Mention the word ‘opera’ and likely the first image that springs to mind is a woman in a Viking hat with blond braids, wearing a breastplate, and hitting an impossibly high note that can shatter any nearby glass objects. Or perhaps it’s the 1957 Bugs Bunny cartoon “What’s Opera, Doc?” spoofing Richard Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen. And while there is such a thing as opera comedies, I find it hard to believe that any opera attendee would ever leave a performance with their sides aching from … [Read more...]