Placido Domingo, Jose Cura, and Horse Meat
Well I am officially on my 3rd day here in Tokyo. Today was my first jaunt out into exploring the city. Let me first fill you in on the last few days.
Tuesday we arrived in Tokyo from Kobe and I didn't really do much. Had a few drinks at the bar with some of the Walkure cast, including Rene Pape, and then had a great dinner at the Chinese restaurant in the hotel with the same crew.
Wednesday was our first performance of Traviata here in Tokyo, and only our 2nd performance of the 4. The backstage area where all of the covers hang out doesn't really have a lot of room. I think there are 8 chairs and about 12 covers. Anyway, about 15 minutes prior to curtain I was talking to Eduardo who is the Gastone cover and is singing some of the performances. He looked at the stage door and said "Oh, Maestro is here." I thought "of course Maestro is here, he has to conduct Traviata." Then I looked up and saw a different Maestro, Maestro Domingo. That was the first time that I have ever seen Placido Domingo in person. Suffice to say, I was star struck. He was here to see the show and he headed into the house. As I was preparing for the 3 hour wait, Jonathan Friend came by and asked if anyone wanted to see the show because he had some extra tickets. Only 3 of us decided to watch. I headed out into the house and looked down at my ticket, I had no idea how to even read it. I just walked up to an usher and she walked me to my seat. I was sitting in the orchestra section just off to the right and the 3rd seat in. Sitting in the 2nd seat, Placido Domingo. I just about crapped myself. I introduced myself and told him that Noble said "Hello!" (he says "hello" back to you sir) and that was the extent of our conversation. Only because Jonathan Friend was heading up the aisle with Christoph Eschenbach who is the conductor for Walkure which Domingo is singing in. I immediately stood and moved to the next empty seat. So there we were, Domingo, Eschenbach, and myself, ready to watch a little Traviata. What a crazy world.
And now to today. I decided to head down to Harajuku and check out the shopping. They apparently have this great store called the Oriental Bizzare. Well, they are closed on Thursdays. I was starving so I decided to stop in at a Sushi place. It was really cool. You sit down at a bar and there is a conveyer belt in front of you with plates of sushi passing you by. Most of them had 2 pieces of sushi, either nigri, which is a ball of rice with a piece of fish on top, or sushi rolls, which are made with dried seaweed. There was also a little picture menu so I could figure out what was what. There was one thing on the menu that I decided I had to try, Horse Meat. I know it sounds gross but what the hell. I asked the waiter and he said that they were out of Horse Meat, to my disappointment. I really do want to try it, I will most likely go back. Well on the belt was something that wasn't on the menu. I asked my waiter and he said it was "while." I asked him what it was again, with a puzzled look on my face. Again he said "while, while." It then hit me, I said to him "whale?" and he said "YES!" I had to try it of course. It was good. Here is a picture
e of it (I already had eaten one piece.) I don't know how to explain it. It had a very mild flavor and didn't taste fishy at all. I also had yellow tail, fatty salmon, conch, and tuna. My meal also came with all the green to that I could drink. It all was amazing, by far the best sushi that I have ever had. It came to a whopping total of 1180 yen or about $10.50. unbelievable.
I walked around and looked at some of the stores in Harajuku. It really is a teen place to hang out. And I also felt like I stepped back into the 80's. That is the style of clothes for the kids here. Tons of bright colors with mismatching items. Girls with lace gloves and the fingers cut-out. Guys with long skinny ties and plaid pants. It was weird, but a lot of fun just to walk around. I had to head back to the hotel to get ready for the opera performance.
I didn't go and see the Met, but I saw Teatro di Bologna performing Andrea Chenier who happened to be performing here in Tokyo in the same theater that we are. The Met office had some tickets so I decided to go. Once I got there, I found out who was singing: Jose Cura, Maria Guleghina, and Carlo Guelfi, all conducted by Carlo Rizzi. It was a pretty damn good show. Cura sounded great, Carlo Guelfi sounded even better. His aria, Nemico della patria, was awesome. I decided to bootleg a little. Here is Jose Cura sing part of one of his arias. My camera can only take 30 second videos, so that's how long it is.
Seeing as we are performing at the same theater, I have a pass to get backs
tage, so of course I went. After the performance I met Cura and Guelfi and got pictures with them. Here is Cura and me. After the performance I headed back to the hotel and I am writing this right now.
My dogs are killin me and I think I am going to head to bed. Just another amazing night in Japan.
Till morrow...
