I saw one of his few Manricos. This is

dubbed but still you get the idea.

  I am staying with videos.The audio stuff is

a problem.  OK????   Charlie

 Mario did guest Lescaut a year before "official" Met debut.

You hear what he was...not s Gerard Souzay!!!!

  We went nuts over this great man!!!!!!!

Hey, Mario.I was there in 1958 when you

RAN out of the tent on "Trahison." You KNEW 

it was a broadcast so you sang to the mikes!

The two of them looked better than Victor Mature

and Hedy Lamar.

   First singer I ever saw (1951)…..first of 40 times.

I recall "white teeth" coming toward me in Aida,

my first opera ever.  He was a GOD!!!!!!!!

Huge voice from bottom to top.A "bronze column of

sound"..Unforgettable man!  Came out stage door

once and said, "Hello,boys" in my poor ear. I

never recovered!!!!!

   I hate "dubbed" but what greatness!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Our new hero!!!! Camarena is now "King of the bises."

He is something extraordinary in our opera world.

Sorry Zinka and Renata,....Antonietta Stella

1956 Met debut still remains my great

favorite.Big,luscious voice..ADORE!!

  I had only heard Caruso do this aria

and suddenly here is my beloved

favorite singer, Piotr Beczala, doing

it. This guy thrills me more than

his idol,Nicolai Gedda. Before he

did his first Lohengrin,I did give

him the CD set of Gedda's only one.

Very few singers today remind me of

my "Golden Age" from my youth.

But WHY did he decide to RUIN one

of the greatest voices of the century??

He started to "open" the top too

low...Perche?He was  GOD when

in his prime!!!!

I was there when Licia (at 57) kissed the

Met stage after her aria. She was born 7/22/09.

Died at 105. I walked with tiny Licia at a

Soviero affair..Like walking with history.