Starlets of the coming season

If you didn't catch the interview about our upcoming season on KUHF 88.7 FM this afternoon, you can still listen to it by clicking on The Front Row

And I'm delighted to share some other news. Both Ava Pine and Jamie Barton, our two soloists for the Sept 19 Ars Lyrica season opener, have been getting rave reviews for their summer opera work around the country. Ava is currently appearing in the Wolf Trap Opera production of Handel's "Alcina," which you can read about in the Washington Post and the
Ionarts Blogspot.

Jamie's Susuki in "Madame Butterfly" in St Louis got some great press as well. Read all about it in the Dallas Morning News and
the St Louis Post-Dispatch.

And here's a marvelous picture of Ava, as the Angel in "Angels in America" in Fort Worth earlier this summer.

A Turkish Holiday

Just back from a couple of weeks in Turkey, which Sixto and I highly recommend for anyone who has never been. We were on the Mediterranean coast for the better part of a week with some good friends from Houston: Robin Angly and Miles Smith, plus her sister Phoebe and son Hart, and their step-sister Allison. We all spent several days in Istanbul as well, and Sixto and I stopped for a few days in Amsterdam on the return.

The pic is of me, Robin and Allison at Saklikent Gorge, which offers a spectacular hike through some icy cold (and fast-moving!) water amid great rock formations.

The scenery on the coast reminded me of the Amalfi coast in Italy, though Turkey has Hellenistic and Roman ruins virtually everywhere you turn. The beaches are wonderful, as is the water and the food. Istanbul is a paradise for historical tourism and shopping; the mosques and the Grand Bazaar have to be seen to be believed! (Yes, we bought rugs and leather jackets...great prices for wonderful things!)

For the complete tour, go to Sixto's gallery of the trip: www.picasaweb.google.com/sixwag