If there’s one thing I love besides opera, it’s good food. I love it a little too much for my own good, though Weight Watchers has been helping me manage that love. Not only do I have a formidable collection of cookbooks, I’m the only person I know who reads cookbooks just for fun. One of my favorites in my collection Read the rest of this entry »

I own two IPods. One I use most of the year – it’s mostly filled of classic opera recordings. The other one is just for the holiday season. It’s filled with all my favorite Christmas albums. And while they don’t all feature opera stars singing Read the rest of this entry »

This blog owes its existence to a lot of people and things. Obviously it wouldn’t be here without the friends and family members who helped me discover opera in the first place. Nor would it be here without the LA Opera at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, or without Read the rest of this entry »

Sometimes I have operatic thoughts that I want to share, but that are too short to make into full articles. Today I decided ‘Why not post them anyway?’ So here are three of my random observations.

This is a less formal piece than my reviews, so Read the rest of this entry »

Following the lead of Opera Teen with his essay on Opera and Young Audiences, I’ve decided to post one of my own school essays that I’m especially proud of. This is my senior thesis:

“Our demigod” – Divinity and humanity in Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo and Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice

When I chose this topic I had no idea whether it would be a success or not. Writing a senior thesis about characterization, of all things, seemed so trivial! But I wanted to do it and my professors were supportive. So I did it. I read, I thought, read some more, thought some more, and studied the scores of both operas as best I could with my halting grasp of music theory. And it was a success!

I hope my readers here like it just as much as the people did who read it at UCLA.

A few days ago, much to my surprise, joy and pride, I received this Blogger Award from Raisa Massuda, whose reviews and musings on her blog, Mandolin Vision, I’ve always enjoyed.

I now have to share seven facts that you may not have known about me! Here they are: Read the rest of this entry »

In honor of World Autism Awareness Day, I’ve decided to write about what opera has meant to me in light of my Asperger’s Syndrome.

When I fell in love with opera at age fourteen, I was a textbook Aspie. I had no friends my own age and no desire for any. I was being homeschooled, because actual school had become unbearable for me. When I had gone to middle school in the preceding years, I was always Read the rest of this entry »