The House of the Dead opera was the first opera I have ever seen. I have listened to opera music before and have always heard about opera but never experienced it for myself. When I think of opera I think of big people singing extremely loud. I picture those people that can hold a glass and make it break with their voices. All of this is silly and very stereotypical when it comes to opera. The House of the Dead was not what I expected to see. I am glad that it was not what I expected. I think this added to my experience. I thought that I would not be able to follow the opera or understand anything that was going on. I was able to follow the house of the dead though. I think doing the reading before hand made everything easy to see. While I was reading I kept thinking how can somebody write music to this and make a whole opera? I think the libretto in the opera was very similiar to the book. I don't really like reading books and then seeing the performences that go with them.Sometimes,  I think that that ruins the book. I was afraid that the opera would be unsimiliar to the story and I was glad it wasn't. I think the sets were so cool. Usually sets appear fake and small. There always flat and look like someboday just painted them up. These sets were elaborate and enormous. They moved and revealed hidden parts that were really cool. I was realy impressed by the singing. I don't think opera singer is a future career choice for me. It was nice to sit back and listen to all of the characters stories. I would have loved to hear more women sing but because this opera was male dominated I think their masculine voices were very powerful in telling each of the prisoners struggles. I would love to go see another opera. I was really glad that I enjoyed this experience. I am so glad we have gotten the oppurtunity to experience all of these new things.