Aida at the opera house, side balcony, partial view, but good sound ($11.25). Production premiere, quite good at points. Think 1920s Egyptology vibes (Denishawn dancers, Anubis masks) with 70's Dr. Who costuming. Also some very impressive digital effects mixed in with the more traditional wing and drop. (For some reason, the hieroglyphs on the wings were filled with proper names, but the ones on the set were pure prose.) The digital image at the end was uncanny. The country's 19th c. poet/philosopher had the Romantic notion of the verdant hillside where people's lives were simple and traditional enough that they could encounter the mystery fully. (The second bit, often elided, is the important bit.) As I watched the two or three folks at the end, very much of the culture here, surrounded by the cosmic imagery, that very much came to mind. Good overlay of local mysticism with the Egyptian world. The opening visuals over the overture had the royal party slowly crossing the stage in a very, very interesting shade of green light. Aida quite strong; musical technique sometimes lifted her out of the action, though. After having seen about a dozen operas in different cities of this country, I'm convinced that the tenors have a union, and one of the rules is that preshow vocal warmups are prohibited. But by the third act, everyone was on the same page.
Walked through the city afterwards. Large music concert on the main piazza. Then back through the 400 year old university, which had an internationonal cultural/foodcart thing under strings of lights. Rather uncanny moment there, as I very consciously let slip the everyday notions of it, and tried to get at the phenomenology of all of these different manners of making foods converging under the fairy lights at the ancient university. I don't eat street food, but nonetheless, unheimlich, almost to the point of eschatological. Many thoughts on the way back. One of the things that I've been doing over the last few months is consciously returning to the manner of thinking that I had in the city, which I fell a bit away from after a few years of a rather (physically) tough slog, followed by the state university years, which were a bit sui generis. It is still possible to understand things in the old way, though. At least for now, the world has the possibility of becoming uncanny--the slightest of openings, but sufficient.