Maxence surprised me by taking me to the Semperoper (Dresden’s opera house) for the first time. The theme of the evening is Kammerabend, that is, music for chamber orchestra.

We arrive about twenty minutes early, almost dressed to the nines as is often the case at parties of this type. It takes us a while to realize that to get to our seats, we’ll have to climb the 5 or 6 flights of stairs to get almost to the top. Once we’ve reached the right place, an employee takes us to the far left and opens the doors so we can sit down. It’s only the second time we’ve been in an opera house (the first being La Scala in Milan), so we take a good look at every element in the auditorium. The dominant colors are red, beige and almond green for the seats.

We quickly notice the astonishing clock that changes its dial every 5 minutes with a rolling movement. As for our seats, they’re positioned fairly high and to the left, so we still have to bend over to get a good view of the stage, which isn’t necessarily comfortable. Nevertheless, considering the price of the seats (€10/person), it’s still decent.

Historically speaking, the Semperoper has been destroyed twice. A fire destroyed the building in the mid-19th century, then the monument was almost completely destroyed by the bombs of the 2nd World War (as was much of Altstadt).

For our evening, the show starts at 8pm with a piano-violin duo and continues with a trio. Once the trio’s piece is over, a bell rings and most of the audience gets dressed and disappears.
Amazed, we linger in the auditorium, wondering whether this is a break or the end of the show. Given the small number of people left, we assume it’s the end of the show indeed. So we take the time to take a few photos of the place, then head out into the upstairs hall. We then realize that it’s only intermission, and that the spectators have gone to the bar to refresh themselves. We return to our seats, laughing at our naiveté.
Then, 15 minutes after the first bell, a second one rings, prompting the audience to take their seats for the rest of the show. So we listen to a quartet and then a full chamber orchestra.

Although we’re not big fans of classical music, we really enjoyed it:

• The length of the concert (around 2h30), which is perfectly suited to a weekday evening and to novices who don’t want to listen to an opera for 4 or 6 hours.
• The regular changes in the size of the ensembles and the progressive approach: starting with a duo and building up to an orchestra of some fifteen musicians, we were able to listen to different adaptations in a dynamic way.

So, given the rather affordable first prices and the history of the venue, we recommend you try this activity at least once in your life. Like us, opt for a rather short format if you’re not a fervent opera-lover, otherwise the experience is likely to be spoiled by boredom.