A collection of songs by Edvard Grieg.(Announced).The soloists include: Kirsten Flagstad, Birgit Nilsson, Ernestine Schumann-Heink, Lucy Isabelle Marsh, Povla Frijsh, Lauritz Melchior,Jussi Bjoerling, Helen Traubel, and Richard Crooks.(67 min.)

A compilation of arias as sung by 14 famous sopranos of the past.Included are:

Frida Leider, Elizabeth Rethberg, Lotte Lehmann, Tina Lemnitz,Maria  Cebotari, Maria Reining, Pia Tassinari, Eileen Farrell, Eleanor Steber, Hilde Gueden, Lisa della Casa, Astrid Varnay, Gre Brouwenstijn, and Sena Jurinac.    (60 min.)

Scenes from Meyerbeer's "Les Huguenots," featuring Nicolai Ghiaurov, Tancredi Pasero, Nicolai Gedda, Sergei Lemeshev, Herman Jadlowker, Lili Lehmann, Joan Sutherland, Rita Shane, Marcel Wittrisch, Margarete Teschemacher, Marisa Galvany, Enrico di Giuseppe, Maria Llacer, John O'Sullivan, Franco Corelli, and Giulietta Simionato.  (71 min.)

    Maria Callas left us on Sept.16, 1977 at only 53,but her legacy remains as one of the most stupendous examples of vocal and histrionic artistry in music history. The voice may not have held up for a very long time, but in the great years, she made an indelible impression in the music world. Here we present arias from Norma, Macbeth, Nabucco, Seraglio, Tristan und Isolde, plus the Proch Variations and the legendary finale of Act Two Aida.   (55 min.)

      May she never be forgotten!     R.I.P.

 A truly brilliant Gioconda from 1967 under Fausto Cleva, featuring Renata Tebaldi, Richard Tucker, Rosalind Elias, Cornell MacNeil, Bonaldo Giaiotti, and Belen Amparan.

   You wanna hear some chest voice?????? (68 min.)

  I do not know which "New" the poodle is.She had several, named after "New York." That is fitting, since she was the toast of the town.

 Highlights from a Scala 1974 Favorita under Nino Verchi, with Luciano Pavarotti, Fiorenza Cossotto, Piero Cappuccilli, and Ivo Vinco.   (65 min.)

Here are highlights from dear Virginia Zeani's Met Traviata debut in 1966, under Georges Pretre,with Bruno Prevedi and Robert Merrill in the cast. I hope you enjoy one of her total of  648 Violettas.

                                                         (71 min.)

Highlights from Massenet's rarely heard "Herodiade," featuring Montserrat Caballe, Jose Carreras, Juan Pons, and Dunja Vejzovic. This is from Barcelona in 1984, under the direction of Jacques Delacote.   (67 min.)

An exciting live studio performance of the rarely heard Donizetti opera, "Marin Faliero." The cast includes Cesare Siepi, Marisa Galvany, Licinio Montefusco, and Giuliano Cianella, conducted by Elio Boncompagni, with the Orchestra and Chorus of RAI Turino.  (72 min.)

Since this opera is so rarely done, here is the plot, and the podcast will follow.

Elena, the wife of Marin Faliero, Doge of Venice, is continually subjected to attacks on her reputation by the patrician Steno whose advances she has rejected. Steno then insults Israele Bertucci, the chief of the Venetian Arsenal in front of his workers. Steno is punished for these offenses, but Faliero is infuriated by the leniency of the punishment. Israele convinces Faliero to join a conspiracy against the Council of Forty, of which Steno is a member.

Meanwhile, Elena is in love with Faliero's friend Fernando, who wants to leave the city to save her from dishonour. During a masked ball, Fernando challenges Steno to a duel for having insulted Elena once again. When Fernando is found dying in the place where the conspirators were to meet, Faliero vows to avenge his death.

The conspiracy collapses following a betrayal by one of its members and the Doge is condemned to death. Before his execution, Elena confesses her love affair with Fernando to him. Faliero begins to curse her, but sensing that his death is imminent, pardons her instead. Faliero is led off. Alone on the stage, Elena hears the sound of the executioner's axe, screams and faints.^[2]