University of Southern California

The University of Southern California (USC or SC) is a private, not-for-profit, and nonsectarian research university founded in 1880 with its main campus in the city area of Los Angeles, California. As California's oldest private research university, USC has historically educated a large number of the region's business leaders and professionals. In recent decades, the university has also leveraged its location in Los Angeles to establish relationships with research and cultural institutions throughout Asia and the Pacific Rim. An engine for economic activity, USC contributes approximately $5 billion annually to the economy of the Los Angeles county area.

For the 2014-2015 academic year, there were 18,740 students enrolled in four-year undergraduate programs. USC is also home to 23,729 graduate and professional students in a number of different programs, including business, law, engineering, social work, and medicine. The university has a "very high" level of research activity and received $687 million in sponsored research from 2014 to 2015. Multiple rankings list the University of Southern California as being among the top 25 universities in the United States.

Southern California

Southern California, often abbreviated SoCal, is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises California's southernmost 10 counties. The region is traditionally described as "eight counties", based on demographics and economic ties: Imperial, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, Santa Barbara, and Ventura. The more extensive 10-county definition, including Kern and San Luis Obispo counties, is also used based on historical political divisions. Southern California is a major economic center for the state of California and the United States.

The 8- and 10-county definitions are not used for the greater Southern California Megaregion, one of the 11 megaregions of the United States. The megaregion's area is more expansive, extending east into Las Vegas, Nevada, and south across the Mexican border into Tijuana.

Caramoor Summer Music Festival

The Caramoor Summer Music Festival is a music festival founded in 1945 that is held on the 90-acre (360,000 m²) estate of the Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts Inc., which includes a Mediterranean-style stucco villa and is located about 50 miles (80 km) north of New York City in Katonah, New York.

The Caramoor estate became a centre for the arts and music following the World War II death of the son of its owners, Walter and Lucie Rosen. The couple donated the property in their son's memory, and it quickly became an established summer festival. Performances are given in the Spanish Courtyard of the house and in the 1,700-seat Venetian Theater, a tented facility on the grounds. The Music Room in the house is also used for year-round concerts.

For the past eight years, the opera focus has been Bel Canto at Caramoor, with explorations of the bel canto repertoire under the direction of the conductor, Will Crutchfield. Semi-staged performances of such rarities (for the New York area) as Rossini's Otello and Donizetti's Elisabetta (the manuscript of which was discovered and then reconstructed by Crutchfield). Other innovative approaches to bel canto have resulted in 2005 productions of La sonnambula where the tenor's role was sung in the original keys and a La traviata where the majority of the standard cuts were restored.

Metropolitan Opera

Coordinates: 40°46′22″N 73°59′3″W / 40.77278°N 73.98417°W / 40.77278; -73.98417

The Metropolitan Opera, commonly referred to as "the Met", is a company based in New York City, resident at the Metropolitan Opera House at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager. The music director is James Levine. It was founded in 1880 as an alternative to the previously established Academy of Music opera house.

The Metropolitan Opera is the largest classical music organization in North America. It presents about 27 different operas each year in a season which lasts from late September through May. The operas are presented in a rotating repertory schedule with up to seven performances of four different works staged each week. Performances are given in the evening Monday through Saturday with a matinée on Saturday. Several operas are presented in new productions each season. Sometimes these are borrowed from or shared with other opera houses. The rest of the year's operas are given in revivals of productions from previous seasons. The 2012-13 season comprised 209 performances of 28 operas.