Once again the Friday afternoon news dump reveals the Byzantine means by which the honchos and honchesses who rule the world of opera attain and consolidate their power.

At 4:48 pm yesterday, a time when any self-respecting arts journalist might be expected to have crawled long since into his or her respective gin bottle, the Lyric Opera of Chicago announced that Alexandra Day has been appointed to the newly created position of director of public relations. Who is this Alexandra Day, you ask? Why, she currently serves as personal manager and press representative for Renée Fleming, the company’s recently annointed Czarina of Creative Consulting.  [Chicago Classical Review]