Out West Arts: Performance at the end of the world

Or, what I did on my summer vacation. I just got back to LA and am running a little behind on my posts, but here are a couple of recordings I picked up on the trip I thought I'd mention. I know what you're thinking- another Handel aria CD? Yes they do seem omnipresent but Marijana Mijanovic's voice is too interesting to ignore. Unusually deep and rich, her voice and performances have been making a splash in Europe. Although I believe she has had relatively few US appearances so far, she was in LA in 2006 with Bernard Labadie and Les Violons du Roy and was absolutely great. If you don't know her yet, you may want to check her out here.
















On the opera front, I'm gearing up for LA Opera's new "Recovered Voices" initiative under James Conlon and the upcoming season's American Premiere of Zemlinsky's Der Zwerg which he has conveniently recorded for all of us with a cast that includes Soile Isokoski and David Kuebler. Well, I'll have more to say in the next few days about the last few London events so stay tuned.