Just back from the Eisteddfod, and looking for more opportunities to hear and speak Welsh, I found out that next month (Sep 5th) Opra Cymru is staging Don Giovanni in Cricieth! And also in Llanegryn, population 300, (4th), Porthaethwy (6th), Rhuthun (7th),Caerfyrddin (11th), Merthyr Tudful (12th), Llanfair Caereinion (13th) and Blaenau Ffestiniog (14th). It’s great that subsidised opera is coming to villages as well as the big cities, and I hope every venue is sold out.
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Yes, absolutely! (For a fleeting moment I imagined it was going to be an adaption: “Don Giovanni in Cricieth”! 
)
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Here’s the link to the complete schedule of performances: https://www.opra.cymru/performance
It sounds brilliant. Diolch @BronwenLewis!
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‘Don Giovanni in Cricieth’ might have been a bit too racy, even for a modern audience…
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I’m not really an opera fan (yes, I’m Italian - but despite stereotypes imagine us all listening and singing it all the time, well…very few people do).
But I’d be really really really curious to hear it in Welsh! 
p.s. OT but reading cricieth, I can’t help but thinking of this cute little pet, every single time (criceto, sounds like Cricieth(o) if you read them as Italian words):
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Diollch @BronwenLewis and @Deborah-SSi
Dee and I enjoyed Opra Cymru’s Fidelio at the Lyric in Carmarthen although Don Giovanni is a smaller scale event for up and coming singers and a chamber-sized orchestra. The Carmarthen venue is also different (see Dee’s link)
Booking seems to be by phone only. After a conversation with a distinguished-sounding bass-baritone, I’ve booked a ticket for Carmarthen on 11/9/19. I’m to pay when I pick up the ticket on the day. The price is £12 with no reduction for persons of my advanced years (which I agree with).
Hearing my stumbling Welsh, the gentleman advised me that a simultaneous ttranslation app was available at the venue - bl**dy cheek 
If Dee or anyone else will be going and wants to meet up, please PM me. 
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In September 2020‽
Do all events in Wales need to be booked so much in advance? 
Only Eisteddfod accommodation! The operas are next month! Huw is just getting a bit ahead of himself…
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Huw is just getting a bit ahead of himself…
or, to put it anoother way, Huw is confused and bewildered (fel arfer). 
Anyway, I’ve made the correction, grazie tanto, Gisella.
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My first thought was Yes, another Indian meal and opera outing with Huw!, but unfortunately I’m working in Caerdydd that week. I’ll have to consider the possibility of going to the Merthyr performance.
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I’m thinking of the Merthyr performance too!
Opra Cymru and opera in Cymraeg are brilliant. They are a very small company yet achieve so much, you get to see the Opera stars of the future early on in their careers. Last year they started using Sibrwd; It is worth installing the app on your phone, so you can use your own headphones.
Anyone else from Caerdydd thinking of heading to Merthyr for this? We could have a mini SSiW excursion 
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But no Welsh opera in North Wales - I suppose they think it’s too Anglicised up here! Not sure I could cope with it yet myself…
can’t find a decent picture to upload, will look again…
I only coped with the previous Welsh opera as I had Huw sitting alongside me explaining the story, but I consoled myself with the fact that I don’t understand when they sing in English either. I just go along for the spectacle and the sound of the singing and music really
Bronwen,
DG in Welsh! I wish I could hear that, but I think it could mess with my head as I have big chunks of it memorized in Italian. The Champagne aria and Madamina could be tongue twisters, that’s for sure. I’d love to know how the production turned out. I hope you enjoy it and I hope it’s a sell-out everywhere.
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I now have a ticket for Merthyr!
Please don’t be intimidated people, Opera is fabby and wonderful. There should be a plot synopsis in the programme or just print off a synopsis from Wikipaedia or suchlike if you want to know exactly what is happening (They will likely change the setting to be in Wales somehow). I think Sibwrd is available to translate everything (recorded translation ap). Don’t worry.
Like SSiW, you’re not supposed to understand every word first ime, you follow the emotional stories of each of the characters. Opera plots are generally not very complicated, but the minutiae of the characters feeling is explored. their emotional journeys. You don’t need the words for that as it’s all in the music. Mostly opera plots are simply boy meets girl, some nasty piece of work tries to separate the couple, they sort it out and the bad guy get his comeuppance. You probably know the Cinderella story from panto. It’s also an opera, it’n not (usually) dense plotting, like some Cymraeg TV dramas i could mention.
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Well in fact…nobody in Italy understands the original words without reading the libretto (or a @HuwJones sitting alongside explaining the story), anyway! 
By the way I’m amazed that @anne-rodgers has memorized big chunks of it. Complimenti!
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I had to memorise lots of Die Zauberfloete/The Magic Flute 'cos I sang Sarastro - in school, not in La Scala!
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Eccellente! (should say that in German, but I don’t know the word and whenever I try to revive my tiny knowledge of it I have Welsh popping up in . my mind instead!)
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Diolch, Gisella. However, I admit that I have an operatic leg up on the memorization of libretti. I strongly suspect HuwJones may have the same advantage since he sang Sarastro.
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