[This is a guest post by Gianmarco Segato, retail and editorial co-ordinator. Gianmarco, together with Gianna Wichelow, is the voice of the COC in our Podcasts]

For our latest podcast we had the privilege of chatting with Lotfi Mansouri, General Director of the COC from 1976 to 1988. He was in town to work with the current members of our Ensemble Studio (pictured on the right/left with Lotfi). Mr. Mansouri has enjoyed a fascinating, multi-faceted career as a singer, stage director, impresario and teacher. Among many topics, he spoke with us about his early days as a tenor while studying pre-med at UCLA; his beginnings as an opera director in Europe; his many achievements with the COC; and his tenure as general director of San Francisco Opera. His memoirs, Lotfi Mansouri, An Operatic Journey, have recently been published by Northeastern University Press. We’ll be offering a free, signed copy of this vastly entertaining story to one of our lucky blog readers or podcast listeners. All you have to do is comment on this blog post on between June 23 and 29 telling us what you think of the podcast, and we’ll choose a winner (the winner will be announced in this comment thread, so check back to find out how to contact us and claim the prize). Now sit back and listen to a master raconteur give you the inside scoop on his brilliant career!

Photo: (l - r) Michael Uloth, Simone Osborne, Ambur Braid, Lotfi Mansouri, Wallis Giunta, Neil Craighead, Ileana Montalbetti, Christopher Enns, Rihab Chaieb, Adrian Kramer