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Peschiera del Carmen [ Author Michael Daniel Watson ] [ From category THE Articles ] [ Subcategory OperaRail 2014 ] [ Subcategory II Arena din Verona ] [ Translator Cornelia Iordache ] [ Article date: 2014-08-14 ] [ From city Verona ] [ Country Italia ]   In the day of the show, I was near Verona, about 15-20 minutes by train, in a town called Peschiera del Garda. "Peschiera" means "fish tank" and "del Garda"... "Che bello! E fantastico! Che bello! Che bello! Troppo bello! " ("How beautiful! It`s fantastic! How beautiful! How beautiful! Too beautiful! ") The exclamations are not mine, but I agree 100% with them. Said by an Italian woman, I heard them behind me while I was contemplating for the first time the beautiful landscape and I noted them word by word. :-) Perhaps she, just like me, saw for the first time il troppo bello Lago di Garda. Lake Garda is located a few miles south of Verona and it covers a large area. As written on Wikipedia, it is the largest lake in Italy, with an area of 370 sq km, 52 km long and almost 17 km maximum width. The beauty of the landscape that I saw in Peschiera del Garda takes your breath away! In short, the lake is huge, the water is green-blue and resembles that of a sea, and in the background... you can see the mountains! The expression "a picture is worth a thousand words" fits perfectly in here! "I did not think Italy could amaze me any more, but what I see now sustains my words: Italy is the most beautiful country in Europe at least! ", I wrote in a text message. The water is not salty - did you think I would miss the chance to bathe in the lake? :-) - and, from my point of view, that`s a plus because Italian seas are very salty - I have "tested" all 5;-) much saltier than the Black Sea- and an unsalted lake is a welcomed oasis of diversity. There are beaches with sand like that from seaside and even waves, it`s true, not really natural, but created by motor boats or boats that cross the lake nonstop. (The 5 seas from Italy are - in the order that I have enjoyed them this year;-) - Ionian, Mediterranean, Tyrrhenian, Adriatic, Ligurian.) The link between Lago di Garda and Carmen reveals at the end of the day. It seems that it`s not a good habit to plan to get somewhere by the last train- or even last but one. For the 4th time in the last year (and the 3rd time in the last month or this summer! ), the train was delayed and I ran the risk of not arriving in time at the show! But, on the other hand, I "benefited" from the same situation in 4 (! ) different countries (Romania, England, Denmark, Italy) and, thus, I could see and compare the train companies from those countries. I arrived at the station in Peschiera del Garda. My train, a regional one, was announced to get delayed. Even so, I could have arrived in time to Verona, but later, the delay increased. There was another train, Freccia Bianca, a high-speed train, but I did not have an available ticket, and this too was announced to get delayed and it continued to increase! The reason behind the delay was the railways maintenance and, on the station timetable, it was announced that a bus would leave to Verona at x hour, so people were standing in front of the station, where the bus departure was announced, some of them sitting on the benches, some standing, some on the floor... Around the announced hour, buses started to arrive and people crowded toward them with their puppies, luggage. In the first bus that arrived at x hour, there boarded about 10 people only to find out later from the bus driver that it was heading to Gardaland, the well-known amusement park nearby, and not to Verona, so off the puppies, luggage, and run away to the benches! I do not know if eventually the bus came or not! After several minutes, it still had not arrive, so when Freccia Bianca entered the station, I did not hesitate and I boarded the train! I avoided the controller for fifteen minutes - in other words, I stowed away :-), after which, I finally got to the central station, Verona Porta Nova. Time was too advanced, I was going to be late for the show anyway, so it would not matter if I wasted a few minutes more. In addition, I admit, at that time I was more interested in the feedback from TrenItalia office, to compare it with CFR (Romania), First Great Western (England), and DSB (Denmark). But I had a hunch - based on the similarity between Italian and Romanian - and I wasn`t "disappointed"! :-) The train representatives did not assume any responsibility and even suggested me to take a taxi to arrive on time at the show - either way, I could not arrived in time, I also needed to change my clothes - and I found it amusing to ask them if the train company paid for my taxi. :-) Obviously, the answer was no. So... I went to Arena without taxi. :-) I intended to walk, but I got to the bus stop and saw on the timetable that the bus to Piazza Bra would arrive in 3 minutes. I changed my plan with the intention to take the bus but after the three-minutes, the bus was nowhere! Furthermore, the display was showing "arrivo" ("arrives"), I looked very carefully on the street to see it - the street was completely empty and it required my full attention to see a huge bus:-) - you could see not even a trace, so... I decided to walk! Just like that, as a protest against Italian invisible buses! :-) Opera? What opera? Oh, yes, it was an article about opera! I let myself be carried away by Lake Garda and Trenitalia and I "forgot" about opera! Operaaa...? It was Carmen, wasn`t it? :-) Peschiera del Carmen:-) I arrived at the opera half an hour late. At Arena di Verona, there is a rule, if you come late, you won`t sit where you have the ticket but, until the first break, you go up with the students. :-) It`s not a big disadvantage, on the contrary, the location is higher, sideways (almost right behind the line between stage and orchestra), and closer to the stage and the music sounds better! In addition, unlike the "normal" seats of plastic, there you sit directly on stone, which gives an antique and sweet perfume to the place. I saw the show two years ago - when I landed from Bucharest and went to opera on the same day, without being affected by airplane delay. :-) The scenery was the same, and the reason behind mounting Carmen after a considerably short period of time is that, this year, they are celebrating 100 years since Bizet`s masterpiece has entered the repertoire of Arena di Verona. Namely, from the second edition of the festival, the first being in 1913. The montage was classic, aiming to "catch" the atmosphere of the subject period. As always, the deployment of forces at Arena was huge, both in size and diversity of scenery, and in the number of human forces involved. At Bullfighter`s aria, I estimated there were about 150 people on stage, although only one “pulled the laboring oar", the man with golden-yellow vest and pants, and red belt that calls himself Escamillo. :-) I "forgot" to mention the horses on stage, but you can`t really expect them to sing, right :-) First Act includes a Spanish market, where you could find vegetables, fruit, bread, wine and, as in any Romanian market:-), umbrellas and chairs for drunks. :-) Many people, women, soldiers, their commander on a horse. Carmen, dressed in the classic white blouse and red skirt, Don Jose, a classic soldier, his uniform compounded of yellow with blue-green tunic and cream-white pants. The scenery from the next act, which represents Don Jose`s return from prison and Bullfighter`s aria, includes some vertical pictures on huge canvas placed in semicircle in the back of the stage and look like some paintings. In Part Three, the mountains are represented in two ways, either by some gray rocks that looked very barren in the blue light that dominates the whole scene, or by some drawings on canvas behind the scene. In Part Four, where it takes place Escamillo`s bullfighting, huge images come back, six new ones, that represent bullfighting scenes. At the break, I left the "student" area to change the viewing and audition angle, not before taking a picture from above of Arena, Verona City Hall and Palazzo della Gran Guardia, the three "sides" that surrounds from three ways Piazza Bra, this "Hollywood Opera, " as Elena Mosuc called it. Getting out of Arena, I passed some of the opera extras, being on break and playing a game. There wasn`t a winner because the lasts remaining had to leave because the show began again. :-) PS: "I did not think Italy could amaze me any more"... I wonder how Lago di Garda would look like, seen from above, from the mountain top to its shore? ;-) Distribution Carmen: Ekaterina Semenchuk Micaela: Rocio Ignacio Don José Mario Malagnini Escamillo: Dalibor Jenis Conductor: Henrik Nánási Directed by Franco Zeffirelli Costumes: Anna Anni

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