The second part of the Berlin 1980 Macbeth with Olivia Stapp and Renato Bruson  (51 min.)

 The first part of a marvelous live Macbeth from Berlin, 1980 under Giuseppe Sinopoli. Olivia Stapp and Renato Bruson (still singing close to age 80) are the evil pair, with Victor von Halen as Banquo and Veriano Luchetti as Macduff.  (51 nin.)

One of my personal favorite operas, this Pique Dame under Kazimierz Kord features Nicolai Gedda,Raina Kabaiwanska, Regina Resnik, John Reardon (Tomsky), and William Walker (Yeletsky) (70 min.

When Dorothy Kirsten passed away, we learned she was born about 10 years later than we thought;this Tosca in 1970 from San Francisco under James Levine is therefore more amazing than we thought, so she was closer to age 70 than was originally reported. Placido Domingo and Louis Quilico join her in this nostalgic presentation.  (74 min.)

The 100 year old plus Licia Albanese and Carlo Bergonzi head the cast of this 1958 Boheme under Thomas Schippers. Laurel Hurley, Mario Sereni, Norman Scott, and Clifford Harvuot complete the cast of this truly beautiful performance.  (73 min.)

The very first singer I ever saw on a stage (Radames 1951). I saw him 40 times.he was NOT a "shouter," but tried his best to shade that enormous "bronze column of sound." We simply adored this man, who gave 1000% every night!!!!! Bless his memory!

Del Monaco was born in Florence to a musical upper-class family.^[2] As a young boy he studied the violin but had a passion for singing. He graduated from the Rossini Conservatory at Pesaro, where he first met and sang with Renata Tebaldi, with whom he would form something of an operatic dream team of the 1950s. His early mentors as a singer included Arturo Melocchi, his teacher at Pesaro, and Maestro Raffaelli, who recognized his talent and helped launch his career.

That career began in earnest with Del Monaco's debut on December 31, 1940, as Pinkerton at the Puccini Theater in Milan. (His initial appearance in an opera had occurred the previous year, however, in Mascagni's Cavalleria rusticana in Pesaro.) He sang in Italy during the Second World War and married, in 1941, Rina Filipini. In 1946, he appeared at London's Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, for the first time. During the ensuing years he became famous not only in London but also across the operatic world for his powerful, metallic voice. It was almost heldentenor-like in scope but Del Monaco was no Wagnerian, confining his activities overwhelmingly to the Italian repertoire.

Del Monaco sang at the New York Metropolitan Opera from 1951 to 1959, enjoying particular success in dramatic Verdi parts such as Radamès. He soon established himself as one of four Italian tenor superstars who reached the peak of their fame in the 1950s and '60s, the others being Giuseppe Di Stefano, Carlo Bergonzi and Franco Corelli. Del Monaco's trademark roles during this period were Giordano's Andrea Chénier and Verdi's Otello. He first tackled Otello in 1950 and kept refining his interpretation throughout his career. It is said that he sang Otello an astonishing 427 times. However, the book published by Elisabetta Romagnolo, Mario Del Monaco, Monumentum aere perennius, Azzali 2002, lists only 218 appearances by him as Otello, which is a more realistic figure. Aptly, the tenor was buried in his Otello costume. Although Otello was his best role, throughout his career, Del Monaco sang a number of other roles with great acclaim, for example: Canio in Pagliacci (Leoncavallo), Radames in Aida (Verdi), Don Jose in Carmen (Bizet), Chenier in Andrea Chénier (Giordano), Manrico in Il trovatore (Verdi), Samson in Samson and Delilah (Saint-Saëns), and Don Alvaro in La forza del destino (Verdi).

Del Monaco made his first recordings in Milan in 1948 for HMV. Later, he was partnered by Renata Tebaldi in a long series of Verdi and Puccini operas recorded for Decca. On the same label was his 1969 recording of Giordano's Fedora, opposite Magda Olivero and Tito Gobbi.

  The audience reaction to this Philadelphia 1963 Puritani under Richard Bonynge tells the story! This is indeed the kind of bravura singing that thrills you beyond compare. Joan Sutherland and Nicolai Gedda head a cast that also features Justino Diaz, Ernest Blanc, and  Betty Allen. The "Vieni fra queste braccia" duet is in the high key and the attacks on those D's cause pandemonium in the theatre. Enjoy!  (72 min.)

A RAI 1954 recording of highlights from William Tell under Nino Sanzogno. It features the beloved Paolo Silveri, who sent this CD to me. The king of the high notes, Mario Filippeschi is the Arnoldo, with Anna Maria Rovere as Matilda, Nicola Zaccaria as Gessler, Raffaele Arie as Gualtiero,, Margherita Benetti as Jemmy, and Giannella Borelli as Edwige.     (71 min.)

  Here are some scenes from a 2004 Philadelphia Don Carlo with some superb artists.The conductor is Maurizio Barbacini, and the cast is headed by Eduardo Villa, a tenor I have just "discovered," and I hope we see much more of him. The cast also includes Angela Brown, Ewa Podles, Franco Vassallo, and Vitalij Kowaljow. I find that whoever recorded this was sitting a bit closer to the orchestra than I would like, but the voices come through pretty well.  (72 min.)

 Highlights from a Bolshoi 1948 recording of Boris Godunov under Nikolay Golovanov. The famous Mark Reizen is the Boris and the cast features Georgy Nelepp (Dimiitri), Nikhander Khanayev (Shuiski), Maria Maksakova (Marina), Maksim Mikhailov (Pimen), Vassily Lubenzov (Varlaam), and Ivan Koslovsky (The Simpleton.)   (65 min.)

NOTE: Error in the photo.Reizen and not Pirogov is the Boris.