Wednesday, Apr 25, 2007    Text size: 

The weeklong series will examine the Richard Wagner opera, which follows an adulterous love affair between the title characters. It will air from April 28 to May 4. New York residents can listen at WNYC 93.9 FM, and the show will be streamed live and offered on-demand at WNYC.org.

Samson has already distinguished herself as a winemaker, but her knowledge and passion for opera caught the attention of George Preston, music director for New York Public Radio's WNYC.

Preston told XBIZ that he first heard of Samson through a friend, art director Jordan Schaps, who was producing photographer Timothy Greenfield-Sanders' book "XXX: 30 Porn Star Portraits," which features side-by-side photos of adult stars clothed and naked.

Preston asked Schaps to name his favorite adult star. Schaps told Preston about a slightly annoyed Samson who joked about missing a performance of the opera "The Rake's Progress." Preston said that got his attention, because only a serious opera fan would want to see the lesser-known Stravinsky work.

But beyond Samson' s passion for Opera, Preston said that opera and adult entertainment have a lot in common.

"Opera is porn," he said. "Singing and sex are two things that almost everyone does, but there are only a few professionals who do it for the general public. These performers have unusual physical endowments that they've enhanced through technique and training so they can perform any time."

But the similarities don't end there, Preston said.

"In opera and porn, their bodies are truly their instruments," he said. "And they both share something that's really soul-baring with the public. And there's no getting around the fact that many opera voices are very sexy."

With that in mind, Preston invited Samson to talk about "Tristan and Isolde," which he called "the first X-rated opera."

"['Tristan and Isolde'] is all about romantic, obsessive sex," Preston said.