Simon Boccanegra

There is nothing like a pleasant evening with Placido Domingo, James Levine, Giuseppe Verdi and librettists Francesco Maria Piave and Arrigo Boito. Arias, duets, trios, and the chorus all interacting in fascinating ways. Music that supports, advances and echoes the plot. There is something almost meditative in some of Verdi's operas. There is a certain flow of music and drama which seamlessly moves into these different combinations of voices and then ebbs back to others. In this opera, this was all in service of the question: can anyone bring peace and even a bit of unity to the Italian city states. Mix in romance, filial loyalty, a few traitors here and there and some poison and you have the opera Simon Boccanegra.