I am a frequent listener of live opera broadcasts but have not attended opera since childhood as it is indeed expensive
my favorite opera is Boris Gudunov by my favorite composer: Modest Mussorgsky ... with my favorite movements being the successive "Long live our Tsar Boris Feodorovich!" "My Soul is Sad!" and "I stand supreme in power"
I am a big fan of Russian, Slavic, Soviet type forms of composition... opera obviously included... thus Mussorgsky is my favorite in the orchestral world too with his Pictures at an Exhibition, highlighted by the mighty "Great Gate of Kiev"
by the way tomorrow (17th of May) is my birthday... you can all buy me a plane ticket to San Diego for the performance there (buy me a ticket for that too) in Feb 2007 (oh and you can also buy me a hotel room too) k, thanks
http://www.sdopera.com/season/boris.html
(you can hear a sound byte in the background with some of the coronation scene)
(I swear everyone spells it in a different way: Gudnov, Gudunov, Godunov, Godnov...etc...)