HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

   A wonderful Happy New Year to all of you!!!!!!!

  Resolution No.1-More audio podcasts, but the videos are still nice.

                        My best   Charlie

Category:general -- posted at: 12:24pm EDT

Again, on Piotr's birthday, I present the kind of singing that I feel is RARE today!!!!!

Category:general -- posted at: 8:26pm EDT

This season Piotr interpolated a high C# in the cadenza.......Unfortunately for him, the pole dancer girl who appears at curtain rise was not around.....

 Happy Birthday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Category:general -- posted at: 12:01am EDT

Not since my "olden days" have I loved a tenor like. Piotr Beczala.

Birthday is 12/28/1966.

 

Sweetest guy one could know..Loves Gedda,Tauber,Wunderlich..That figures...and I bring him their CD's....

Category:general -- posted at: 11:56pm EDT

Just discovered Piero Pretti!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I went PAZZO....with all the extra high notes!!!!!

 

 

Gelb is sleeping...GET HIM!!!!!!!

Category:general -- posted at: 8:52pm EDT

 

For years every time Franco sang that high C on "re-endero" I went nuts...Now,dear Michael Fabiano did the opera.(I had the audio complete, but just found the video of the aria.). Lord!!!! He is so marvelous and now is becoming a world-famous artist.

  Love and success to him!!!!!!

Category:general -- posted at: 8:42pm EDT

Enrico and I wish you all the happiest of holidays and I treasure your appreciation for my podcasts.

  I have sent mostly videos lately, but will resume more audios soon.

   From all over the globe, you make me very happy!!!!!

 

    Love     Charlie

Category:general -- posted at: 3:24pm EDT

  12/14/1910...Made it to 99!!!

 

At 9:22 chests very high..BUT Fedora chested on the last "Anatema" before :su voi!!" THAT is high!!!!

 

Barbieri texted me and said she STILL would not speak to her "rivale."....even down there...

Category:general -- posted at: 6:40pm EDT

THIS is the REAL TOSCA!!!!!!!!

Category:general -- posted at: 2:49am EDT

 

Any TUCKER is great....but Richard could not play because if he came out with no helmet, the Jet's fans would laugh at the 99 cent toupee........

Great.........I was so thrilled..Next season Arod will sing the National Anthem at Yankee Stadium..three octaves HIGH HIGH HIGH!!!!!

 

Placido may also sing The National Anthem on Sundays...I can hear it now.."Jose, can you see....?"    Go on youtube:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93s9pHGUpjY

 

Any TUCKER is great....but Richard could not play because if he came out with no helmet, the Jet's fans would laugh at the 99 cent toupee........ Great.........I was so thrilled..Next season Arod will sing the National Anthem at Yankee Stadium..three octaves HIGH HIGH HIGH!!!!! Ravens kicker Justin Tucker beautifully sings Ave Maria

Category:general -- posted at: 12:52pm EDT

What could be more loving than these two? Rolando is just such a sweetheart and I am glad he is better after some vocal problems.

  Next to him,I always felt calm and reserved....Just such fun always!!!!!!

Category:general -- posted at: 2:06pm EDT

How come NO MIMI since Scotto/Soviero..plus Favero,Muzio,Zeani,Albanese,etc..know how to produce emotion and color the voice like Nelly Miricioiu?

  Sweetest,kindest,nicest Facebook friend.....and a lady who should teach Met singers what style is all about.

 

Remember "Ma quando vien lo sgelo" is the highlight!!!!!

Category:general -- posted at: 1:53am EDT

If Callas ONLY did this, you would understand what a genius the lady was. Just seems like she is in "another world."

Category:general -- posted at: 5:06pm EDT

Beverly Sills supposedly said she would like 5 years of Callas than 25 years of her!

Take 1949-1955 and a few performances later on, and you are witness to a God-Given artist, who left us so soon.

Dec.2, 1923 is a date we must remember in her honor!!!!

Category:general -- posted at: 5:01pm EDT

My friend from Albania discovered Eva Golemi, who has a repertory of 67,936 roles.(See Youtube.) There is some talent here and there..BUT I must say that she has some "problems."

    Also, who are those dancers???The Village People???

Category:general -- posted at: 4:53pm EDT

  What could be sweeter??? This is a darling trio!!!!!

Category:general -- posted at: 10:37pm EDT

AWESOME!!!!!!   This is just a sensational singer....Where has he been all my life?????

Category:general -- posted at: 5:14pm EDT

I have cried here in my favorite film for many years, but now when I look at  Madeline LeBeau's face at "Mugir les feroces soldats." I just cannot stop!!!!

Vive la France!!!!!!

Category:general -- posted at: 2:12pm EDT

Weep. weep forever for one of the most beloved artists in opera history, and she knew she was terminal. Nov.14, 1926, Leonie said farewell, but she will never be forgotten.

Category:general -- posted at: 1:28pm EDT

This is the REAL Moedl fach, and it is just so moving, but you had to see her live to derive all the pleasure. Just something in my life that never fades.

Category:general -- posted at: 8:38pm EDT

I probably have mentioned singers with flaws who can "read the telephone book" and be thrilling. Such was Mme.Moedl, singing a scene from "Bluthochzeit," by Wolfgang Fortner, which is based on Lorca's "Bodas de Sangre"(Blood Wedding), I taught Lorca so I appreciate the concepts.

