5th of December 2019. I moved to NYC on the 17th of November and my birthday seemed to arrive so quickly as I still had to process the excitement of being in New York City. I decided to take that special day as an occasion to date myself and celebrate the personal achievement of an American dream becoming truer and truer; so – black Italian suit on, fancy Spanish shoes and golden earrings found last summer on a street market in Mexico City – I went to one of the most lavish and magical places of NY: The Metropolitan Opera House at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.
From the outside, standing on Lincoln Center Plaza, the main facade appeared on its sumptuosity graced with five concrete arches and large glass-bronze walls. On its side, another icon of North American modern architecture to keep MET Opera company: the Philip Johnson’s David Koch Theatre.
Inside the magic box, red soft tapestry on walls and floors, sparkling enormous Swarovsky chandeliers dropping down a vast ceiling covered in gold foil, sinuous and gentle marbled staircases welcomed me and thousand of other spectators toward the auditorium to our seats.
The atmosphere was so powerful and sacred that I felt overwhelmed by such beauty forgetting for a moment why I was actually there. But then, «driiiin driiin», few delicate bell tolls reminded us that it was time to seat down, open our ears and seal our lips in a thrilling silence.
That night was for The Queen of Spades, an opera of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky based on a short story with supernatural elements by Alexander Pushkin about human avarice. It was my first ever time at the opera and I had no idea that it was split in 4 acts, making it longer than expected, especially for the old lady seating next to me who sometimes accompanied singers performances with her snoring skills ;-). Although, the play was magic as its place and I will never forget this special birthday of mine.
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