Test-driving arias

Re Mark Swed’s “Don’t Tsk-Tsk the Music Video Disc” (April 17): Opera on DVD is also a viable alternative to live performances. Live opera is priced to the stratosphere, with tickets approaching $200 per seat for each performance. Opera on DVD is usually around $30. Whenever one of the local opera companies presents an opera that I am not familiar with, I always buy the DVD first to decide whether to invest in the money into the live performance.

Brent Trafton

Long Beach