At the Met

Today's Blip is not a piece of art. The light is not right and it is blurry, but it is a a picture of the wonderful technical possibilities we have today. Here in Reno there is no Opera and also there are very little theaters with rare performances. You might imagine my delight, when the first operas could be watched at our local movie theater. The Metropolitan Opera in New York broadcasts several operas per year in HD quality out to the rest of the world, thanks to Internet and wireless, and this happens at the same time. This means, we have to be in the movie theater at 10 am in the morning to be able to sit with the audience in New York in the big theater where it is three hours later. You see the people come in to the Metropolitan Opera hall, you see them talking, as if you were a couple of rows behind them. Then the opera starts and several cameras help you to see everything so clearly, and even better as if you would sit in the first row. During the pauses you see more than the normal opera visitor, because the cameras show you how the scene settings are changed and in the longer pause there are interviews with the singers. The quality of the sound and images is excellent.
Many of you may know of these performances. Some might not. For me it was a revelation. As if the door opened to the "Big World" while living in a small town. Needless to say that here in Reno I miss more high class cultural offers , after having spent 30 years in Hamburg (Germany) (There are many more Hamburgs in the US).
The casinos offer sometimes some bands or pretty aged singers, like Chubby Checker, right now.

For me, it was Falstaff today, (Verdi)