Feature: FREE ONLINE OPERA/SONG JULY 3-10 at Home Computer Screens

Los Angeles Opera's Music Director James Conlon sets the stage for the company's upcoming audio-stream of Richard Wagner's epic, four-part cycle, Der Ring des Nibelungen with a new podcast. Commemorating the ten-year anniversary of the company's first complete presentation of the Ring Cycle, opera fans can watch a marathon, back-to-back audio stream of all four works on Saturday, July 25. LAOpera.org/LAOatHome has more information on the audio-stream.

On Thursday, July 9th at 4:00 PM PDT, tenor Lawrence Brownlee presents a "Living Room Recital." As one of the world's foremost Mozart and Bel Canto singers, Brownlee has dazzled audiences across the globe. He even made a stop on the LA Opera stage as Tamino in our 2013 production of The Magic Flute. This time, he teams up with pianist Myra Huang for a special online performance.

Soprano Guanqun Yu offers a "Living Room Recital" on Saturday, July 11 at 12:00 PM PDT. No stranger to the LAO stage, Yu has made her mark with three unforgettable Los Angeles appearances: as the Countess in both The Marriage of Figaro and The Ghosts of Versailles, and as Vitellia in The Clemency of Titus.

https://www.laopera.org/discover/laoathome/

Having left LA, fans arrive via Magic Opera Flying Carpet at Central City Opera (CCO), the fifth oldest opera company in the country. This weekend the Colorado company's Summer of Stars Concert will include highlights from Puccini's Tosca, Mozart's The Magic Flute and Bizet's Carmen. While enjoying the music, fans can chow down on bratwurst topped with chili, cheese, and onions. Glasses of Brown Ale, the only beverage made with Central City's native wild hops finish the meal.

https://www.cpr.org/2020/06/30/summerfest-concerts-with-central-city-opera-and-colorado-college-summer-music-festival/

Leaving the 8,510 foot elevation of Central City at midnight, the Magic Opera Flying Carpet swoops over the East Coast and begins crossing the chiaroscuro, pearl-encrusted Atlantic Ocean. Fans arrive in Italy for breakfast and disembark drinking coffee. The owner of a restaurant near the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma greets arm chair travelers with virtual platters of rigatoni carbonara, pasta with bacon and eggs. Later, readers can luxuriate in the virtual surroundings of the opera house while watching Jesús López Cobos conduct Valentina Carrasco's production of Bizet's Carmen. Veronica Simeoni, Roberto Aronica, Alexander Vinogradov, and Rosa Feola sing the leading roles.

https://www.operaroma.it/en/shows/carmen-7/

Arriving in Dublin after crossing the Alps and veering to the West, our tour sits down to locally sourced, minted lamb stew and pitchers of exquisite Irish Porter. Irish National Opera's streamed production of Handel's Acis and Galatea is a 2017 Opera Theatre Company production. Directed by Tom Creed, the show features Peter Whelan conducting the Irish Baroque Orchestra with tenor Eamonn Mulhall and soprano Susanna Fairbairn in the title roles. Acis and Galatea is sung in English and has English subtitles as well.

Actually, Irish National Opera has other fine choices that virtual travelers can enjoy this week. Readers who prefer Italian opera can watch an excellent rendition of Rossini's The Barber of Seville directed by Michael Barker-Cavan, conducted by Fergus Sheil, starring Tara Erraught as Rosina. The Barber is sung in Italian but has English subtitles.

https://www.irishnationalopera.ie/opera-online/opera-productions

Leaving the Emerald Isle, travelers enjoy Irish coffee as they begin the flight across the moonlit waves to Tel Aviv. Israeli Opera's singers have put together a program showing their individual versions of staying home to fight the COVID-19 Pandemic . . . all to the tune of the La Traviata Brindisi. Go to http://www.israel-opera.co.il and scroll down to the multi-picture video.

Re-boarding the trusty Magic Opera Flying Carpet, readers embark on a sleep-over flight to Auckland, New Zealand. Opera Vision begins a performance of Tosca at 10:00 A.M. on Friday, July 3, and will continue streaming it for the rest of 2020. Filmed for cinema release in 2015, Director Stuart Maunder updated the Tosca plot to Italy in the 1950s when the Mafia and post WWII politics had an influence. Tobias Ringborg conducted the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra with Orla Boylan in the title role and Simon O'Neill as Cavaradossi. In the first intermission, travelers can go around the block for Hokey Pokey Ice Cream, a dish based on caramelized honey comb.

https://operavision.eu/en/library/performances/operas/tosca-new-zealand-opera?utm_source=OperaVision&utm_campaign=b4c07aa8e4-ICE+BREAK+TOSCA+2020+EN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_be53dc455e-b4c07aa8e4-100557090

A quick trip on the Magic Carpet takes opera fans to Victoria, Australia, for the new chamber opera, Three Tales. Based on Trois Contes (Three Stories) by Gustave Flaubert, Daniel Keene has written the three librettos. Each story, however, has a different composer. Zac Hurren composed A Simple Heart about unrequited love. Dermot Tutty's Julien tells a hunter's tale, and Stefan Cassomenos' Herodias reveals a familiar story of sex and violence. At a nearby restaurant, virtual tour members make their final toast to the land "down under" and its fine artistry with glasses of Shiraz from Victoria's Jack Rabbit Vineyard.

https://www.victorianopera.com.au/virtual-victorian-opera

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