Ypa! (That's Hurray! in Russian)

Yes! I have a new opera convert! I managed to talk my 52 year-old sister in Edmonton into seeing an opera for the first time in her life - The rebroadcast of the Met's La Fille du Régiment today. And she LOVED it! (I find it hard to imagine how anyone wouldn't.) In any case, I am sure that my sister will now see many more operas; indeed, she called right after she got home, and said that she was dying to go to one live now. I think these Met broadcasts are the cat's pyjamas. A number of our friends have been introduced to opera this way, and they have - to a person - enjoyed the experience. Brad and I are thinking of going back to NYC next March to see Sonnambula (the Sleep Walker, appropriate in my case!) Coincidentially, it will also be featuring Natalie Dessay and Juan Diego Florez. Maybe we'll meet my sister there and make a week of it!

In honour of my new convert, I give you Diana Damrau singing the Queen of the Night aria from Mozart's The Magic Flute (Die Zauberflöte), which is, I think, my all-time favourite sporano aria: