1: REMINDER: This Sunday, Dec. 12, at 3:00 PM, EST, we will offer a second video forum as a final followup to the series produced by Bel Canto Boot Camp, based on the opening section of my book, Opera as Opera. The previous forum left many viewer queries and comments unanswered—we will pick up on some of those (with more invited), with a focus on what I’ve termed The New Vocality and its implications for the future of our artform. As before, the forum will be moderated by Will Crutchfield and hosted by Eventbrite. There’s no fee for registration. The most direct route is to the BCBC home page, here. I hope you’ll join us.

2: At dermerker.com, the fine opera blog written and curated by my colleague Thomas Prochazka, a current post is: About Singing, Or: Conrad L. Osborne and Others on Chest Voice. This article is available both in German and in English translation. You’ll find many other items of interest on Der Merker’s home page, and Thomas’s site is always a great way to keep track of doings in Vienna and around the region, always from a vocally informed viewpoint.

3: ANOTHER REMINDER: Next week, on Fri., Dec. 17, I’ll be presenting a guest column by Will Crutchfield on the topic of “the New Opera problem.” Is there one, and if so why, and what can we do about it? It’s the pithiest exploration of those questions I’ve seen, all contained in a single blog post. Don’t miss it.

FINALLY: Since the release of Opera as Opera onto wider distribution, a couple of readers, here and on the Continent, have written to tell me that orders sent through Amazon are sometimes greeted with a “temporarily unavailable” notice. I am assured that these are only re-stocking incidents, and that the book is indeed obtainable through Amazon and other sanctioned vendors. However, if there’s too much of a delay, the book can always be ordered at this site, by clicking on the Opera as Opera page, or by going to the fulfillment center’s site here .

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