Luciano Pavarotti was certainly no one hit wonder, but for many people outside of the classical music world, it's his performance of "Nessun Dorma" that they know. Apart from his incredible "likeness" factor, there is one major reason why Pavarotti and "Nessun Dorma" are synonymous. Find out why.

Who can forget the tune of "O Sole Mio?" Not many, I'm sure. The famous tune has been around for over 100 years, and has been performed by thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of people since its creation. Though most of us can sing it, do you really know how the song was created and why? Well, wonder no more. In this "O Sole Mio" profile, you'll learn the history and some rather surprising facts about this popular song.

As I blogged this time last year, there is a brand new $400+ million concert hall being built about an hour south of the town I grew up in and it's much closer to being completed. Kansas City's Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts is well under construction and is scheduled to open its doors next season. View the construction photos. The Kauffman Center includes a 1,800 seat proscenium theater and and 1,600 seat concert hall, both of which were meticulously designed to create near perfect acoustics as well as provide optimal viewing for every seat in the house. Hopefully, their design works. Avery Fisher Hall in New York City has been upgraded several times since its original construction, and sadly it is still criticized for its poor acoustics. I have good faith that the Kauffman Center's acoustics will be fantastic, given that the same firm (Nagata Acoustics and project chief Yasuhisa Toyota) who designed the acoustics for Los Angeles' Walt Disney Concert Hall, praised for its excellent sound, is also designing Kansas City's. Again, let's hope it works!

Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, founded in 1948, is a six week celebration of opera held in late June through July in Southern France (Aix-en-Provence). With average temperatures in the mid 80s, those fortunate enough to attend the outdoor concerts in the Théâtre de l'Archévêché (the former garden of the archbishop's palace) enjoy warm evenings with great music and theater. What's that you say? You can't make it to France? Don't worry. For the first time in the festival's history, the July 10th performance of Mozart's Idomeno, Rè di Creta (Idomeneo, King of Crete) will be rebroadcast on July 16th in New York City. I know, traveling to New York may still be a bit of a stretch (especially for just one opera), but those of you that will be there on vacation anyway or happen to live in the area, or those of you who can't live without opera especially now that the Met is in its off season, you can attend the performance at The French Institute Alliance Française (FIAF) located at 55 East 59th Street. For more information, including ticket purchasing, visit FIAF.