Tuesday we arrived in Tokyo from Kobe and I didn't really do much. Had a few drinks at the bar with some of the Walkure cast, including Rene Pape, and then had a great dinner at the Chinese restaurant in the hotel with the same crew.
Wednesday was our first performance of Traviata here in Tokyo, and only our 2nd performance of the 4. The backstage area where all of the covers hang out doesn't really have a lot of room. I think there are 8 chairs and about 12 covers. Anyway, about 15 minutes prior to curtain I was talking to Eduardo who is the Gastone cover and is singing some of the performances. He looked at the stage door and said "Oh, Maestro is here." I thought "of course Maestro is here, he has to conduct Traviata." Then I looked up and saw a different Maestro, Maestro Domingo. That was the first time that I have ever seen Placido Domingo in person. Suffice to say, I was star struck. He was here to see the show and he headed into the house. As I was preparing for the 3 hour wait, Jonathan Friend came by and asked if anyone wanted to see the show because he had some extra tickets. Only 3 of us decided to watch. I headed out into the house and looked down at my ticket, I had no idea how to even read it. I just walked up to an usher and she walked me to my seat. I was sitting in the orchestra section just off to the right and the 3rd seat in. Sitting in the 2nd seat, Placido Domingo. I just about crapped myself. I introduced myself and told him that Noble said "Hello!" (he says "hello" back to you sir) and that was the extent of our conversation. Only because Jonathan Friend was heading up the aisle with Christoph Eschenbach who is the conductor for Walkure which Domingo is singing in. I immediately stood and moved to the next empty seat. So there we were, Domingo, Eschenbach, and myself, ready to watch a little Traviata. What a crazy world.
And now to today. I decided to head down to Harajuku and check out the shopping. They apparently have this great store called the Oriental Bizzare. Well, they are closed on Thursdays. I was starving so I decided to stop in at a Sushi place. It was really cool. You sit down at a bar and there is a conveyer belt in front of you with plates of sushi passing you by. Most of them had 2 pieces of sushi, either nigri, which is a ball of rice with a piece of fish on top, or sushi rolls, which are made with dried seaweed. There was also a little picture menu so I could figure out what was what. There was one thing on the menu that I decided I had to try, Horse Meat. I know it sounds gross but what the hell. I asked the waiter and he said that they were out of Horse Meat, to my disappointment. I really do want to try it, I will most likely go back. Well on the belt was something that wasn't on the menu. I asked my waiter and he said it was "while." I asked him what it was again, with a puzzled look on my face. Again he said "while, while." It then hit me, I said to him "whale?" and he said "YES!" I had to try it of course. It was good. Here is a picture
e of it (I already had eaten one piece.) I don't know how to explain it. It had a very mild flavor and didn't taste fishy at all. I also had yellow tail, fatty salmon, conch, and tuna. My meal also came with all the green to that I could drink. It all was amazing, by far the best sushi that I have ever had. It came to a whopping total of 1180 yen or about $10.50. unbelievable.I walked around and looked at some of the stores in Harajuku. It really is a teen place to hang out. And I also felt like I stepped back into the 80's. That is the style of clothes for the kids here. Tons of bright colors with mismatching items. Girls with lace gloves and the fingers cut-out. Guys with long skinny ties and plaid pants. It was weird, but a lot of fun just to walk around. I had to head back to the hotel to get ready for the opera performance.
I didn't go and see the Met, but I saw Teatro di Bologna performing Andrea Chenier who happened to be performing here in Tokyo in the same theater that we are. The Met office had some tickets so I decided to go. Once I got there, I found out who was singing: Jose Cura, Maria Guleghina, and Carlo Guelfi, all conducted by Carlo Rizzi. It was a pretty damn good show. Cura sounded great, Carlo Guelfi sounded even better. His aria, Nemico della patria, was awesome. I decided to bootleg a little. Here is Jose Cura sing part of one of his arias. My camera can only take 30 second videos, so that's how long it is.
Seeing as we are performing at the same theater, I have a pass to get backs
tage, so of course I went. After the performance I met Cura and Guelfi and got pictures with them. Here is Cura and me. After the performance I headed back to the hotel and I am writing this right now.My dogs are killin me and I think I am going to head to bed. Just another amazing night in Japan.
Till morrow...
posted by Andy | 7:48 AM
2 Comments:
Andy, I love your blog, especially the story about sitting next to Placido.
Carol
Rochester, New York
Here we go again. That guy looked like Miguel the waiter from the Denny's down the street. You sure are taking this all the way aren't you.
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