SDT has done it for years. Now SLO is going to try. I'm talking performances in the park, au naturel, under the stars, pinic baskets, wine in hand, you know what I mean.

The Lyric Opera is doing its inaugural Opera in the Park at the Palm Valley at Botanics next weekend and unlike Ballet Under the Stars, it's free.

I've only seen recorded broadcasts of opera outdoors; the last one I saw was Anna Netrebko and the Berlin Philharmonic at the Berlin Waldbuehne in front of 15,000 people. All I'll say is, even if it was a bit disconcerting to see the beads of sweat on the singer's face, I really wanted to be there.

There's no Russian soprano or Simon Rattle conducting here but I'm definitely going.