Gwyneth Jones is also a soprano you sometimes feel is in serious trouble, and yet she is often more amazing than a soprano with better technique.</strong></span></p>

I saw Moedl in the Ring in 1957, and still see her on the stage as the most riveting singer in my life.

Olivia Stapp told me that she saw an Isolde once where she was "voiceless," and yet everyone went crazy!!!!!

Category:general -- posted at: 8:19pm EDT

Lucrezia Bori

Hope this works!! Have had computer disasters!!!

 

Lucrezia Bori was a very famous singer. Her name I think was Borgia, and I would not have wanted to eat at her house!

 Here are live scenes from La Rondine w.Mario Chamlee (1934 Chicago), and Manon (1936 Met) with Richard Crooks.   

Hope I can do many more podcasts,before you get frustrated!

Direct download: Bori_Misc.mp3
Category:podcasts -- posted at: 7:55pm EDT

 

She started her career as a member of the chorus with Latvian National Opera in 2001, and in 2003 became a soloist. It was there that she met her future husband, the conductor Andris Nelsons.[2]

She first achieved wider recognition in 2006, when she made her debut at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin, followed by debuts at 2008 at the Teatro alla Scala, Milan and the Wiener Staatsoper, Vienna in 2008 and in October 2010 the Bavarian State Opera in the title role of Dvořák’s Rusalka in a new production directed by Martin Kušej.[2]

In 2011, Opolais made her debut with London's Royal Opera, singing the title role in Puccini's Madama Butterfly, conducted by Nelsons.[3] In 2013, she made her debut at The Proms in London's Royal Albert Hall, singing Verdi and Tchaikovsky arias, with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.[3]

On 5 April 2014, with just five and a half hours' notice, Opolais substituted as Mimi in the Metropolitan Opera's matinee performance of Puccini's La Bohème.[4] The substitution was necessitated by the scheduled Anita Hartig being too ill to perform. Although Opolais had performed the role several times in the past, including at the Vienna State Opera, she was currently in the title role of another opera, Puccini's Madama Butterfly, and had sung that there for the first time the previous evening. She hadn't fallen asleep until about 5am, when she was woken by a 7:30am phone call asking her to sing again at the 1pm matinee. Opolais is scheduled to perform in the same role in the Metropolitan Opera's 2014/15 season production of La Bohème.[4]

Opolais' singing of Cio-Cio San (Madama Butterfly) with the Met has received positive reviews. The New York Observer noted her "soaring voice and penetrating theatrical presence", and that "she is the most compelling Met Cio-Cio-San since Diana Soviero last sang the role here nearly 20 years ago."[5]

Her Mimi in La Bohème at the Met has also been praised. CDN noted that she "instantly meshed with the existing cast" and "found instant chemistry on stage" and has a "lovely, youthful, effortlessly nuanced voice".[6]

 

What a sweetheart. She is so dear and what a great voice!!!

 

Nov.13

Category:general -- posted at: 2:10pm EDT

If I RULED, my first edict would be to order that all experienced opera lovers have the sworn responsability to attempt to awaken others to the values of opera. From my life's experience, I wish to show you examples of how it CAN HAPPEN:

1. I played some videos for a class. They were silent and attentive. Then they wanted to know if Nedda was REALLY dead. No, I informed them that Theresa Stratas did go on to sing for more years. They also (the boys) seemed to enjoy Shirley Verrett's Tosca act two chest..and I do not mean low notes.
  One BRAT deliberatley made comments and faces, but I think he just wanted to be a class troll. I also did not lower his mark..or did I?
  I also deliberately showed them the end of Walkure with all that fire, offering me an opportunity to take the high F# near the end.

  Look, for anything..music,literature,sports,art, etc...the adults need to give their kids a chance to enjoy more than video games, texting, and what goes for music these days.

2.  Mom and her friends, around 1930 or so, "slummed" and saw Walkure at the old Met and she said, "It was a big lady on a little hill."  I looked it up and she might have seen Gertrude Kappel.
  
 However, when dad died, I took her to Traviata. Tebaldi held her hand, and from then on, mom realized that someone with a "Follies background" could eventually tell me she loved Elektra the most, and met Rise, Farrell,Resnik,etc. She also liked Frau, Louise, AND when Corelli and Nilsson ended the "In questa reggia" with that high C, she was breathless.

 Dad did go with me to one opera.It was Trovatore with Rigal,DelMonaco(rarely did Manrico),Merrill, and Barbieri. I seem to recall he enjkoye the "Ai nostri monti theme "at the end of the opera, when it reprises and Azucena sings it. Sadly, dad never got to hear any more opera from the Met or from my singing, but I bet it was "in him" to like it somewhat.
Finally, a friend of my computer expert had said she wanted to sample opera. She is 53, and never ever heard opera. I enjoyed her curiosity and gave her some gifts of DVD's. She LOVED Turandot!!!!!
 
 All we need to do is to expose others to what we enjoy. Some may like, others will not. So what! At least some of the younger (or older) generations can someday say what I say..."I saw Joe Di Maggio!!"
        
