It happened quite unexpectedly ...
Tonight, a lovely friend in North Carolina wrote of his yearning to be in Belgium, in order to watch Ann Hallenberg perform in the Vlaamse Opera production, Agrippina.
I asked him about the location, he replied Gent and then wrote so many good things about Agrippina as an opera and about Ann as one of the best mezzo sopranos in the world that ... I just had to go and try booking a seat for my very first opera.
It worked, I am booked ... and now I'm really rather looking forward to this journey into a world I have only suspected I might love.
I recommend the youtube below. It offers you a 'Backstage view of the opera production 'Agrippina', starring emperor Nero's power hungry mother. A baroque master piece by Händel, in an eighties styled version by Mariame Clément'.