Attending the Metropolitan Opera's Opening Season of L'Elisir d'Amore
On Monday, September 24, 2012, I had the pleasure of attending the Metropolitan Opera Company’s opening night gala of L’Elisir d’Amore (The Elixir of Love) by the Italian composer Gaetano Donizetti. This is one of the greatest comic gems in opera about Adina, a headstrong farm owner and Nemorino, a poor villager who is in love with Adina, but wonders if he is worthy of her affections. Anna Netrebko, who sings the role of Adina and Matthew Polenzani, who sings the role of Nemorino gave exceptional performances, as did the rest of the cast and the audience clearly enjoyed this production.
1 Unfortunately, I arrived at the opera too late to enjoy the red carpet, so I didn't get any photos of that scene this year.
2 I thoroughly enjoyed Gaetano Donizetti's comedic opera, L'Elisir d'Amore. This is final curtain call.
3 Soprano Anna Netrebko, celebrating her second consecutive opening night at the Met, starred as Adina, the farm owner. Matthew Polenzani gave a stellar performance as the lovesick Nemorino.
4 From our dead center orchestra seats, the view and audio were superb!
5 Matthew Polenzani and Anna Netrebko - This enjoyable comedy put smiles on the audiences faces.
6 Down came the curtain.
7 The curtain depicts an Italian hilltop town and surrounding farmland.
8 Above the Orchestra section is the Parterre, Grand Tier, Dress Circle, Balcony, and Family Circle. The opera house has 3,800 seats plus 175 standing room places and it looked like a full house.
9 So sorry I missed the red carpet! I saw many great dresses leaving the Met.
10 The post-performance cast dinner was held under the tent in Damrosch Park. I sat at a table with hockey goaltender Henrik Lundqvist and his lovely wife, Therese Lundqvist.
11 Henrik Lundqvist is goaltender for the New York Rangers and is the 2012 winner of the prestigious Vezina Trophy.
12 Also at my table were Rob and Marisol Thomas.
13 Rob Thomas, of course, is the Grammy award winning singer/songwriter of the band Matchbox Twenty. The band's fourth album, North, made its debut this past September at number one on the Billboard 200.
14 This is Andrew Saffir - founder of the Cinema Society, a marketing tool for the film industry - Andrew is always out-and-about in the New York City social scene.
15 I sat next to Bianca Jagger, who was once married to Rolling Stones' Mick Jagger.
16 Bianca is founder and chairperson of the Bianca Jagger Human Rights Foundation and has done a lot of humanitarian work in her native Nicaragua. In addition, she is also serving as a Council of Europe Goodwill Ambassador and is involved with Amnesty International USA.
17 I also sat with recording artist, Patti Smith, who has been dubbed the "Godmother of Punk".
18 As in years past, the gala celebration was designed by event planner David Stark.
19 In keeping with the Italian farm theme of the opera, David transformed the enormous tent next to the Metropolitan Opera House into a charming farm-like scene.
20 Across the way, I spotted Austin Scarlett - fashion designer and Lisette Oropesa - soprano.
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Thank you for this wonderful blog about events you share with us such as Met opening here. I love your picture with NORTH's Thomas and think he does look very appreciative of your attention..
Posted by: ann | September 26th, 2012 at 4:48 am
I saw your tweet of Rob Thomas Martha and was hoping you would blog about your fabulous evening at the Met's opening night gala of L' Elisir d Amore! You looked lovely although I wish there was a better pic of what you were wearing, you're always so chic! What a fun, interesting group of tablemates. Pic# 13 is my favorite, It looks like you made Rob Thomas's evening!
Posted by: Cindy F | September 26th, 2012 at 7:42 am
Martha, yeah too bad you didn't make the red carpet, yet the photos are still enjoyable. Thanks for sharing this blog.
Posted by: KLBrown | September 26th, 2012 at 8:24 am
Hi Martha, You sure did have fun attending the Metropolitan Opera's opening season of L'Elisir d'Amore on Monday night even though you were late and missed the red carpet! I enjoyed the photos in that special website and your photos were great to enjoy, also! What an interesting curtain that came down! Was fun to see the opera house seating area! My favorite part was the post-performance cast dinner held under the tent in Damrosch Park and sitting by Henrik and Therese Lundqvist must have been even more fun! Henrik is a terrific athlete! You sure had fun kissing Rob Thomas! Was also fun to see lovely you and Bianca Jagger in photo #15&16! Thanks so much for sharing this fun evening event you attended! I love everything that you share with us and you make me so happy to enjoy it all! Hope you have another great day! Off to enjoy The Daily Wag about "Have You Ever Heard of Catamole? Jan
Posted by: Jan Erickson | September 26th, 2012 at 9:39 am
Too bad you couldn't get Bianca Jagger to smile but then you stole the picture anyway. That shade of brown looks great on you! Thanks for sharing your evening and now guess what? Ten more days until Martha Stewart's Cooking School on PBS. I thought it would be on my channel 2 but no, it's on channel 6 in my area. We also get PBS on channel 18 so you all might want to check the PBS television guide online before October 6th. Trish
Posted by: Trish | September 26th, 2012 at 10:36 am
Hello! I teach a class in creative problem solving and have tasked the students to pick a famous person and find out what piece of music they most recently listened to. They assigned me you! To this end, I will ask if you could lease share with me (and my class) what that piece of music was? From today's posting, I might assume it to be something at the end of L’Elisir d’Amore, but if it is something else, please let me know... Rolling Stones perhaps? Thank you! Jonathan
Posted by: Jonathan Spindel | September 26th, 2012 at 11:48 am
i love following your life martha, i also love seeing you with people such as bianca and patti!!
Posted by: linda daniels | September 26th, 2012 at 2:49 pm
Wow. U were seated with king Henry and the great patti smith. Icons (and one who will become one shortly). Amazing. Do u realize how lucky u are. Good blog for that reason. Very cool
Posted by: Chris | September 28th, 2012 at 8:37 am
Wow, Some were saying " You know Martha Stewart sits at the same table with me!"
Posted by: Robert | September 29th, 2012 at 10:26 am
What are your future plans? I expected you to be on at your usual time tomorrow. I do hope you are planning on being on TV somewhere soon. I miss your educational approach to multimedia. Every time you appear, I feel edified. I miss my Martha Stewart courses!
Posted by: Rebecca Reese | September 30th, 2012 at 6:30 pm