September’s not just the start of pumpkin season, festival season, or football season – it’s the start of opera and musical season, too!
Get your classical groove on with these affordable and out of the ordinary events:
On September 29, Nationals Park opens up for another night of free opera (FREE opera! Did you hear that? That’s like finding a unicorn). This year the show of choice is Mozart’s classic Don Giovanni as performed by Washington National Opera.
The opera will broadcast live from the Kennedy Center Opera House to the high-definition screen at the ballpark at 7 p.m. Seating will be available on the outfield grass and in the stands.
Along with the show, BYT and the Kennedy Center are teaming up to host The Fly Ball, a free pre-simulcast party in the ballpark’s Stars & Stripes Club starting at 5 p.m. The evening also includes stage-fighting demonstrations, flamenco dancing, and a screening of Bugs Bunny. Concessions and picnic baskets will be available for a fee.
Check out the simulcast’s website for more information and guidelines.
Washington National Opera knows that if you’re age 18-35, you’re probably more interested in spending money on the iPhone 5 than on Donizetti’s bel canto opera Anna Bolena. That’s why they created Generation O, which allows the young folk to get good deals on tickets to the opera.
Register online as a member and you’ll have access to tickets as low as $10 or $25. Do a little research on the shows ahead of time and you’ve got a great way to impress a date this fall, if that’s what all you young people still do these days.
Hope Operas is a program of serialized operas that compete to benefit local charities. Each week the five shows will present a 10 – 15-minute episode to benefit a specific local nonprofit. At the end of the evening the audience votes for their favorite show. The event proceeds are then distributed to the nonprofits based on how well their benefactor shows did in the vote.
This year, the program is comprised entirely of original musicals competing for your support. Expect androids, baristas, and wrestling.
The Hope Operas open Monday, October 1st and run Monday nights through October 29th at 8:00 PM at The Comedy Spot, third floor Ballston Mall, 4238 Wilson Blvd., Arlington, VA 22203. Tickets are $13 per show or $50 for all five weeks.
Joanna moved to DC in 2010 knowing she’d love it, and as usual she was right. She enjoys eating fried things, drinking scotch and smoking cigars, and makes up for the damage done by snacking on organic oats and barley and walking long distances to wherever with her dog Henry. Joanna now lives with her husband and said dog in Los Angeles, and they all miss DC terribly. Follow her on Twitter or contact her at joannacastlemiller.com.
