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San Francisco Opera House |
Opera as inspiration. The road to Manaus.
Opera has woven itself into our lives and provides inspiration and motivation for many of our actions. When the lights dim and the curtain rises the world is transformed. This world, our ordinary world, disappears and is replaced with one of magic and illusion, a new world of acoustic richness and a vocabulary of its own.
The most challenging part of the long drive, the loop through the Amazon basin to Manaus and the Teatro Amazonas, was inspired by opera. Just as Fitzcarraldo dragged a boat over the mountains to fulfill his operatic dreams, so too will we drag the Toyota up the Madeira river to Manaus and beyond; to Belem and the mouths of the Amazon.
When we reach Manaus we blast the city with scratchy Caruso recordings.