Doing so many lectures around San Diego County on our season, I'm being asked what my favorite moments are in the various operas I'm talking about.  Here's a post-Thanksgiving offering, then.  My own favorite arias and ensembles from our upcoming season, just to whet your appetite for what's just around the corner!  Enjoy!

Nabucco might have been Verdi's first success, but it was his third opera.  What were the first two like?  And how about the two that followed that success in 1842?  Let's explore the operas of Verdi, the early years.

San Diego Opera is producing the evergreen standard "La boheme" by Puccini, an opera that all opera lovers know and love.  But what about one of his lesser known works?  Not terribly long ago, I discovered "La Rondine" and realize what a get this opera is.  Let me introduce it to you so that you can come to love it as much as I do!

Maybe you haven't noticed, but recitative is treated differently in different  eras of opera history.  Earlier operas utilized harpsichord and other keyboard instruments to accompany recitative, later operas used the full orchestra.  But are operatic characters treated differently, even within the same opera?  Let's explore!

OK, I'm a sucker for gorgeous melodies, the perfumed atmosphere of lush orchestrations and over-the-top dramatic singing.  No, not Puccini...but Massenet!  He's one of my all time favorite opera composers, call it a guilty pleasure.  Let me introduce you to some music that you may not know from Massenet's output.

Impress your opera-loving friends with your newly found knowledge of one of the most exciting musical events in most standard repertory Italian operas and that even occasionally shows up in the French and German repertoire!  The Concertato…here it is.  Everything you wanted to know but were afraid to ask.  Free of charge.

You may well wonder: was there such a thing as a German opera composer before Wagner?  His works so outshone every other German composer within his lifetime that we tend to forget about people like Weber, Spohr, Nicolai, Lortzing and Marschner.  Who??

Let's get familiar with the music from Gounod's Romeo and Juliet by exploring some of the great artists who essayed these roles in the past.  Does the name Eide Norena ring a bell?  Or Georges Thill?  both of them will become favorites of yours after you hear this!

Now here's a sample of wonderful music from operas that I'm sure you've either never seen or never WILL see!  You'll hear music by such diverse composers as Cilea, Catalani, Auber, Thomas and...Rossini.  Enjoy this excursion into the unknown.

Let's take a few minutes to listen to excerpts from our 2010 Season which feature the secondary principal singers, roles like Marcello, Ismaele, Mercutio and Germont.  You can have the greatest Rodolfo and Mimi in the world, but you'd better have a Marcello who can match them!

We're all looking forward to the debut of Piotr Beczala with San Diego Opera in the role of Rodolfo in La Boheme.  Let's review some of the great Rodolfos of the past, from Caruso to Wunderlich.

No, not your Aunt Abigail, or Abigail Adams, but Abigaille...ah-bee-gah-EE-leh...the power hungry, curtain chewing villainess in Verdi's Nabucco, one of our 2010 productions.  She's ruined many a voice, beginning with the very first lady who attempted the role.  Let's get to know her a bit and find out what it is that makes her so, well, difficult!

We've thrown this term around a lot in our podcast series.  It's time to define it and listen to some worthy examples from the operas of Richard Wagner.  It is summer, after all, with Ring festivals going on throughout the world!

If you think about it, there are a number of operas with gambling, gaming or card-playing scenes in them (and not just Tchaikovsky's Queen of Spades!)  Have you ever noticed that those scenes have a remarkable similarity?  Let's start with La traviata and have some summer fun with gambling music!

Here's a singer who was the muse of Maria Callas, among many other great sopranos, who opened the San Francisco Opera's War Memorial Opera House and who was considered one of the great singers of her day.  Ever heard of her?  Probably not; so here she is.  Meet Clauda Muzio!

Love duets are a part of just about every opera in the standard repertory, so much so that we don’t think about them much.  We just luxuriate in their beautiful melodies.  But there’s always a reason for those ebbs and flows of passion.  Let’s explore some of the love duets in the early periods of opera history and see what makes them tick!

The most fascinating aspect of Verdi’s La traviata is that the story is based on true events in the life of a real, 19^th century French socialite, who had many aristocratic, well-connected and famous lovers, went through numerous fortunes and died of tuberculosis at the tender age of 23.  Who was this remarkable woman?  Listen to this week’s podcast to find out!

One of the more unusual aspects of Charles Gounod’s Romeo and Juliet is the fact that the tenor and soprano who sing the two title roles have four (count ‘em, FOUR) love duets!  Let’s take a look at these duets and see what the challenges are in them for the singers as well as for the audience.

