What's in a name?
Opera napping is more than a hobby, it's a way of life.
“I love napping at the opera. They have the most comfortable seats.”
Mere hours before we met up to see Bizet’s infamous Carmen, I received that text message from my friend Dan.
He was, of course, joking. But while I laughed, I also knew there was a good chance one of us would doze off during the show that night — and it wasn’t going to be him.
We were both living in Manhattan at the time; I had just begun working for The New York Times and Dan was a music teacher and composer. He knew every note Carmen would sing to us by heart and could explain to you, his eyes glittering with excitement, why it was the perfect choice.
For someone like me, however, things are different. I love art, and I love going to the opera once in a while. But I love it as an outsider, an amateur. So when I got that text on my way to the Met following a long day in the newsroom, I knew deep down that my falling asleep was not that improbable.
In the end, I didn’t. But the text made me realize that even though we differ in our areas of expertise, we were likely going to enjoy the show just as much.
And we did. Prior knowledge is not required in order to enjoy art.
The word “amateur” means someone with a fondness or liking towards a certain topic; it comes from the verb “aimer” which means to love, in French.
That’s what I am: I’m not an artist myself, but I am someone who loves and appreciates art — and through my passion, I’ve come to learn a great deal about it throughout my life, both personal and professional.
I now want to share that passion with the world around me.