ARIA SERIOUS?

Our friend, the mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves, was married yesterday in a small private ceremony reports The Washington Post . You can read about it here . We sent a big congratulations over to Denyce this morning and she reported back "we are over the moon with appreciation and contentment." She deserves it. - Edward

Lots and lots.

Dr. Nic Reveles has posted a new Podcast for NABUCCO online. You can find it by clicking here or by subscribing through iTunes. Enjoy!

Over the weekend: - Mark Swed of the Los Angeles Times reports on fashion trends at European opera houses . I'm happy with news and looking forward to watching La boheme barefoot next season although the person next to me might wish otherwise. - Singer/songwriter/composer Rufus Wainright's opera, Prima Donna , is set to open in Manchester in July . Still no word on an American premiere for this one.

Time to ask, what are you listening to this weekend? We here at Aria Serious are going to return to Korngold this weekend since we enjoyed Die tote Stadt so much a few weeks back. On tap for Saturday is Violanta , an opera we've never heard before but were able to find used online. Of course we'll also find some time to put on our old vinyl version of Diana Ross Presents The Jackson 5 while cleaning up the house. Share your listening plans in the comment section below. - Edward

Archeologists have announced the discovery of a flute carved from the bone of a bird 35,000 years ago, making it the oldest known instrument in the world. Talk about classical music. You can read the full article in the New York Times here . - Edward

For all his eccentricities these past few years, it is hard to remember what an incredible performer Michael Jackson once was. This will help. Rest in peace King of Pop. -Edward

Our very own Dr. Nic's podcast series has begun for our 2010 season. Up first, a look at La boheme and what makes opera so popular. You can access this Podcast online by clicking here , or through iTunes which many of you prefer. Yep, they're free and run about 15 minutes which makes it a perfect companion for the morning jog. - Edward

As we've mentioned before, Elizabeth Futral is on the great California Violetta tour with engagements in Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Diego all in the same year. In between dying of tuberculosis on stage each night, Elizabeth was able to answer a few questions we sent over to her in our occasional series called "10 Questions With..." *** San Diego Opera (SDO): First, welcome back to San Diego. We last saw you as Nedda in Pagliacci in 2008. Is there anything new in your life that you would like to share with us? Elizabeth Futral (E.F.): I very much look forward to coming back to San Diego Opera! Since I was there for I Pagliacci last season I have been busy. Two highlights were singing my first staged performances of Thais (Massenet) in Athens, Greece, and singing a world premiere opera, Brief Encounter by Andre Previn, for Houston Grand Opera. SDO: You sing Violetta for these performances with us. In your own words can you tell us a bit about this character? E.F....

According to the BBC, listening to opera is good for the heart and can lower blood pressure. Of course, working in the business of opera can have the opposite effect. You can read the article here . - Edward

Over the weekend: - While Arts organizations around the nation hunker down, Opera Grand Rapids breaks ground on its first permanent home in the Company's 42-years. - Speaking of hunkering down, our neighbors to the East, Arizona Opera, makes deep cuts while maintaining their upcoming season. - Skylight Opera eliminates their position of Artistic Director . - Villazon is out of The Met's Tales of Hoffmann . - There is a new Cardiff Singer of the World .

So, what are you listening to this weekend? Over here at the Aria Serious tower we're going to spend some time with Dvorak's Rusalka . We last heard this opera in 1996 when we saw a performance at the National Theatre in Prague. Truth be told we were more smitten by actually seeing a Czech opera in Prague, at the actual theatre it premiered in, and didn't pay much attention to the production itself. So this weekend we'll listen, with libretto in hand, to see what we missed oh-so-long ago. If time permits we might we'll give the new Grizzly Bear album, Veckatimest , a listen as we've been hearing good things about it lately. Share your listening plans in the comment section below. And whatever you do, make it a good one (oh yeah, and call your dad as well). - Edward

We just posted a new photo gallery of San Diego Opera's "Greatest Hits" over on our Facebook page. These are some of the best images of our favorite productions over the past 10 or so years, scientifically selected on a whim by yours truly. So if we're missing something you love, speak up and we'll include a picture of it. You can access the gallery here . - Edward

