Birthday Birthday Birthday!!!!

IT'S MY BIRTHDAY IT'S MY BIRTHDAY IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!!!! =)

That's riiiight!!!!! Today is my birthdayyyyy! Not that I'm excited about it or anything...

I saw Lucia di Lammermoor with Diana Damrau last night with some of my friends to celebrate. I might actually be the first girl to ever have her birthday party at the Metropolitan Opera. Thank you, Peter Gelb!!! Hahaha.

I will have to talk about the epic-ness (aka beastliness) of Lucia another time, because I'm awfully busy right now!!!! Go Diana Damrau!!!! =)


Happy Listening!!! =) =)

Three of My Favorite Things!!!!!

Tosca, James Bond, and Daniel Craig!!!

I Have Been Tagged

I never thought I would get tagged, but there you go. Learn something new every day.


1. Link to your tagger and list these rules on your blog. Leah was my tagger.

2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog - some random, some weird.

3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blog.

4. Let them know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

5. If you don't have 7 blog friends, or if someone else already took dibs, then tag some unsuspecting strangers.



THE FACTS:

1. When I was in the fifth grade I got mad at my brothers and slammed the door to my room. My finger got caught in it, so I instinctively put it in my mouth to make it hurt less. It tasted really funny and when I looked at it my finger was covered in blood. Turns out some of the finger came off with the slammed door. We went to the hospital and all was okay. 10 stitches for my 10th birthday, which was a few weeks from then. Traumatizing? No. Weird? Yes.

2. While working at an internship near Union Square in the city, I had a bag of carrots that I didn't want for lunch. I passed a homeless man every day and I thought I would see if he wanted them. I gathered my courage, because I don't usually approach anyone, and I asked, "Excuse me, would you like these? I'm not going to have them." I was so proud of myself and I wanted to do something nice for him, but he said, "No. I don't want them." The weirdest part about the whole thing was that as I was walking away I heard the lady behind me say to the person she was with "Well, she just caught a druggie." Weird.

3. I used to play the viola. Then I switched to clarinet, and then to oboe. I quit the oboe when band wasn't a requirement in school anymore and it was after school instead. I had dance class, homework, and voice lessons. Something had to go. I slightly regret it. College applications are soon and oboes look pretty amazing.

4. I saw an Aida at the Arena di Verona last summer. It was the craziest thing I've ever witnessed. It started to rain, but then I channeled my inner Tosca, prayed to the Virgin Mary, and it stopped raining 15 minutes before the performance was supposed to start. Now we say in my family that God wanted me to see that performance.

5. I have only loved opera since February 2006. It's when my mom brought home the DVD of The Turandot Project from the local library. I didn't know what it was about, but Zubin Mehta came on the screen talking about how everything is about "color. You never see a gray dragon." Suddenly, the finale music starts playing and the most incredible production of Turandot ever (Florence) appears on the screen. I literally jumped onto the couch screaming "I KNOW THIS SONG. I KNOW THIS SONG. OH MY GOD I KNOW THIS." So this is love, mm-mm-mm-mm, so this is love...

6. Besides Opera, the loves of my life are: Ballet, Art, John Adams (c. 1776), British and Russian Literature, British History, and Broadway. Also, I'm an anglo-phile. It's pretty bad. I have a jar in my room that JOKINGLY says "Long Live the Queen." My friend and I both have one. We're saving up so that when the queen dies (far far from now) we can fly to London and mourn with the British people. We could possibly stay for the coronation, or however long it takes the princes to fall madly in love with us.

7. Here are some other random facts: My brothers and I have a game called "Random Sentence from Anna Karenina." I hated Der Rosenkavalier the first time I heard it. This blog has a binder that I bring to the opera house to write reviews in; it's sad I know, it's made so I don't forget any detail of the performance, so if you see a teenage girl walking around with a white binder or if you sit next to her, it's ME. I am a member of the Metropolitan Opera Guild. I am on the opera-l list service, but I'm a bona-fide lurker. I have 7 editions of Pride and Prejudice in my room alone, I don't even know why. I am in love with Venice, Italy. It was my mom's idea to make this blog. It is my mom's fault I love opera, so whenever she gets annoyed with the loud opera music I remind her it's her fault.


Now, 7 Bloggers Tagged:

1. Crazy Daisy, the only not classical music blog I read, which is sad. =) You should be proud.

2. ACB from The Concert. =)

3. The one who introduced me to Patricia Petibon and unleashed my love of Baroque opera, Sarah Noble.

4. Olivia from Orchestra Ring.

5. Gert from Gertsamtkunstwerk

6. ANY OTHER BLOGGERS WHO READ THIS

7. Please see above. I'm a young'un. I don't move in the higher circles of the opera-blogging world. If I ever found out that La Cieca or Opera Chic read this blog once I'd fall on the floor.
=)




Happy Listening!!! =)

Have a Question About the Atomic Bomb?

