SAN DIEGO ARTS : Classical

It may not be everyone’s idea of swinging in Manhattan, but soprano Virginia Sublett made her debut with New York City Opera suspended 10 feet above the Lincoln Center stage, floating on a tiny golden quarter moon. The rising 35-year-old diva, who made a favorable impression in last season’s Los Angeles Music Center Opera production of Handel’s “Alcina,” appeared as the Queen of the Night, the demanding coloratura role in Mozart’s “Die Zauberfloete.” After her opening-night performance on Oct. 22, the company’s general director, Beverly Sills, officially welcomed Sublett to City Opera and invited her to stay a day after the opera’s run to audition for roles with the company. San Diegans can hear Sublett perform Nov. 15 at St. James Episcopal Church, La Jolla, in a program titled “The Connoisseur’s Baroque Consort.”