The New York Times ran this article on the front page of the Arts Section this morning. It is a close and rather depressing look at the current state of affairs facing our beloved "people's opera." As usual, I hate sharing this type of news, but I also know that ignoring it does not make it go away. Sadder still is that NYCO is no different than dozens of others art institutions currently fighting for survival in this economy. Go do your part. Support your local arts community this weekend and see a show or visit a museum. You can read the article here . - Edward

Jackie Fuchs over at The Huffington Post has written an article on "Why Opera Rocks." Our verdict: it indeed does rock. The article is rather old, written last year but we just came across it the other day so we thought we'd share it here. You can read the article by clicking here . - Edward

Last week, when sending out my "10 Questions With..." interviews to our 2010 singers I noticed a glaring omission ; I didn't send one to Sylvie Valayre , our Abigaille in Nabucco . You see, Sylvie was our first "10 Questions With..." interview that we posted on the very first post on this blog . Not wanting to bore her with similar questions, and so completely unoriginal that I couldn't come up with 10 new questions myself, I got to thinking; what if we had you, our dear readers, ask your own question to Sylvie. Sylvie being the great person she is, thought it would be neat. So, here's how "Stump An Opera Singer" works: - Send a question to Sylvie Valayre at blog@sdopera.com - Put "Stump An Opera Singer" in the subject line. - We'll accept questions until July 1, 2009. - After July 1 we will choose, at random, 10 or so questions to have Sylvie answer. - Yes, you can send in more than one question . Based on how successful this ...

Although we here at the Aria Serious tower were pulling for The Orlando Magic during the NBA finals, we knew the odds were against us because the LA Lakers had an ace up their sleeve. No, we're not talking about Kobe. We're talking about Placido. Seems the tenor is a big Lakers fan through his support of fellow Spaniard and Laker forward Pau Gasol. Last night, during halftime, the following profile showing the friendship between Placido and Pau aired. We here considered it the highlight of a truly disappointing game. - Edward

Over the weekend: - Opera Australia begins an internal audit as ticket sales drop and endowment funds dwindle. - Seattle Opera names the winner of their "Confessions of a First-Time Opera Goer" who will blog about their first Ring-cycle. - How I missed the days of Audi being our season sponsor (and I really missed the days of driving the Audi's - at legal speeds - around to get serviced) but Mark Swed takes a look at automakers sponsorship of the Arts . - New York City Opera comes to agreement with their musician's union .

Friday is upon us, so it is time to ask what we always ask; what are you listening to this weekend? Here at the Aria Serious tower we're going to spend some time with Korngold's Die Tote Stadt , another notch on the list of operas I should know but have never actually gotten around to listening to. We'll also finish up reading the steampunky The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters (not sure what we think about this one yet, but it is seductive enough to keep us turning the pages for now) and perhaps some time with The Magnetic Fields/Stephen Merritt's 69 Love Songs . Sublime! Share your weekend plans in the comment section and whatever you do, make this weekend a great one! - Edward

San Diego Opera is proud to announce that we're now on Twitter. Follow us at _SanDiegoOpera or just click here . I know, I know; YouTube, Twitter and Facebook all in one week. I like to think of it as an all encompassing website called "YouTwitFace." We hope to see you there, or here, or over there. Tweet! - Edward

While the 2010 International Season is still a few months away, we thought it would be a fitting task this gray Friday afternoon to take a look at the “international” part of our season to see what the singers who will be joining us next year are currently up to. Yes, I am secretly hoping that someone is singing in Bora Bora and I’ll be sent to go do some research. Alas, this not the case… Anja Harteros , who will join us as Mimi in La boheme is currently in Munch between engagements. She just finished up Almaviva in The Marriage of Figaro and will sing Elsa von Brabant in Lohengri n and Alice Ford in Falstaff next month. Joining Anja as her Rodolfo, Piotr Beczala just wrapped up some performances of A Masked Ball in Berlin and heads over to the Vienna State Opera later this month to sing the title role of Faust . Zeljko Lucic who makes his house debut in the title of Nabucco next year is finishing up the title role of Rigoletto in Madrid before heading over to Munich n...

