It's the Holiday Season

Hello, friends. I wanted to write a quick post before I headed back to the farm to spend the holidays with the crazy herd that is my family. 2008 has been a great year for me (and for you since I started this little old blog) and I'm looking forward to an even better 2009!

We're on holiday break (isn't that great?!) until Jan 5. So, I'll be back in 2009 with more fun Opera Columbus stories and Columbus treasures to share with you. Try not to miss me too much until then.

Here's wishing you the very merriest of holidays and happiest New Year.

Happiness is...

...eating at Noodles & Company (Grandview location...although I'm sure others are just as yummy)!

I've mentioned it before, but let me say it again. The OC staff loves to eat almost as much as they love opera. Our lunch destination is usually decided no later than 10:30 a.m. every day. No wonder I love these people so much! One of our very favorite places to dine is Noodles & Company. They have the most delicious, fresh and yummy dishes. The staff top picks tend to be the Pesto Cavatappi and, my personal favorite, the Wisconsin Mac & Cheese. I've heard they are both good with the Parmesan crusted chicken (sorry, Carl). And in my humble (ha ha, humble) dessert-expert opinion they have the best rice krispie treats, EVER!

The Grandview Noodles & Company has something even better than food (crazy, I know): excellent customer service. Their employees greet our staff with a smile and have come to recognize us (kinda like Cheers where everyone knows your name without the booze and add noodles). One time when Lisa wasn't hungry (crazy, yet again) she didn't order anything but a Diet Coke (FYI - don't cross Lisa if she hasn't had at least one Diet Coke. This cow learned that the hard way) Ken, the general manager, delivered the food and asked what she had ordered. When she replied nothing Ken said that wasn't right and brought her out an order of Mac & Cheese.

So, to sum it up... if you're hungry go visit our friend Ken and the rest of the Grandview Noodles & Company staff. And stop and say hi to us because we're there like, um, twice a week (seriously).

Hanging with my buddy Ken. He rocks.

Loving my yummy dessert.

Kevin & I strike a pose and dream of the delicious dish we'll order today.

Happy Holidays from Opera Columbus

As you make your year end gifts, please remember Opera Columbus.
Click here or call 614.461.8101 x17 to donate.

Holiday Fun

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Even More Holiday Fun

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Wait a Minute Mr. Postman

With eight human staff members, a blogging cow and a dog everyone has to pitch in and help out. As we often say, we are each others' support staff. Whether it's hanging up posters, picking up artists from airport or, as in Tuesday's case, completing a direct mail project everyone from the Executive Director on down rolls up their sleeves and gets to work.

I'm not gonna lie, working on big projects as a staff is a lot of fun. We laugh, talk opera, drink hot chocolate and make fun of Lisa's love for Josh Groban. And man, can we crank out a direct mail project! If the opera gig doesn't pan out we always have our mad direct mail skills on which to fall back.

Helping Lisa send things to the printer (and making
sure she doesn't blast Josh Groban's holiday album too loud)

Helping Susan fold letters. Don't forget the pledge form!
Also, are you totally loving my new sweater?
Susan made it for me. She's so talented!

Donna and I stuff envelopes. Donna also wants me to
remind you: As you make your year end gifts, please
consider Opera Columbus. Click here to donate online.

Kevin can label envelopes faster than
anyone I know. Maybe his super powers
come from his sweet handle bar mustache.

Thankful

Greetings readers! It's been an eventful (and short) week here at Opera Columbus.

In a few minutes I'm getting ready to leave the office and head back to the farm for Thanksgiving with the family (pray that I survive some of my crazy aunts and my grandmother asking me when I'm getting married - I just haven't met the right bull yet, ok).

As I sit back and think about Thanksgiving I have so much for which to be grateful. I have my health and my wonderful family. I have the best co-workers and fantastic blog readers. Plus, I'm always thankful for opera in general and the fabulous city in which I live, work and play. Speaking of great co-workers, we celebrated Eric's birthday today with a lunch at Northstar Cafe in Clintonville. I highly (HIGHLY) recommend the veggie burger. I'm told it tastes just as good as the real thing.

