We admit we have a bit of a blind spot when it comes to opera. Oh sure, we perk up when we hear about bedbugs invading Lincoln Center, or the Metropolitan Opera Idol contest, but those reports are few and far between. But when opera singers start battling age-old stereotypes about their profession and delivering babies minutes before they perform at the Met, we have to tip our hats to these belting jacks-of-all-trades.

The Times has a profile of five rather-thin opera stars on the rise. All of whom are performing at the Met and other major opera houses, and all of them break the stereotype of the "fat lady" singing. Opera expert Fred Plotkin says this reflects societal changes: “Going back 25 years, opera stars were expected to be wonderful singers, but the expectations have changed, and opera management thinks that having a thinner physique is more sellable.” The profiles include their exercise routines, which range from intense stair climbing, to hot yoga, to salsa dancing.

Tenor Juan Diego Florez had a truly crazy, unlikely day yesterday: first, after staying up all night with his wife Julia who went into labor at their rented apartment on the UWS, he helped two midwives in the birth of his son, Leandro Florez, at 12:25 p.m. Saturday. He got to hold his baby for a few minutes, and then he had to run to sing the tenor lead in Rossini's comic opera "Le Comte Ory" at the nearby Metropolitan Opera at 1 p.m. Florez gave a recap of the madcap day in an interview later that day: "It was beautiful. It was a home birth with a pool, in the water, it was very nice and very calm...I gave the baby to Julia. I was so sad to leave." We always knew opera folk could be heroic: