Spy in the sky

It was a very busy day. Hence my late posting for Saturday. My daughter, Bethan, son in law, James and two grandchildren, Elis and the latest, 3-month old Megan, are staying for the weekend. Following breakfast we all took the dogs for a walk but were constantly distracted by a Police helicopter buzzing around and around overhead. What had we done?
In the afternoon, Sally and I went to a brilliant Welsh National Opera (WNO) production of Puccini’s Il Trittico - three short operas for the price of one. These ranged from the dark tale of jealousy and murder on a Parisian barge (Il Tabarro), through the sad story of a young fallen mother separated from her newborn baby and confined to a convent by her cruel wealthy aristocratic family (Suor Angelica) to a dark comedy of a Florentine family squabbling over a will (Gianni Schicchi) . Although familiar with the music, we had never seen this rarely performed opera but it was a fantastic production that brought the house down.
At the end of the curtain calls, the conductor and long term friend of the Welsh National Opera, Carlo Rizzi spoke passionately to the audience about how the Arts Council reduction in funding would threaten the future of the company. As he pointed out, the WNO has a longstanding worldwide reputation for the outstanding quality of its productions, which it tours in major cities in England and Wales with easily affordable ticket prices a fraction of those of the Royal Opera House or Glyndebourne, making high quality opera affordable to the many. The audience stood up and loudly applauded in support for Carlo and the WNO. I appreciate that opera is not everyone’s cup of tea but maintaining a rich and varied culture in the UK is so important.
For more information see: https://wno.org.uk/news/an-open-letter-to-the-arts-council-of-england-from-wno-music-director-tom%C3%A1%C5%A1-hanus