Enjoy the photos. Happy Thanksgiving!

With chef Matt. He was glad to hear we love Northstar!

With the adorable birthday boy, Eric.

With the handsome duo of Kevin and Eric.

With our funny and fearless leader, Press.

Susan and I know how to work the cute.

Hang on Sloopy

I've been excited all week for the big game tomorrow. I will join thousands of other OSU fans and brave the cold to root on my beloved football team. I even traded in my pearls for a beautiful buckeye necklace. Mooooooooo! Go Bucks! Beat Michigan!

We Gather Together

Yours truly (with the best head piece -
sparkles and feathers!) getting ready to dive
into the delicious bisque.

Besides loving Opera Columbus, a good party and a yummy cocktail the Opera Columbus staff is nuts for good food. On a typical day talk of "What are we having for lunch?," begins anywhere between 9:01 and 11 a.m.

On Thursday, Jeryl, OC's activities coordinator, wowed us with her culinary skills and made pumpkin bisque for the staff. To get in the mood for the fall season we decided to declare it a Pilgrim Lunch. And being opera folks we couldn't just leave it at that, we had costumes as well. I, of course, had the best headpiece and we even made one for Clooney, the office dog.

Never a dull day at the Opera Columbus office!

The Pilgrims

The Native Americans

The Pilgrims and Native Americans
gathering together for a photo op

Clooney, thrilled to be a Native American

Two adorable Native Americans begging for more food

We take our roles very seriously at the opera (and of course,
the Pilgrim ladies couldn't have boring hats, so I bedazzled
them and added shiny silver ribbon).

Kevin modeling his Pilgrim hat

It's a Celebration

I've said it before and I'm gonna say it again. Opera people like to party (hence why I love opera people). To celebrate The Pearl Fishers' opening night, Opera Columbus hosted a party at Due Amici. The evening was filled with fabulous friends, talented artists, amazing food and several delicious libations.

Wanna be a part of this fun? Don't miss our Turandot Opening Night After Party on February 20. Pencil it in, more details to come.

With Opera Columbus Board President &
all around great guy, Jay.

With Nick, from Power Shack (our artist fitness sponsor).

With Rebekah, hair stylist and make-up artist extraordinaire.

Vale recognized my talent and insisted I call my agent.
He let me use his phone and gave me some tips.
That Vale is a great guy. The next singing cow role
in opera is totally mine.

With the talented Philip.

With two of my Opera Columbus favorites - Brian and Elise.

Learning a new dance step from our choreographer, Tim.

With new fun and fabulous friend, Julia.

With OC's Director of Production and Pearl Fishers
Stage Manager, Kevin.

With Director of Marketing & PR, Lisa, and our friend, Ben.

Pearl Fishers Photo Recap

As you've read in my blog, we are very lucky to have some great partnerships. One of those partnerships is with photographer Will Shively. Will is an AMAZING photographer and takes stunning photographs of each of our operas. The photos from our most recent production were so incredible, I just had to share them with you!

So in case you missed it (and shame on you if you did) enjoy my photo recap (and, of course, my personal narration of the story).

Click the picture to go to our Flickr album

With a Tweet, Tweet Here

Please forgive me, loyal readers. After a busy week and and even busier weekend I took some vacation days to recover. But, I'm back at it and have a ton of exciting things to share.

First, let's talk about the Tweet-up. For those of you saying, "A Tweet-what?," let me explain. Some of the staff members are active on Twitter (Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that allows its users to send and read other users' updates (otherwise known as tweets), which are text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length. Thank you, Wikipedia.). Twitter allows us to share all the fun stuff that goes on behind the scenes with our friends/followers. Twitter people are cool and like to get together face-to-face thus resulting in a Tweet-up. This is a time for Tweeple (Twitter people) to network, socialize and enjoy some food.

