Sensational... and it's not over til the fat lady sings!

So the opera was sensational. Fantastic. Brilliant. Amazing.
There aren't really enough epithets to drag out to describe such an occasion.
I loved it. Desperately.
Emma Fraser played Manon, the lead in the Massenet opera of the same name, which was being performed this weekend at the Australian Opera Studio in Midland. Fraser is going to be a star. I have no doubt in my mind. I should have hung around to get her autograph because mark these words it is going to be worth something some day. Her voice is rich, powerful, well-developed and smooth. It was like creamy liquor to the gullet. It was like a gentle siren-song to a sailor at sea. It was like a thousand nightingales had lent the sweetest voices to one beautiful songbird. I was in love with her. I could have listened to her for hours (actually, I did, come to think of it).
It was also great to see some familiar faces from the WAAPA classical voice class among the chorus, including the very talented young tenor Stuart Laing and bass-baritone Duncan Rock.
Anyway, Manon has me all excited about Tristan and Isolde which the WA Opera will be doing in a couple of months. Manon was like a three hour performance. I didn't think my passion for opera was developed enough to bite off an entire five-hour Wagnerian extravaganza like T&I, but now I'm sure I'm ready. I could have easily sat in that auditorium for another couple of hours. (Admittedly, Massenet isn't quite as brusk and violent as Wagner... that's the way the French tackle love as opposed to the Germans).
Also, around the same time as the WAAPA show the Opera Studio is doing it's season of recitals (and then The Magic Flute starring Emma Pearson after that!). So plenty more to see this year!