 Down with Jay-Z!!!!!!!!  Charlie

 

Will get to audio podcasts soon..making some additions....Non mi abbandonare!!!!!

Category:general -- posted at: 4:18pm EDT

   Mamma mia!!!!!!   This is amazing!!!!! We do have Andrew Owens and Larry Brownlee who can do stuff like this..but this is truly something....but I still have my high F in the shower!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Neighbors saw me in the hall and asked if I had a hernia)

Category:general -- posted at: 12:52pm EDT

This hilarious Gianna Rolandi clip reminds me of what we LOST with the demise of NY City Opera!!! If I was Donald Trump II(but nice...even without the hair)...I would revive it...What stars I saw..some never at Met..but what greats:

 

 Sills,Welting,Treigle,Soviero,Stapp,Ramey,Poleri, Verrett,Carron, Galvany,Malfitano, Meier,Bible...and on and on!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Computer had more troubles..I should be able to get more podcasts on here soon......

Category:general -- posted at: 11:42am EDT

  I would bet you never attended a Tannhauser for the LANDGRAVE!!! Well, even if Melchior and Flagstad were in the cast, you would still thrill to the rich and absolutely superb voice of basso Gunther Groissbock.

   This man recalled to me the likes of Weber,Kipnis,Moll,Pape,Nissen,Frick, and all the wonderful bassos I have heard live or on recordings.

 I urge you to check out more of his singing on Youtube.  Remember, I saw the creator of Hagen!!!

Category:general -- posted at: 4:29pm EDT

  Now Virginia, I always told you that you never come out of "chest voice," but you insist it is "mask.!"

OK.I will accept that definition (but you still sound like Siepi on the bottom notes!!!!)

 

  GOD BLESS MY DARLING FRIEND ON HER 90TH!!!!

Category:general -- posted at: 2:39pm EDT

God bless my darling Virginia Zeani on Oct.21, as she turns 90!!!!

No one is dearer to me and those of you who search Youtube will be treated to one of the greatest singers in opera history!!!!!!

 

Love from "Il tuo fratello"    Charlie

Category:general -- posted at: 2:34pm EDT

Good for Leyla Gencer's birthday to hear the kind of thrilling singing I miss. They no longer at the Met allow the "avraaaaaaai" to be held, and Gildas are OK...but no one attacks the E flat like Callas,Peters,Hurley,and Leyla!!!!!!

Category:general -- posted at: 11:22am EDT

Direct download: leyla_and_me.jpg
Category:general -- posted at: 10:24am EDT

I adored this great lady!!! Tremendous variety of roles and amazing feeling for the line and the text.

We gave her a party in 1972 and she signed my "Gencer Pirated Recording Card."

 Callas may have been "deeper," but Gencer for me was able to last very long, despite a few "gulps."

  Bless her memory!!!!!

Category:general -- posted at: 10:21am EDT

This season the Met premieres this gorgeous work, completing the "Queen Trilogy."   Beverly Sills was the last soprano in NY to perform it, and Sondra Radvanovsky should be superb.

However, not enough people recognize the magnificence of dear Olivia Stapp (image not great), who should be better known, like so many others I present. She is also a dear person and now works with inner-city kids and is loved by all!!!

Category:general -- posted at: 1:26pm EDT

Leyla Gencer was born on Oct.10, 1928. One of the great ladies of opera, the "Queen of the Pirates." She and Shirley Verrett burn up the stage. The audience loves "PIE!"

This Maria Stuarda Confrontation Scene is amazing!!!!!!!!!

Category:general -- posted at: 5:06pm EDT

How low can you get?? This guy is just amazing!

If you are a serious collector, you can go to a site called:   www//78 heaven where you will find rare material,such as this.

The narrator is a bit on the "countertenor" side.

Category:general -- posted at: 4:54pm EDT

When I did a mini-class for Dolora's students, I asked her how she felt singing this glorious music.

 She replied, "I am interested in getting the notes out!!"  

 We take so much for granted..they SUFFER for us!!!!

Category:general -- posted at: 10:13pm EDT

Another tenor who is superb???? I can't take it

anymore..although we still need some

Manricos,Otellos,etc..but this guy is wonderful,

Category:general -- posted at: 12:37am EDT

http://piotrbeczala.com/media/video/

 

 

The great guy!!!!!

Category:general -- posted at: 11:46pm EDT

http://piotrbeczala.com/media/video/

 

 

....and who deserves it more??????

Category:general -- posted at: 11:42pm EDT

  Born on Oct.2, 1890, Groucho (and his brothers) were legendary and opera was never so much fun!!!!!  (with Margaret Dumont, of course.)

   Bless his memory!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Category:general -- posted at: 11:18pm EDT

Here are 37 examples of the great Rigoletto moment, courtesy of "Coloratura Fan," a marvelous contributor to our entertainment.

 Please get someone to do this with you, and forward the clip to me so I can play it for Lucic and Lungu.

   I still have the A flat...in the shower!!!

Category:general -- posted at: 3:05pm EDT

Michael Corvino sings this inspiring and heart-wrenching song from "The Most Happy Fella."

  Last thing (Robert Weede) my ma and dad saw before he passed away..so it has a special nostalgic memory for me.

