by Angela Rocco DeCarlo Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, Costa Mesa, CA Renée Fleming is a big deal. The opera soprano is celebrated for her beauty, charming grace and acclaimed vocal talents.   She will be performing with the Pacific Symphony orchestra, conductor Carl St. Clair, in Orange County September 13, 8 p.m., at theRenée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, singing a varied program including songs from the Rogers & Hammerstein musical "The King and I," as well as opera favorites such as Leoncavello's "Mattinata," and Mozart's Overture to "The Abduction from the Seraglio."  Of particular anticipation will be her presentation of Richard Strauss's hauntingly beautiful "Four Last Songs."               Renée Fleming  is someone who should be on everyone's "bucket list" of great performers to see in person. Her repertoire of dozens of operas has taken her to opera houses all over the world. Yet, she continues to add to her artistic endeavors with recitals and mentoring budding opera artists with master classes while sending opera into the Chicago community of public schools. She serves as creative consultant to Lyric Opera of Chicago.               This September 13th Fleming recital is a stellar opportunity to experience the very best musical entertainment by a performer at her peak. It will be an evening of glistening music, with something special for everyone.    Fleming is the "gold medal" ...

by Angela Rocco DeCarlo Let's face it. A tea party is a fantasy experience. It is presented in a frou-frou environment and the food can best be described as "doll food." Often good, but diminutive. Nonetheless, it is my favorite meal, aside from Chicago deep dish pizza. As my granddaughter Serritella Danielle DeCarlo's "Golden Birthday" was upon me I felt a tea party was the perfect way to celebrate her. She became eleven on July eleventh. An artist, dancer and writer who looks like she stepped out of a fresco in ancient Pompeii, not far from where her great-grandmother, Vita Serritella, was born in 1903, before coming to America in 1911. I began my search for a proper tea room in the city of Orange...a local place fit the bill, alas, no openings and parking is quite dicey. Tried polling pals for suggestions, but then my husband searched online and found Pamela's Tea Room, Garden Grove, CA, which was the best location at the 405 and 22, for guests coming from Huntington Beach, Long Beach and LA. It turned out to be a marvelous find. Having taken tea at many swanky places I can say when done well lit is a lot of fun, especially if you favor a light repast with a variety of textures and flavors in ...

Puccini's Turandot Soars: Pacific Symphony Feb. 18, 20 & 23 Renee and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall Costa Mesa, CA Giacomo Puccini's final opera, "Turandot,' debut 1926, librettists, Giuseppe Adami and Renato Simoni, at La Scala opera house, Milan, Italy, is admirably showcased with the wizardry of Pacific Symphony's imaginative concert production running February 18, 20 and 23, at the Segerstrom Concert Hall, Costa Mesa, California.   It is a show that surprises, entertains, delights and thrills to the combined talents of singers, orchestra, video designers and dancers. With the full orchestra on-stage, conducted by Carl St. Clair, the Pacific Chorale arrayed above, the Southern California Children's Chorus, adding unexpected luminary delights and video images of China reminiscent of Hollywood Cinemascope.   Directed by Eric Einhorn, "Turnadot" grabs the audience in an embrace of extraordinary Puccini music, Including the world-famous aria "Nessun dorma," sung by Prince Calaf, played by tenor, Marc Heller, as he promises himself victory in winning the princess. The aria has become known as the signature for the late Italian tenor Luciano Pavarotti.   Based upon a 12th century Persian fairy tale, "Turandot" (the final t is pronounced) transported to ancient China, where the Princess Turandot lives imprisoned in self-imposed hatred of men seemingly to avenge the abduction and murder of her ancestor of a thousand years ago. Not really a love story in the ...

  Nearly everyone enjoys magic. When done well. As a journalist I’ve covered many such shows, for decades, including those at Los Angeles’ Magic Castle and the late, great, Harry Blackstone, Jr.’s stage shows, to name a few. The best word to encapsulate those experiences is: delightful. Magic shows have the power to lift one’s spirits in powerful ways to relax and allow the wonder of the unknown to transport the audience to another realm. Segerstrom Hall, Segerstrom Centerfor the Arts, Costa Mesa, California, is featuring a magic show, The Illusionists –Live From Broadway. I couldn’t wait to see it. It spotlights seven key performers and a bevy of female and male attendants. There are plenty of stunning effects, but some of the performers reek of the dark side, which is apparently their schtick, but is a long way from tuxedo-clad practitioners of yore. From the onset there seemed to be a current that was uncomfortable to me. Too much grittiness, hint of violence and some things downright creepy. The show runs from Feb. 3, to 7th. Then moves on to the Pantages Theater, Los Angeles. In case anyone wonders – what is the difference between an illusion and a trick I’ll offer this: usually an illusion conjures a back-story, is complicated, with some surprise woven into it…Such as Andrew ...

by Angela Rocco DeCarlo Flying low over the Chicago lakefront kindles pride and joy at once again returning home. I always think: Leonardo DaVinci would have given anything to be in my seat. Poor thing...he believed it was possible, but missed the chance by 400 years. First-time visitors to Chicago may be unprepared for the splendor seen from an airplane seat on the way to O'Hare. And that is nothing compared to the delights of Michigan Avenue and the sprawling museum campus along the lakefront with the Field Museum of Natural History, Museum of Science and Industry, Adler Planetarium, Aquarium and the jewel in the tiara, the Art Institute of Chicago at Michigan and Monroe. The breathtaking expanse of blue Lake Michigan waters cheek to jowl with sandy beaches, Navy Pier, all crowned with beautiful evocative skyscrapers is nothing short of thrilling, even for a native, currently living in exile in the shadow of Disneyland. Having covered travel, with my column, The Business Traveler, and other articles, I've seen my share of cities in America and Europe...and in my view, none can compare to the visual beauty of Chicago's combination of open skies, majestic buildings and startling quality of summer light, akin to ...

