Blythe Gaissert was last with us in 2017 in our Detour production of Laura Kaminsky's As One, and returns now as Hansel in Hansel and Gretel. In this interview with Nic Reveles, she tells us about the physicality necessary to play this very active role, as well as the vocal resources necessary to carry over Humperdinck's large, Wagnerian style orchestra! Enjoy this fun interview with this delightful artist!

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! 

In this episode we listen to how Puccini "gets to the point", that there's no needless prelude or overture, that we always get right to the action when it comes to his operas, especially Tosca. Which is odd, because the Sardou play, La Tosca, upon which the opera was based is exactly the opposite of that!

We welcome our favorite basso, Ferruccio Furlanetto, back to San Diego Opera to sing the title role of Jules Massenet's Don Quichotte. This is one of Furlanetto's favorite roles, along with King Philip in Don Carlo and Boris Godunov. In this interview with Director of Education Nicolas Revlees, he reflects on forty years of working in the opera world (actually to the day when this interivew was conducted!) along with advice to young singers looking to jump into a singing career. Enjoy!

One of the more delightful characters to grace the stage of San Diego Opera is coming your way in Donizetti's The Elixir of Love, and inhabiting this marvelous character is another marvelous character, bass Kevin Burdette. Last with us in the 2013 Season (Sulpice in The Daughter of the Regiment) Kevin is stepping in at the last minute for an indisposed singer. He fits the role like a glove and is welcome company in this interview with Nicolas Reveles, Director of Education, as he talks about his career and the role he's singing.

Tenor Frank Porretta was with us last in 2002, singing the role of the Duke in Rigoletto. His repertoire has darkened considerably with roles like Otello, Don Alfaro (La forza del destino), Calaf (Turandot) and Canio in Pagliacci which he's singing for us. Join Nicolas Reveles, Director of Education and Outreach for San Diego Opera, in a lively conversation with this wonderful artist about his career and the nature of this complicated character, Canio. 

Australian native Andrew Sinclair is currently centered in London staging opera at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. But he is a popular visitor here in San Diego where, most recently, he directed the Zandra Rhodes production of Verdi's Aida. In this interview he talks about his particular view of Leoncavallo's Pagliacci, his latest assignment for San Diego Opera, with Nicolas Reveles. 

Enjoy this interview with David Adam Moore who will sing the role of Silvio in San Diego Opera's production of Pagliacci opening January 25th. David's musical activities include an upcoming performance of the Schubert song cycle Die Winterreise (Winter's Journey) in Anchorage, in an unusual production including video projections and a set. Nicolas Reveles talks to him about the role, his operatic career and his creative work that keeps this singer on the cutting edge of artistic innovation.

Singing the role of Nedda in our San Diego Opera production of Leoncavallo's Pagliacci is Romanian soprano Adina Nitescu. Here she talks with Nicolas Reveles, Director of Education and Outreach, about her career and about the role that she'll be singing with us, opening January 25th. Enjoy!

The duet may seem to be a pretty simple musical form featured in opera that really doesn't need any explanation, right? But there's a little more to it than just "this person sings, then that person sings, then they sing together!" Dr. Nic Reveles, the Geisel Director of Education & Outreach for San Diego Opera, lets you in on what kinds of duets exist in opera and how they communicate the feelings of the characters using the love duet from Verdi's Un ballo in maschera, A Masked Ball. Enjoy!

Taking a break from our series on voice-types for the 2013 Season, Dr. Nicolas Reveles, The Geisel Director of Education & Outreach for San Diego Opera, reflects on the meaning of opera, what it is about this art form that attracts us, why we go to the opera and what is the essence of it, what makes it 'tick'. You're invited to come along on a meditative journey about the artform that transforms us!

Tenors are considered by many audience members as the 'glories' of opera. What they do seems beautiful, athletic, stunning and unreasonable, all at once. Well, we have some wonderful tenor roles this upcoming season: Tonio in The Daughter of the Regiment, Samson in Samson and Delilah, and Radames in Aida. Tune in as Nicolas Reveles, the Geisel Director of Education and Outreach opens up the world of the operatic tenor in this week's installment.

Back by popular demand is the spectacular production from San Francisco Opera that you may have seen a number of seasons back, with the realistic, glitzy and colorful sets and costumes that bring the story of this exciting opera to life. Join Nicolas Reveles, Director of Education, for a few minutes to take glimpse at what's in store for you when you come to see Samson and Delilah.

