My name is Paullina Marina Truvianni, I am 9 years old and as you can probably guess it is my lifetime dream to become an opera singer. Some of you may not know this but in opera there are several kinds of voices, for girls there is the soprano, the alto, and the mezzo soprano and for boys there is the tenor, the bass and the baritone. My father said I should try to be a soprano because most of the leading roles are for sopranos.



Before I talk about myself I would like to say something about my parents, starting with my mother whom I would describe as a very nice looking lady and supper mom who is never too tired to play with me. My mother like I, was born in Warsaw, Poland where she works in a company that does market research.

As for my father, what I will say about him is that he is an elegant man who was born in New York City (which is in the USA) and who enjoys sharing his love of the arts with me. My father's mother was born in Buenos Aires which is in Argentina and his father was born in Genoa which is in Italy. My father speaks Polish, French, Spanish, Italian and English and writes books about his hobbies which include listening to classical music as well as going to the opera.

Now that I have described my parents I will now say something about myself which is that I like most children my age, go to school and enjoy watching cartoons, playing video games on my computer, and going places with my mom and dad. The 3 of us often go to restaurants and to department stores where we do a lot of shopping not only for the toys I play with but for my clothes which my parents love buying me almost as much as I love getting. My parents are very different from each other but they also have many things in common, one of them is that they both love me very much and only want the best for me. My parents and I live in a 2 bedroom apartment in downtown Warsaw which is on the same block as the school I go to.

Now that I have introduced you to both my parents as well as myself, I would like to tell you about the first time my parents and I went to the opera which was 3 years ago and as you will see for yourselves by the end of this story it changed my life forever. I must confess though that before going to the opera I was a little afraid I would have trouble sitting through an entire opera thinking it would be boring but however it was my father who made me feel more at ease by telling me if I did not like the opera I would not have to go back, and that he would help me enjoy the opera by explaining it to me as I was watching it.

The first opera my parents took me to see was ?La Traviata? by Verdi, which my father chose because it only lasts 2 hours (including intermissions, making it not long for an opera) and the music is easy to listen to as I found out after my father went out and got me the highlights of the music on CD. My father explained to me that it is always more interesting to see an opera at the theatre after having become familiar with the music. My father also told me the synopsis of "La Traviata", which is the story of Violeta, a dressmaker who falls in love with Alfredo, a man whose rich respected Parisian family can not accept her.

The day we had been waiting on for two weeks as my father got the tickets in advance finally arrived and my mother, as is her habit on days which I would have to stay up late, made me take a nap from which she woke me at 17:30 so I could take a bath and get dressed in one of my favorite dresses which my father had bought me for such special occasions. I can still see myself and the way I looked so grownup when standing in front of our full-length mirror all dressed up in my red dress, black shoes, and in my first long coat which was brown like the one my mother wore that evening. The feeling I got at the sight that I was growing up and ready to go out for the evening for the first time was a stupendous one of almost being a young adult.

In order to get to the opera on time which was scheduled to start at 19:00, we left our apartment at 18:30 and with the evening being such as it was we decided to walk to the opera house which is very close to our apartment. Our walk took us through ?Saski Park? which I had never been fortunate enough till then to see at night with all its lights on which on that particular evening were shinning on the white snow which had blanketed the park making it resemble a live fairy land from one of my many films for children. My father even commented that the view reminded him of Central Park in New York leaving me, who had never been to New York to only imagine how beautiful Central Park must be if it was anything like this.

It was on our way to the opera that I noticed my mother, who was wearing a long purple dress and my father who was wearing a black Tuxedo with a white shirt and bow tie. Both my parents were elegantly dressed and were equally proud to be taking me to the opera for what would be the first of many similar outings.

I will never forget how impressed I was upon entering Poland's largest opera house, Teatr Narodowy (which in Polish means National Theatre) for the first time, the National Theatre left me at awe by how truly grand it was with its gigantic columns, large halls and red carpets. My impression was such that it could not go unnoticed by my father who before the start of the opera took me for a brief stroll through the theatre, to show me the restaurants and the customs that had been worn in past operas which were now being shown in display windows much like a museum.