By Mark DeCarlo There's a place, just north of DTLA, where Angelenos - or visitors - can have an immersive experience of a fantastic meal, a tasting tour of a winery, and get a history lesson on LA's early wine making pioneers. And its been there over 98 years. Hidden along the industrial streets of the warehouse district, Los Angeles' San Antonio Winery has been making wine since 1917, surviving prohibition only by becoming a sanctioned wine maker for the Catholic Church... amen! Today, the renovated, working winery and restaurant embraces its heritage and boasts some of California's least known, yet finest wines. Yes way, dude. Winemaking in LA. Totally awesome. Anthony Riboli is the first member of the fourth generation to join the family business. He is also the first family member to have received a formal degree in winemaking and grape growing from the University of California, Davis. Winemaker Arnaud Debons worked in the Bordeaux and Cahors regions of France after graduating from the prestigious winemaking program at the University of Toulouse in France. He brings his expert tastebuds to San Antonio Winery and we get spoiled as we taste triumph with every sip and bite. Daily wine tours and tastings offer an authentic ...

By Angela Rocco DeCarlo "Sinatra Sings Sinatra, as I Remember It" Music and Life Story performed by his son, Frank Sinatra, Jr. Segerstrom Hall, Costa Mesa Saturday, May 2, 2015   Frank Sinatra arrived 100 years ago and for the better part of the last century he was in the limelight in films, stage performances and recorded music...How fortunate for fans we live in an age when the best of Sinatra can be conjured electronically and presented onstage, as it will be Saturday night for the show's world premiere at the Segerstrom Concert Hall, Costa Mesa, California. His son, Frank Jr, has created "Sinatra Sings Sinatra, as I remember It," to remind us what is now missing from the cultural arena. Back in Chicago when my father-in-law took our three school age sons to see Frank Sinatra, my husband and I couldn't be bothered. So the four DeCarlo men became a band of brothers seeing as many shows as possible while we continued to ignore him. That was until Frank Sinatra opened a new outdoor theater on the far South Side of Chicago and I had an assignment to cover it. Well, sitting in the sixth row, so close I marveled at his perfectly creased midnight blue tuxedo trousers, which ...

For nearly a quarter of a century, a small group of Nikola Tesla faithful have gathered in Brockport, N.Y., just a few miles from where the Serbian electrical genius helped to engineer the world’s first hydroelectric generating plant and forever established the superiority of alternating current for electrical distribution. They meet to pay homage to the inventor. Ed Wingate’s Tesla coil laboratory. The coil itself is at the right. The exposed 1/2-inch copper tubing forming the primary winding is visible at bottom. The secondary winding consists of 200 turns of #10 TFFN and is covered with an insulating layer to prevent arcing to the primary. A large diameter copper pipe connects the secondary of the coil to the “magnifier” or secondary resonator on the left. The torodial “capacity hat” and discharge terminal is 56 inches in diameter. The occasion is a “Teslathon” sponsored in the late summer by Tesla enthusiast Ed Wingate. Admission is limited to a few dozen persons and some travel thousands of miles to pay homage to Tesla and witness the unleashing of manmade thunderbolts in Wingate’s lab.TESLA AND RADIO While Tesla’s name is associated with generating extremely electricity of extremely high voltage, some argue that he should be called ...

A note of thanks to Pacific Symphony and Music Director Carl St. Clair for keeping opera alive in Orange County since Opera Pacific's abrupt demise, November, 2008, leaving we docents, who doted on bringing opera education to schools throughout the area, adrift. Georges Bizet's smoldering "Carmen" is the fourth in the "Symphonic Voices" series, which began with a luminous concert production of Puccini's "La Boheme" in 2012. "Tosca" and "La Traviata" followed, bringing superb stagecraft to bereft opera audiences. "Boheme" demonstrated an audience could be transported into an opera with bare minimum set, as long as there were singers who could bring the characters to life with beautiful voices and impassioned acting. Of course, it is the music which ignites the flame which warms the soul and stirs audience empathies. "Carmen" is among the most performed operas since its Paris debut in 1875, at the Opera Comique, where it has repeated nearly 3,000 times, or an average of once every two weeks for the past 140 years. It is a simple story, set in Seville, Spain, in the early 19th century, when Spain strictly controlled the production of tobacco products. The local cigarette factory is guarded by military where Don Jose, a duty-bound ...

Most Amazing Honeymoon Suites Photo: Courtesy of InterContinental Hotels & Resorts Newlyweds will surely find bliss in these far-flung romantic retreats (though they might be paying back the bills for a lifetime).   When agent Anne Morgan Scully of McCabe World Travel honeymooned inHawaii almost 40 years ago, the height of luxury was a clamshell sink and a humble hot tub. Fast-forward a few decades and things are decidedly more extravagant for newlyweds in resort land. “The expectation of what a honeymoon suite should be has changed enormously,” says Scully, who regularly counsels couples on finding fabulous vacation destinations across the world. “It’s not only a matter of size but of having all the bells and whistles.” Today’s top honeymoon suites, in her book, offer amenities such as private pools, sunken Jacuzzis, outdoor showers, and “major” terraces. “The terraces are getting bigger than the rooms,” she says. Given the odds that this trip could be the most expensive and extravagant of a couple’s life together, Scully also stresses that being fussed over is high on the list of expectations for modern honeymooners: “Couples are very aware of whether the hotel staff ‘get them’ and are turned on to how much attention or privacy they need.” So we went ...