Violinist turned author ERICA MINER has had a multi-faceted career as an award-winning screenwriter, author, lecturer and poet. A native of Detroit, she studied violin at Boston University with Boston Symphony Orchestra concertmaster Joseph Silverstein, where she graduated cum laude; the New England Conservatory of Music, and the Tanglewood Music Center, summer home of the Boston Symphony, where she performed with such celebrated conductors as Leonard Bernstein. She continued her studies with Mr. Silverstein at the New England Conservatory of Music, and went on to perform with the prestigious Metropolitan Opera Orchestra for twenty-one years, where she worked closely with much-respected maestro James Levine and numerous other luminaries of the opera world. After retiring from the Met, Erica drew upon her lifelong love for writing as her creative outlet and studied screenwriting in Los Angeles with screenplay guru Linda Seger. Erica’s screenplays awards include such recognized competitions as Santa Fe and the Writer’s Digest. Her debut novel, TRAVELS WITH MY LOVERS, won the Fiction Prize in the Direct from the Author Book Awards. Subsequent published novels include the first in Erica’s FOUREVER FRIENDS novel series chronicling four teenage girls coming of age in the volatile 60s. ARIA FOR MURDER, a novel of assassination and intrigue at the Metropolitan Opera, the first in her Julia Kogan Opera Mystery series published by Level Best Books, has won rave reviews across the board. The sequel, PRELUDE TO MURDER, received a glowing report ('A skillfully written whodunit of operatic proportions') from the prestigious Kirkus Reviews (https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/erica-miner/prelude-to-murder/). Erica’s lectures, seminars and workshops have received kudos on both coasts and in Australia, and she has won top ratings as a special lecturer for Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines. An active contributor to BroadwayWorld.com, Backtrack.com and LAOpus.com, she also contributed a monthly “Power of Journaling” article series for the National Association of Baby Boomer Women newsletter. Other writings have appeared in Vision Magazine, WORD San Diego, Istanbul Our City, and numerous E-zines. Erica’s lecture topics include “The Art of Self- Re-invention,” “Journaling: the Write Way to Write Fiction,” “Solving the Mystery of Mystery Writing,” and “Opera Meets Hollywood.” Details about Erica’s novels, screenplays and lectures can be found on her website, https://www.ericaminer.com.
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First Show:
GYPSYFavorite Show:
Onward VictoriaFavorite Stories:
- Lawrence Brownlee Speaks as he Sings: Gloriously - African American tenor Brownlee is opera royalty, a representative of diversity in his field and at the top of his game. Interviewing him was sheer pleasure, as he could not have been more affable, accessible, and articulate.
- MET OPERA CONCERTMASTER RAYMOND GNIEWEK: A REMEMBRANCE at Metropolitan Opera House - Ray Gniewek was also opera royalty, one of the greatest concertmasters of all time, and a key influence on my life as a violinist with the Met Opera. His immense contribution to the opera world cannot be quantified. I remain in awe of him.
- BWW Previews: THE (R)EVOLUTION OF STEVE JOBS - The brilliant operatic rendering of the life of this ultra-important person, whose work has had an enormous influence on all of our lives, has been hugely successful since its premiere. The composer and librettist captured the essence of Jobs: his life, his trials, and his journey, so perfectly.
- BWW Interview: Jamie Bernstein Celebrates Remarkable Centennial - Jamie Bernstein has been a friend and colleague ever since we were at the Tanglewood Music Center decades ago, when I was a Fellowship student working with her famous father, whom we all called Lenny. She is keenly intelligent, savvy, and a joy to interview.
- Interview: David Holloway Shepherds Santa Fe Apprentices - David is another former opera colleague whose friendship goes back decades, ever since we were neighbors in Manhattan and our children played together and we worked together at the met Opera. More recently, he provided me entree into the Santa Fe Opera, where I based my most recent Opera Mystery novel, Prelude to Murder. His insights into the workings of this unique opera company were fascinating.
BWW Interviews: Artistry and Prudence - William Mason, Part 2
July 8, 2014
July 8, 2014
Clearly the people at SDO can learn a lot from William Mason.
BWW Interviews: William Mason Shares Wisdom with San Diego Opera, Part 1
July 7, 2014
July 7, 2014
Newly minted Artistic Advisor for a reborn San Diego Opera William Mason learned the ropes of opera artistic administration from such luminaries as Carol Fox and Ardis Krainik.
BWW Interviews: Playwright Will Cooper Has a Beautiful Mind
July 24, 2014
July 24, 2014
Will Cooper's play 'Jade Heart' chronicles the journey of an infant girl, abandoned in China and brought to America by her adoptive single Caucasian mother.
BWW Reviews: FADED GLORY Sparkles at North Coast Rep
June 2, 2014
June 2, 2014
It's no wonder Tim Burns won the prestigious National Endowment for the Arts Creative Writing Award in 1974 for his first play, Faded Glory. This brilliantly crafted work is entertaining, enlightening, and irresistible.
