Arthur Shapiro wrote:

In article , "EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)" wrote:
I posted the following to my travel and opera newsgroups, who probably
can be of more help from a practical standpoint.

Wow...what a story. And I thought travelling from California to Chicago for a
piano recital was fairly heavy-duty!

Purrs from here, of course. Is there any possibility that the Swiss embassy
might have some clout, even for a non-citizen?

I'm curious, if it isn't a state secret, who the singer in question might be.

His name is Jose Van Dam - he's a very fine Belgian bass-baritone, well
known in Europe and on the East Coast of the U.S. - not quite so well in
the Western states. He doesn't sing much opera in the U.S. any more
(understandable, since it's much easier to have BOTH a career and a home
life in Europe, and SFAIK, he's a happily married man), but that means
if I want to hear him in opera, I must go where he is singing it.