Michael is just magnificent here and we know him as a beautiful, warm human being as well!!!!!!

Category:general -- posted at: 4:57pm EDT

Bryan Hymel Heroique Album

On occasion, a brilliant artist comes along and thrills audiences all over the globe. Here are three excerpts from tenor Bryan Hymel's Album entitled "Heroique."

The operas are: Vepres Siciliennes, Les Troyens (where he made a Met debut on short notice and was a sensation. See Youtube), and Queen of Sheba.

 Buy the whole album!!!!  As usual, I only give you excerpts, since I  would not want him to lose royalties. He is too nice a guy!

Direct download: Hymel_Fr.mp3
Category:podcasts -- posted at: 3:13pm EDT

GREATEST performance in my life.I have been to over 700 opera performances, The screaming at the end was FOREVER!!!!!!

Category:general -- posted at: 11:48am EDT

  I hope you enjoy dear Irina in Nabucco. Honestly, I think I pick the right divas.  Wonderful lady!!!!!

Category:general -- posted at: 11:37am EDT

Just got a call from dear Irina Rindzuner, on the way back to Europe, where she has been a brilliant success in Nabucco,Dutchman,Turandot,Aida,Trovatore,etc.

I "discovered' her as Santuzza in the now defunct City Opera, and we became friends.

  How can you eat with all that screaming? It should have been in a Chinese restaurant!!! She sure sings with plenty of MSG!!!!

Category:general -- posted at: 11:18am EDT

The MIRACLE of opera!!!!!!!!!   and FUN!!!!!

 

In person, she drowned out ten jet planes!!!!!

Category:general -- posted at: 8:38pm EDT

Stockholm Opera 1978. Berislav Klobucar conducts:
Birgit Nilsson ( Färberin - Dyer's Wife)
Rolf Jupither ( Färber Barak - Dyer)
Barbro Ericson (Amme - Nurse)
Siv Wennberg (Kaiserin - Empress)
Matti Kastu (Kaiser - Emperor)

 

 

Great cast!!!!! I adored Ericson as Fricka..but she never stayed!!!!

Category:general -- posted at: 3:09pm EDT

Had not seen this in a while...She used to slowly rise out of the chair on "Ma,quando vien lo sgelo,"come forward slowly, and when she got to the top note, the Met SHOOK!!!

You cannot tell from records!!!!! My tears just started to flow,remembering what she was to me personally and to all of us "kids" Nostra MADRE!!!!

I carry with me the beautiful memory of Renata and will always remember how she was with her "children."

Category:general -- posted at: 10:47am EDT

Caro Daniele,

  Why don't you hold the last note longer????????????

That middle voice makes me crazy!!!!

Category:general -- posted at: 10:15am EDT

One of the most gorgeous voices I ever heard. 9/6/30.

Melted us away..Top got a bit pushed..but he was for me special...Here with Magda is this great scene!

Category:general -- posted at: 10:06am EDT

 

Meta Seinemeyer (September 5, 1895 – August 19, 1929) was a German opera singer with a spinto soprano voice.

Seinemeyer was born in Berlin, where she studied at the Stern Conservatory with Ernst Grenzebach. She made her debut at the Deutsche Opernhaus in 1918. She joined the Dresden Semperoper in 1924, and began appearing at the Vienna State Opera in 1927.

On the international scene, she sang at the Metropolitan Opera in New York in 1923, as Elisabeth in Tannhäuser and Eva in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, as Agathe in Der Freischütz in 1926, and at the Royal Opera House in London in 1929, as Eva, Elsa in Lohengrin and Sieglinde in Die Walküre.

Besides the great Wagner heroines, she also played an important role in the renaissance of Verdi's operas in Germany, winning considerable acclaim as Leonora in La forza del destino, Elisabeth de Valois in Don Carlos, and the title role in Aida. She was also admired as Marguerite in Faust, Maddalena in Andrea Chénier, and the title role in Tosca.

She took part in the creation of Ferruccio Busoni's Doktor Faust in Dresden in 1925.

One of the greatest German singers of her generation, her career was cut short when she died of leukemia in Dresden a few weeks short of her 34th birthday. Very shortly before her death, she married the conductor Frieder Weissmann (1893-1984). She is buried in the Stahnsdorfer Friedhof in Berlin.

 

Died at 33..great singer!!!!!!!!!

Category:general -- posted at: 9:46am EDT

GREAT LADY!!!!  9/5/1960..Gave some of the most riveting performances we ever heard!!!!

  One of the GOLDEN AGE singers!!!!!

Category:general -- posted at: 9:41am EDT

....and speaking of MIRACLES!!!!!!

Category:general -- posted at: 5:51pm EDT

As James Levine receives tributes at his Gala, here is the most phenomenal singer imaginable. Nilsson gives the audience a big surprise!!!!!

God bless her for what she did for music!!!!

Category:general -- posted at: 5:46pm EDT

If we speak of MIRACLES, here is Birgit Nilsson in the Solti Ring Gotterdamerung. Watch what they do at 1:16:54.

She had such a great sense of humor!!!!!!

 

 Did you think I would leave her out of the Swedish Compilation?????

