Flying from London to other European cities is now so inexpensive and convenient that music lovers can easily include European operas and concerts in their itinerary.
So it was that I found myself sitting in the front row of Venice's much-loved and recently rebuilt opera house, the Gran Teatro La Fenice, for the opening performance of the new season, a recital by world-renowned bass singer
Ruggero Raimondi.
Venice is a ravishingly beautiful city, a magical labyrinth of canals and side streets. As I made my way to the opera house I crossed several little bridges over the canals. Some of the gondolas below had musicians serenading the occupants with arias from Italian opera. Music was in
the air.
The Fenice opera house is in a small square crowded with the tables of a neighbouring restaurant. Its columned marble facade looks as classically correct as any of the myriad period buildings that make up the beauty of this historic city built on a shoal of little islands.