To share our love of opera with our Twitter friends we decided to host a Tweet-up before our Pearl Fishers dress rehearsal and invite everyone to stay and watch the rehearsal. We had a great turnout with about 55 people in attendance. Special thanks to Cameron Mitchell Restaurants and The Refectory for providing us with door prizes for the event. We heard a lot of people saying it was their first opera experience and where surprised to find out how much they enjoyed it. Some of our friends even wrote a few blogs about it (to read them click here, here and here). Check out some of the great Twitter feedback here and here.

I like to start with dessert first

Posing with Twitter-er extraordinaire Rocky (@rockson)

Providing our friendly bartender with a little help

Smiling for the Camera with Jason (@blantonious)

Press and I marveling (and sampling) the
amazing food spread

Let's Go on with the Show!

It's Pearl Fishing time in Columbus! Our set has arrived, we've moved to the Ohio Theatre, the CSO is back and it's almost show time. Tonight is an exciting night because not only is it our final dress rehearsal, it's also the night of the Opera Columbus Tweet-up. I can't wait to meet all of our Twitter friends and see what they think about the artform we all love. But, I'll have more on that tomorrow.

So, I was helping Lisa with some media relations items on Monday (that girl would be lost without me) and decided to snap a few behind the scenes shots. And, after watching rehearsal, I promise you an amazing show. Order your tickets today. And just because I'm a generous bovine I'll offer you 20% off single tickets. All you have to do is call 614-469-0939 and mention you'd like a G-Type ticket. Enjoy!

Look at that marquee! I love seeing our name in lights!

Eric and I marvel and the beautiful Ohio Theatre.

Posing with Assistant Stage Manager, Alicia, on our awesome set.

Props table. Lots of fun stuff here!

This is basically command central for the Opera. From this
perch is where Stage Manager Kevin makes all the calls.

With prop man extraordinaire, James. Props are very important.

Do You Believe in Magic?

Busy doesn't even begin to describe the goings on here at Opera Columbus. It's a good busy though. There is also a certain excitement in the air. After all, The Pearl Fishers opens at the Ohio Theatre one week from today! Hooray! (Seriously, get your tickets now. Rumor has it that this is the best cast we've ever had!)

The artists have been in town for two weeks rehearsing the show. But, it takes more than just the folks on stage to make opera magic. It takes a lot of people working behind the scenes to make sure what you see on stage is the best opera possible.

So my friends, follow me on a pictorial tour of the people that make the opera magic happen.

Artist Transportation & Housing:

Here at am at with Joe of Roush Honda and Kevin, our director
of production.Roush Honda donates rental cars for our
artists to use while they're in Columbus. Looking for a
new car? Need a tune up? Wanna talk to some super
nice people? Then I suggest you visit our friends at Roush.

The whole Opera Columbus staff goes to pick up the cars and
drop them off wherever the artists are staying. Here I am
navigating for Lisa (she tends to be directionally-challenged).

I made a new friend with Nick, the manager of the hotel
where are artists are staying. He was excited to have
our talented artists stay at their hotel and asked
lots of questions about opera.

Costumes/Wardrobe:

For each opera we rent our costumes and they arrive
in boxes. I'm helping sort out all the pieces.

Once sorted, the costumes are hung up, labeled and tailored
to each performer. Donna and Wayne, our wardrobe team do a great job!

I couldn't help it, I had to try on some of the costume pieces. Don't tell.

Marketing/Advertising:

We have a great partnership with the ad agency LondyLawrence. Working
closely with Lisa, our director of Marketing & PR, they develop
creative ideas and marketing pieces. Did you see our beautiful
Season Guide? Yeah, they are the creative genius' behind it.
Looking for an ad agency that rocks? LondyLawrence is your answer.

Clooney, the Opera Dog, and I also provide marketing support.

Wigs & Makeup:

Just this week the wig and makeup team arrived. They have to design
and style about 50 wigs/hair pieces. Here I am giving Chris a few tips.

Here I am watching Christine do her design thing.

Look at all the cool wigs designed and styled by the team from
Cosmic Hair and Makeup. They are amazing and super
fun to work with, too!