Category:general -- posted at: 5:41pm EDT

Great Swedish Artists

Mr.Bo Rydberg suggested a podcast on the famous Swedish singers, some of whom I have enjoyed live.(Star next to those I saw at the Met.) Some are fabulous LEGENDS in the history of the vocal art.

1. Karen Branzell (mezzo) Walkure act 3 scene

 2. Ivar Andresen Huguenots aria

 3. Kerstin Thorborg  Delilah act 2 scene

 4. Sven Nilsson   Onegin  Gremin aria

5. Fanal (Atterberg) Finale, Bjoerling, Berglund,Gorlin

6. Medeltida (Rangstrom)* Svanholm sings the ballad

7. Joel Berglund  Meistersinger Fliedermonolog

8.Hjoerdis Schymberg (Pronounced "Schimbarri") Flute aria

9. Gertrude Wetergren   Ballo Ulrica aria

10. Torsten Ralf  Lohengrin aria

11. Nicolai Gedda   Postillon aria

12. Ingvar Wixell and Bust Margit Jonsson in Flute duet

 

  More to come!! Guess who????

Direct download: Swedes.mp3
Category:podcasts -- posted at: 5:17pm EDT

She turns 69 on Dec.23. Do we know many,if any divas who can sustain a career like hers? People fly all over the globe to see her.

Yes, a few notes are a bit "off," but who cares?????

 

One of the all-time legends!!!!!!! >

Category:general -- posted at: 11:07am EDT

Let us hear the names of all the divas who can sing beautifully in Turandot, Lucia, Forza,and a wide variety of roles.

  Not many.....Callas, Zeani, etc..and we add the wonderful Magda  (and she has CHEST VOICE TOO!!!!)

Category:general -- posted at: 10:46am EDT

  You all know how I discover new talent. Well, Mme.Nieves is not exactly new. She has a fine career, but I just "discovered" her.

I honestly feel she is one of our "shining divas" and am presenting a few excerpts. You know I have heard the BEST!

 

P.S. Since I cannot add comments here, owing to commercials that are put in, let me know if the new podcasts are fine, since I am just starting them again.

 Placido21@aol.com

Category:general -- posted at: 10:38am EDT

Piotr Beczala Highlights from French Album

I present the magnificent tenor, Piotr Beczala, in arias from Werther, Le Cid, La Favorite, and Romeo et Juliette.

 Few tenors in my opera experience have thrilled me as much, and in addition he is the sweetest human being one could know.

 I did not give you the entire album, because if you don't buy it, he loses royalties.(I think!)

Direct download: Piotr_fr.mp3
Category:podcasts -- posted at: 1:17am EDT

Gotterdamering Exc, from 1955 Covent Garden with Set Svanholm, Margaret Harshaw,Herman Uhde, Dezso Ernster AND young Joan Sutherland as Woglinde!!    Fritz Stiedry Conducts.

 

 

I DID A PODCAST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

500 more to come!!!

Direct download: Gott.Svan.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 3:24pm EDT

"Jaded" Charlie rarely calls most singers of today "GREAT!"

They are fine and to be loved for the most part, BUT I feel Rene Pape belongs in the "great" category. He was born Sept.4, 1964 and has shown he belongs with the best of all-time!

  He is a bit "cool" backstage, but he pulled a funny thing in a Faust Garden Scene a few seasons ago. Looking at Marguerite and her jewels, he exclaimed, " Diamonds are a girl's best friend!!" Coming from a seemingly serious guy, it was FUN!!!

Category:general -- posted at: 11:06am EDT

Mr. Bing allowed Regina Resnik only ONE Marina, and here is the CG duet. Fabulous!  Then he wanted her to do the Innkeeper, which she called the "Chickenplucker."

When her son,Michael Davis, was about 7, she taught him the beautiful melody toward the end of the duet, and he sang it for us.

  It is very frustrating that Bing's "whims" prevented Resnik from the kind of career she had elsewhere, but at least we have material like this to remember her.(Birthday was Aug.30)

Category:general -- posted at: 1:45pm EDT

Para LLORAR!!(To CRY!!)  especially Lorengar and Kraus.....What an array of the greatest Hispanic artists!!!!!!

Category:general -- posted at: 11:40am EDT

For my darling friend, Regina Resnik, whom I knew for 50 years. She was one of the greatest artists ever. She was born on Aug.30, 1922.

More to come!!!!!

Category:general -- posted at: 11:13am EDT

Nadezna Kniplova and Frida Leider in the Walkure Battle Cry.

See, I am learning (again) how to do podcasts for you. Windows 10 must be learned, but I am progressing.

    Love  Charlie..Non mi lasciate!!!!!

Direct download: Hojotohos.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 10:58am EDT

Luisa Miller Finale  Elena Mosuc, Neil Schicoff.  EXCITING!!!!

Category:general -- posted at: 5:49pm EDT

HEY!!!!!

 

First test for my new Windows 10. Joel Berglund singing Tannhauser aria. I hope now finally to get audio podcasts back for YOU!!!!!!

