Each summer, while we all anxiously await LA Opera's new season, the Opera Leaguers partake of other opera goodness in cities near and far. Last year saw a hardy bunch head to Austria and Germany. This year? Santa Fe.
These epic summer trips are thanks to Brita Millard, a member of the League board and the big brain behind all of our special events and fundraisers. You may recall excursions to San Diego and San Francisco? Yep, that's Brita.
The first week of August saw a small army of Opera Leaguers converge on Santa Fe for Patron's Week at the Sane Fe Opera. This included five operas by composers like Donizetti, Verdi, Strauss and Mozart.
We also had the honor of taking in the world premiere of Cold Mountain, composed by the Pulitzer Prize-winning Jennifer Higdon and based on the novel by Charles Frazier.
And we did so much more than watch operas. Sightseeing excursions, backstage tours, a visit to scupture gardens and a bronze foundry, it's just another summer for the League, as the below schedule and oodles of photos attest.
August 3: Bus and walking tours through Santa Fe, visiting a house formerly used by a member of the Los Alamos team. A night at the opera: Donizetti's La fille du régiment (The Daughter of the Regiment).
August 4: A visit to a Mexican market, backstage tour, dinner and lecture with Santa Fe Opera's Desirée Mays. A night at the opera: Verdi's Rigoletto.
August 5: Exploring more of Santa Fe, pre-opera lecture. A night at the opera: the world premiere of Cold Mountain.
August 6: Exploring even more of Santa Fe, pre-opera lecture. A night at the opera: Salome.
August 7: Exploring yet more of Santa Fe, pre-opera lecture. A night at the opera: Mozart's La finta giardiniera (The Pretend Garden-Girl).
August 8: Excursion to the Shidoni Sculpture Gardens, Foundry and Galleries to tour the gardens and watch the bronce pouring in the foundry. This was a private tour led by one of the artists.
Check out the oodles of photos in the carousel below.