The box office is closed. No more backstage tours. No more performances this summer in Santa Fe. All is quiet in the flower boxes and the seats in the theater. Most of those who make it happen have left, going on to their plans for what’s next in their lives.

My favorite volunteer job is working as a docent during June, July, and August. We tour guests around the theater grounds during the early morning summer hours before the musicians, techies, and other production people are at work. During that hour midsummer the place is waking up and starting to hum as the 600+ people it takes to make opera happen here are drifting in and taking their places.

The back deck, behind the stage has a magnificent view of the Jemez Mountains and the lands of the Tewa ancestors. where their descendants now live in neighboring Pueblos. This is where the magic happens–the costume shop, the scenery, props, and paint shops, the stage. It takes a lot of talented people to put it all together in a remarkably short space of time.

Five operas every summer. A different opera every night. In August, if you pick the right week, you can see five operas in five nights. I admire the stamina of anyone who can do that. For me, Opera Hangover is a real thing. I can not handle more than two nights in a row.

And Opera Withdrawal is a real thing for me this first week in September. I’m left with my memories of sitting in the theater, watching the sky, and listening to Mozart, Tchaikovsky, Handel, Puccini, and Picker. I can’t think of a better way to spend a summer.