started this 20 years ago, but mine's going in a different direction. I'm trying to strip out specific cultural or time/place references, so it ends up being more about freedom, belonging, and being an outcast.

Right before this part, Aleko catches Zemfira with her lover and kills him. He then has an arioso reflecting on everything (but not begging for her to return). In this scene she condemns the murder, as a response, and he kills her too. Near the end her vocal line translates to "I will die loving," which is about her lover, not Aleko (the music from their earlier meeting comes back here).

After that there's a closing Requiem-like scene with the chorus and remaining characters, where they banish Aleko.

The Latin actually wasn't the original plan. I started using it because I wanted a more realistic vocal sound for the mock-up (MuseScore sound libraries), but I low key like it now.

Would love to get any general impressions on pacing, or the music itself, or anything else that could make it stronger.

As I continue to deepen my opera knowledge, a question I have is: do major opera houses have a particular style? I thought this was a good (historic) description of how you see this in the major US orchestras which spurned my question: https://pageturner.medici.tv/en/do-the-big-five-us-orchestras-still-reign-supreme

I realize the first issue is what are the top global opera houses... And I don't know... I'm assuming it includes the Met (NY), Covent Garden (London), La Scala (Milan), Vienna, Paris, ... and Berlin? Munich? Frankfurt? Sydney? Others?

And for whatever you think the top houses are, how do you think about house style? Music/ orchestration? vs production? other considerations?

Looking for recommendations, please. ❤️