Gilbert und Sullivan in DEUTSCH?????   Why not??? It features my beloived Martha Moedl, the late great Arlene Auger, Gerd Nienstedt,Alexander Malta, and tenor Peter Bahrig.   This is from 1968 WDR radio. The conductor is Franz Marszalek. (60 min.)

    It's hard enough to sing "patter" in English....well, this should be fun!!!!

Geee.It is "Aprile in Aprile."  Happy birthday, April 14, to a dear lady and great singer. She is a sweetheart and I have always felt she was a kind of "spirit" for me personally since we first met.

                          Love from Charlie

Aprile Millo was born on April 14, 1958, in New York City. She was the daughter of Margherita Ghirosi and tenor Giovanni Millo, the first American hired by La Scala after World War II. She developed an early interest in music, and after graduating from high school in 1977, she was chosen to be one of the first eight apprentices at the San Diego Opera Center. A string of vocal awards followed, including the Geraldine Farrar Award, the Montserrat Caballé Award in Barcelona, and first prize in the Concorso Internazionale di Voci Verdiane in Bussetto, Italy.

Upon her return to the United States, Millo joined the Utah Opera Company in Salt Lake City. It was in Salt Lake City that she made her professional stage debut with the Utah Opera in the title role of Verdi's Aïda in 1980. The following year, she travelled to New York to attend the Metropolitan Opera's open-call auditions, where she was invited to take part in the company's Young Artists Development Program. The next several years were spent learning roles, refining her acting style, and perfecting her vocal technique. During this time, she made her La Scala debut replacing Mirella Freni as Elvira in Ernani on January 4, 1983.

In 1984, Aprile Millo was signed to a three-year contract by the Met that called for her to work primarily as an understudy. On December 3, 1984, she made her Metropolitan debut replacing Anna Tomowa-Sintow as Amelia in Simon Boccanegra, which critics described as "a blazing success". Three weeks later, on December 22, she performed the same role in her originally scheduled Met debut. The next year, in 1985, Millo took first prize in the Richard Tucker Competition.

On January 19, 1986, Millo made her Carnegie Hall debut in a concert version of Verdi's I Lombardi alla prima Crociata. That year, she also achieved success in the role of Aïda, singing the role in New York, as well as all over Europe and South America. It was as Aïda that she opened the 1989-90 Met season in an Emmy-winning production that was also telecast internationally.

During her career, Millo has made several recordings, including a debut CD of Verdi arias called Presenting Aprile Millo which was released by Angel Records in 1986. She also recorded the singing voice for Elisabeth Taylor in Zeffirelli's film, "The Young Toscanini". She has an extensive Met repertoire, including the Verdi heroines she is famous for (including Desdemona, Luisa Miller, Leonora in Il Trovatore) as well as some Puccini roles, including Liù in Turandot and as Tosca, a role she sang at the Met in the 98/99 season.

The marvelous Ljuba Welitsch as Amelia in Ballo from 1949 Edinbugh under Vittorio Gui. The cast includes Mirto Picchi, Alda Noni, Paolo Silveri, Jean Watson.(Ulrica), Ian Wallace (Sam), and Hervey Alan (Tom).    (65 min.)

    Zinka's sad farewell,on Apr.13, 1966, was the 88th and last time I heard that incredible voice live...but it will always be with me...forever. You know that when you are a teen and are turned on to a special artist,entertainer,sports figure,etc...that stays with you all your life.

    The greatest voice I ever heard!!!!!!!!!!!!

Photo:  Booohooo.I was once cute!!!!!

The superb mezzo from Sweden, land of fabulous artists, Barbro Ericson, in selections from the Verdi Requiem,Don Carlo, Ballo, Pique Dame, Boris, Aida, Das Rheingold, Lohengrin, and Saul and David. (68 min.)

Barbro Ericson Hederén Helen Augusta, born April 2 1930 in Halmstad , is a Swedish opera singer ( mezzo-soprano and alto ).

Ericson was educated at the College of Music and Opera School in Stockholm . After debuting at the Opera in 1956 she was employed there in 1958 . She came to portray over 100 roles, mainly in the major mezzo roles in works by Wagner , Verdi and Strauss . She has also made ​​more modern roles such as Mother Goose and Baba in Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress , Mescalina in Ligeti's The Great bern wife , Marie in Berg's Wozzeck , and Madame de Croissy in Poulenc's Karmelitsystrarna . Ericsson has also appeared in several scenes in foreign countries such as Bayreuth , Salzburg , Metropolitan , Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich, La Scala and Covent Garden .