Here's a brief synopsis of Camille Saint-Saens' biblically based opera Samson and Delilah from Director of Education Nicolas Reveles. This summary is perfect for those of you who don't have a lot of time on your hands to prepare for opening night. Enjoy!

Donizetti was a formidable composer in his time and was the toast of Paris in 1840 when he had four operas running simultaneously at the city's largest theatres. Sounds a bit like Andrew Lloyd Webber, eh? Join Nicolas Reveles, Director of Education and Outreach, for an overview of this charming opera which logged 1,000 performances between its premiere and 1900 at the Opera Comique!

An old friend to the company, John Del Carlo has been involved with us since his days as a young artist in the mid-seventies. Tune in and hear his views on the basso buffo repertoire, his career and the role of Don Pasquale, a delightful conversation with Nicolas Reveles, Director of Education and Outreach. 

One of the most poignant moments in the score of Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier comes towards the end of Act I, the Marschallin's Monologue, "Da geht er hin". 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. Strauss gets it!

The leitmotifs or "leading motives" in Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier are explored by our Education Director, Nicolas Reveles, in a podcast first posted on August 16, 2010. After defining the leitmotif and its use by Richard Wagner, we'll listen to those used by Strauss to help tell the story of this wonderful opera.

Luckily for us, Puccini's opera Turandot premiered in 1926, well after the invention of sound recording.  So even though we don't have a recording of excerpts from the opera by the two principals (soprano Rosa Raisa and Miguel Fleta), we do have recordings of some of the sopranos who made history in the role.  Let's survey a handful of those sopranos and see if we can get a good sound picture of what Puccini might have expected for the role. Take a listen to this repeat of a popular podcast from June 14, 2010.

Listen in to a revealing interview with soprano Ermonela Jaho who will be singing the role of Liu in Turandot. The Albanian singer made her debut with San Diego Opera in Donizetti's Maria Stuarda, standing in for an ailing colleague on opening night. Now she's back, singing the entire run of course, and delighted to be in San Diego!

Dr. Nic spends some time with the wonderful and lovely young soprano Lise Lindstrom who will make her San Diego Opera debut in the challenging role of Turandot. The conversation traverses her recent triumph in the role at the Metropolitan opera as a last-minute replacement and a discussion of the vocal challenges in the aria "In questa reggia".  Listen in!

And so we begin with a new element in our San Diego Opera podcasts: interviews with some of the personalities involved with our 2011 productions.  Let's begin with a chat with tenor Carlo Ventre, who will be singing the role of Calaf in Puccini's Turandot, opening January 29.  In this interview with Nicolas Reveles, Ventre reveals the challenges of the role as well as the physical sensation he experiences in performing great tenor roles like Calaf on stage in front of a large audience.

If you don't know who Baron Ochs is, take a listen.  He's the biggest boor in opera and he's the comic foil to the romance and the waltz atmosphere of Richard Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier.  Here's a short introduction.

You mean, there were original cast recordings of Puccini's last opera?  Yes, there were.  There are also recordings of some of the singers that Puccini wanted to cast in the roles of Turandot and Calaf back in 1926 but who ended up being unavailable.  Let's take a listen to some real audio history!

Thanks to an Italian diplomat who'd spent some time in China and gave a Chinese music box to the composer, Puccini was able to discover and then use actual folk tunes within the fabric of his score for the opera Turandot.  This podcast will introduce you to those tunes as they are utilized by Puccini in order to help you get to know more about the opera.  Have fun!

Some of you might be familiar with the name, some of you may not.  But there was a time when, especially in Europe, mezzo-soprano Conchita Supervia was considered the greatest Carmen of all time.  Luckily for us, she left some brilliant recordings behind, dating from the 1930s.  Take a listen and see if you agree that this singer might just have left a standard of performance that has yet to be surpassed!

We're lucky in that many of the great sopranos of the past who've sung the role of Marguerite in Gounod's Faust recorded excerpts or were involved in complete commercial recordings of the work.  Let's survey them and bask for awhile in the beauty of these voices!

In Richard Strauss' Der Rosenkavalier we have a wonderful example of a hosenrolle or 'trouser role', a female singer portraying a male character in an opera.  Strauss and other composers in opera history had a lot of fun with these roles, and it's time to explore how Octavian fits into the tradition.

Sure, she's the 'star', and yes, she gets all the great, memorable tunes.  But did you every think that maybe, just possibly, the opera is really about Don Jose?  Musically, at least, I think he's more interesting!  Let's take a listen!