Nabucco was Verdi’s third opera and his first true success.  But what was the measure of success in opera in 1840s Italy?  What were other composers doing at the time?  Who inspired Verdi?  Let’s explore this opera by placing it in the context of music and drama of that time.

We've covered Puccini's masterpiece La boheme in our 2010 Season Podcast; but let's take a closer look.  The composer's sense of drama and his complete mastery of the use of melody make this an unforgettable work.  Here's our Director of Education, Dr. Nicolas Reveles, to give you an insight into what makes this opera tick!

Dr. Nicolas Reveles surveys the great moments upcoming in San Diego Opera's 2010 Season from La Boheme, Nabucco, Romeo & Juliet and La Traviata.  Enjoy!

San Diego Opera is proud to announce its 2010 International Season: Puccini's La Boheme, Verdi's Nabucco, Gounod's Romeo and Juliet and Verdi's La Traviata.  Hear Dr. Nicolas Reveles discuss the season with exciting musical excerpts in this special, extended podcast!

Madama Butterfly opens this week, Saturday, May 9!  Nick Reveles previews the opera for you by playing all the great moments from the opera: Pinkerton's first aria, Butterfly's entrance, the great love duet from Act I and Butterfly's touching aria, "Un bel di vedremo".  Enjoy it as we get ready to open this fantastic production!

Puccini went to great lengths to get just the right exotic color for the score of his opera Madama Butterfly.  Take a listen to seven authentic Japanese folk tunes that he inserted in to the fabric of the score!

Are you ready?  Benjamin Britten's opera Peter Grimes opens this Saturday, April 18 at San Diego Opera.  Listen to this repeat of Nicolas Reveles' original podcast on the opera first uploaded last June.  It will get you in the perfect mood to enjoy and appreciate this magnificent opera.

And now for something completely different.  Here is a dramatic reading of the poem upon which Britten's opera, Peter Grimes, is based.  It is a section of the work "The Borough" by George Crabbe, an early nineteenth century poet from Suffolk on the east coast of England.  Note the difference between the Grimes of the poem, who is an outright villain, and the Grimes of the opera, an ambiguous character of whose guilt the audience is never really sure.  Enjoy this reading by Nick Reveles, Director of Education, underscored by music from the opera.

And now for your semi-annual Italian lesson: the word is 'tinta', and it means 'color'.  Now that you know what it means to us, let's discover what it meant to composer Giuseppe Verdi, especially with regards to our next production, Rigoletto, opening this week!

Here's a repeat of the popular June 23, 2008 podcast on Rigoletto, which opens next week on March 28.  Listen as Nick Reveles explores the reasons why this opera is a highlight in the operatic output of composer Giuseppe Verdi, and why we should flock to see it!

Verdi's Rigoletto didn't just spring from nothingness: there were a number of baritone roles in his earlier operas that foreshadowed this brilliant creation.  Here are examples of two of them from Ernani and Macbeth.  Enjoy!

As we look forward to San Diego Opera's production of Verdi's Rigoletto opening in March, let's take a quick tour of the operas that put Verdi on the operatic map!

Those of you with tickets to San Diego Opera's production of Massenet's Don Quixote are in for a real treat: it is a wonderful character study.  Let's dig in to the famous windmill scene and what makes it work musically, textually and dramatically. 

San Diego Opera is currently in rehearsal for Massenet's Don Quixote (Don Quichotte), and we're quickly realizing what a brilliant piece of music theatre it truly is.  Take a listen to this podcast and discover some of this opera's secrets!

Education Director Nick Reveles does a quick survey of great tenors from the past who have interpreted the role of Mario Cavaradossi in Tosca.  There's some great singing here!

For you newcomers out there, here's a list of ten ways to help you enjoy Puccini's masterpiece even more when you come to the Civic Theatre for a performance.  Developed from years of opera-going and a desire to know just a little more about an opera before I go.  I hope it helps!

Let's continue last week's discussion about musical 'characterization' and see how Britten and Puccini deal with defining characters through music.

Musical characterization is something that an opera composer does to distinguish operatic characters from each other, musical signals that tell us about their personalities.  Let's take a look at our first three season productions and try to find out how these composers tell the stories of the characters in their operas. 

Let’s explore further a topic that we discussed a few months back, inspired by a recent article in the New York Times by the eminent music critic Anthony Tommasini on the nature of bel canto.  Does this elusive Italian term describe a style of musical composition, especially in terms of melodic direction, or a composer’s sensitivity to words?  Or both?  You be the judge!