It was while my father and I were on our way to our seats to join my mother that I looked all around me and saw how people were so cheery and stylishly attired that I got the feeling that the opera might not be as boring as I had originally thought. Once my father and I were sitting with my mother in our respective seats, waiting for the opera to begin I started observing how people were looking at me with smiles of wonder on their faces, my mother told me that so many people were looking at me because I was probably the youngest person in the audience. All this excitement was making me anxious for the opera to start which fortunately we did not have to wait long for as it started on time with the overture. An overture is a musical piece with no singing in which we hear the main themes or motives that will be played during the opera.

During the opera my father kept telling me things about the opera, just like he promised to. He told me what the performers were doing as well as singing, which was of particular importance to me, because I did not understand Italian nor could I read in Polish, or at least not as fast as my mother who I could see was reading the translations that were being shown on the board above the stage in order to keep up with the story.

Another thing my father did during the opera was point out to me which arias were his favorite, an aria being a song in an opera, something that a week before going to the opera I did not even know. It was in a way funny how I had learnt to recognize every aria my father liked with the help of the CD of ?La Traviata? which my father had bought and played for me at least 10 times during the course of the previous week.

Out of the whole evening one of the things that pleased me the most apart from the music was the stage which was decorated with splendor not only by ornate scenes but by performers who were so colorful in their costumes. I can honestly say that I was enjoying this opera, a lot more then I thought I would and my parents could see that I was and I could tell by the way in which they looked at me then grinned at each other that this made them both very happy.

The 4th act of "La Traviata takes place in a hospital, where Alfredo goes to visit Violeta who is dying of some illness. It is in this scene were Violeta and Alfredo tell each other how much they love one another, and just as they are doing this Alfredo's father enters Violeta's hospital room to apologize to her for having asked him to break off her relationship with her son because he did not consider her to be worthy of him, seeing now that he had misjudged her by thinking her not to be a woman of class who truly loved his son. After Alfredo's father finishes his apology Violeta tells Alfredo just before expiring how happy she is to be back with him.

At the end of the opera I could not help but cry at such a sad ending which is something shared by most operas. In all truthfulness what made tears come to my eyes was my conviction that Violeta had actually died. It was the sight of my tears which indicated to my mother who figured out right away what it was that was troubling me as she told me not to worry because the lady who was playing Violeta had not really died but was only pretending. My father also seeing my distress added something which helped make my tears stop flowing which was that we would be seeing Violeta in a few minutes when she was due to come out to take her vows along with the rest of the cast, which is precisely what happened after the curtain went up again. All the performers started coming out on stage, one at a time, beginning with the singers who had played the smaller parts working up to those whose parts had been bigger. Alfredo was second to last followed by Violeta whose return to the stage brought relief to my heart which had sunk after seeing her die.

With the reappearance of the Violeta the cast was complete and standing on stage making it a grand display made more so by the audience which was giving them a standing ovation while tossing roses on stage. At that point I remember asking my father if this is what happened after every opera to which he replied "Yes, this is what always happens". It was then that I saw the conductor get up on stage and point to the members of the orchestra all of whom stood up while everybody in the audience continued cheering and throwing roses on to the stage. The elation this majestic spectacle was providing was tremendous and I knew even then that this was going to be an evening which I would never forget.

After exiting the opera we went to a near by restaurant where I had a small desert and apple juice as well as a chance to tell my parents who were eager to know what I thought of the whole evening. I told them how much the show had delighted me. My father asked me what I had thought of the Theater to which I replied that I was really impressed by the whole place and not only by its size but by how it was all so nice.

Then my mother asked me what I thought of the performance to which I replied that I had really liked the costumes specially Violeta's.

Now it was my father's turn to ask me if I had liked the singing, which I told him had been the best part of the evening made even better by all that surrounded it. After having finished what we ordered we simply hailed a cab home, were upon arrival I went straight to bed but not before hearing both my parents tell me how honored they had felt by having taken me to the opera and how they were hoping I would want to go back to the opera with them at a later date something I also hoped to do.

I was so excited after the opera that I found it hard to fall asleep, it was the music in my head which by bringing back so many images to my mind was keeping me awake. Many impressions, maybe too many for one single evening to allow me to concentrate on any one in particular. There was the image of the opera house, the stage and the performers, the costumes, the way the audience was dressed, the applauding and roses being tossed on stage after the performance and above all the opera itself which helped me decide that I wanted to become an opera singer.