Opera en el Mercado

Much like that exuberant display of The Sound of Music in the Antwerp Station in Belgium last year, an opera company in Valencia went guerrilla theatre on an unsuspecting group at the largest covered market in Europe. This took place about two months ago and it took that long for it to come to my attention. Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia, a new opera center in Valencia, sent some of their singers out to promote their season. The opera singers were disguised as employees, and burst into song for the crowd. Fragments of Verdi’s La Traviata were sung culminating in that perennial favorite “Brindisi,” with the singers handing out glasses of champagne to and dancing with the amused bystanders. It’s not as polished as some of the other videos of this ilk, but it’s hard not to be charmed by the joy being shared by this group of strangers.

Truth be told, I’d actually look forward to food shopping if I had Renee Fleming selling me a canteloupe. Enjoy: