Sigma Alpha Iota

50 Fall 2025 • sai-national.org 50 Fall 2025 • sai-national.org A Wld of Music By Jayne I. Hanlin Has anyone ever attended a performance here?" asked our guide. Surprisingly, I was the only one in the group of twenty to raise a hand, still vividly remembering sitting in the first row, my head sharply tilted backward, attending Jules Massenet's Manon in March 2000. With her right leg pointed straight upward, a position known as "six o'clock" like the hands on a watch face, the incredible ballerina Sylvie Guillem balanced on the ball of her left foot and rotated 360 degrees. Today's Royal Opera House is the third building occupying the site. Two nineteenth- century fires (1808 and 1856) destroyed former structures. Although the present one underwent extensive reconstruction between 1997–1999, the façade with its magnificent classical portico, foyer, and auditorium date from 1858. In 1732, after his huge, financial success with The Beggar's Opera, actor and manager John Rich opened a theatre called Covent Garden. He staged plays, pantomimes (think slapstick à la Punch and Judy), and operas. Some by George Frederich Handel (who had close ties with the opera house) premiered here between 1735 and his death in 1759. After becoming the Royal Italian Opera for a while, it has been known as the Royal Opera Company since 1892. The Sadler's Wells Ballet (now the Royal Ballet) began its residence at the location in 1946 with a performance featuring prima ballerina Margot Fonteyn as Aurora in The Sleeping Beauty. The Orchestra of the Royal Opera House accompanies all of the operas and ballets. The Royal Opera House employs about one thousand people, and as many as six productions in the repertoire rotate at any given time. At the start of the tour, we saw replicas of the five previous buildings recessed in a glass- covered wall. Continuing farther, we reached the porte-cochère for distinguished Londoners. Queen Victoria used her own private entrance located on Floral Street to attend productions as often as four times a week. Her prominent box on the second level did not provide the best acoustics. Donning a hoop-skirt frame with an imaginary crinoline dress and sashaying my hips, I ascended the wide grand staircase as Behind the Scenes Tour Royal Opera House in London Royal Opera House Auditorium Seating Royal Opera House Auditorium Seating Sim Canetty-Clarke photo Sim Canetty-Clarke photo

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