Cool beans, Day Job

Invasion Of The Opera People


I’m on the same page as tenor Placido Domingo and it’s kinda freakin’ me out. (in a good way) I mean, it’s Placido Domingo. You know, one of The Three Tenors?

On Tuesday, a coterie of Vancouver Opera people will be making their way down to LA for the Opera America conference. I was pimped out by the higher-ups to be a seminar speaker at the all day social media session on Tuesday. And that’s why I’m on the same page as all the other speakers, including Placido Domingo.

My name in the Opera America program

I’m super excited for several reasons:

1. The sessions and seminars offered (such a nerd)

2. Finally putting a face to a name on my counterparts in the industry

3. I haven’t been on an airplane since my London trip in December 2008

4. Hopefully I’ll have some downtime and I can re-visit some of my favourite places in LA: The Getty Museum, Huntingdon Botanical Gardens, Natural History Museum and the Griffith Observatory. The last time I was in LA, the observatory was closed for renovations.

omni plaza hotel in los angeles
I’ll be staying at the Omni Plaza, where the conference is being held.

omni plaza hotel in los angeles
It’s been a while since I could figuratively throw my towel on the floor and have someone else pick it up for me. That’s why this may be a very good week. The beds are suppose to be something spectacular too; what with its triple sheets on the bed and feather pillows.

omni plaza hotel in los angeles
The hotel doesn’t seem to have an indoor pool, but they do have an outdoor lap pool. I wonder how late the pool would be opened to? Might be nice to swim under the night sky.

One of the big draws at the conference is that of LA opera, The Ring Trilogy. The production was designed by Achim Freyer. The 14 hour opera cost a cool $32M (!) to produce. Definitely a modern interpretation of the classic opera, this one looks more star wars/Cirque du Soleil than Brunhilde in a horned helmet and Jesus sandals.

I’ve been advised that for my first Wagner opera, I may want to see a traditional staging of this “Mt Everest” of an opus, but this freaky and futuristic production has me definitely intrigued. Can you imagine, singing The Ride of the Valkyries, while swinging light sabers?!

LA opera wagner's ring trilogyRing photo: LA Opera
Hotel photosOmni Plaza

I wonder if George Lucas will be in attendance?

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3 Comments

  • Reply duriandave June 5, 2010 at 5:27 pm

    Congrats on your conference debut!

    That production of the Ring Trilogy looks pretty amazing. Looking forward to your thoughts about it when you return.

    Have a great time! 🙂

  • Reply Tex Montana June 8, 2010 at 4:09 pm

    Good luck at the conference… you will be great I’m sure of it.

    : )

  • Reply lightning in a bottle June 20, 2010 at 8:08 pm

    @dave – i didn’t get to see the ring but i did get to see an opera in a swimming pool!

    @tex – ♥

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