What a trouper!!!!! She sang in a wheelchair after she broker her leg. Birthday is Feb.13 (1969).

  One of our great singers...and a sweetheart of a person!!

As dear Virginia approaches 90, a magnificent 9 cd set has been released,and I highly recommend it. Available from Norbeck and Peters.

Who else deserves it more, except with our New York weather, she refuses to send me weather from Florida..well,no one is PERFECT!

Need I say more??????????

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhoXSsdURaM

       I used to buy those expensive operas on the Nightingale label especially for the way Edita Gruberova "scooped" to the top. I also have found an "eccentric" vocal production at times. Howver, at 68 she is still an amazing lady!
        The trills(even on high passages), the accuracy,the ease of the top notes, the over-all involvement in the music, the amazing lasting power in tremendously difficult repertory have made her attain "legendary status" in the opera world.  The above URL gives you an idea of what she has accomplished, but there are very recent clips of her, and she will be "another Magda" if she continues, after 45 years before the public.

When Antonietta Stella made her Met debut in 1956 Aida (also Bergonzi's debut),I felt guilty because I loved her more in this role than Zinka!!!

It was a luscious voice and onstage she was so beautiful. Here are scenes from Aida,Tosca,Butterfly, Vespri,Ernani, Trovatore.....and I hope you enjoy them.

Note: I may have repeated Tosca aria.

He caused a SENSATION in Les Troyens last season. The guy is the real thing......fabulous range, brilliant voice....I just pre-ordered the album.

Hymel made his professional debut in 1998 as the Philistine messenger in Samson et Dalila with the New Orleans Opera, a company where he has performed many roles, including Arturo in Lucia di Lammermoor, Luigi in Il tabarro, and Rinuccio in Gianni Schicchi. After his hometown debut, Hymel sang Tamino in Die Zauberflöte and the Duke in Rigoletto with Opera Grand Rapids. He made his European debut in 2007 at the Wexford Festival Opera, performing the role of the Prince in Dvorak’s Rusalka. Later that year he made his New York recital debut with Michelle DeYoung under the sponsorship of the George London Foundation.^[2] He has also sung at Carnegie Hall with Opera Orchestra of New York in a gala concert honoring the 100th performance there of Eve Queler that also featured Renée Fleming, Marcello Giordani, and Dolora Zajick.^[3]

In recent years Hymel has been seen in many leading opera houses in Europe as well as North and South America, performing Don José in Carmen at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden,^[4] the Canadian Opera Company,^[5] with the Simon Bolivar Orchestra in Caracas, Venezuela, conducted by Sir Simon Rattle, and at La Scala Milan. He has also sung the role of Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly with English National Opera and the Canadian Opera Company, Cavaradossi in Tosca with Opéra National de Bordeaux, Guido in A Florentine Tragedy and Arturo in I Puritani with Greek National Opera, Énée in Les Troyens with the Netherlands Opera, and the Prince in Rusalka with the Boston Lyric Opera. In the summer of 2011, Hymel sang the title role in Faust at The Santa Fe Opera. ^[6]

In July 2012, Hymel performed the role of Énée in the Covent Garden Troyens, replacing Jonas Kaufmann who was suffering from an infection.,^[7] and replaced Marcello Giordani in the same role for his Metropolitan Opera debut on 26 December 2012, as well as all subsequent performances in the 2012/2013 season, including a worldwide HD telecast.

In November 2014 Hymel will sing the role of Polyeucte in a concert performance of Donizetti's 1840 opera, Les Martyrs, an adaptation into French of his 1838 Poliuto written for Naples in Italian but not performed there until 1848. It will be given by the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment at London's Royal Festival Hall.^[8]

Awards

In 2002 Hymel was one of the winners of the Opera Lirica d’Orvieto Aria Competition in Perugia, Italy as well as the Palm Beach Opera Competition. He was the winner of the George London Award in 2007. In 2008 he had a great run of success in competitions, being named the First-Prize winner of the Giulio Gari Foundation Competition, the Loren L. Zachary Vocal Competition, and the Licia Albanese/Puccini Foundation Competition, and in 2009 he was named Top Prize Winner of the Gerda Lissner Foundation Competition. In 2012 he won the Beverly Sills Award.

Great Compilation by Mr.Bocelli (the other one.)

She said, "Dammi il braccio,mio PICCINO, and even at 19, I knew to answer, "Obbedisco,SignorA!!!!!!

 So happy to have this memory!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In 1970, the last time I saw Renata, we went crazy over this scene. The utterance,"Tre assi e un paio" echoed through the Met like a cannon. (I would not have wanted to play poker with HER!).

   Bless our beloved birthday lady!!!!!!

  This week I have been posting and sending clips of the beloved Renata Tebaldi, whose birthday is Feb.1 (1922). I also said (I think) that we met her coincidentally on her birthday 60 years ago,after the Met debut on 1/31/55.No one knew this...and we would have sung!!!!
   Anyone of any vintage recognizes the LEGEND of this lady, whose performances were "events," always ending with all the fun outside, and screaming (out of the limo) "Ciao"up 40th St., and us running after her....
    Tomorrow I will be thinking of all the great experiences we had with her,onstage and off.One example is seeing off on a train to Philly, and saying to the baggage handler by the door, "Spoletta,chiudi!!!" This was Renata, someone who made us so happy and who will remain forever in our hearts.
   One beautful element of the Internet is that all generations can partake to some extent of the careers of great singers. How many have been exposed to singers whom even we crazy collectors never heard of. (Meta Seinemeyer was one BIGGIE for me.).This is one of my goals....to make sure no "flame" dies, so Renata's marvelous career and personality will be remembered forever.
       Grazie, mia cara Renata, per tutto che hai fatto per opera, e per me.

                                             Carlos (She could not speak English in 1957 and I had not learned operatic Italian,so I spoke in espanol..hence the "CarloS"