What was your life like before your author started pulling your strings?
It already was difficult. I was born in New York City. My mother died when I was 5 years old, which left my dad to raise me. He started me on the violin, which he played but never professionally. He showed his love by trying to mold me into the best violinist possible, and he asked his friend, the famous opera conductor Abel Trudeau, to mentor me. But it was very pressured to live up to my dad’s standards. Then, when I was 10, Dad was killed trying to save me from a stray bullet during a bank robbery. I was devastated to lose him, and suddenly became an orphan. But after that, Abel took me under his wing and found me a foster home with a Korean family whose daughter, Katie, also played violin. Katie and I were like real sisters, which I really appreciated, since I had been an only child. She was a good sport about our competing with each other at the Juilliard School of Music, and she did not resent when I won the audition for a first violin position in the orchestra of the Metropolitan Opera, where Abel conducted. Then, on the night of my debut…well, that’s when my author started pulling my strings—literally.
What’s the one trait you like most about yourself?
I’m very disciplined, both in my violin practice and also in keeping myself physically in tune.
What do you like least about yourself?
I tend to overreact to stressful or emotional situations. I can be very calm and focused and then, boom, I freak out.
What is the strangest thing your author has had you do or had happen to you?
In the first book of the series, she had me fall for a real lothario. Honestly, aren’t I smart enough to know better? I cringe when I think of it.
Do you argue with your author? If so, what do you argue about?
Doesn’t every protagonist argue with her author? We argue mostly about all the dangerous situations she puts me in. Just when get myself out of one difficult scrape, she puts me in another. And yes, I know that’s what authors are supposed to do. But honestly, don’t I deserve some down time?
What is your greatest fear?
Losing someone else I love. I’ve had so much loss in my life. After losing Dad, then Abel, I was afraid to let anyone even touch me, let alone get close to me. Until Larry came along. But as you will see when you read my Opera Mystery series, he is unique.
What makes you happy?
When I play a difficult violin solo, and the conductor is pleased, then it just makes my day.
If you could rewrite a part of your story, what would it be? Why?
I would have kept my dad alive. To lose him at such a young age…well, no 10-year-old should have to go through that. He was my rock, my biggest supporter. Even if he was overly insistent on perfection, he still showered me with love. I miss him every day.
Of the other characters in your book, which one bugs you the most? Why?
Stewart Blatchley, the conductor and music director of the Santa Fe Opera, pretty much makes my life miserable. He’s so exacting, so demanding, relentlessly critical. He only finds fault with how I perform, never acknowledges when I play something well. Abel was critical, too, but he also praised me when I did something right. But Abel was extraordinary. I can’t tell you how much I miss him.
Of the other characters in your book, which one would you love to trade places with? Why?
That would be Stella Peregrine, the Santa Fe Police Department detective. She’s so smart, so savvy, so self-confident. And physically, she’s strong, powerful. Solidly built. You don’t mess with this lady. I wish I were as tough as she is. I’ve found myself in some pretty dangerous situations lately, and I’d feel a lot better about getting out of them intact if I had more of her forcefulness.
Tell us a little something about your author. Where can readers find her website/blog?
If I had a choice of author, Erica Miner would be the one. Even though she makes my life difficult, she is an award-winning author and screenwriter who was a violinist at the Met Opera for 21 years. Based in the Pacific Northwest, Erica balances writing reviews and interviews of real-world musical artists with her fanciful plot fabrications that reveal the dark side of the fascinating world of opera. Not only does she know all the secrets about what goes on behind the scenes at an opera house, she also knows how to make words sparkle, and I’m grateful to her for creating my Opera Mystery series, even if she constantly places me in tough situations—after all, that how you build character, right? By the way, the first book in the series, Aria for Murder, was a finalist in the Eric Hoffer Book Awards. Erica continues to show her opera expertise by lecturing on opera for some of the world’s most prestigious venues. There’s more about Erica and her books on her website.
What's next for you?
Psst, keep it under your hat, but the San Francisco Opera has offered me the position of concertmaster—that’s the first of the first violinists, a very important post—for an upcoming summer season. That works perfectly since the Met is on hiatus in the summer. Plus, the last time I was in San Francisco I was a baby, and of course I don’t remember anything about it. And my great uncle Alex lives there, too. It’s such a great city, great opera company, and…well I could go on, but I don’t want to give too much away!
A Julia Kogan Opera Mystery, Book
Having survived her entanglement in a murder investigation at the Metropolitan Opera, violinist Julia Kogan and NYPD detective Larry Somers head to the Santa Fe Opera, where Julia has been engaged as concertmaster, or first of the first violinists, for the summer season. Julia is excited but anxious about the high-pressured job and worried about how she will survive in a strange new desert environment, a magnificent outdoor theatre set between two mysterious mountains ranges in the “Land of Enchantment.”
But these difficulties are minimal compared to the murderous activities that plague the opera performers onstage and off, as famous singers get picked off left and right, and ghostly apparitions mysteriously appear. Julia again becomes embroiled in a behind-the-scenes investigation as she joins forces with steely SFPD detective Stella Peregrine to stop the unseen menace from wreaking further havoc. But this killer is both ruthless and exceedingly cunning, and in the end Julia finds herself in a confrontation from which there seemingly is no escape—until she draws on a self-defense technique taught her by a fight director to save her own life.
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