Utah Opera's The Flying Dutchman

I have always wanted to experience a live performance of one of Richard Wagner's operas so I was thrilled to see The Flying Dutchman (the only Wagner opera small enough in scale to fit on the stage at Capitol Theatre) last night.  I really loved the music and the performances.  The Dutchman (Michael Chioldi) is doomed to roam the ocean endlessly on a ghostly ship as punishment for defying God but he is offered a chance for redemption every seven years when he is allowed to come ashore.  If he can find a wife who will be true to him, he will be released from the curse.  He encounters a sea captain named Daland (Kristinn Sigmundsson) who has found refuge from a storm several miles from home and, when he learns that Daland has a daughter, he offers him a treasure chest full of gold in return for her hand in marriage.  Daland is dazzled by the treasure and agrees.  Daland's daughter Senta (Wendy Bryn Harmer) is pursued by the Huntsman Erik (Robert Stahley) but she is enchanted by the legend of the Flying Dutchman and refuses him.  When Daland returns home with the mysterious stranger, Senta is transfixed by him and agrees to the betrothal.  During a homecoming celebration on the shore, Erik renews his vows of love to Senta and reminds her that she once loved him.  The stranger overhears them and, believing that all hope is lost, reveals that he is the Flying Dutchman and returns to his ship.  Senta then throws herself into the ocean vowing to be true to the Dutchman in death and her sacrifice breaks the curse.  The music is incredibly dramatic and the Utah Symphony, under the direction of Ari Pelto, performs it brilliantly.  I especially loved the leitmotifs used for the storm-tossed ocean (very powerful), the Dutchman, and Senta.  Chioldi has an amazing voice and the aria "The time has come" where the Dutchman bitterly laments his fate gave me goosebumps!  His rendition of "As from the distant dawn of my creation" with Harmer, where the Dutchman allows himself to hope that the curse might be broken and Senta longs to be the one who ends his suffering, is also quite stirring and his aria "It's hopeless! Ah! It's hopeless," where the Dutchman believes that Senta has betrayed him, is filled with so much pathos that it brought a tear to my eye.  The rest of the cast is also outstanding, particularly Sigmundsson.  This show features a large ensemble and I enjoyed the scenes with the ghosts on the Dutchman's ship because they are quite scary (perfect for the spooky season) and the scenes where Daland's crew pull his ship to shore.  The set is very minimal because projections are used instead and, even though the sudden appearance of the Dutchman's ship through the fog is unbelievably thrilling, I was just a little bit underwhelmed by this because the stage often looks empty (I fear the use of projections is becoming the norm).  I also think the final scene between the Dutchman and Senta, where they are meant to ascend to Heaven, is a bit anticlimactic because they simply walk across the stage and take each other's hands.  It took the audience a few minutes to even realize that the opera had concluded.  My criticisms are minimal because I was completely overwhelmed by the grandeur of Wagner's magnificent music and I definitely recommend getting a ticket to one of the three remaining performances of this haunting tale (go here).