Direct download: Berglund.mp3
Category:podcasts -- posted at: 5:34pm EDT

 

 

 

 

Not to wish to depress you, but to honor some of the great operea artists who left us too soon. We must treasure their memories, despite their tragically short life. Some are in their very early years (Seinemeyer);others are a bit older, (

If you have never checked them out, please do so, as they are surely worth remembering. If you can add to my list, of course do so:

 

Norman Treigle, Herman Uhde, Leonard Warren,Jon Garris, Jerry Hadley, Gosta Winberg, Salvatore Licitra, Miguel Fleta, Fritz Wunderlich, Yohihisha Yamaji (see IRIS),Jussi Bjoerling, Allan Crofoot, Michele Molese, David Poleri.

 

Irene Kramarich, Gwynne Cornell (our friend),Tatiana Troyanos, Jean Madeira, Lorraine Hunt-Lieberson,Conchita Supervia, Claudia Muzio, Meta Seinemeyer, Arlene Auger, Lucia Popp, Mado Robin, Kathleen Ferrier, the Welting sisters (Ruth and Patricia), Patricia Brooks, and I am sure I left out others that you will add.

 

Bless them for what they did for music!!!!

 

 

Category:general -- posted at: 11:44am EDT

 

As a teenager, Korjus toured the Soviet Union with the Dumka Choir. In 1927, while performing in Leningrad, she managed to cross the border into Estonia, where she was reunited with her father. She then began touring the Baltic countries and Germany, and, in 1929, married Kuno Foelsch, a physicist. Korjus continued her concert career as a soprano in Germany and was eventually engaged by the Berlin State Opera in 1933. Her operatic appearances and recordings quickly propelled her to the forefront of European singers and earned her the nickname "The Berlin Nightingale". Film producer Irving Thalberg heard her recordings and signed her to a ten year film contract, sight unseen.

Korjus' first Hollywood film was The Great Waltz (1938), which Frank Nugent of the New York Times called "a showcase for Miliza Korjus" while also noting her resemblance to Mae West.[1] She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for the role.

Korjus was scheduled to star in a film version of the novel Sandor Rozsa in 1940, but an automobile accident caused her leg to be crushed, and, although she avoided amputation, she required extensive recuperation, causing the film to be cancelled. By 1941 she had healed well enough to begin a tour of South America. During her tour, the United States became involved in World War II, and she decided to stay in Mexico for the duration. While living there, she made a Spanish language film, Caballería del Imperio.

In 1944, Korjus returned to the United States, where she performed at Carnegie Hall. She toured the country for several more years, eventually settling in Los Angeles, California. She later founded Venus Records to release many of her earlier recordings.[1]

 

 

8/18/07    PLEASE!!!!! Keep little kids and sensitive cats out of the room!!!!!!!

 How did she make a career????I guess I am nuts (again)

Category:general -- posted at: 12:42am EDT

Who said my favorite tenor had no high C onstage??? Tucker and Virginia are just amazing!!!

 

  I promised the return of audio podcasts soon. I will fix the glitch soon!!!! Please don't leave me "solo,perduto, e abbandonato" like poor Virginia..(90 in October!!!!

 

P.S. That is Mattila and Giordani!!! Who was drunk???Well, I wanted you to hear Tucker and Zeani. Sorry, I didn't catch it....

Category:general -- posted at: 11:37pm EDT

SURPRISE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Category:general -- posted at: 12:28am EDT

                The Pirates Strike Again !!!
May I urge you to read a fine article on Parterre Box,that deals with those dastardly villains known as "Tape Pirates." I am inspired by the mention of these crooks to offer you some absolutely true experiences in my life, and in the lives of other pirates.
1.  The guy who spent good money on a rather large phallic microphone in order to tape operas for Diana Soviero, since I was the best engineer for her.

2. Speaking of microphones, a friend was in Philly taping an opera from the orchestra, where you had to hold the mike in your lap pointing up.(I never did that...too annoying.) Suddenly, out of the corner of her eye, the lady sitting next to him spied this "thing" and shockingly thought he was........NO,he wasn't!

3.Some dude pressed "play" instead of "record" at the Met at the start of some act, and you heard the end of the previous act!

4. All those tape pirates sat in the very front at Carnegie at the Eve Queler operas, since they were usually rare, and made sure they did not breathe so they would get good copies to sell on LP. One of them taped in stereo, with each mike under each armpit, and he looked as if he were DEAD for the entire show.

5. Making reel changes, before cassette machines, there is a trick to turning over the reel at the end of the tape, and if you did not want to lose anything, during a brief pause, you used your TEETH to change the reel...On e night the empty reel slipped out of the guy's mouth and it went down the Carnegie aisle...flop..flop..flop.

6. A fun guy who did not like someone who was taping, yelled from a box to the guy in the orchestra.."Hey..did you get a good tape???"

 

7. Once they saw a mike hanging down from a balcony, and I am told (this sounds crazy),that at a Caballe recitral, a BROOM HANDLE with a mike attached ascended from the orchestra..That I am not sure of...but I know Caballe did wait for some people to turn over the cassettes.

8. I cracked up when a friend was taping a Fischer-Dieskau recital where NO ONE BREATHES, even at a pause..He clicked to turn over the cassette, and he got looks equivalent to "Ve vill get zie barbed vire!" He never got part two!!!

9. At the Olivero Met debut Tosca, we all found it very hard to find a bathroom stall to change reels. I seem to have managed, but it wasn't easy. Speaking of stalls, one season at Carnegie, a guy came out of his stall, only to be confronted by a security guard!!!  Bye,bye, tape!!!!

