Dining and the Opera in Manhattan (Menus and Music, Vol. 8) [Hardcover]

Sharon O'Connor (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1994

Stars of the Metropolitan Opera join 21 of Manhattans finest French and Italian restaurants to create an evening to remember! Home cooks will find recipes that are perfect for intimate suppers or festive dinner parties. Dinner guests will enjoy more than an hour of beautiful arias performed by Beverly Sills, Leontyne Price, and Placido Domingo.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Sharon O'Connor is a San Francisco-based musician and entrepreneur who matches delectable recipes from significant restaurants with music to suit them in one convenient package. The result is a fine gift idea--or a nice treat for anyone who likes to check out menus (or even try whipping up a few recipes) while listening to good music. Most of O'Connor's previous productions featured her own San Francisco String Quartet; this book comes instead with a compact disc of arias (in older recordings by outstanding artists now, for the most part, retired) chosen by members of the Metropolitan Opera Guild. The recipes are from assorted high-profile Manhattan restaurants. And though the disc opens with the "Brindisi," or drinking song, from Verdi's La Traviata, most of the other selections have little or nothing to do with food and beverages--or their consumption. No matter, it's still a lot of fun. One warning: the cookbook itself contains the only guide to the identity of the voices on the CD, and that can be somewhat aggravating for listeners with only the CD in hand trying to figure out just which tenor or soprano is performing. --Sarah Bryan Miller

About the Author

Sharon OConnor was the first person ever to pair a cookbook with music. What seems like a simple ideafood and music are a natural combinationis actually the culmination of years of life experience. As OConnor puts it, Menus and Music has packaged up my life.

After graduating from the University of California at Berkeley with degrees in music and sociology, O'Connor trained at the renowned Amsterdam Conservatory of Music. She began her career as a performer with the San Francisco Ballet and Opera and has worked with famed performers such as Frank Sinatra, Van Morrison, Tony Bennett and Linda Ronstadt. She has also recorded with the American Conservatory Theater, Aretha Franklin, John Williams, and for numerous Hollywood film scores. She continued her musical career as the founder and cellist of the San Francisco String Quartet.

A lifelong amateur chef, OConnor began looking for a way to combine her loves for music, food, travel, and writing. Twelve years ago, while driving across the San Francisco Bay Bridge after a performance with her string quartet, she came up with the idea for Menus and Music.

Now, fourteen volumes later, O'Connor OConnor travels the world to research each cookbook and is an expert in adapting recipes from professional chefs for the home cook. Equal time is devoted to meeting with other musicians, mixing, arranging, editing, and performing the musical selections on the compact discs.

Sharon OConnor makes her home in the San Francisco Bay Area with her two daughters and husband. Her family enthusiastically helps in the research, travel, and tasting for her series.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 220 pages
• Publisher: Menus & Music Productions; Book & CD edition (December 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1883914043
• ISBN-13: 978-1883914042
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 7.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,116,331 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Sharon O'Connor is building a career around her passions. She travels the world collaborating with great chefs and musicians, bringing together food, art, music, and travel to create her two best-selling series, Menus and Music® and MusicCooks®.

After graduating from the University of California with degrees in music and sociology, Sharon continued her education in Europe at the renowned Amsterdam Conservatory of Music. Upon returning to the Bay Area, she established the San Francisco String Quartet, and for sixteen years the quartet performed in the Garden Court of San Francisco's celebrated Palace Hotel. In her remarkable career as a musician, O'Connor has recorded and performed with music icons such as Frank Sinatra, Van Morrison, Tony Bennett, Linda Ronstadt, and Aretha Franklin!

In 1985, Sharon founded Menus and Music and became the first person to ever package a cookbook with music. In 2005, Sharon introduced MusicCooks, stylish boxed recipe cards with music that makes cooking and entertaining at
home more fun. O'Connor's recipes are fresh, quick, and easy, and each one has a sensational food photo, practical cook's tips, and a shopping and pantry list. The music is performed by Grammy Award winners and other great musicians. Now with more than thirty titles, O'Connor's publications have sold millions of copies worldwide.

Sharon O'Connor lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. Her husband and two daughters enthusiastically help in the research, travel, and tasting for her series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Successful, easy to follow receipes with good music, September 25, 1999

By 

E. Jones "Book Fiend" (England) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dining and the Opera in Manhattan (Menus and Music, Vol. 8) (Hardcover)

The book provides a menu from each of the restuarants selected, including starter, main and dessert. The Tiramisu was wonderful and all of the receipes tried have been easy and successful. The music is a great accompaniment to get you in the mood whilst cooking.