How to Live Without a Diva...

New York City, circa March 1992, in the throws of a new and wonderful and wicked relationship, my then (and current) love thought it prudent to drag my sorry Long Island ass to the Met. If memory serves me correctly, that first opera was Verdi’s Rigoletto. I’ll say Ruth Ann Swenson was Gilda…I remember her in a sack toward the end…There were NO super-titles and remember thinking “just get through this”. I could have been watching anything. My second opera was Verdi’s Il Trovatore. The anvil chorus was great, but what happened before or after that was a mystery. Opera for me was a means to an end. I sit through 3 hours of hell, I get to have great sex when I get home. Thinking back, I’m mad at myself for having been a reverse opera snob. A few years went by and with the help of Mariella Devia and Luciana Serra, a good job to help pay for good seats, super-titles and a very patient boyfriend, I was well on my way to actually understanding what all the fuss was about. Around 1995 I was able to see my first Barbiere with Ms. Larmore in her Met debut. This sealed the deal for me. Opera was now sport and I had my MVP. But more on that later…

It’s now 2008. I had grown accustomed to hearing Ms. Larmore sing several times a year in NYC for nearly 10 years. We moved to Los Angeles in 2003 and in five years I’ve heard Jennie sing on only two occasions. So, when I know she is singing somewhere in the U.S. or abroad, I feel empty; left out of the ball game.

So, I rely on the internet and my great friends who are lucky enough to hear her. Sometimes a critic will actually describe in great detail a concert or opera or recital. Here’s one by Paul E. Robinson reviewing Jennie’s opening recital at the 2008 Festival Bel Canto in Canada:

http://www.scena.org/blog/2008/08/report-from-bel-canto-new-music.html

Paul - Los Angeles