From the movie FAME to the MET, Maestro Gregory Buchalter has been creating fantastic music in fantastic places his whole life. We first met in New York, but recorded this episode after our performances of La Boheme with Opera Fairbanks - in Alaska! Greg will head back there soon for a new production of Carmen, starring Patricia Risley. To follow his career: www.gregorybuchalter.com

I traveled to Fairbanks Alaska this past summer and was fortunate to have the amazing, young stage director, Jonathon Loy, to guide me in my first Rodolfo! He's a regular at the Metropolitan Opera, but has also worked in a wide range of houses, including Cincinnati Opera, Opera Memphis, Seattle Opera and more. To follow his career: http://www.jonathonloy.com/

It was a great pleasure to work with American legend, Erie Mills, this past winter at the Metropolitan Opera. Famous for her amazing soprano, she has recently transitioned into the world of voice teacher and english diction specialist. She is regularly invited to consult in this area by opera companies such as the MET, Santa Fe Opera, and Opera Theater of St. Louis. She's a delightful colleague, a stickler for doing it right, and was kind enough to join me before a performance to talk about these various phases of her opera life. To follow her career, please visit her website: http://eriemills.com/ This is a re-release containing a fix for a previous audio error.

I met German bass, Mario Klein, during our years at the Bayreuth Festival. He is currently an ensemble member of the Staatstheater Kassel. Mario is a major audiophile, lover of the theater, and an all around good guy! To keep track of his career, please visit his website: http://www.klein-speyer.de/mario0.html

Richard Wagner wrote three operas in the early part of his career that are not performed in the Bayreuth Festival. I'm currently performing one of them (DAS LIEBESVERBOT) in Frankfurt, and met Brazilian soprano, Camila Ribero-Souza on twitter when she tweated about her upcoming performances of these lesser known Wagner operas. Camila's pursuit of singing has led her from Brazil to England and now to Germany where she is fest at the theater in Meiningen. To follow her career: http://www.camilariberosouza.com or visit her on facebook!

Jonathan Estabrooks is a young and upcoming baritone from Canada. He's a recent graduate of Julliard and a fellow podcaster and innovative young man. In this episode, we talk a lot about technology and ways in which it is impacting the opera world. Click here to follow his video podcast, A Singer's Life. To stay up to date on Jonathan's career, please visit his facebook fanpage.

After a delay for technical reasons, the website is working again! I first met Gary and Yanyu when I moved to Mannheim, but they are well known to many in the U.S. for their time in the U.S. Gary Kudo is a coach and Yanyu is a dramatic mezzo-soprano. Their story is a truly international one, for Yanyu, beginning in China. It's also a family affair as they watch their son grow into a musician of his own right.

Chris Murray gets into much greater detail about differences between musical theater and the opera world in this second part of our interview. He is well known in Germany as a star of the musical theater stage, but he hails from a highly operatic family. If you missed the first part, start with Ep053. To follow Chris' career or find links to purchase his cds: http://chris-murray.de/

Tenor, Chris Murray, is a big star in the musical theater scene of Germany. He's currently working in Innsbruck on a new work titled SHYLOCK! But he has proven himself in countless other roles. Chris is the son of William Murray and brother of John Horton Murray, both acclaimed opera singers. In this and episode 54, Chris offers up his challenging perspective as someone who enjoys a viewpoint of both an insider and outsider. To follow his career or find the best location to download his cds: http://chris-murray.de/

Young American conductor, Joseph Trafton, is one of the principal conductors at the Nationaltheater Mannheim. We met there and got to know each other on the podcast! To learn more about his career: http://joetrafton.com/