there was only one person there who was a coach conducter to assist on cozivonduta, that was the operaed me if i would put the meano together and do a backstage chorus. i did. and i got bitten by the opera conducting bug then. >> rose: and what a lifetime it's given you. >> hasn't it. >> rose: yeah. this year, how would you describe what you are going to do this year. >> well, we're going to do a new production which we haven't done in many, many years. >> rose: 50 years. >> that's right. and i've done a good number of the revivals of that production that was the only one in my time. >> rose: you have described it as the creme de la creme. >> yes. >> rose: why is that? what is it about it. >> let's put it this way. if you take all of the great operatic comedies, the real great ones, if you take figero and johnny skeki and the done pascale and eli zeer, and you take all the human comedies, with or above the best of them is falstaff, falstaff is just a miracle of libretto, of story line, of musical inspiration, of master, mastery of every detail of composition. it's in a class of figero