Aria

If you're feeling the holiday frazzles, this might be a good time to put down the shopping list and head to Las Vegas . The Aria has a sweet winter deal on rooms that comes with a $50 credit at the CityCenter hotel. The deal: Aria's Winter Offer includes a $50 resort credit and free "view upgrade" for rooms starting at $119 a night plus tax. Double down and receive a $100 credit and rooms for $109 a night plus tax on selected bonus dates in December and January.

Piotr Beczala may be one of the new generation's top three tenors, along with Jonas Kaufmann and Juan Diego Flórez. Each has his specialty - Kaufmann's is drama, Flórez's is bel canto and Beczala's is ardent romanticism. That ardency was evident when the 45-year-old Polish tenor made his U.S. recital debut Saturday at the Broad Stage in Santa Monica. The audience was primed and ready. Already some had loved him as Des Grieux opposite Anna Netrebro's Manon in a Met Opera broadcast this month.

Luciano Pavarotti, in severe pain months before his cancer diagnosis, lip-synced his last performance, according to the maestro who conducted the aria at the opening ceremony of the Turin Olympics. The late tenor's manager said Monday the bitter cold made a live performance impossible at the 2006 Winter Games. The conductor, Leone Magiera, reveals in a book that the rousing rendition of "Nessun Dorma" ("Let No One Sleep") was prerecorded because "it would have been too dangerous for him to give a live performance in that physical condition."

If you're feeling the holiday frazzles, this might be a good time to put down the shopping list and head to Las Vegas . The Aria has a sweet winter deal on rooms that comes with a $50 credit at the CityCenter hotel. The deal: Aria's Winter Offer includes a $50 resort credit and free "view upgrade" for rooms starting at $119 a night plus tax. Double down and receive a $100 credit and rooms for $109 a night plus tax on selected bonus dates in December and January.

When she began her career in 1940, Eleanor Steber was as gorgeous a slip of a girl as ever graced the Met stage. Forty-seven years later, she greets a visitor to her Manhattan apartment and says, "I've decided to let my hair grow out. What do you think of it?" The curly gray hair is cut short and is becoming. Though Steber is quite heavy now, the facial features are still beautiful. As she sits at her piano and sings softly, "Vissi d'arte, vissi d'amore . . .

"Gossip Girl" goes "Twin Peaks Lite" in ABC Family's mildly sinister romp "Pretty Little Liars," which premieres Tuesday. If the title doesn't let you know what you're in for, the tagline — "Never trust a pretty girl with an ugly secret" — will. Four sweet-16s reunite a year after their conniving queen bee Alison (Sasha Pieterse) goes missing during one dark and stormy drink 'n' sleepover. Aria ("Privileged's" Lucy Hale), whose family apparently hightailed it to Iceland moments after Alison's disappearance, has returned to picture-perfect Rosewood just in time for the anniversary.

Kirk Wood Bromley gets points for sheer eccentricity--he writes full-length dramas entirely in verse. His "Icarus and Aria," at Sacred Fools Theater, is a loose updating of "Romeo and Juliet." The play concerns the doomed romance between Aria (Kim Jackson), the privileged daughter of a wealthy football team owner, and Icarus (Matthew Troyer), a Latino football star from the 'hood.

for Richard Verrall The even numbers, as beautiful as vowels Emerging from the consonantal clasp Of sounds that contain and yet unbind The o, the hidden aria, the bud Unsheathing itself to flower on ear, on air -- What would they do without the impaired, the odd That show them for what they are?

Richard Nixon eyes Mao Zedong nervously, sweats profusely, thinks of his place in history and sings an aria. It is a high baritone aria full of shallow, well-meant platitudes. The Chinese Chairman receives his guest with quizzical civility compromised by sly bemusement and sings an aria of his own. It is a high Heldentenor aria full of mystical philosophical references. And so it goes. This is the Imperial City in 1972, or a deliriously unreasonable facsimile thereof.

British opera phenom Paul Potts will make his Los Angeles concert debut March 26 at the Wiltern Theatre. Potts, a Welsh cellular phone store manager who became a household name overnight after he won the "Britain's Got Talent" TV competition last year, will sing music from his debut album, "One Chance." Potts won the British TV reality show last June by singing "Nessun Dorma" from Puccini's "Turandot." The audience was whipped into a frenzy even as he began the first bars of the aria, made most famous by Italian superstar tenor Luciano Pavarotti.

I enjoyed the photo spread ["Shutters Aflutter," Sept. 18]. However, I could have done without the fish photo. Somehow I don't see the artistic value in dead and dying fish. Live fish make much better subjects. Nancy Jenkins Torrance Meaningful path I lost my little brother last year to cancer, so it was heartwarming to read the story of a survivor ["Two Tough Journeys, One Tougher Survivor" by David Kelly, Sept. 18]. I hiked and climbed Longs Peak in Colorado on Labor Day weekend in 1999.

