During the Aidilfitri Holidays, I got a unique surprise in the form of a text message from my friend Stephen. Steve was inviting me to watch the dress rehearsal for La Boheme which is Puccini's immortal opera. I knew that this was playing this weekend but unfortunately for me, I was going to be in Baguio so instead of missing out on this masterpiece, I took the bait and watched the dress rehearsal. Better the rehearsal than not at all.

La Boheme is the classic piece that Rent was based on and even if I could barely make out the Italian (bless those 4 years of Latin!) I could certainly appreciate the emotions that the singers were communicating. La Boheme is described as the greatest love story ever sung and that it definitely was. Someone once told me that the secret to appreciating opera is to let the emotions of the music carry you away and that I managed to experience first hand while watching the rehearsal.

Kudos must be given to the singers. When we entered I was amazed at how powerful their voices were. Imagine, no microphones yet you could hear their singing above the live orchestra. My hair stood on its end.

As an added bonus, direk Floy Quintos came out and gave us a brief lesson on opera. I learnt more about Opera in that brief 30 or so minutes with him. It was quite an interesting lesson. He shared stories on the creative concept behind this adaptation which made me feel sad at not being able to watch the actual show this weekend.

For those of you who will be in Manila, I suggest that you catch the three day run of La Boheme. Experience the beauty of Opera and support Philippine art at the same time. It's at the CCP. Run and don't walk. It's an experience that will definitely move you!