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'Barnum's Bird'

Previews of a new opera start tonight in Minneapolis. It's about the "Swedish nightingale," Jenny Lind, and her ahead-of-its-time relationship with P.T. Barnum. Barnum was the first to market personality when he brought Lind to tour the United States in 1850. He advertised and put her name on cakes, cigars and soap. And Lind was a savvy businesswoman in her own right. Their relationship fascinated noted contemporary composer Libby Larsen, who wrote the score and co-wrote the libretto for Barnum's Bird. Minnesota Public Radio's Marianne Combs reports.

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