You all know I have seen tham ALL, but rarely in recent years have I been as moved as hearing Mme.Zhang as Mme.Butterfly today. For the supposedly jaded me (I saw Scotto, Tebaldi, Kirsten,De Los Angeles, Stella, Albanese)

One special element of her singing today was what I term an "authoritative" attack, or slightly "glottal" attack a la Diana Soviero, on certain phrases, making the line all the more important. Have a look at her on youtube and of course I just ordered the album you see in the photo.    

      Funny in life.....sometimes you never realize what you have heard in opera and what effect it can have, and I burst into tears at the end, not only at her performance, but thinking of the love I had for Renata Tebaldi, our beloved friend for many years.         Love from cry-baby Charlie

Born on Dec.15, 1910 (almost made it to 100), the great Giulietta was one of the most amazing singers in opera history. Here are highlights from Cavalleria, Anna Bolena,  Aida, and Il Trovatore.

Except for the likes of dear Dolora Zajick, they do not make them like this anymore. (73 min.)

http://www.youtube.com/user/MrFriendofopera

Mamma mia!!!I just found that they added a new look to my site "Mr.Friend of Opera."

There are zillions of hand-picked videos from yours truly!!!!!!! ( OPERA FIEND!!!!)

 To all you lovable opera fans:

     All my best for a joyous Holiday Season.

      As ever    Charlie

 A Tosca from 1959 under Kurt Adler, here is a most exciting Tosca with Eleanor Steber, Carlo Bergonzi, George London, and Allessio de Paolis.   You will LOVE it!!! (71 min.)

Thill was born on Dec. 14, 1897, and was one of the great tenors of all time.We present arias from Lohengrin, Lakme, Meistersinger, Les Huguenots, and Herodiade. (27 min.)

                        Mon DIEU!!! Quelle Voix!!!!!!!!!!!!!

On the Dec. 14 birthday (1930) of Rosanna Carteri, we hear scenes from her Cetra Soria recording of La Boheme, with Ferruccio Tagliavini,Giuseppe Taddei, and Cesare Siepi. The conductor is  Gabriele Santini. This is a perfect example of the most beautiful phrasing in the true Verismo style that Carteri exemplifies.   (37 min.)

For over six decades, the Amato Opera, formed by Amato and his wife Sally Bell Amato, was a fixture on the Bowery and in the East Village arts scene. After its inaugural production of The Barber of Seville in Our Lady of Pompeii Church on the corner of Bleecker and Carmine Streets in 1948, it had stints at the 92nd Street Y, the Fashion Institute of Technology, the Washington Irving High School, 159 Bleecker Street and the Town Hall. The company finally settled in a postage-stamp–sized building next to CBGB's in 1964, where it operated continually until it closed in 2009.

Against the posh spaces of City Center and Lincoln Center, the Amato Opera was a feisty diamond in the rough, making grand opera thrive in a theater that seated 107 and contained a mere 20-foot stage. Entrances and exits were often made by running around the building from lobby to stage door entrance and back again and costume changes were known to take place in the theater’s adjacent gas station. It was part of the draw of the company—you couldn’t help but feel a warm, tingly glee in the Momus scene of La bohème, sitting mere inches away from the bohemians, no

Scenes from the Kongelige Theatre in Denmark (1969-1978) with Birgit Nilsson. Included are scene from Fidelio (w.Willy Hartman) from 1966, Tosca (w.Ragnar Ulfung from 1969 and w.Peter Lindroos from 1978-in third act duet). Finally,we present the final scenes from a Tristan und Isolde from 1973 with Helge Brilioth, Leif Roar(Kurvenal) Ulrik Cold, and Inger Paustian.

    As a bonus we present a live "In questa reggia"   (total 58 min.)

       WARNING: You may play this podcast ONLY if you live in a private house at least one mile from your neighbors.

  Here are highlights from a 1973 San Francisco Die Fledermaus under Richard Bonynge. The cast features Joan Sutherland, Judith Blegen, Nolan Van Way (Eisenstein), Ragnar Ulfung,  and Huguette Tourangeau.

   I must make special mention of the wonderful baritone Bruce Yarnell as Dr.Falke. His tragic death in a plane crash shortly after this performance was a great loss to opera, and he had done extensive work on television and in a wonderful revival (which I attended) of Annie Get Your Gun with Ethel Merman. May we always bless the memory of this fine artist.    ( 70 min.)