* At 81, Rita Moreno is in robust good health, but she made her entrance and exit in Davies Symphony Hall on Thursday for West Side Story in a wheelchair, nursing a broken toe. The original Anita watched Jessica Vosk in the role, and after the concert she left for the airport, on her way to adding to her awards (Oscar, Tony, Emmy, Grammy, National Medal of Arts, and more) by being inducted into the Songbook Hall of Fame in Carmel, Indiana. Her fellow inductees: Frank Sinatra, Liza Minnelli, and Jimmy Webb.
* Opera Parallèle's Nicole Paiement has been elected to the Board of Directors of the national OPERA America organization, along with Madison Opera's Kathryn Smith, Utah Opera's Melia Tourangeau, and Santa Fe Opera's Charles MacKay. Next year, OPERA America's national conference will be held in San Francisco, June 20-23.
* And now, John Denver sung as opera: On Great Voices Sing John Denver, Denver's songs are performed by Plácido Domingo, Rod Gilfry, (Merola/Adler alumnus) Daniel Montenegro, Shenyang, Danielle de Niese, and René Pape. The producer is Milt Okun, likely to become the oldest Grammy nominee of all time. He is 89 and has 16 Grammy nominations already. (No win, apparently, although his 75 gold and platinum records are pretty impressive.)
* Relatively speaking, San Francisco Opera has timed the end of the summer season well, with only the last week of performances to be impacted by the Bay Area Rapid Transit strike, which makes the lives of some 400,000 would be weekdays passengers miserable. A large number of opera and symphony patrons use BART, which has a station just a couple of blocks away. At this writing, it's unknown how the Monday night Cosi fan tutte fared, but if you're heading to tonight's The Gospel of Mary Magdalene or tomorrow's The Tales of Hoffmann, be aware of thousands of additional cars on the Bay Bridge and a strict 7:30 p.m. starting time, with no late seating. It's about 90 minutes of standing tonight and 72 minutes tomorrow before intermission. Surely, by the weekend's closing performances the strike will be over. Or maybe not.
* Opera singers (not those featured on the John Denver CD) are performing in Scotland for babies. Reports The Scotsman:
Making its Fringe debut, BabyO and SensoryO will bewitch a fresh-faced crowd of nippers — aged from six months to three years — with an ambient collection of opera music performed by a professionally-trained ensemble. The interactive shows — hosted at Paterson’s Land, a new venue on Holyrood Road — are designed to pique the sensory and rhythmic instincts of infants with relaxing 30-minute acts while also helping hone their language skills.Composer and creator Rachel Drury said: "Sometimes the babies will sing back because we are using vowel sounds and patterns of music that are easy for babies to replicate. It’s a peaceful, unique way for babies and toddlers to experience opera, and a very engaging half an hour. Not many of us can say the first time we saw opera was aged six months either."