Michael Anthonio’s love affairs with classical music and opera started in primary school, when his parents bought him an organ and he began taking lessons. During high school and college, he gave private organ lessons to some of his parents’ friends’ kids (for pocket money) and he was church organist and later, choir conductor. In 1999 he moved to Singapore where he got involved with the classical music online website “flying inkpot.” His interest in opera became an obsession when he was transferred for work to US in 2008. In addition to enjoying world-class opera in SF, he indulges in opera tours in Europe. His favorite opera composer is Handel; at this point, Michael seen 24 of his operas , with hopefully three more coming next year.
One of the few the surviving operas of Giovanni Legrenzi, the 1675 La divisione del mondo (The Division of the World) was presented by Opéra Royal Versailles last weekend (seen on 4/13). 
In 1875, William Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan had their first ever success with their one act comic opera, Trial by Jury, originally written as a companion piece to Jacques Offenbach‘s La Périchole in London. Trial by Jury eventually overrun its more popular companion, and subsequently launched one of the most successful collaborations in the opera world, the 13 so-called “Savoy operas,” which include The Mikado, Pirates of Penzance and H.M.S. Pinafore. 
Teatro Real continued their 200 years’ celebration on Sunday by premiering a piece that they have never done before, Francesco Cavalli’s opera La Calisto. 
Cher Public