There are two types of opera houses in the world: those that, in the summer, when the artists are in vacation, organize sightseeing tours for tourists and those that don`t. :-)
I do not know any opera from Romania to be in the first category, but in Scandinavia I met guided tours, including the explanations in English, almost at all great opera-houses, such as Copenhagen, Oslo, Goteborg.

Goteborg, Gothenberg or local pronunciation "iotebori", is Sweden`s second city after the capital Stockholm. It has a population of 500, 000 inhabitants, not much less than Oslo, capital of Norway, and is situated at the half distance between Oslo and Malmo, the southernmost and the third largest city in Sweden. Gothenburg is the most important port in Scandinavia and here it is also the largest university from Scandinavia.

The Gotenburg Opera house was completed in 1994, therefore it is less than 20 years old. Before that, the shows were held at Crown Theater, built in 1859, but in time it became inadequate for opera.

The aspect of the opera-house is that of a ship, both exteriorly and interiorly. If the exterior may be subject to objections, the interior definitely resembles a boat. The walls of the hall are round and painted in the sea-blue color, the floor is of wooden, and the doors are small, like those from ships.

An interesting thing was... a boat. It`s hard to describe its position. Made of iron, the boat was somewhere between the first and second floor, being visible if you leant over the railing. The boat, filled with sand, snails, shells and broken Chinese plates... is meant to remind visitors about the nature of Swedish sailors.

The opera presents around 270 shows a year, which means around 270, 000 spectators. The hall has a capacity of 1, 200 spectators, so it is nearly fully occupied at every show. The building has about 130, 000 and there work 500 permanent employees, in 90 different jobs. 20 soloists are permanent employees and the orchestra is composed of 84 persons.

About 1, 200 costumes were used in the previous season. Some of them aren`t suited for the stage any more and, when the show in which they appear is removed from the repertoire, they are sold. One problem is their cleaning, the classical method leading to a more rapid deterioration. The solution they found was quite interesting, although I did not understand all technical details: the costumes are taken into an ozone room where they are subjected to a "storm " (of ozone, I think) -" thunder storm ", as the guide said.

I asked the guide if the Gothenburg Opera collaborated with any Romanian artists or if they would like to collaborate with any. The answer to the first question was that he didn`t know to have happened such a thing, and at the second question, he responded quickly "Angela Geor-giu" as Westerners pronounce the name of our great soprano, Angela Gheorghiu.

At the end of the tour, I entered the Opera shop, seeking some Romanian presences. I found some DVDs, four with Gheorghiu (one in "Tosca" (probably from London), two in "Traviata" (from La Scala from Milan, the other did not write where) and one in "La Rondine" at the Metropolitan Opera), and, surprise, one with Ileana Cotrubaş (in "Rigoletto" at the Vienna Staatsoper with Placido Domingo).

(Article translated by Iordache Cornelia)

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