I've been planning a late April trip to Italy and came across this performance at the Florence Opera on April 30th. Ever since, I've been planning the entire itinerary around making sure we're in Florence that night.

Just thought others might be interested.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1286656/posts

Jeannie B,
Thank you so much for posting this! We're not going to be there there, but our daughter will be and she's a big opera lover. (Oh lucky her and you!)
Paula

Art Lover:

I posted the wrong address!

HERE IS THE OPERA WEBSITE:

http://www.liaisonsabroad.com/italy/...tinofest.html#

Jeanne B,
Thanks--I'll pass it on....

Jeamme B.
Oh--I'M SO EXCITED! I checked out the webcite and they are also doing Tosca in May and we'll be there then. Have ordered tickets for all 3 of us! Thank you again for telling us about this. For other opera lovers...am passing the word on to let you know it's going to be May 19 & 20 too.

Zubin Mehta is a good opera conductor. I attended a performance of Falstaff in Munich and he did a commendable job.

More important than the conductor is the cast. Do you know who will be singing the roles of Floria Tosca, Mario Cavaradossi and Baron Scarpia? If it is someone like Daniela Dessi, you are in for a strong performance.

It would be GREAT if both Ms. Dessi and Fabio Armiliato were to appear together.
They are superb. Other than Ms. Dessi, there are many other soparanos who would make a great Tosca: Ruth Ann Swenson comes to mind as well as Aprille Millo.
Kallan Esperian is ok too; so is Barbara Frittoli.

Jane Eaglen can sing Turandot, but I don't know if she has ever done Tosca.
Her voice certainly has the heft for the role!

But nobody did Cavaradossi like Placido Domingo, at least not in modern times.
Or possibly Pavarotti.

I think Fabio Armiliato could match him, just about. He is a splendid Don Jose.

If Carmen is on the menu, and Irina Mishura is scheduled to sing Carmen, GO!
She is a great singer. One can also see why that soldier boy deserted the army and went with her over the mountains!

OMG--I just received e-mail confirmation for May 14--am cutting Spain by one day to see this.

I'm so excited, but what I didn't realize when I ordered the tickets was the price of 75 per ticket was in pounds, not Euros! I went ahead and ordered 3 (daughter will be in Univ. in Siena) before realizing this. Luckily, it's Chanuka and I told DH this would be more than a great present!

Gosh, I didn't realize it was pounds either. Silly me...I read it as dollars. I'm almost afraid to ask how much that comes to in $$.

Lucky lucky you!

What a terrific opera!

I've just seen two different versions of it here in the Bay Area; one at the San Francisco Opera.

Love that Puccini!

JeanneB,
I'm so glad I'm not the only one that made that mistake. Yes, it's scary, but how often will you get to see Tosca in Italy? (Easy for me to say, I won't see the bill...)
Enjoy...we'll have to compare notes! (excuse the pun)
Paula

I tried Liaisons Abroad for a performance at La Fenice next June and they quoted £80 each for the cheapest seats. I then got them through www.charta.it for E21 each !!

I tried Liaisons Abroad for a performance at La Fenice next June and they quoted £80 each for the cheapest seats. I then got them through www.charta.it for E21 each, so some mark-up on the part of Liaisons Abroad !!

Yes, a gobsmacking mark up! I went to the site you provided, but no listing for the April Tosca. I will certainly check there before purchasing.
(Let's keep this between us...I don't want to spoil ArtLover's fun in any way!)

Caroline,
PLEASE tell me how you came up with this. I just went to the website you mentioned and couldn't find Tosca at Teatro Comunale anywhere. We still haven't paid for the tickets yet, so if there's that much difference, I'd like to know.

I am going to search them now for Venice though (we'll be there a week as well), but last time we tried to get opera tickets in Europe, we couldn't, and my husband is a HUGE opera fan, so I reallly want to get them this time.

Thanks for any help you can offer.

artlover, here's a tip for getting opera tickets for Venice. I had searched several times for my dates at the teatrolafenice.it site, and hadn't found the tickets I wanted. But one night, about 10 PM Pacific time (7 AM Italian time), there were suddenly tickets available. You should have your passport number handy, because the site will ask you for that. I think tickets for La Fenice become available unpredictably, because the site has an unusual 24-hour hold that you can place on tickets prior to purchase.

WillTravel,
Thank you for the tip. I will check it out!

artlover: sorry, I don't know when or how tickets make it on to the Charta website. Maybe I've just been lucky - both times I've tried (for Palermo two years ago & now for Venice next June), they did have tickets for the dates I wanted.

caroline,

Are you in Edinburgh? Sometimes I think there are different options open for people booking from UK than from US, or maybe I'm just imagining things.

But thanks for sharing this link as there were other possibilities and I will check back with it.
Paula

Hi Paula. Yes, I'm in Edinburgh. Yes, that's a possibility I suppose. I've noticed sometimes that websites look different from different PCs too. Hope you get what you want, anyway. Even if £80 a ticket were the only option, I think it has to be done, don't you ?

caroline,
Yes, I agree--we just did it. $480 for 3 of us (OUCH!), but I'll find other ways to cut corners (maybe just eat pizza the entire time we're there LOL).
Cheers,
Paula