It's almost summer opera time...

Ok, I know I’m pushing the summer, but I’m cold! Some blog items come to me with lots of fanfare, and other times it’s like a little wind that keeps growing . That’s exactly what has happened with Des Moines Metro Opera’s 2011 season.

Part One - Somehow I heard that Taylor Stayton was going to sing Ernesto in their mainstage production of Don Pasquale. You might remember him in AVA’s “wild-west” production in 2009. When I congratulated him on the contract, he told me that alumna Zulimar López-Hernández was going to be singing Norina in the show as well.  He was thrilled because, although Zulimar played Norina in the 2009 AVA production, they never got to sing it together.

Part Two – I’m surfing Facebook one night (don’t you?) and saw that Jan Cornelius’s status mentioned how 2011 is shaping up to be a great year for her. She begins by singing Giorgetta in AVA’s concert production of Il tabarro, following quickly with the title role in Arabella. Well, I knew all that, but what I didn’t know was that she will also be singing with Des Moines Metro Opera as Mimi in La bohème. When I congratulated her (in the AVA copy room), she mentioned that alumna Colleen Daly was also in the production, in the role of Musetta, a role Jan just sang with Atlanta Opera in October 2010.

Conclusion: Des Moines is going to be one AVA-tastic place to hear opera this summer!