After reading a wonderful post on opera by Donald Laub at the New York Public Library blog, I borrowed a few of his faves from my own Hermitage Public Library. It's been an absolute joy to listen to this beautiful music this week. Some opera goes way over my head and I have no problem with that at all. The stories are unknown to me and I really don't care for the more bombastic pieces. And the male singers don't move me in the least.
What I do like, what does capture me in the best of ways, is the aria. The word itself is Italian for "air." I like that. It's during the pleasure of listening to a soft and beautiful aria that I feel somewhat light as air. The singers pictured above are: Anna Netrebko, Deborah Voigt, Cecilia Bartoli, Karita Mattila, Angela Gheorghiu, and Renee Fleming.
Yesterday I was listening to Karita Matilla when my daughter Ari asked me what I was listening to. I told her and she lit up upon hearing the word "aria." "That's like my name," she exclaimed cheerfully. Indeed, it is. And my life is filled with beauty.
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