We all know that opera and dance have been intertwined since the beginning, and in France they were co-equal arts living in the same space.  But have you ever given thought to all of those moments in opera where dance actually moves the drama along, not a tacked on, pretty addition to the opera but an important part of the narrative?  Let's talk about it!

Here's what I hope will be an annual tradition...the San Diego Opera Christmas Podcast!  Since we're quickly moving into the holidays, I'd like to make some suggestions about recordings and DVDs that will help your opera-loving family members and friends get the most out of our 2009 season.  Enjoy!

In a series of occasional surveys of specialized voice types here are a few words (and a few sound clips) of every opera lover's stratospheric dream...the coloratura soprano.  When the composer says 'jump', she asks 'how high?'

Furlanetto, Vargicova, Racette, Haddock...they're all here.  Give them a listen in order get a preview of the wonderful international stars we'll have singing in our 2009 Season!

Whatever happened to recitative?  Did it die with Donizetti or did composers somehow carry on the style?  And more importantly, does recitative still have a place in so called modern opera?

People have asked, so here are my Top Ten, the desert island operas and the recordings I can't live without.

Let's continue our discussion of the opera overture by looking at Mozart, Rossini and the composers of our 2009 Season operas.  More on the evolution of the overture...

Let's take a little time out to focus on the role of the orchestra in opera, beginning at the beginning: the overture.  What is the role of the overture?  Since it's the first music you hear, it's pretty important, right?  Well, maybe.  Here's a brief history.

The Verdi duets are his crowning achievement musically, as far as I'm concerned.  Let's discover why, and get a better understanding of what makes them work so well.

Are you dreading it?  Are you looking forward to it?  You're just putting up with it because your wife wants to go?  Which opera is good to bring the kids to?  Give me 15 minutes, I'll show you how to have a good time at the opera, from dinner before to drinks after!

Britten, the composer of "Peter Grimes" which San Diego Opera will be producing in 2009,  was a crucial link to composers today who work in the English language.  Let's explore his contribution to the art.

Besides defining just what a cadenza is, let's go a bit further and ask ourselves if there are dramatic or even emotional reasons for cadenzas, or are they just an opportunity for a singer to milk applause from the audience?

In my humble opinion, Massenet and Puccini are speaking essentially the same language and share a similar turn-of-the-century aesthetic.  Listen in and see if you agree!

Yes it's a formidable name, but it's one of the most easily recognizable techniques that composers use to pull their operas together.  Spend a few moments and let me give you some great examples from our 2009 season!

A little summer diversion: there are so many good recordings of Tosca out there, but which ones are best?  I'm not sure, but here are some of my favorites, recordings that you'll be able to find on Amazon.com.

Recitative.  It's a word you hear thrown around a lot in operatic circles, but do you know what it really means?  Not to worry...here's everything you need to know about recitative and then some.  You'll be thanking me when you can use it intelligently during the next intermission at the opera.  Your friends will be impressed.  Seriously.

Do we need to see Madama Butterfly again?  The answer is a resounding YES!  In the truly great operas, you always find, see and hear something new every time you experience them.  Let Nick Reveles make a few suggestions about why Butterfly is a joy to look forward to this season.

Premiered in 1945, Benjamin Britten's Opera Peter Grimes marked a fresh start for opera in English.  It's a gripping, intense drama set in a small fishing village off the east coast of England.  Find out what makes this opera tick, and why no one should fear twentieth (or twenty-first!) century opera.

Rigoletto, San Diego Opera's third opera in the 2009 International Season, is a rather revolutionary piece of musical theatre.  Audiences just weren't ready for the anti-hero hunchback jester who pimped for his boss.  Are you ready??

San Diego Opera's 2009 Season looks to be the most exciting we've ever had!  Listen now to this podcast, hosted by Dr. Nicolas Reveles, and hear descriptions of and audio excerpts from Tosca, Don Quixote, Rigoletto, Peter Grimes and Madama Butterfly.  There's something for everyone in 2009, especially anyone who loves beautiful music!

Jules Massenet is best known for operas like Manon and Werther.  This opera isn't known quite so well, but it is a stunner!  Learn more about it and hear some of the gorgeous music that it contains in this podcast about our third opera of the 2009 International Season.

Puccini's Tosca, once called a "shabby little shocker", is back to open the 2009 Season.  Here's another look at one of the most melodramatic opera scores of the twentieth century (it premiered in 1900) and certainly one of the most gorgeous!