10. The craziest thing a friend once rigged up was to put a reel machine in his car in the garage near Carnegie..and did some kind of thing with a wireless mike in his seat. Unfortunately, when he played the tape..he got things like, "Hey Joe...park it there!"
 

Nowadays,it is easy to tape with all the mini mikes,etc. I do not do it, because there is live Sirius stuff, Soviero retired, and you also end up not enjoyin g the show, since you are concentrating on the machine.
     So you see, opera pirate nutcases lived a dangerous existance (although I was NEVER sued!!!)

 

Category:general -- posted at: 6:11pm EDT

Ora arriviamo a la mia opera favorita (well, it used to be). Note the great "Guerra Geschrei" of that loud tenor, the makeup on the Aida (she had quite a tan from ther beaches in Cairo), the great Amneris, who interpolates a high note at the end of the duet with What a Mess. Only lacking here is what I saw....The performance with the chorus lady with a wristwatch! Well, it was Eastern Isis time.

 

NO ONE HERE could watch operas with this company without having an accident...... but we had fun......

Category:general -- posted at: 6:02pm EDT

  Another example of a soprano who KNOWS how to thrill audiences! Mme.Nieves is from Puerto Rico, and for me, the guy who is so fussy, she is superb!

  I love the attacks on certain notes which have a certain "slightly glottal" effect, which is common to sopranos who use it for more "Authority." Soviero does it, Caballe (a bit too much sometimes),etc.

  She is a thrill!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Category:general -- posted at: 10:57pm EDT

One of the finest young tenors of today, discovered on Facebook, like so many singers! The voice is capable of incredible range and I do believe he will join the others "big stars" very soon!!!!

  In my day we never had so many (if ANY) tenors like this..we have Camarena,Flores, Brownlee, and now Andrew.

  

 

  I still have delayed the audio podcasts, but will resume soon.

Category:general -- posted at: 11:19am EDT

Hello all (on Del Monaco's 100th birthday,7/27),

My cd/dvd/cassette collection is even larger than Mario's voice, but it is gathering dust. I have been offering some original private and commercial material to singers,teachers,Facebook buddies.

I only ask postage, and am happy to share material with you (NO ZINKA!!). I do have a catalogue, but you may want to list specific artists you like.

  I bring gifts to Stefan Kocan, Piotr Beczala,and others for their enjoyment, but also some teachers have students who need to know who Claudia Muzio or Beniamino Gigli were.

  Let me know at Placido21@aol.com.

P.SA. Fabiano wants to come and raid my apartment!!!

Category:general -- posted at: 11:24am EDT

I called Franco, very long distance, and he says, "Bravo,Michele," but still a bit GELOSO!!!!!

Love Michael...wonderful talent.

  Ana Maria Martinez is also superb!!!!!

Category:general -- posted at: 7:12am EDT

 

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 31 December 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 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.

 

His ringing voice and virile appearance earned him the nickname of the "Brass Bull of Milan".[3] Despite his idiomatic phrasing, he was still widely criticized for being unsubtle and unyielding in his vocal interpretations.

 

 I was 15. All I recall is "white teeth" coming toward me at the Met..My first opera ever and my first singer on a stage.(Aida).Saw him 40 times..Gave 1000% every night!!!

100 years ago,his first baby word must have been "Esultate!!!"

 

Category:general -- posted at: 1:15am EDT

       Finally getting help to do podcasts again. I have done videos as you know, but should be able to do audios soon. Windows 8.1 is different, but I am getting there.

    Thanks for your patience!!!

                                  Charlie

Category:general -- posted at: 1:00pm EDT

 

In The New York Times obituary, Peter G. Davis, who reviewed a 1978 Carnegie Hall recital by Bergonzi in The Times is quoted as noting:

More than the sound of the voice, it is Mr. Bergonzi’s way of using it that is so special. He is a natural singer in that everything he does seems right and inevitable — the artful phrasing, the coloristic variety, the perfectly positioned accents, the theatrical sense of well-proportioned climaxes, the honest emotional fervor. Best of all, Mr. Bergonzi obviously uses these effects artistically because he feels them rather than intellectualizes them — a rare instinctual gift, possibly the most precious one any musician can possess.[3]

Alan Blyth, in his Gramophone survey of Bergonzi's greatest recordings,[11] sums up the qualities of Bergonzi's voice:

His singing there [referring to an online example], even more his earlier Verdi discs, evinces an innate feeling for shaping a line on a long breath, an exemplary clarity of diction, words placed immaculately on the tone, an authoritative use of portamento and acuti. Add to those virtues the manner by which he gives to each phrase a sense of inevitability and you say to yourself, in a mood of sheer pleasure, this is exactly how the music ought to sound. In the theatre only Otello was beyond his capabilities, though his solos are movingly sung on the Philips set.
I think I took the great man for granted. LORD!!!!!! He was one of the greatest singers in opera history!!!!!!
Category:general -- posted at: 1:48pm EDT

Rest in Peace!!! One of our greatest singers. I hope we never forget him!!!!!!!!