Her records span from Gluck's Orpheus to Carmen and the high soprano role of Santuzza in Mascagnis In Sicily . Two of her biggest successes was in 1975 as Amman in Richard Strauss's Die Frau ohne Schatten and previously as Klyteimnestra the same composer's Elektra .

Ericson was awarded a scholarship from the Set Svaneholms Memorial Fund in 1967 . She was appointed to the Royal Court Singer in 1968 and received Litteris et Artibus 1978th

So sorry to hear of the passing of a great singer. Rest in Peace,beloved lady!!!

Lili Chookasian (born August 1, 1921; died April 9, 2012) is an American contralto who has appeared with many of the world's major symphony orchestras and opera houses. She began her career in the 1940s as a concert singer but did not draw wider acclaim until she began singing opera in her late thirties. She arose as one of the world's leading contraltos during the 1960s and 1970s, and notably had a long and celebrated career at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City from 1962 through 1986. She was admired for her sonorous, focused tone as well as her excellent musicianship. She often chose, against tradition, to sing oratorios from memory.

Never mind the "wrong language." I adore French, but Freni and Pavarotti are in such glorious form, I had to do this one. Rolando Panerai is Lescaut,Antonio Zerbini is the Count, and Franco Ricciardi is De Bretigny. Conducted by Peter Maag. (71 min.)

  What more can we say,as we remember Franco's birthday,on April 8, 1921! I saw him 40 times, and although there were times we wanted to shoot him (well,married to Loretta was not easy), he was ADORED!!!!!     God bless him forever!!

With a rich and ringing spinto tenor voice and movie-star good looks, Corelli won a wide public following from early on his career. However, while the public was enthralled with the tenor, music critics were divided, with some complaining about what they perceived as self-indulgence of phrasing and expression. During the 1960s the anti-Corelli sentiment among critics was epitomized by Alan Rich of the The New York Herald Tribune in a 1966 article which, while acknowledged the vibrancy and white heat of his singing, considered Corelli a throwback to an earlier era when, from Mr. Rich's perspective, musical compromises were common and stylistic refinement lacking. Rich said that, Corelli is "not employed by an opera, but employs it to serve purposes it was not meant to serve."^[2] Also, many critics did not look favourably on his performances in French opera, owing to the tenor’s exotic French diction and style.^[1] However, Corelli also had his admirers among several highly respected and notable critics, including Harold C. Schonberg of The New York Times, who once defended the expressive liberties taken by Corelli as possessing "its own kind of logic".^[2]

An interesting  1934 recording of Cavalleria Rusticana in French,under Gustave Cloez. In the cast are Germaine Cernay, Gaston Micheletti, and Arthur Endreze, with Cernay singing also arias from Le Cid and Samson et Delilah.  (52 min.)

Born: April 28, 1900 - Le Havre, France
Died: 1943 - Paris, France

The French mezzo-soprano, Germaine Cernay (born: Pointu), studied piano and solfeggio when still a child. She joined the Conservatoire of Paris taking singing lessons with Albers and Engel.

Germaine Cernay she made her debut in 1925 at the Paris Opéra as Euryclée in Fauré’s Pénélope but she eventually appeared most of her career at the Opéra-Comique (Salle Favart), where she made her debut in 1927 in Alfano’s Risurrezione opposite Mary Garden. After a number of small parts she sang roles such as Mallika (Lakmé), Suzuki, Mignon, Geneviève, Carmen and Charlotte, among many others. She was also a star at the La Monnaie of Brussels and at a number of provincial French opera houses. She toured North Africa, England, Ireland, Italy and Switzerland. In a broadcast she tried to sing Mélisande (a soprano role). Without neglecting the stage, her mind continuosly changed to sing melodies and oratorios. She was a famous interpreter of Bach. Germaine believed deeply in God and intended to spend her life in a cloister, but she died before having fulfilled her wish.

Decca,Phillips, and DGG put out a special commemorative cd set for the Verdi year,remembering the great man's death in 1901. How could anyone accomplish what he did?????

 I announce all selections and casts and I know you will enjoy the variety. (67 min.)