Just ask Gerald Finley...
or Robert J. Oppenheimer.

If it's too much work to ask, just watch the Met's new Doctor Atomic trailer.





PLUS: Get ready for the Met Player, coming to a computer near you October 22nd.




Happy Listening!!! =)

And You Thought I Forgot...

You know, Columbus Day weekend and all that...


The Two Geniuses of Italian Opera:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LEjLGf-dbo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8A3zetSuYRg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0_UG2UnM7o
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1zmUbthbr8


Happy Birthday Pavarotti!!!! (10.12)
Happy Birthday Verdi!!!!!! (10.10)



Happy Listening!!!!

Lucia Photo Gallery

Congratulations to Diana Damrau on her debut as Lucia!!!!!! What a feat, and at the Metropolitan Opera House! Any worry was for nothing because the reviews were awesome! Raving reviews from the New York Times, Seattle Times, The New Yorker, and the Associated Press are proof that Diana Damrau is the soprano to watch out for. Not that she wasn't before, she was always a force to be reckoned with, but now it's over the top!

The Metropolitan Opera has documented this historic debut in the form of a photo gallery in which Ms. Damrau looks gorgeous (and frightening!!!) as Lucy Ashton.

I can't wait to see her (for my sweet sixteen!!!!!) at the end of the month as Lucia. I'm so excited! I'm taking a few friends to see her and show them the majesty that is Donizetti, Lucia, and Diana Damrau. Is it too much to hope that I can meet her after? Maybe she'll stop by Fiorello's for dinner after the show, like me! =) =) Nah, it's definitely too much to ask for.



Happy Listening!!!! =)
and Congrats to Ms. Damrau again!!!!! =)

From OverHeardInNewYork.com

One of my favorite websites...



Who Needs a Television When You've Got the City?
(a soprano is singing an opera aria in her apartment on the 4th floor)
Random man on street (screaming up to the window): Girl, you're not even gonna sing the high note?! Sissy!
Soprano (screaming out the window): Everyone's a freaking critic!
--Inwood


This being New York, you can expect that I edited some of the language. I just thought it was a very comical situation.
Bringing opera to the public isn't as satisfying for the singers after all...
=)


Happy Listening!!! =)

Teddy and Isabel Sittin' in a Tree...

To the dismay of many a sighing opera fans, barihunk Teddy Tahu Rhodes is planning to be married in New York City, where they will have their home, this December.

I'll give you some hints about who he's engaged to...

She's a mezzo.

She's up and coming.

She is on my cool mezzo list.

She was in Romeo et Juliette at the Met last season.

She is the only mezzo I could possibly stand giving Teddy up to.

That's right! It's my favorite up and coming singer and fellow New Yorker, Isabel Leonard!!!! I wish them the best. They are both so cute and I hope they have long and happy lives together.

Enter opera's next big opera love couple.

Happy Listening!!!!! =)

The Catfight

http://www.metoperafamily.org/metopera/news/features/detail.aspx?id=5092


Deborah Voigt and Olga Borodina fight to the death for Enzo's love...
I mean, Gioconda and Laura fight to the death for Enzo's love...

Or is it really Debbie and Olga? Hm...... Watch the video and find out...



Happy Listening!!!! =)

September Birthdays

In the fuss of Opening Night I neglected to mention some very prominent birthdays from last month (my goodness, October already?).

Cornell Macneil on 9/24. One of the greatest (and my favorite!) Verdi baritones. That's not even mentioning his off the charts Scarpia. He happens to be my favorite Scarpia also. Just because he was the first Scarpia I heard/saw (with Behrens and Domingo on VHS) doesn't mean I'm biased! Of course not! His act I curtain sets me off on a rant every time.

Alfredo Kraus on 9/24. Acclaimed as one of the great tenors of out times, Alfredo Kraus always guarantees a perfectly sung performance. Truth be told, I never had much exposure to Alfredo Kraus, but as I'm looking at his youtube clips now I'm realizing that he truly is a legend.

George Gershwin on 9/26. Gershwin and the livin' is easy. A legend in his own, and every, right. You can not say enough about this American genius! I can't even speak, I'm so amazed by him. Could we ask for anything more?

Richard Bonynge on 9/29. I can't have Bonynge clips without having Sutherland clips. They're a pair! The great operatic love couple! He's also a legendary conductor, in case you didn't know. Mr. Sutherland? Au contraire! Mr. Bonynge if you please.




Happy Listening!!!! =)