One of the VERY FEW divas who "lets it all hang out" is Lauren Flanigan, one of the most exciting and dedicated artists. She not only a great artist, but does amazing charity work for the poor, and I just wish I had seen her even more in her great City Opera days; however,I did happily catch her in Macbeth, Mother of us All, Atilla, Vanessa, and Tote Stadt, and was always thrilled with her total committment to the role. Here is a scene from Nabucco, and I know you will like it.

Category:general -- posted at: 6:57pm EDT

 Despite all my stupid and often insulting Rita Hunter jokes, she was one of my favorite singers..Brilliant tone, great feeling, pianissimi,chest voice..Last wonderful Aida and Brunnhilde i saw. I really recommend the ENOC Ring, if you can take Goodall's slow slow tempi.  She died really too soon.

Category:general -- posted at: 6:46pm EDT

Her famous long hair once got caught in Del Monaco's boot in Samson et Delilah..We loved dear Blanche!!!!

Category:general -- posted at: 11:56pm EDT

Blanche Thebom (September 19, 1915 – March 23, 2010[1]) was an American operatic mezzo-soprano, voice teacher, and opera director. She was part of the first wave of American opera singers that had highly successful international careers.[2] In her own country she had a long association with the Metropolitan Opera in New York City which lasted 22 years. Opera News stated, "An ambitious beauty with a velvety, even-grained dramatic mezzo, Thebom was a natural for opera: she commanded the stage with the elegantly disciplined hauteur of an old-school diva, relishing the opportunity to play femmes du monde such as Marina in Boris Godunov, Herodias and Dalila."[3]

While Thebom sang a broad repertoire which encompassed everything from Handel and Mozart to Verdi and Debussy, she was best known for her performances in the operas of Richard Wagner. Two Wagner roles with which she was particularly associated were Fricka in Die Walküre and Brangaene in Tristan und Isolde.[4] She notably sang the latter role in a famous 1952 recording made in London with Kirsten Flagstad, Ludwig Suthaus, and conductor Wilhelm Furtwängler. In addition to several other recordings, she also appeared in two feature films during her career: Irish Eyes Are Smiling (1944) and, with Mario Lanza, The Great Caruso (1951).[5]

After retiring from the stage in 1967, Thebom worked as an opera director in Atlanta for 6 years. She then taught singing both privately and on the music faculties of the University of Arkansas and San Francisco State University. She also co-founded the Opera Arts Training Program of the San Francisco Girls Chorus and served on the board of the Metropolitan Opera for nearly four decades.[3]

We LOVED HER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Category:general -- posted at: 11:52pm EDT

There are examples of either arias, phrases, or even a single WORD that exemplify the great talent of an artist; note the way Mme.Malfitano PLUNGES into this music.There are so few today who can do this. Lauren Flanigan, Renata Scotto, Diana Soviero,etc.KNEW how to do this..I love this scene!!!!

Category:general -- posted at: 8:21pm EDT

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