Category:general -- posted at: 5:26pm EDT

She was 7 yrs.older than we thought...Great lady, who could sing POP as well as opera. Really wonderful, and at 69 came out of retirement to do Tosca (on Youtube.).

  Bless her memory!

 

Audio podcasts delayed...Patience!!!!!!

Category:general -- posted at: 1:18pm EDT

   I just wrote Grace to tell her how Obama inspired this!!!!

 

Computer BACK!!!!!

Category:general -- posted at: 8:41am EDT

Got new computer (HP).It cooks Lasagna!!!! I am happy with it..windows 8.1. As soon as I learn it, I will send you more podcasts than the number of all the CD's and DVD's made by Placido. 

   I will have to keep up, because in 2047. he will record every Fischer-Dieskau song, which DFD recorded from when they built the Pyramids.

 

Loveya  and patience!!!!!!

Category:general -- posted at: 11:39pm EDT

RISE ET MOI !!!!!

   First singer I ever met. I can feel the greasepaint on her hand, after 60 years. We had a club for her and went to her home every year. This is the last meeting,around 1960. (I had hair!!)

   She made it to 99. I celebrate her June 11 birthday as I remember this beautiful person!!!

 

Category:general -- posted at: 2:04pm EDT

   Rise Stevens, a great Octavian, was born in 1913 on the SAME DAY that Richard Strauss was born (1864).

What a wonderful coincidence!!   This was my first trio and I could not stop sobbing!!!!!

Category:general -- posted at: 1:58pm EDT

  Those who listen to Met Sirius radio mourn the death of beloved commentator Margaret Juntwait, who passed away of cancer last week.

  May she always be remembered by the "Met family" and her many fans.

                       Charlie

Category:general -- posted at: 11:13am EDT

Ciao,

 

   My "new" computer was inadequate..PLEASE hold on till new one comes!!! I want to get back to sending you things!!!!!

 

    Love  Charlie

 

Category:general -- posted at: 10:22am EDT


  Since I never hear my own tapes, a friend played Olivia's Nabucco aria (over the phone) years ago. I flipped out!!!! I did not recognize my own tape! She does just what we want...great singing that thrills me.

 On May 30,she celebrates her birthday (1940) and we wish her a great day. We have become friends, as she is a wonderful as a human being as she is onstage. She works in California with inner-city kids, whom she inspires.

Love to you,dear Olivia!!!!  

Category:general -- posted at: 12:30pm EDT

   Beverly at 8!!!!!  Not bad!!!!!

Category:general -- posted at: 8:11pm EDT

Beverly Sills and Carol Burnette at the Met. It was such fun!!!!

Category:general -- posted at: 8:07pm EDT

   Celebrating the birthday of the amazing Beverly Sills, who said she would "rather have 5 years of Callas than 5 years of me!" She was amazing on stage. and as I always state, "better than the sum of her parts.

 

NEW COMPUTER COMING, so I can do my usual audio podcasts.

Category:general -- posted at: 8:03pm EDT


   The Gods of the voice were in a great mood on May 17 (and I will send clips later today) because they decided that May 17 would feature the birthdays of Zinka Milanov(1906),Birgit Nilsson (1918), and Gabriel Bacquier (1924).

  Their great contributions to opera are treasured, and I am glad that those Gods were feeling good on that day,whatever the year.

 You see,some days are special:  Gigli and Melchior on March 20 BOTH in 1890, and we all know two important dudes celebrate on Jan.21.

   Clips coming up!!

                           Nostalgic Charlie

Category:general -- posted at: 10:43am EDT

You all know I have heard the greats. I now feel that dear Michael Fabiano,born on May 8,1984, is a RARE singer in the opera world.

  He stepped in with short short notice for this Boheme at the Met, and I hope you enjoy him as much as the audience did.

  He also loves my crazy tapes.So I have ONE fan.

 

P.S.Will return to my audio podcasts as soon as I rob a bank and get a new computer.

       Regards Charlie

Category:general -- posted at: 7:02pm EDT

Time for a new computer. I have been sending videos only, but when I am settled (and poor),I can resume my regular podcasts.

  Non mi scordare!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Charlie

Category:general -- posted at: 9:47am EDT

   Renata will live in our hearts forever!!! She was the sweetest,nicest artist I ever knew. This Tokyo audiences goes ballistic,and deservedly so.

   The low tones are SCARY, especially the end,bringing chest voice up so high. Yes, as the years past, the top could get a bit "under pitch" but so WHAT!!!!

 

In the theatre it was as if 10 jet planes flew over. It was just so amazing!  I miss her so much,as true opera lovers do!

 

Still some computer problems,and sending videos until I can do podcasts again......

 

 

 

Category:general -- posted at: 8:07am EDT

  Warren was born on Apr.21, 1911 and at 6:36 on this clip you will hear the exact moment where we saw him die on stage on Mar.4,1960.

   We were devastated,but I will remember this great man forever!!!

Category:general -- posted at: 9:34pm EDT

"Hello,mom," said Jan Kiepura Jr.(by cell phone) in Piotr's dressing room. It was about 2 years ago, and the legendary Martha Eggerth,born Apr.17, 1912, answered her son... It was as close as I came to this wonderful lady!!!!

Category:general -- posted at: 9:51am EDT


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