For years, I've had the video below saved in my "c'mon, cheer up" playlist. Patricia Janečková doing the very best interpretation of "the Doll Song" from the Tales of Hoffman* that I've ever seen - not just signing it magnificently, but being an amazing "mechanical doll" too. I don't do bucket-lists, but if ever I'd had a chance to see her perform live, I would have taken it.
Well, that chance'll never come now: she died from cancer four weeks ago - at the age of just 25, just a few months older than my youngest son.
(* For those not familiar with the work, a madcap inventor builds a life-size mechanical doll and tries to pass her off as his daughter at a party. Opera logic, don't overthink it!)
