One Saturday evening earlier this month, we headed to the San Telmo Museoa, the local Basque cultural museum, to partake in the International Museum Day festivities. Admission was free, and the activities included various musical performances by students from the local music school. The museum’s buildings include a former 16th century church and convent. The church building has beautiful, huge paintings depicting Basque history and traditions.
We knew there would be a concert in the church but didn’t know the nature of the performer. It turned out to be the final recital of a graduating opera singer – a very talented soprano, who was accompanied by a pianist, and for a few songs by two of her fellow students, a tenor and a baritone. The performance was situated in the church for maximum effect, both visually and acoustically.
Jeff and I have each only been to one opera, and those were before we were even together, so opera is hardly our passion. After looking at the program, I figured we would stay for a few songs and then move on to enjoy the museum’s exhibitions.
But when this lovely soprano opened her mouth to sing it was astounding. The acoustics in the high-ceilinged church were amazing and her voice took flight. No microphones were used, nor were they needed. The setting and her voice glued us to our seats as we took it all in. We stayed for the entire hour-plus performance, including an encore. She sang in Italian, French, German and Spanish. My favorite number was a duet she did from La Boehme. The most amazing part . . . Jeff enjoyed it just as much as I did. What a treat!
It just goes to show that you never know what you’ll encounter when you seek a little culture here in San Sebastian.
Ciao,
Shana & Jeff
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