ARIA SERIOUS?

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

L'Opéra de Rennes will be presenting a simulcast of their production of Don Giovanni in a few months. What makes this one special is that the opera will be presented in 3-D. The cost of this venture? 820,000 Euros. Seems a hefty price tag to create something in 3-D which already exists in 3-D at your local opera house. Yes, yes, we know that 3-D is the future of movies and when done right it makes for an entirely immersive experience (see Coraline for an example on how to do it right) but for my money nothing provides better immersion than, you know, actually watching a live opera in the flesh. Call me a Luddite . Personally, I'm holding out for Opera: Smell-O-Vision. Just think of what we could do with Peter Grimes , the smell of the ocean, a dead fish under every seat in the theatre. And you know something, it's not as far fetched as you think . You can read the entire 3-D broadcast article here (in French). - Edward

Ferruccio Furlanetto and Ian Campbell spent a rainy Monday morning on KPBS radio talking about Don Quixote . Some of you might have heard it live. Some of you might have missed it. If you missed it, KPBS radio has just made a podcast available so you can listen to it at your leisure. You can click here to listen to the MP3 . It runs about 30 minutes. You'll want to turn your bass down, Ferruccio is just that commanding. So commanding in fact that throughout the interview all the women at KPBS ran down into the studio to peer at Ferruccio through the glass window. Next time, we'll bring a bottle of Windex. For those of you in the San Diego area, a special one-hour version of OperaSpotlight: Don Quixote airs tonight featuring wonderful interviews with Ferruccio, Ian, Denyce, Eduardo and the designers that brought this one to life. For a complete listing of dates and times for OperaSpotlight: Don Quixote , click here . For those of you outside of San Diego -- sorry, we won't ...

A few San Diego Opera events taking over the airwaves: - On Sunday, February 8, 2009 at 7 PM (PST) our production of Tosca will air on KPBS radio at 89.5 FM, 89.1 FM (La Jolla ), and 97.7 FM (Imperial Valley). For those of you elsewhere you can stream this feed over the internet by clicking here and following the instructions onscreen. - On Monday, February 9, 2009 at 10 AM (PST) Ferruccio "Ace of Bass" Furlanetto , Denyce Graves, and stage director Ian Campbell will be on KPBS to talk Don Quixote and opera in general. Ian and the entire cast have really brought their A-game to this production so I'm interested to hear what they have to say. See the above item for how you can listen. - Not San Diego Opera related (yet), but exciting nonetheless, is the news that Polish tenor Piotr Beczala will replace Rolando Villazon as Edgardo in The Met: Live in HD broadcast of Lucia di Lammermoor on Saturday. Piotr makes his Company debut with us next January as Rodolfo ...

Aria Serious readers in San Diego should be happy to know that Cox Communications has reinstated its opera radio channel after an extensive telephone campaign by concerned listeners. You can find the station at channel 900. The station officially kicks off in mid-December but it is up and running now. Click here for the official music choice opera page . -- Edward

More details have emerged about the Dharma Initiative's... err... I mean the Metropolitan's Opera grab for global domination with the new Met Player service they plan to unleash next week. The New York Times has all the details that you can read here . I'm still not sold (and by now you're probably sick of me talking about how opera belongs live in the theatre and not on the movie or computer screen), although I'm curious to see what they can dig up from their audio archives. Now if there is a way to get this stuff off of my computer and into my headphones while I rest in the hammock on Sunday, then perhaps they'll even make a subscriber out of me. Regardless, this fusion of opera and technology is exciting stuff . - Edward

Another reason opera is better live than in the movies: Those attending the Met HD Broadcast of Salome this weekend in the hopes of seeing Finnish soprano Karita Mattila nude in what she calls a "slutty, two-second scene" will be sorely disappointed. During the Dance of the Seven Veils while audiences in the theatre will see the much talked about full-frontal nudity, those watching the movies will see the camera go elsewhere. According to Peter Gelb, via Culture Monster , he "decided early on the Salome broadcast would not feature nudity." Tease. But never fear, we here at Aria Serious circumvented firewalls and risked downloading spyware while scouring the internet to find you a clip of a nekkid Karita Mattila. OK, fine, we just Googled her via YouTube... This is from a Paris Opera production in 2003. Those of you who are just here for cheap thrills can skip to the last 30 seconds but be warned -- you'll be missing out on one helluva performance. Enjoy! - Edw...

This is frakkin brilliant. Opernhaus Zurich mounted a production of La Traviata last night and turned Zurich's Hauptbahnhof into a living breathing set for the Verdi classic. Using the main hall, coffee shop and train platforms the performers moved through the station and mixed with commuters, workers and observers while performing the opera which was televised live and watched by 1/3 of all the households in Switzerland. Talk about bringing opera to the people! Looks like what we have here is an opera broadcast arms race and Zurich Opera just dropped the bomb. A bunch of behind the scenes videos can be found on the official SF1 television site . Excerpts above and below. Enjoy! - Edward

The Metropolitan Opera continues its drive for world domination with the announcement of Met Player , an online subscription service that will feature their extensive audio and visual catalog as well as their recent HD productions which will be viewable on your very own computer (or TV). Innovative idea with some incredibly important and historic performances on file. I might have to fight my own aversion to watching opera in front of my computer or TV. What's next from the Met? Interactive cameras on the back of seats so audience members can direct their own movie broadcasts as personal keepsakes? Fantasy opera where users can select singers from the Met's own audio library and create a recording with the casts of their own choosing? Life extension research? Time travel? They're like the Dharma Initiative of opera. Exciting stuff. Take a look at the sample player here . Namaste. - Edward

Fans of opera will soon be able to watch complete performances of opera from Covent Garden while basking in the warm loving glow of their computer monitor. As part of a complete website redesign , the Royal Opera House will make Don Giovanni available as a free download. I've always admired the Royal Opera House -- they do some excellent productions but where I'm really impressed is how they use technology to reach audience members. One of the first Opera Companies to offer podcasts and establish their presence on YouTube, their usage of technology is a pefect example of how a Company can use these tools to enhance the audience experience. But I'm not sold on watching opera on my computer. I spend 10+ hours a day in front of a computer. This is why I go to see live theatre. A computer is the last place I want to spend my downtime. Still, Royal Opera House spokesperson Tony Hall commented "we're very excited by the potential this offers in terms of attracting newc...