Although we're still shaking off the wild, wonderful, ride that was the 2009 season it is time now to look ahead to 2010. And so we thought we'd begin with the return of our occasional series called "10 Questions With..." Up first is tenor Piotr Beczala who makes his company debut with us as Rodolfo in La boheme . Mr. Beczala became the talk of the opera world when he sang in the Met's broadcast of Lucia di Lammermoor earlier this year and the phone hasn't stopped ringing. In between these calls Piotr was able to sit down and answer some questions we had for him. And so, without further ado, the first installment of San Diego Opera's 2010 "10 Questions With..." which if you are a better counter than me, will realize there are actually eleven... *** San Diego Opera (SDO): First, welcome to San Diego Opera. Of all the artists making a debut with us this season, you’re the one that everyone seems to be talking about; it seems everybody saw your Met...

Late to the game, but playing now nonetheless, San Diego Opera is pleased to announce we just created our Facebook fan page . Come join us and learn about special offers and contests, connect with other fans of San Diego Opera and join in the conversation. Simply log into your personal Facebook account, search for San Diego Opera and add us as a friend. We hope to see you there. YouTube and Facebook all in one week, wonders never cease to end. - Edward

San Francisco Opera offered its third simulcast to opera fans at AT&T Park on Friday to a record audience of 27,000. Closer to home, we're excited because Carlo Ventre (who was with us last month as Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly ) sings Mario and Lado Ataneli (who was with us in March for Rigoletto ) is Scarpia for these productions. You can read about the simulcast here . - Edward

The greatest of the work days, Friday, is upon us which means it is time to ask: what are you listening to this weekend? We here at the Aria Serious tower have been busy converting our vinyl collection to MP3 so will send some of the weekend delving into the Warp Records 10+3 Remix Boxset (nothing to do with opera, but man can't live on opera alone). We're also going to listen to a recording of Jens Lekman live @ The Loft that we recorded last week. ( Great venue by the way , for those in San Diego). Opera wise we're going to spend time with Dido and Aenas by Purcell . Is it shameful to admit we've heard this opera yet? What are your listening to this weekend? Share it in the comment section below and make it a good one! - Edward

San Diego Opera is pleased to announce that we've finally gotten around to putting our YouTube channel together . Yep, all our content including OperaTalk!, the Artist Roundtable and more can be found in one handy location now. So come on and join us as a subscriber so you can keep up to date on all our latest video offerings. You can click the linky text up above to access it. - Edward

Shoppers at Ikea in London this past week have been entertained by an in-store opera that takes advantage of ready-made Ikea sets to represent different areas of domestic life. Called " Flatpack ", the opera offers answers to questions such as "Why is my bookcase called Billy?" "What is domestic harmony?" and "What do our homes have to say about us?" The opera is performed by Mammoth Music Theater. You can read about it here and see a clip down below. A sequel called "How the $#@! Do You Expect Me to Follow Your $#@! Directions" is currently in the works. - Edward

Our dear friend Marian Staver passed away last month. The San Diego Union Tribune has written an obituary fitting of our beautiful friend . She will be missed by all us here. - Edward

We joked about it, thought about it, and then joked some more but it seems that "Green Aria: A ScentOpera" might have the last laugh. The New York Times ran a review of the premiere this morning and all reports indicate it didn't stink. (Ouch. We know. But you couldn't have resisted that one either.) You can read the review here . - Edward

The New York Times ran an article this morning on the final performance at Amato Opera on Sunday . While it could never compete with the Met or City Opera, Amato truly was a labor of love and the performances I saw at Amato simply exuded delight and love of singing and I remember them fondly. Amato Opera will be missed. - Edward

Over the weekend: - As New York's pocket sized Amato Opera closes after 60-years, a new opera Company made up of veterans of Amato Opera has announced the creation of Amore Opera . Extra brownie points if they actually sell homemade brownies during intermission as our beloved Amato did. - Did you remember to vote for San Diego Opera as "Best Live Theatre/Performing Arts Group" in Sign on San Diego's Best Of poll? You can vote once per day. - Sad news is even sadder when it hits your good friends and co-workers but even we are not immune to the economic forces that have shaken this world. -- Edward