A SINGERS DIARY By Tracy Turner

......Mezzo-soprano Valeria Girardi has return performances with LaSelva slated for next season.  Her earlier performances with NYGO proved to be a real turning point.   "The exposure I got [from NYGO] was the key,"  Girardi recalls.  "I got my agent from one of those park gigs!  I don't think the agents specifically come to these, but I did a lot of mailings to let them know when I had performances.  But the [agents] that `bit' had heard of me through recommendations - people I sang with at NYGO.  Someone really liked what I was doing and mentioned me to their management.  The break came from the people already in the business, people I got to work with."  OPERA NEWS, July 2003.