So, opera. Yeah. For those of you who might not be familiar with it, it can be pretty intimidating. I say that because that was me when I started college: totally intimidated. Worse, I was totally uninterested. I knew nothing about opera except that it was usually sung in foreign languages. Sure, I’d played classical violin for 15 years or so, but I’d never really listened to opera. Never been interested in listening, either. So at age 19, I listened to my first opera recording after someone suggested I had the kind of voice needed to sing opera. It was a recording of Bizet’s “Carmen,” a super-sexy opera about a woman who works in a cigarette factory in Spain and seduces a naïve young military man.
That’s when I figured out that operas, for the most part, were really like the soap operas that were named after them. They’re over the top romances and dramas, many with not so happy endings, with larger than life characters. Go see an opera today, and you’ll likely either hear it in English or you’ll have supertitles or even subtitles in the back of the seat in front of you. Opera singers more than not look the parts now. The “it’s not over until the fat lady sings” is pretty much dead.
Don’t believe me? Check out this short and sexy clip from Bizet’s “The Pearlfishers” (which, btw, Aiden sings in “Aria” ). True opera bromance: That would be Aiden on the right (the baritone). Yummy! No fat opera singers in sight, and oh, those abs! What are they singing about? You’ll laugh. Classic opera angst. Both men love the same woman. They start off by singing about her, then swear to each other than she won’t come between their friendship. Right. Then the tenor gets together with the woman (so much for swearing eternal brotherhood), and the baritone (Aiden) must step in to save both the tenor and soprano’s lives. The baritone dies in the effort, but he does save them. My thoughts: they should have just dumped the chick and had their own HEA. But hey, I write gay romance, so that’s the way my brain works.
Want to hear what I sounded like when I was singing? Here’s a clip of me singing “Tosca”, in case you’re interested. You can purchase a copy of Aria and the other books in the Blue Notes Series books at Dreamspinner Press.