He left us too soon. Wunderlich, born Sept.26, 1930 was to have made Met debut, but tragically died, and we are still not totally sure of the circumstances. This was a great man and we treasure his memory;no wonder Piotr Beczala loves him...there are many similarities.

Until I get those delightful podcasts going again, I am giving you some special material most of you have heard, but it is worth a repeat!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 This familiar clip of my all-time favorite singer is re-played for anyone who might have been living on another planet, where they never heard of a pianissimo!!!!!

Opening Met Elisir tonight with the great Annna Netrebko. I know it will be a great success.

 This GREAT singer can do comedy as well sing some of the most difficult opera roles!!!!!!!

Those of you who do not see some of the "innovative" productions of operas might be shocked at this Calixto Bieito concept of Parsifal. I wonder if I "enjoy" some of these productions because of  sheer "entertainment" or do I find some real value in the concept. Some of what we call "Eurotrash" can be quite interesting, but some of the productions are so bizarre, I cannot understand what the director is doing.

   The excellent tenor, Andrew Richards, makes his Met debut this season as Don Jose. I wrote him that I enjoyed his Parsifal a lot, even the singing.(gggg).

NOTE: Some NUDITY AT THE END!!!! ( Andrew's END)

JUST KIDDING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!    This is the La Puma Opera and now you know why we ppppp'd in our pantaloni..Note the tenor does not know how to sing the vowel "A" but instead sings " IIIII". Is there anyone out there who would be able to contain their laughter???Note,whoever was taping had trouble not getting totally hysterical. I must say, we did have fun, in a sick way, but remember, they were SERIOUS!!!!!

   For me, the most gorgeous voice in the middle register I EVER heard, was Daniele Barioni. He did not last long, but he thrilled us from his debut in 1957 in Tosca,Boheme, Butterfly,Fanciulla,Traviata,etc. In Rondine, he is joined by PRIME Anna Moffo, who is simply exquisite here. This music is some of Puccini's greatest.

The audience was so ASTOUNDED at Cornell MacNeil's last note of the Ernani aria, they screamed before it ended. It was awesome.He was born on Sept.24, 1922, and we lost him recently. I always thought Warren's top was huge...MacNeil's top was SCARY!!!!!!

How sad that Ettore Bastianini, born September 24, 1922, passed away of throat cancer so young. He had a fabulous,dark voice and was a premiere baritone in opera history.