I learned a lot during my GRAMMY Week^® about what it means to be ‘in the media.’ (Media? Little ol’ me? Hey, I have a couple of souvenir media credentials to prove it! 😉 ) Last Wednesday, before the GRAMMY Salute to Classical event honoring Placido Domingo, I got to hang out in the media room, waiting to speak with the maestro himself. There were two TV journalists, flanked by camera operators, and two print reporters with their miniature voice recorders. And then there was me, trying to look like I knew what I was doing!

While waiting my turn to interview Domingo, I had a chance to chat with a charming young couple from L.A.’s opera scene.

José Adán Pérez was one of the four singers who performed in tribute to Domingo during the evening’s program. He gave a breathtaking rendition of the Zarzuela aria, “Amor, Vida de Mi Vida,” by Federico Moreno Torroba, which I wrote about last week. I’m sad to report that I can’t find video of this performance on grammy.com or the GRAMMYs YouTube channel, though there is a brief video recap of Salute to Classical here.

Below is a video of José singing the piece on another occasion. It was even better with orchestral backup, though… Well, you’ll just have to take my word for it!

The lucky woman who gets to be serenaded by that thrilling baritone voice is Kimberly Henshaw, who works in Communications and Public Relations at L.A. Opera. I talked to Kimberly about the company’s recently announced 2010-2011 season. And I was excited to learn that it opens with the premiére of Il Postino, based on the 1994 film of the same name, with music by composer Daniel Catán. Any guesses as to who will sing the role of the poet Pablo Neruda? 😉

I also learned this fun fact: the L.A. Opera has only been around for about 20 years now. That may sound like a long time — it does stretch back into the last century, after all — but as major cultural institutions go, I think it’s pretty young. Congrats to them for how well they’ve established themselves in such a short time!

Stay tuned for more Tales from the GRAMMYs! 😀