There are 30 to 40 recordings of Rossini's great opera, The Barber of Seville (Il barbiere di Siviglia). How does one choose? Let Dr. Nicolas Reveles, the Geisel Director of Education and Outreach for San Diego Opera give you a few suggestions. Along the way you'll hear some of the more significant excerpts from this delightful comic opera!

Dr. Nicolas Reveles, Geisel Director of Education and Outreach, chooses three recordings of Donizetti's comic masterpiece Don Pasquale to help you get to know the opera (with a little help from Beverly Sills, Alfredo Kraus, Gabriel Bacquier and Fernando Corena!)

One of the most exciting things to happen on the cultural landscape of San Diego next season is the West Coast premiere of Jake Heggie and Gene Scheer's opera Moby-Dick. In this podcast hosted by Nicolas Reveles we'll experience some of the earlier music of composer Heggie, including a couple of art songs and excerpts from Dead Man Walking, his first opera, commissioned by San Francisco Opera. You'll easily hear that this composer's music is readily accessible and melodic, with a dramatic & theatrical sense that attracts audiences of all ages!

Great Recordings of Salome: From Birgit Nilsson to Inge Nielson, from Georg Solti to Giuseppe Sinopoli, there have been terrific recordings of Richard Strauss's thrilling opera based on the play by Oscar Wilde. Let's explore a few of them; maybe there's one that will capture your interest during this survey that you'll want to download to your MP3 player or order from your favorite online store.