I've finally found an really excellent open-source video ripping program. That means lots more videos from recitals and other live opera performances. Are y'all clappin' that ass? If not, then get ready (I've some clips from Sonnambula, Semiramide, and Armida, and Poppea slated for the next few weeks).

Today I got around to uploading the final few arias from a recital Ewa Podleś did in her patria of Poland in 1998. You've probably caught bits of it if you've looked her up on YouTube, but I've put all the pieces in order and into a playlist so that you can sit back and watch her flip-top head and listen to her when she goes spelunking in the deep, dark caves of chest voice and sails into those intense top notes (which, appropriately, are not overloaded and over-darkened the way even many mezzos make them today, to their detriment). And of course, there's the gung-ho grace of her coloratura. I get the feeling that in the "Una voce poco fa" (just added today), she's coming from a very real place. But I think my real sense of kinship to her is her fearlessness with gold lamé (which comes into play for every Eastern European and Russian around Christmas, when those people will send out the gaudiest, most ornate and gilded holiday cards).

Enjoy (and be jealous that we get her in Giulio Cesare this season)!

Oh, and if you haven't noticed my upcoming peformance calendar on the right, you should know that I'm attending Seattle Opera's first annual International Wagner Competition tomorrow night. Even if the singers turn out to be less-than-stellar, Seattle Opera deserves a giant applause for stirring excitement with a big new move like this. Speight Jenkins says the company's having money problems, but you'd never know; it's been putting on consistently good shows, with always an excellent star or at least a worthwhile new discovery in the cast and compelling stagework. I hope this new competition puts Seattle even more on the operatic map and re-engages the public in a process that has traditionally been behind closed doors and transports it to the world of (I hate to say it) American Idol. No one can deny the thrill of watching the moment a young person or a novice has suddenly metamorphosed into a true success.

I'll have a full report Sunday.