Top Modern Opera House: Valencia

El Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía aka Queen Sofia Palace of the Arts
Valencia, Spain

El Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia of Valencia Spain edged out "The Egg" in Beijing as the VO fans "Top Modern Opera House" in last weeks poll. It was followed by Copenhagen Opera House, then Helsinki, Oslo and Toronto to round out the top six.

The Queen Sophia Palace of the Arts, opened on 8 October 2005, is a futuristic temple of music dedicated to Queen Sophia of Spain. It was designed by famed Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava, who was born near Valencia.

The project cost € 165 million to build, and is one of the world's biggest structures of its kind: it extends 40,000 m2 over 12 stories and hosts four performance spaces (opera house, symphonic concert hall, ballet house and theatre) with a total audience capacity of 4,000. It rises 75m high, extends 163m in length and is 87m wide. The top section is 237m long. The building is surrounded by 40,000m2 of gardens, 11,000m2 of pools and footpaths.

Scenic lifts and sweeping stairways along the steel cladding on each side of the building give access to the terraces located at varying levels, and to the gardens and footpaths. The main material used in the construction was white concrete which covers most of the structural supports. The mosaic chosen to cover the steel shells was also an unusual choice. "To tie the palace even more to the city of Valencia", explained Calatrava, "I opted for the traditional ceramic used over the centuries here, including the shard variety that we call trencadis".

The building is part of an impressive Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias de Valencia, which is home to L´Hemisfèric, the Prince Felipe Science Museum and L´Umbracle, and L'Oceanogràfic.

The programming the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía {PHOTOS} includes celebration of the Operalia Event, under the management of Spanish tenor Plácido Domingo. This is one of the most prestigious international competitions for opera singers starting out on their career. It produces a full season of opera under the baton of Music Director Lorin Maazel and under the direction of Intendent and Regia, Helga Schmidt.

~ Ling Chan

The 'Bot Wants You!

Our Operabot contest got mentioned in this week's Georgia Straight.

To get in on the hot action, go to Vancouver Opera's YouTube Channel.

Drool-worthy prizes include:

Wacom Intuos4
Fuji FinePix S-5100 Camera
A games package: Dead Space, Fear 2, Call of Duty: World at War, Street Fighter 4 for PS3 or 360
PS3 with exclusive Kill Zone 2

So feel free to go all-out and come up with some mind-blowin', gangbusters shorts inspired by our operas next season!

We can't wait to see your creations!

~ Ling Chan

Operamania 101: A Room With A View

The romantic power of opera was probably best used in the 1986 Merchant/Ivory movie, A Room With A View based on the E.M. Forster book. The Academy Award winner for Best Picture starred Helena Bonham Carter, Julian Sands, Judi Dench, Daniel Day-Lewis and Maggie Smith.

The movie takes place in England and Italy at the turn of the century. The soaring aria by Italian composer Giacomo Puccini perfectly complemented the free-spiritedness and romance of Edwardian-era Italy. For it is here that Lucy Honeychurch fell in love with the impetuous George Emerson.


Forward to 3:35 to see George, in a fit of passion, kiss Lucy in a barley field to the song of Chi il bel sogno di Doretta by Soprano Dame Kiri Te Kawana. The song is from Act 1 of the opera, La Rondine.


After realizing that Lucy is in love with George, she elopes with him to Florence and honeymoons at the pensione where they first met. The closing music is another romantic masterpiece from Puccini called O mio babbino caro from his opera, Gianni Schicchi.



Puccini, whose great works include Turandot, Tosca, La boheme and Madama Butterfly, is one of the world's most beloved operatic composers. His music was the perfect choice for a movie that sweeps you away in the throes of love.

So should you be inclined to visit romantic Florence Italy with your significant other, stay at the Hotel Degli Orafi (where the movie was filmed) with its magnificent terrace and splendid views of the Arno and the Ponte Vecchio. Just don't forget the Puccini.

Ah, amore

~ Ling Chan

Top 10 Fridays: Modern Opera Houses

Sydney Opera House is one of the most iconic and recognizable buildings in the world. The opera house, completed in 1973, broke the mold and paved the way for modern design principles now being applied to opera houses around the world.

Just because opera is a "traditional" artform, that doesn't mean opera houses have to look Neo-Classical or Baroque. No longer do opera houses have to have all the gilt, frescoed ceilings, chandeliers and other accoutrements.

It's okay to look progressive or futuristic. In fact, it absolutely rocks. Why blend in when you can stand out?

