How was the opera?Horrible. Disappointing. Cheap. There are many, many other words I can think of, but none can fully express what a horrible waste of time and money that was Baroque Masterpieces. The first half of it anyway. I am not a big opera lover. I find most of them too long, the development of the plot too slow. But I thought Baroque Masterpieces would be perfect for a night at the opera since there were actually 2 operas, an hour and a bit each, and the plot moving along pretty quickly. The second opera, Dido and Aeneas was OK (it was what attracted me to this in the first place). I imagine Dido's court to be quite grand, but this being the budget version, I could only tell who was playing Dido, Queen of Carthage, because she was the one standing in the middle. They could not even afford a little crown on her head. Aeneas rocks up in a bomber jacket-isk thing to sweep the queen off her feet. The hunting scene had no trees (but had stairs covered over with a white cloth. What was that meant to be...fog???). The "running brook" was a little square of water revealed by opening a trap door. So, so wrong. But apart from the stage setting, the intepretation was true. Soloists and chorus were beautiful, and the orchestra was fantastic! Dido's famous lament was very well done, though I would've preferred to see her collapse and dying, rather than walking to her death. It's almost like she decides it's time to die, rather than dying from the grief of Aeneas leaving. Hey, it's opera...we need the drama! Anyway, I did enjoy Dido and Aeneas, though the visual feast was not quite feast-y enough. What peeved me was the first opera - Handel's Acis and Galatea. Baroque music, a very Baroque plot, but set in a 21st Century cocktail party. Complete with an hour-long sex romp by the chorus, a cocaine-sniffing photographer, and a blow job. Classy. There were children in the row behind me. I could've sworn I heard the mother say "cover your eyes". I think I also heard Handel turn in his grave. What I was seeing on stage did not go with what I was hearing. The modern setting made the plot senseless. The pure love of the 2 leads was.....weird. They walk out of a room full of writhing bodies, and.....voila....they kiss, and sing "Happy We". WTF? If this opera was shown second, I would've walked out within 15 minutes. I noticed there were people who didn't return for Dido after the interval. Very unnecessary experiement (it's the only polite word I can think of). Cheapend Handel's beautiful opera. The applause at the end was only very polite. What I had hoped to be the most fantastic music night of July, turned out to be an unimpressive evening. A Belgian waffle and ice cream was ordered to pick up my mood. Recommended - Praline ice cream at Guylian's Cafe! | 
Today, I felt very peaceful as I was singing this hymn. That phrase said to me - as you "go out" into each new day, and "come in" from the day, God will watch over you.