©Paul Esser
It's been a crazy few days for me at the Opera House recently.
Hänsel and Gretel, two performances of Platée and on Saturday night, the AIDS Benefit Gala.
This was my third gala at the Opera House and my, what an evening it was!
Absolutely stunning! The atmosphere was wonderful, all came dressed up in beautiful gowns and accessories, there was a really festive feeling in the air. The foyer and bar were full of politicians, economic movers and shakers from the city, representatives from the German AIDS Foundation and sponsors who were making this fantastic evening possible and so it was with great anticipation that we took our seats in the auditorium. A group of 20 RhineBuzzers joined me.
The Gala began with the regular welcoming speeches. Especially touching was Frau Piras, general manager of the jewellers Bucherer 1888, who were a main sponsor of the event and who supplied the gold AIDS ribbons that have been on sale on the Königsallee since last December. She emotionally said a few words about what it meant to her to be part of the evening, particularly her sentiment that "Düsseldorf is a city in which we can and do live very well in, but there are those less fortunate than ourselves here too and we can't just sit by and let someone else help. We have to be active ourselves" rang many bells for me. Frau Piras was close to tears as she handed over the cheque for €40.000 from her company, this was made up of sales from the AIDS ribbon and company donations.
As she took her seat next to us, we smiled and told her she done a great job. She was happy to hear this and relieved to be sitting down. The stage was quite obviously a little overwhelming for her.
And so we were then treated to a spectacular programme. Caroline Hobbs, cello student at the Robert Schumann Music School and our young Opera Scout, will write more detail about the musical part of the evening, suffice it for me to say that the performances were fantastic! Tenor, Stefan Pop was my personal favourite of the evening. His voice just touched me in a way that was special beyond description. Incredible. Having just googled him I see he won a very prestigious opera prize, founded by Placido Domingo, for young musicians last year. I do hope we will be treated to more from this very young man, at some point here in Düsseldorf.
©Paul Esser
The entire programme was beautiful, Annett Fritsch was stunning in a gorgeous golden gown, with the serene feel of a Greek goddess and the voice and presence of American soprano Takesha Meshé Kizart was just spellbinding. A keen favourite with the audience, who made her debut at The Met last year, she writes on her blog "instead of always looking for a miracle, you can BE a miracle."
How very true.
©Paul Esser
The finale, when all the soloists sang together the German piece ''Mein ist das ganzes Herz" was a moment you know you were privileged to be part of. The entire house gave the performers, the choir and the Duisburg Philharmonic Orchestra a much-deserved, extended, standing ovation.
At the press conference in December we were told that the programme would be spectacular and indeed the audience left the Opera House with a feeling that they had witnessed something very special and most worthy.
The RhineBuzzers hit a city cocktail bar after the Gala. All in a fine mood and singing the praises of the Deutsche Oper am Rhein.
Thank you to the Opera House for the seat allocation for RhineBuzz to this marvellous event that raised €140.000 for the German AIDS Foundation, in particular for the DREAM project, for last night alone. We were proud to be a part of it. With added donations this total will rise.
If you wish to help, you can donate here. Thank you.
Caroline Hobbs review, click for whole piece:
....... When I arrived I was so relieved that I’d decided on the more fancy option, if anything I was underdressed! It was like the opera had come off stage, with men parading around in Tuxedos and women swanning down the red carpet in gowns to rival those worn by the singers on stage. It really was the place to be on Saturday night and, as a student here in Düsseldorf ......
