If you're new to Turandot, or just want to brush up your knowledge of the music in this beautiful score, here's just the thing for you. In today's podcast Dr. Nic briefly outlines the story and touches on some of the more important musical moments, the 'stand-out' places that we enjoy every time we encounter this special opera. Enjoy! 

It's taken awhile for the entrancing, intimate and alternative opera Maria de Buenos Aires to make it to San Diego Opera, but it's finally here and we're all very excited! This opera is infused with the spirit and melodic adventure of the tango, the cultural habitat of Argentinian composer Astor Piazzolla. In this informative podcast, Dr. Nic gives you a bit of the story of this interesting artist with some suggestions about recordings that you might want to get in order to prepare for this wonderful work. Enjoy!

Kyle Lang has worked with the company for a few seasons now in the position of assistant director and, for The Pirates of Penzance, associate director. In this conversation with Dr. Nic he discusses his approach to the opera As One, especially the difference between preparing a standard repertoire item like Tosca or La boheme, and a relatively new opera. Enjoy!

Everyone knows that Puccini was an incredible melodist, i.e. a crafter of some of the most gorgeous melodies ever written for opera. Using "Nessun dorma", the big tune from Act III of Turandot, Dr. Nic reveals a little bit about the mystery involved in how a composer creates something so beautiful. Enjoy!

Along with co-cast member Kelly Markgraf, Blythe Gaissert was there at the origin of the opera As One and has some wonderful reflections about having worked on the score and played the role of Hannah After a number of times. As an avid performer of new music she has a lot to say about the evolution of new opera today, something that we're all very excited about!

Baritone Kelly Markgraf plays the role, "Hannah Before" in the opera As One, a story of a person's transition from male to female. The opera presents Hannah as one character, but she is portrayed by two singers...a baritone and a mezzo-soprano. In this conversation with Dr. Nic he describes the opera, the role and some of the challenges that he meets in this piece as a singing actor. 

Stage director and choreographer Seán Curran has been here before...San Diego, that is! He had done the principal choreography for Opera St. Louis' Nixon in China and was the director of Salome with Lise Lindstrom a few seasons back. He is the originating director of the current production of The Pirates of Penzance and he has a delightful story to tell about its artistic evolution...from a popular children's book! Enjoy. 

What fun to welcome back bass-baritone Greer Grimsley as the Pirate King, and mezzo-soprano Luretta Bybee as Ruth in The Pirates of Penzance. (As Luretta points out at the end of this conversation with Dr. Nic, she made her professional debut with San Diego Opera as Mrs. Sedley in Peter Grimes 1984.) We catch up with this delightful husband-wife team in this wide ranging interview about life, love and opera. Enjoy!

Soprano Maureen McKay is back in San Diego after her wonderful portrayal of Nanetta in Verdi's Falstaff earlier this year. Singing the role of Mabel in The Pirates of Penzance brings her closer to her musical theatre roots. Listen in and enjoy!

If you want to have 12 minutes of fun, listen in to this conversation between baritone Patrick Carfizzi and Dr. Nic as they discuss Gilbert and Sullivan's "The Pirates of Penzance"! This is comic opera at it's finest and at its most fun. Enjoy!

Daniel Catan's opera, opening March 17th, 2018, is a tale inspired as much by magical realism as by the mysterious and winding path of the Amazon River. In this brief podcast, Dr. Nic introduces the characters and tells us about the opera's main theme: love. Florencia's love of her absent lover, Cristobal, is passionate yet unfulfilled, and it is expressed through music of unusual beauty. Enjoy!

Daniel Catan's opera Florencia en el Amazonas will a highlight of our season, opening in March, 2018. In this brief podcast, Dr. Nic defines the role of magical realism in the opera, giving us an introduction as a well as a context for its unusual style and story. 

When Puccini heard the big, beautiful voice of soprano Rosa Raisa he realized that he'd heard the perfect voice for the title role in Turandot. Unfortunately he died before the premiere of the opera, and although Raisa sang the premiere at La Scala, she was soon to be overshadowed by the young British soprano, Eva Turner. Luckily we have recordings of Turner singing excerpts from the role. Hear them in this brief survey of the beginnings of this opera's history. Enjoy!

The opera As One, coming up at San Diego Opera in November this year, is one of a number of LGBT-themed operas to have premiered since 2000. In this brief discussion, Dr. Nic surveys a few of them and talks about the impact these works have made on the opera industry. An opera version of Brokeback Mountain? Yup! Watch, learn and enjoy!