The Aria Resort & Casino in the tony CityCenter of Las Vegas is advising recent guests about possible exposure to Legionnaires' disease during their stay, according to a letter posted on the hotel-casino's website. The Las Vegas Review-Journal reports that six cases of the bacteria-spread pneumonia traced to the Las Vegas hotel have been reported to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. The patients were successfully treated and have fully recovered, said Stephanie Bethel of the Southern Nevada Heath District, which was notified of the cases by the CDC. Aria's letter tells guests who stayed from June 21 to July 4 that they may have been exposed to the Legionella bacteria, which spreads the disease.

Las Vegas buffets are legendary — and sometimes free. MGM Resorts International is offering a breakfast or lunch buffet each day with a stay at Vdara, Aria, Mandalay Bay and other selected hotels through early September. Act quickly if you want this deal because this brief offer ends Monday night. The deal: I like this offer because you can splurge on an expensive room or stick to your budget, depending on which hotel you choose. The Complimentary Buffet Everyday package applies to selected MGM resorts and requires a stay of two nights or more to get a free breakfast or lunch buffet for two each day. The buffet is valued at $20 per person, which comes out to a $40 savings per day. When: The offer is good for stays through Sept.

It was the day after Christmas, and Eric Castro, a lawyer who also sings professionally, was warming up his baritone by running through trills and hums. After working hard right up to the holiday, wasn't he eager to have a day off? "To tell you the truth, it's a complete pleasure and honor to do this," said Castro as he prepared to sing arias inside a crowded living room where "jam session" took on a whole new meaning. Each Boxing Day since 1998, the Spanish Colonial Revival house at the end of a cul-de-sac off Los Feliz Boulevard has vibrated with the sounds of Handel's "Messiah," performed by as many as 125 choristers and orchestral musicians.

Trying to promote a Vegas hotel? That's heavy, man. Or more correctly, the Heavy ? a British rock band whose TV commercial featuring Aria, the 4,004-room anchor hotel at CityCenter ? is coming soon to a TV screen near you. "It's a high-energy, fun commercial that we think accurately displays the excitement of Aria," said Jim Murren, chief executive of parent company MGM Resorts International. Here's what's behind the commercial: Fewer than half of Southern Californians ?

"Gossip Girl" goes "Twin Peaks Lite" in ABC Family's mildly sinister romp "Pretty Little Liars," which premieres Tuesday. If the title doesn't let you know what you're in for, the tagline — "Never trust a pretty girl with an ugly secret" — will. Four sweet-16s reunite a year after their conniving queen bee Alison (Sasha Pieterse) goes missing during one dark and stormy drink 'n' sleepover. Aria ("Privileged's" Lucy Hale), whose family apparently hightailed it to Iceland moments after Alison's disappearance, has returned to picture-perfect Rosewood just in time for the anniversary.

I enjoyed the photo spread ["Shutters Aflutter," Sept. 18]. However, I could have done without the fish photo. Somehow I don't see the artistic value in dead and dying fish. Live fish make much better subjects. Nancy Jenkins Torrance Meaningful path I lost my little brother last year to cancer, so it was heartwarming to read the story of a survivor ["Two Tough Journeys, One Tougher Survivor" by David Kelly, Sept. 18]. I hiked and climbed Longs Peak in Colorado on Labor Day weekend in 1999.

'I can recall it quite vividly," said Gail Dubinbaum, a wide smile appearing on her face. "The first time I sang Bach's 'St. John' Passion was in 1981 at All Saints' Church in Beverly Hills." It was also the last evening her life would bear any semblance of normalcy. "The next morning, after getting no sleep to speak of, I won the Metropolitan Opera Western Regional Auditions."

Several resorts will be upping the poolside ante this summer. At Aria, the biggest hotel at recently opened CityCenter, guests have their choice of three large whirlpools and three even larger pools. The cabanas include 42-inch LCD TVs and iPod docks. There's also Liquid, an adults-only venue with dipping pools featuring underwater speakers; (866) 359-7757, http://www.arialasvegas.com . At the neighboring Mandarin Oriental, butlers attend to guests on the eighth-floor pool deck.

A circus fit for the King Montreal meets Memphis as Cirque du Soleil premieres for the public its revamped tribute to Elvis Presley in Las Vegas on Feb. 21. "Viva Elvis," staged at Aria Resort & Casino at CityCenter, is a blend of Cirque's famous acrobatics and the King's music. If you're looking for an Elvis impersonator, you'll need to look elsewhere on the Strip; modern remixes of Elvis' hits dominate the production. Ticket prices start at $115, including taxes and fees. Info: www.ticketmaster .com.