An opera that really stinks

We're all in Faust recovery mode, crunching numbers from the production for our board meeting this afternoon and also looking ahead excitedly to Opera in the Park 2009 on July 25 and the new season after that. It's a bit of a transitional period, so to pass the time here I offer up this interesting story from the Wall Street Journal last week: "This Opera Hasn't Even Opened, But We Know It Smells", or as the subject line of the forward read, "Stinkoletto"...

Most high-end perfumers spend months designing a signature scent they hope will stay on the market forever.

Christophe Laudamiel, who wants to turn fragrance into high art, has labored for two years on 23 scents that will last for just half an hour.

Mr. Laudamiel, a French fragrance designer who has created perfumes for Clinique, Estée Lauder, Ralph Lauren and Michael Kors, is collaborating on a "scent opera," a new performance art that pairs music with a carefully orchestrated sequence of smells, some pleasant and some real stinkers. The opera, titled "Green Aria," will test the boundaries of scent art when it opens at the Guggenheim Museum in New York May 31.