A Night at the Opera

I mentioned a couple posts ago that every evening in the months of July and August, a movie is presented on a big screen in front of the Vienna City Hall.  On Monday evening after my day trip to Bratislava, I made a point of heading over for that evening's film.  They were going to show a movie of an outdoor concert that had been given earlier this summer in celebration of the 150th anniversary of the Vienna State Opera.

I arrived about an hour ahead of time, and fortunately there were still plenty of good seats.

Here is a small portion of the film.  The opera orchestra and chorus are performing "The Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves" from Verdi's opera "Nabucco".

                                      

For the finale of the concert, all of the soloists who had performed were joined by the orchestra and chorus for the drinking song from Verdi's "La Traviata".

The young fellow that was seated next to me was from Mexico City.  He is a composer, and he had just finished taking a course here.  He is hoping to be accepted to do his post-graduate work in composition in Vienna.  Before and after the film we conversed in Spanish.  It's a small world.

When the movie was over, the food stalls on the plaza in front of city hall were doing a brisk business.  I stopped at one that serves traditional Austrian food.  I ordered spätzle with cheese and onions.  My mother used to make spätzle, and  I suppose that she learned to make them from her Swiss grandmother.  These spätzle were as good as my mom's!

It was a great evening!