Summer Stages: Tanglewood, Festival of Festivals
June 6, 2014
June 6, 2014
The Berkshire Mountains provide an idyllic setting for the Boston Symphony's 2014 Tanglewood season
BWW Exclusive: San Diego Opera Rejoices in a New Vision
May 19, 2014
May 19, 2014
San Diego Opera announced today that the March 19 decision to close the company had been rescinded, and the company would continue operations for the upcoming 2015 season.
BWW Feature: Winning Team Reunites for Youth Theatre TARZAN
May 8, 2014
May 8, 2014
Teenage thespians Hannah Houts and Joshua Shtein reunite after their 2007 JCompany successes as Ashanti and Mowgli, respectively, in Disney's classic musical, The Jungle Book KIDS.
BWW Reviews: 'Wait, Wait' Marathon Leaves San Diego Howling
May 2, 2014
May 2, 2014
The masterful comics of NPR's Wait, Wait… Don't Tell Me! delivered a panoply of laughs, hoots, howls and giggles to a sold-out audience at the San Diego Civic Theatre
BWW Interviews: WEST SIDE to MADISON COUNTY - Jessica Vosk, Part 2
May 1, 2014
May 1, 2014
In Part 2 of my interview with Jessica Vosk, we learn about her Broadway debut in the Tony-nominated 'Bridges of Madison County.'
BWW Interviews: From WEST SIDE to MADISON COUNTY, Jessica Vosk 'Bridges' the Gap
April 30, 2014
April 30, 2014
Immensely gifted musically and dramatically, Jessica Vosk recently has experienced a wealth of shining moments on the stage.
BWW Reports: San Diego Opera Continues Its Battle for Survival
April 22, 2014
April 22, 2014
On Thursday, April 17, controversy over the closure of San Diego Opera took a startling turn at a Town Hall meeting with the theme, 'San Diego Opera Moves Forward: Alternative models of Opera in America.'
BWW Reviews: Tea Meets Sympathy Flavored with Wit in MANDATE MEMORIES
April 17, 2014
April 17, 2014
Unexpected twists, jarring conflict, and candid emotional revelation kept the audience on edge in the world premiere of British playwright Lionel Goldstein's disturbing drama 'Mandate Memories.'
BWW Reviews: Furlanetto Conquers La Mancha - With Dignity
April 7, 2014
April 7, 2014
For two magical hours, Ferruccio Furlanetto lifted an embattled San Diego Opera from its doldrums to the lofty heights only such an artist can invoke, in his exquisite rendering of Jules Massenet's noble, genteel Don Quixote.
BWW Reviews: Mainly Mozart Worships Schubert in Carlsbad
April 1, 2014
April 1, 2014
A cadre of chamber music's finest performers performed a program to please Schubert and Mozart lovers alike
BWW Reviews: John Cederquist Shapes ILLUSIONS IN WOOD
April 1, 2014
April 1, 2014
Illusion took center stage in the San Diego area last weekend when Orange County-based master craftsman John Cederquist brought his unique wood pieces to the small but pristine jewel known as the Cannon Gallery in Carlsbad.
BWW Interviews: Furlanetto Part 2: The Russian Soul
March 31, 2014
March 31, 2014
In a continuation of our extraordinary conversation, Maestro Ferruccio Furlanetto reveals insights on performing the astonishing Russian basso repertoire - in Russia.
BWW Interviews: Ferruccio Furlanetto Filters Emotion, Touches Hearts
March 28, 2014
March 28, 2014
Notwithstanding the pall of despondency hovering over San Diego Opera, to be in the presence of Ferruccio Furlanetto's greatness for one amazing hour while he imparted his wisdom was an overwhelming experience.
BWW Reviews: Triumphal March to Brilliance - Verdi's REQUIEM at San Diego Opera
March 21, 2014
March 21, 2014
Otello. Aida. Don Carlo. The comparisons are irresistible.
BWW Interview: To Sing with Nature: Piotr Beczala at San Diego Opera
March 18, 2014
March 18, 2014
Gracious, charming, highly intelligent and perceptive, Polish-born artist Piotr Beczala (dubbed 'Piotr the Great' in San Francisco), first graced the San Diego Opera stage in his 2010 Boheme debut, triumphed these past weeks in Verdi's A Masked Ball, and will complete his 'March madness' with Verdi's monumental Requiem. Acclaimed for both the beauty of his voice and for his ardent commitment to each character he portrays, he is also an avid golfer, and loves being here in San Diego.
BWW Reviews: Glitter and Be Vengeful: San Diego Opera's A MASKED BALL
March 12, 2014
March 12, 2014
Overheard at the opening night intermission of SD Opera's glittering production of Verdi's 'A Masked Ball': 'The music is really good.' Love and death, jealousy and revenge, assassination and intrigue, culminating in a dazzle of song, dance, and a shower of sparkling gold...
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