The musicians at the New York premiere of The Pirates of Penzance threatened to strike because the score was too difficult, too "operatic"! Silly, of course, but perhaps they had a point. There are many allusions and parodies of current opera styles in Sullivan's score. In this podcast, Dr. Nic gives us an idea of just how the composer went about it, and why. Enjoy!

On November 10th, San Diego Opera will open As One, an opera by composer Laura Kaminsky and librettists Mark Campbell and Kimberly Reed. It's an extraordinary work that will launch this season's Detour Series. In this podcast Dr. Nic talks about the power of opera in an intimate space, giving special attention to this wonderful opera that tackles a difficult and, as of this writing, especially relevant subject: growing up, understanding and living happily as a transgender person in America.

Gilbert & Sullivan's The Pirates of Penzance had a complicated birth that was something of a scheduling nightmare. In order to acquire copyright for the U.S. (where there was a notorious history of unauthorized performances of their works), they premiered Pirates in New York. But to acquire a British copyright they had to stage a performance there as well, at virtually the same time. And then, of course, there was the "official" premiere at the Savoy in London, the theatre of their producer Richard D'Oyly Carte. Dr. Nic will try to sort it through for you! 

Gilbert & Sullivan have been missing from our production seasons up til now. No more! In this podcast Dr. Nic shares some background on this most operatic of their works, looking forward to a brilliant production that will open on October 14, 2017! Enjoy!

Conductor David Agler is making his debut with San Diego Opera with this production of La traviata. He is currently the Artistic Director of Wexford Festival Opera in Ireland and shares with us some of the achievements of that company which include the staging of rarely performed operas and the discovery of wonderful young singers. Enjoy!

Stephen Powell has been a company favorite for twenty years, having started with us in a production of Carmen as Dancaire in 1997. Back now for Germont in La traviata, he has much to say in this interview about the role, his career and the state of opera in the United States. 

Corinne Winters is making her San Diego Opera debut in her signature role of Violetta in La traviata. In this interview with Dr. Nic she talks about her background, her career and this favorite role of hers. 

[Please note that this podcast is audio only]

Listen in to this interview with tenor, Jesus Garcia who is making his debut with us as Alfredo in our production of La traviata. You might be familiar with him as Rodolfo in the Baz Luhrmann Broadway production of La boheme, his first professional role. In this interview he speaks about his upbringing, his career up til now and the challenges of the role of Alfredo. Enjoy!

Please note, this is an audio-only podcast.

Especially for students and teachers coming to the April 20th Student Dress Rehearsal of La traviata, this video features our Director of Community Engagement Nic Reveles introducing this well known masterpiece by Giuseppe Verdi. Enjoy!

The Tragedy of Carmen is not Carmen! Although you'll easily recognize Bizet's music, this is a version of the opera as a musical theatre piece devised by famed director Peter Brook to tell the story in a completely new way...or perhaps, depending on your point of view, the original way. Check out this video...Dr. Nic explains it all for you!

Mezzo-soprano Marianne Cornetti is one of this company's favorite people! Not only fun to be with and to talk to, she's a wonderful artist who lives inside her characters onstage. Enjoy this conversation with Nicolas Reveles as she talks about her role in Falstaff (Dame Quickly) and gives some advice to young singers.

This is soprano Ellie Dehn's third appearance with our company, now making her role debut as Alice Ford in Verdi's Falstaff. In this interview with Nicolas Reveles she spends a little time talking about her career, as well as the role and the current rehearsal process. After Mimi and Donna Anna this is a role with rather different challenges! Enjoy. 

Baritone Roberto de Candia is making his West Coast debut with the role of Falstaff in our production of the Verdi opera opening on February 18th. This is one of his favorite roles and has the distinction of having coached it with Sesto Bruscantini, one of the great basso buffos of his generation. Roberto has much to say about this wonderful role and the fun he's having rehearsing the opera with this cast. Listen in!

Paris-born stage director Olivier Tambosi is directing his own production of Verdi's Falstaff, a production which originated with Chicago Lyric Opera. In this fascinating interview he gives us his understanding of the essence of this opera, which is a celebration of life and laughter (from the pen of an 80-year-old composer!) Enjoy!

This isn't your grandma's Carmen! This is a version of the Bizet opera devised by eminent director Peter Brook back in the '80s in an attempt to focus intensely on the story and the important relationships in it. More based on the Prosper Merimee novella upon which the Bizet is based, The Tragedy of Carmen brings us much closer to the characters, especially the elemental power of the main character, while still using the great tunes and musical moments that we all know and love. In this conversation with Nic Reveles, stage director Alexander Gedeon gives us a preview of his take on this fascinating piece, complete with sneak peaks at video sequences by Yuki Izumihara and renderings of the costumes that will be used in our production by costume designer Adam Alonso. Enjoy!