In Brief: It's Autumn

Here is your regular Sunday selection of links to good things in Blogville and Beyond.

• On November 7, Sotheby's in New York will auction one of the most important Van Gogh landscapes still in a private collection, The Fields (Wheat Fields), from June-July 1890. The estimated sale price will be between $28 million and $35 million. Thanks to Mark for the link! [Artdaily]


• Those lucky bastards in Los Angeles will have Karita Mattila singing in Jenůfa soon. David Ng published a great interview. [Los Angeles Times]


• It's good to know that divas are still divas. Angela Gheorghiu gets herself fired from a Lyric Opera of Chicago production because of having to attend those pesky rehearsals. [Deceptively Simple]


• Meet the person who benefits the most from La Alagna's excesses: her replacement, Elaine Alvarez. [Opera Chic]


• Monteverdi's Vespers is one of my favorites, too, but it made Oliver Sacks see a special hue of purple. [Musical Perceptions]


• A pet store in Pennsylvania has this two-headed red slider turtle, with the two heads at opposite ends. Picture included, and it's so cute! [Boing Boing]