ARIA SERIOUS?

Although February is some time away we're already excited about Sylvie Valayre's Abigaille in Nabucco . To hold us over, user 75 zazou over on YouTube has just posted videos from a charity concert Sylvie gave last month in Washington DC for Peace Child Israel. You can find the concert here and we've pasted " Sola , perduta , abbandonata " from Manon Lescaut below.

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 ...

Soprano Sylvie Valayre was our inaugural blog post . Now, with her arrival to San Diego just a few weeks away, we're still excited that she's making her debut with us as Tosca. Even more exciting is the fact that we get to meet in person instead of chatting through emails. We sent local writer Pam Kragen out to chat with Sylvie one last time before she arrives in San Diego and this is what she has to report. *** If you want a phrase to describe Sylvie Valayre , the lirico spinto soprano who makes her San Diego Opera debut next January as Tosca, it’s “drama queen.” But that’s not because the Paris-born singer is a diva. By all accounts, Valayre is described as warm, shy, funny, candid, self-effacing and exceptionally studious. But Valayre is also one of Europe’s reigning interpreters of the dramatic repertoire, spending six to 11 months of each year playing opera’s most passionate heroines — Lady Macbeth, Salome, Turandot , Aida and Tosca — at prestigious houses such as ...

It's always nice when I get an email in my morning in-box from an artist. Even better when they send me music. Sylvie Valayre did just that this morning. My morning present is now yours. Here's Sylvie singing Violetta from La traviata. Enjoy! - Edward

Being the first post of San Diego Opera's first blog, I thought this should be a post of firsts. To do this, I could think of no better way than to dive into our first opera of next season, Tosca and a chat with Sylvie Valayre who will be making her first appearance with us in January (but not her last -- we'll be welcoming her back in 2010 for Nabucco ). It is always exciting welcoming a new singer to our Company, especially one that we will be developing a relationship with over the years. Nerve wracking too; I have a tendency to ask a lot from our singers when they get here -- artist interviews, television programs, photographs, etc... all crammed around their busy rehearsal schedule -- I sometimes wonder when they find the time to sing. I was able to catch up with Sylvie via email a few weeks back and had the chance to ask her some questions. It is always nice when I can learn a little bit about a singer before they get here -- I can keep my distance if they seem difficul...