The same guy who wrote Carmen penned this little gem.  It's our French offering this season.  Remember: pearls and basic black will never go out of style, especially at the opera.

What's up with operas like Aida, The Pearl Fishers, Madama Butterfly and Turandot?  Nineteenth century opera seemed to corner the market on exotic locales. 

OK, OK, I was just trying to get your attention.  Nothing salacious here, just a brief overview of the guys at the bottom.  No, really!

Another Italian take on an exotic time and place.  Why is this everyone's favorite opera?

The old man knew what he was doing: he wanted opera to be real theatre.  And if a Verdi opera doesn't come off that way, then something's wrong.

The baritone is the man's man of opera.  If George Clooney were an opera singer, he'd probably be one.  But he's not.  So we won't go there.

Truthiness at the opera!  I never thought I'd reference Stephen Colbert in this series.  But here we go.  Verismo, naturalism and the Italian penchant for a slice of life.

Because.  A brief history of Italy and its relationship to one of her most glorious exports.  Besides limoncello.  Say Euridice three times fast.

Mamas, witches and gypsies.  And real women with an independent streak.  If The Sopranos were an opera, Livia would be one.  A mezzo, that is.

A brief history of something you didn't know existed until you started coming to San Diego Opera.  Why don't we just call it a song and be done with it?

The sopranos all die and the tenors have all the sex.  Wassup wid dat?

"What's a nice Italian composer like you doing in a place like this?  Gaetano Donizetti, composer of Maria Stuarda (Mary, Queen of Scots) gives us a very Italian take  on British Royal history.  Can you say, "Liz is a vile bastard" in Italian?  You'll learn how here.  Tell your friends.

Maybe it oughta be.  But short answer: no.  Tune in the long answer.  It's got something to do with beautiful singing and we've got it!

...or Carmela or Meadow or Johnny Sack.  But if you want to get to know the other sopranos, tune in.  Coloraturas, dramatics, lyrics...they're all gorgeous and they're all here.

I know you're really NOT ready, but here it is: the composer you swore you'd never understand or listen to.  Or sit through.  (Aren't these operas like, 15 hours long?)  and what's everybody screaming about?

Something kind of cool happens when words and music meet.  You know, your song??  It reminds you of when you met that special person...where you were, what you did, maybe even what time it was.  Multiply that by one hundred and you have opera!

Discover Georges Bizet's (composer of CARMEN) other opera THE PEARL FISHERS in this podcast introduction by Nicolas Reveles, Director of Education and Outreach for San Diego Opera.  Coming from an era of great French operas, hear how Bizet's genius turns elegant and lyrical in this exotic stage piece set in old Ceylon.  If you don't know the tunes from this opera, then you're in for a treat! (First posted June 25, 2007)

Giuseppe Verdi's great masterwork AIDA is the subject of this podcast introduction by Nicolas Reveles, the Geisel Director of Education and Outreach for San Diego Opera.  The discussion centers on the passionate music of Verdi, the choices he made in re-creating the world of ancient Egypt onstage, and why this opera is still so popular today.  (First posted June 25, 2007)

Nicolas Reveles, the Geisel Director of Education and Outreach for San Diego Opera, discusses this classic pairing of two verismo operas by Pietro Mascagni (CAVALLERIA RUSTICANA) and Ruggiero Leoncavallo (PAGLIACCI).  Verismo is 'realism' in Italian: and these two short operas are filled with passion, violence, and death with overwhelmingly beautiful music to match the tragic stories.  (First posted January 25, 2007)

In this introduction to Gaetano Donizetti's MARIA STUARDA (Mary, Queen of Scots) host Nicolas Reveles, Director of Education and Outreach for San Diego Opera, discover why this early 19th century masterpiece is the very definition of 'bel canto' opera.  Hear highlights of Donizetti's lyrical music and explore the real history behind the story: the relationship between the royal cousins, Mary Stuart and Elizabeth I.  (First posted June 25, 2007)

In this introduction to Richard Wagner's TANNHAUSER, learn about the challenges involved in producing this monumental work, hear highlights from the score and explore the themes that the composer was trying to communicate in this 19th century 'morality play'.  San Diego Opera Education Director Dr. Nicolas Reveles hosts.  (First posted June 27, 2007)

NEW! Everything that you need to know about opera as art in 15 lean minutes!  You'll also come to know that opera is everywhere, I mean EVERYWHERE.  So get over yourself.  You know you love it...