We were ripping programs and tossing them down!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  When she took the high A at the end on "AMOOOOOORE"..a friend was so aghast, he hit me in the ribs and I almost fell to the standing room floor!!!!!!! You could not imagine what it was like!!!!!!

    January 31, 1955. Weather like New York last week. A teenager wakes up at 4:00 and arrives at the Met at 6:00 for his first Otello,featuring the debut of the lady whose birthday (then unkown to us) was Feb.1. The teen enters a telephone booth (remember them?). A cop asks him what he is doing there.The guy says, "Waiting for the opera tonight." Shortly, another group of nutcases get on the standee line, to freeze until 7:00P.M..
       Feb.1, 1955..about 12:00 and out comes the lady who became our "madre" and in freezing cold weather,signed every single program, and it was her 33rd birthday!!!
  So you understand why Feb.1 means so much to me and to those who were privileged to have this incredible lady..on and off stage..as a "buddy" in our teen years.
      Bless your memory, dearest Renata Tebaldi. You will remain forever in our hearts!!                                     
                                                    Charlie

From 1958, under Jean Morel, we bring you Faust with Nicolai Gedda (in his debut season), Hilde Gueden,Jerome Hines, and Robert Merrill.

  Please note that owing to an error on the original disc, I have substituted Scotto,Kraus, and Ghiaurov for the final scene.  (74 min.)

 Mirella Freni and Gianni Raimondi head the cast of Mascagni's "L'Amico Fritz" from La Scala 1963, under Gianandrea Gavazzeni. Rolando Panerai and Bianca Maria Casoni complete the cast  (66 min.)

In this 1969 Berlin Tosca under Loren Maazel, Mme.Lorengar sings with such beautiful expression that I am sorry I never experienced her live. Franco Tagliavini and Ingvar Wixell complete the cast (73 min.)

Cesare Bardelli was a true Italian baritone and had a fine career. I saw him in this Attila in 1972 in Newark,New Jersey, with Jerome Hines and Leyla Gencer. I know you will enjoy this, and especially his dear daughter Vera will be able to listen to her dad.

  To that great guy,Marcello Giordani, who celebrates his birthday on Jan.25  (1963)...I wish him the best. He recalls the SQUILLANTE tenors of the past. Live at the Met he shakes the chandeliers!!!!!

                                                        Love from Charlie

  New York is suffering under the worst icy-cold weather conditions in many years;however, we were cheered up when,during our snowstorm, that the delightful Anna Netrebko decided to have a little fun on her balcony.

  The photo has made so many of us happy, and let me share it with you!

  I bring you still another of my compilations of great artists in order to make you happy, and for your opera parties, where you give expensive gifts to those who guess all the selections.

1.  Magda Olivero  (turns 104 in March)     Iris  aria

2. Getrude Kappel      Walkure      "Hojotojo"

3.  Alfredo Kraus         Romeo        "Ah leve-toi,soleil"  (sings it up a half step.)

4. Karita Mattila         "I could have danced all Night" from "My Fair Lady."

5. Maria Callas           "La mamma morta"   (see the touching scene in the film "Philadelphia")

6. Sherrill Milnes         Attila cabaletta (with amazing high B flat)

7. Elena Nikolaidi        Don Carlo    "O don fatale."

8. Claudia Novikova    La Perichole   Hilarious act two "drunk aria."

9. Ivan Petrova            Yolantha (Tchaikowsky)  King Rene aria

10. Ezio Pinza               Amore de tre Re     Archibaldo's Monologue  (INCREDIBLE!)

11. Rosa Ponselle         Tosca    "Vissi d'arte"

12.  Cesare Valletti       Manon    "Le reve"

13.  Samuel Ramey       Boris Clock Scene

14.  Antonietta Stella    Attila   "Santo di patria"

15. Ebe Stignani             Semiramide aria  (see why she is my all-time favorite mezzo.)

16.  Richard Tucker        Turandot     "Nessun Dorma"