“Believe you me, there is a lot of drama in the opera world, and you have to rise above it …. I really don’t get into the drama. … I don’t cause scandals and I don’t throw fits. For me, the thing to be admired is to be on time, be prepared and to give it 100 percent.” That’s Jennifer Larmore speaking “with a faint Southern accent” to The Cincinnati Enquirer. The mezzo firmly asserts “she’s not a diva” in the very first paragraph of the piece.

Interestingly, there are lots of numbers in this article — such as 500 (times Larmore claims to have sung Rosina), 90 (pounds she has lost in the past four years since gall bladder surgery) and, alas, 15 (top ticket price, in dollars, for her recital tonight University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music; students get in free). La Cieca will to the reader to explain why, sometimes at least, it may better to be a diva after all.