Puccini Opera in Lucca

We attended the nightly Puccini concert at San Giovanni Church a few weeks ago (in June) and it lasted a little over an hour. The night we were there it was two sopranos, Barbara Lippi and Susanna Menicucci, accompanied by pianist Moasimo Morelli (he's the festival music director). All three are very talented and the performance was wonderful.

We were there on a Mozart/Puccini night. The performance consisted of 11 songs, 5 by Mozart and 6 by Puccini. Mostly solos by one lady or the other, they sang a couple of duets, and the pianist played the intermezzo from Puccini's Edgar by himself. There was a brief intermission half way through.

They give you a very nice printed program including the history of the "festival" and the life of Puccini. It's a great thing to do, for us it was very different from what we usually do on vacation. Only complaint was that the admission charged was 1 Euro more than the price posted on their website. But worth it!

I'm not sure about that venue in particular, but I read that the operas at the arena in Verona are all 3+ hours in length.

If you know the title of the opera you are going to see, you could google up the average running time for it.

It's not an opera but a concert of selections from an opera/s. As I rember it the concert ran late (cant' remember if it started late or intermission was long) but it took a little over 2 hours. We were staying in Lucca, so no transportation problems. It is at least a 15 minute walk to the train station. I don't remember seeing any taxis right outside of San Giovanni church but if you continue ahead bearing to the left you'll end up at Piazza Napoleone and generaaly there was a taxi or two waiting on the far side of the piazza.

I attended MADAME BUTTERFLY in Lucca a few years ago. It wasn't the entire opera, but seemed to be all the arias from that opera. There was an intermission, but the whole thing didn't last more than two hours. If there is a website you are using, maybe you can get details there.

Christine,
It is not an opera just selected pieces done by local talent. It will run about two hours. There are trains at about 2130 and 2230 so you should have no problem getting back to Florence.

Thanks for the replies. I realize it's a concert, not a full opera; I should have written that in my topic. I'm sure it's wonderful and it sounds like I could get back to Florence with no difficulty.

I'll add that the MC for the concert (a local Italian man) spoke only in English. At the beginning he asked how many in the crowd of 40 were Italian and only 2 people raised their hands. He asked those two if they could understand him in English (to save him having to make every announcement in both languages) and they said sure.

He said it's always like that. Almost never any Italians at the concerts. Mostly Americans and British.

It's like in Memphis, near where I live. Most people in Memphis have never been to Graceland. Almost all the visitors are from far away.