"Love is a gypsy child," sings Carmen, the tragic heroine of Bizet's opera. One of the current singers who have made a name in that role is American Jennifer Larmore. We have heard her sing on a number of occasions at the Met and, when Ira heard that she would be appearing in Hanoi, he just HAD to get tickets!
Luckily, we have a relationship, with Mr. Phuong, who runs ticketvn.com, a website that sells tickets to events at our lovely Opera House. These tickets are never easy to get, but after a few text messages back and forth, we had our seats. We were not downstairs in Row D, our usual location, but Phuon got us a box on the second level that was nearly dead center and had movable chairs! After Ira's mishap earlier in the week, he found the armchair far more comfortable than the seats on the first level.
The concert was quite fine, with Ms Larmore performing some Spanish songs as well as several French numbers by Debussy. In between, she entertained us with two arias from "Marriage of Figaro" and three from "Carmen." Although Ms. Larmore is a native of Atlanta and used to warm weather, she had to take a break due to the extreme heat on the stage. Not to worry, she came back and resumed at the precise point where she had paused. She left us wanting more after the whimsical "I want to be a Prima Donna," by Victor Herbert and a flashy Brazilian encore to end the evening.
The house was full and the audience was enthusiastic. It was a pleasure to have such a fine artist grace our stage. Hanoi is not yet in the mainstream of the international circuit, with most artists playing Hong Kong, Singapore or perhaps Kuala Lumpur, but we have every hope that this will change in the near future.
We went backstage afterwards and had a nice chat with the singer and she was kind enough to allow us to take a photo for the blog.
The concert was sponsored by Hennesey, the cognac producer and there was a bevy of beauties handing out programs and posters. We were shocked to be warmly greeted by one of the young women, who remembered us from a promotion last fall, when we had chatted at the Hotel Metropole.
When we left the Opera House, it was pouring rain, but it din't dampen our spirits in the least.