To launch our first weekly Top 10 feature, here's our picks for 10 Modern Opera Houses (in no particular order). We invite you to take our poll located on the right sidebar and tell us your pick for the #1 Modern Opera House. Make your voices heard and we'll post the results next week!


"The Armadillo" aka Wales Millenium Centre
Cardiff, Wales


GöteborgsOperan aka Gothenburg Opera
Gothenburg, Sweden


Kansallisooppera aka The Finnish National Opera
Helsinki, Finland
















Four Seasons Opera House
Toronto, Canada


El Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía aka Queen Sofia Palace of the Arts
Valencia, Spain


Palace of Peace and Reconciliation
Astana, Kazakhstan


Oslo Opera House
Oslo, Norway


Esplanade-Theatres by the Bay
Singapore City, Singapore


"The Egg" aka National Centre for the Performing Arts
Beijing, China


Operaen aka Copenhagen Opera House
Copenhagen, Denmark

~ Ling Chan

Operamania 101: A Three Hour Tour

Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip...

When I was in grade school, I used to run home after school to watch re-runs of the ultimate trifecta in comedies: Happy Days, Three's Company and Gilligan's Island.

I especially enjoyed the absurd antics of the seven castaways who had packed way too much for a 3 hour pleasure cruise, who seemed to enjoy a never-ending supply of coconut or banana cream pies and of how the professor can build anything yet didn't come up with a way to construct a raft to get off the island.

The episode, The Producer, was selected by TV Guide as one of the 100 greatest tv episodes of all time. In the episode, the castaways try to impress a Hollywood producer by performing Hamlet, set to Bizet's Habanera and Toreador from Carmen, as well as Offenbach's Barcarolle from The Tales of Hoffman.



Below, the real mccoy. A triple whammy treat for your Wednesday's Operamania 101.







Although watching Gilligan's Island required you to check your brain at the door, it was a show enjoyed by millions and as it's found a place in syndication, future generations can learn of Shakespeare, Bizet and Offenbach as children.

Now that it's all coming back to you, I dare you not to sing Hamlet's "soliliquy" to Habanera. Ear worm, much?

~ Ling Chan

Operamania 101: Power to the Fifth

What do you get when you mix Bruce Willis in his usual malcontent hero role, Milla Jovovich as "the perfect being" and Madonna's Blond Ambition tour costume designer Jean Paul Gaultier?

You get the outrageous intergalactic action-comedy extravaganza called The Fifth Element by French director Luc Besson. And did I mention the cotton ball hair style of Chris Tucker too? This cult classic movie is definitely a guilty pleasure.

But amidst the fighting for the survival of man storyline and the 900+ out-of-this-world costumes comes one of the most memorable scenes of the movie. And it involves opera.



Diva Plavalaguna, a blue skinned alien with 2 tentacular appendages on her head, performed for the transfixed audience on the luxury space liner at Fhloston Paradise or if you've been there already, you'll recognize it to be the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London.

She sang Il Dolce Suono from Gaetano Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor, first classically then more up-tempo until she's out and out rocking the house.

Soprano Inva Mula Tchako provided the actual vocals for actress Maïwenn Le Besco.

The song is originally from Act III, Scene 1 of Lucia di Lammermoor and often referred to as "the mad scene", an enactment of going off the deep end in an opera.



A visual and aural assault on the senses, The Fifth Element is definitely a space opera. Who would've thought you'd learn opera from a sci-fi movie?

~ Ling Chan

Operamania 101: Flying the Friendly Skies

Think this graph sums up your knowledge of opera?

Well then, class is now in session.

Actually, you, me and everyone we know knows more about opera than we may originally thought. If you've grown up watching cartoons, movies, commercials or are a pop culture addict, you've been exposed to opera and may not even realized it.

So to prep you for a BIG surprise we have planned for next season, we'll ease you into some (P)OPera Culture 101 and turn you from an Operaphobe into an Operaphile.

In 1989 British Airways became "The World's Favourite Airline" with their Saatchi & Saatchi produced commercial, featuring "Aria", based on "Flower Duet" from French opera Lakmé by Léo Delibes. What was doubly cool was this re-worked version was produced by Malcolm McClaren of the Sex Pistols fame and Yanni. Yes, Yanni, who picked up the Grammy that year for this cover version.



Course Yanni would not have won ANY Grammy had there not been the original song.



Crank it to 11.

~ Ling Chan