ARIA SERIOUS?

On this week's podcast, a look (listen?) at the cast of our upcoming Der Rosenkavalier with this short "recital" of recorded music. Hear pieces by soprano Anja Harteros, mezzo-soprano Anke Vondung, soprano Patrizia Ciofi and bass-baritone Andrew Greenan with excerpts from Mozart, Bach and Wagner featuring these international opera stars. You can download the podcast here .

Over the weekend: - A look at the heavenly sounds of Stradivarius violins . - How opera singers are, and aren't, learning to act . - Racist taxi driver won't spoil soprano's Vienna State Opera debut. - About that Renee Fleming Law and Order: SVU appearance that never happened this weekend . And you know, we here at the Aria Serious tower have had drinks with opera singers on a number of occasions and this is the first we've heard of this... Thankfully.

The weekend is nearly here - and another wet one at that - which means a perfect time to gather around the space heater and listen to some opera. We'll start the weekend with Strauss's Die Frau ohne Schatten - we liked Der Rosenkavalier so much we're going on a Strauss binge. After that we'll probably put the iPod on shuffle and see what comes - we still have the Tree Ring LP to listen to as well as the new Iron and Wine we've yet to get through. We'll be leaving the Aria Serious Tower early to head up to the Aria Serious cabin in the mountain. We're looking forward to playing in the snow and getting in a few games of Settlers of Catan in around the fire. Share your listening plans below and please, make it a good one.

March is cruelest month. One might even call it an opera wasteland. It's very unusual for us to be dark for nearly two-whole months in the middle of our season. The reason why is Moby -Dick . And the economy. When the economy started circling the drain we made the decision the move Moby -Dick from 2011 to 2012. Selling new opera is hard. Selling new opera in a recession is even harder. But San Diego Opera still has plenty to offer even though we do not open our next opera, Der Rosenkavalier , until Sunday, April 3, 2011. Our free Community Conversation series is in full swing with some exciting topics coming up in the next few weeks. Faust's Pact With the Devil - An Interfaith Dialogue on the Concept of Evil is this Sunday, February 27 th at The St. James by-the-Sea Episcopal Church. This will be a roundtable discussion about evil with members from San Diego's Christian, Jewish, Islamic, Hindu and Buddhist communities. It's currently sold-out but you might try your l...

A fascinating article in this morning's New York Times about the International Music Score Library Project - an open source repository of musical scores that are available free to the public. This has struck a sour note with music publishers and composers who believe that free scores on the internet erodes their livelihood . Not to mention, they add, it violates copyright laws. You can read the full article here . We then suggest heading over to San Diego Opera's Facebook page where we have some interesting comments from musicians, composers and administrators. Why not join in?

Sure we took a little break but it was well deserved. Podcast Monday is back this week with a look at the Marschallin's monologue from Der Rosenkavalier . Let's explore what makes this monologue so reflective of the experience of being human, aging against our will, and having to watch it happen day by day in our bathroom mirrors. You can download the podcast here . Enjoy!

Over the weekend: - Anna Nicole had its world premiere the other night at the Royal Opera House. The reviews have been fairly good. You can read the New York Times here and the Los Angeles Times here. - UCSD-TV won a Telly-award for their program OperaSpotlight: Romeo and Juliet. Congratulations to UCSD-TV. The Aria Serious crew is honored to be part of the program. If you haven't seen it yet, you can watch the program online here (embed function is not working for some reason).

Friday - the gateway to the weekend - and a wet one according to the forecast which means a perfect weekend to sit at home and listen to some opera. The Aria Serious crew will allow work to dictate our listening plans this weekend as we'll be listening to Der Rosenkavalier this fine Saturday. We'll follow it up with the new Radiohead LP that came out today and the new one by Telekinesis . Share your plans down below and please, make it a good one.

Over the weekend: - The Los Angeles Times asks how can one keep opera fresh and exciting without angering the core audiences? Our very own Ian Campbell has some ideas... - Dedication. There's a singer in our chorus who drives to and from Yuma, Arizona to rehearse and sing in our operas . That's 173 miles. Each way. And here we get angry when it takes more than five minutes to reach the top of the Aria Serious tower.

Friday! The bacon of the work week and the time we ask: what are you listening to this weekend? We're taking an opera break this weekend to catch up on the tunes we bought during our last Amoeba run - we'll listen to a little Iron & Wine , maybe even get to hear what all the buzz over Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti is about as well as relive our darker days with Red Lorry Yellow Lorry's LP Talk About the Weather . If you're looking for good music to listen to live this weekend, then you can't beat the Tree Ring Record release party this Saturday . Nope. It's not opera, but what it is is enchanting low- fi pop music steeped with nostalgic touches of Americana. Plus, the price of your ticket also gets you a record. Sadly, we won't be there ourselves, the Aria Serious crew has a few birthday parties to attend to. Share your listening plans in the comment section below and please, make it a good one.

Late last week our Advisory Directors were invited into the theatre to learn about the process involved to present grand opera. One of our Advisory Director decided to share his report with us on his blog, Opera Buff. It's an excellent report, and we love the blog. Although we feel the name of his blog is somewhat misleading, at least to our puerile minds. You can read the report here .

Happy Monday. It's a sad day here. Turandot has closed and we're moving out of the theatre for a few weeks (our next one, Der Rosenkavalier , doesn't open until April 3, 2011). Combined with a busy opera weekend we don't have much to report. There was a big game on TV we've been told. Did you miss anything? Probably not, but in case you missed these, here are the two commercials with opera in them that aired during the big game. The first one features Ozzy Osbourne, Justin Bieber and Rossini's The Barber of Seville . Who ever thought we would write a sentence that included Ozzy, the Biebs and The Barber of Seville ... Next up is the Doritio's ad with a Pug and "Dies Irae" from Verdi's requiem. Pugs and opera - it works on so many levels.

Friday. And we're celebrating the end of the week with a performance of Turandot tonight. Sunday we're not. Only because it's sold-out and we don't have a ticket. It's a good feeling to be able to say that, but kind of sad knowing that tonight will be our last chance to see this one. It's a great cast and an incredible production but it's also filled with very dear friends. After that we'll take a musical breather and get ready for Der Rosenkavalier . What are you listening to this weekend? Share it in the comment section below and please, make it a good one.

For those of you who missed it, OperaSpotlight Turandot is now online for your viewing pleasure. Hear from the cast, watch rehearsal footage and see what it takes to bring Puccini's masterpiece to life.