Fine Russian Tenor, Khachatur Badalyan.

I am so glad to "spread the word"

as to the new talents.Superb!!!!

She did it ALL!!!! Not a long career, but

1949-1955 in my view was awesome!

Saffo aria sung by one of my

favorite singers, Eugenia Burzio.

OLD STYLE!!!!!!

  I was waiting once at the Met stage

  door after a Macbeth. Out comes this

big guy who looked at me and asked,

"Are you Charlie Handelman?" I said

"Yes." He gave me a big hug and 

said,"You are more famous than

me!"  What a fun guy!!!!!!!!!!

 Joe and I have discussed a kind of

"old-fashioned vibrato," which to 

me is  "affectionate."

Hiya,

   My stats for August show you are really enjoying things;however, the videos do not show up in the stats, so I must deduce that the stats are higher.

I still need to work on a glitch or two in order to do new audio podcasts.

                    Love  Charlie

  At the 1972 Rudolf Bing farewell,Regina

came out as Orlovsky and totally

cracked us up with her rendition of

:Chacun a Bing's gout." Knowing how

he treated her, I know she was not

kidding. Trust me!!

Funniest line is "..and ask Corelli twwwwwice." The way she held the "W" is a classic!!!

We were friends for 50 years. Regina

was one of the greats!!!!! Here is one

of her signature roles(even in English.)

8/29/1926. One of the very

great singers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Paul, my buddy,  8/28/1941. We

sang so much from 1961 at the

Paterson, New Jersey Company.

He became one of the greats, and a 

sweetheart, despite many family

tragedies.

So he didn't have a "C"...OH YEAH!!!!

His favorite role and Virginia is so

magnificent.

For me, greatest tenor I ever heard live.

The voice rang out as GOLD!!!!!!!!!

Being a language teacher, and not wanting to starve, I sang as a hobby. Aug.28 is the birthday of dear Paul Plishka. We sang a lot together, and I also sang w.Sam Ramey.

Well, two of them made it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Another clip of this fine singer...What are all those ladies doing there?????????????????

I keep finding them!!!!!!!  Here is a superb

young tenor from Nagaland,India.May

he go on to great success!!!!!

They are all out there..just go to YouTube!!!!!

Imagine rehearsing Rigoletto years ago and out comes this fabulous voice.   "Who are you?"

"I never sang an opera before..Is the Duke hard????"     I guess I can pick them!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As a real tenor he was superb in Zarzuelas with the great Pilar Lorengar!!!!!!!!!!!!!

VERY few opera singers can sing popular music. Farrell did it pretty well and many male singers do it well, but the DIVAS have trouble. I guess the breaks in the voice make it more difficult...but Dorothy Kirsten mastered the crossover, compared to the ludicrous Fleming or L.Price.

Corelli had more vibrato young (DelMonaco called him a "goat) but these commercial discs still tel us of the man's greatness.

I saw him 40 times.Yes,he could be a pain...but generally speaking,he raised the roof!!!!!!!!!!

I have friends who knew him well,and they tell me how sweet he was and so concerned about his artistry.

  In the event any of you have

been living on another planet,

here is the great Mari Lynn,

(in)famous on YouTube. She is

currently coaching with Zinka Milanov.

  She did lots of films and was popular. 

HOWEVER, the end of the Bolero

makes me HYSTERICAL! She and

Erna Sack are "fun" in a certain way.

  Howyalike all my new posts???????????

It was so nice when Piotr Beczala

introduced me to the son of

another Polish tenor,Jan Kiepura.

His beloved mother, Martha Eggerth

was alive at the time, and he called

her and said, "Hi,ma!!

I felt as if I was in some way "part of history."

    Piotr is my favorite singer of today,

by the way.

When she showed up, Caballe

was one of the greatest singers

of the century!

 Her birthplace was Barcelona, as we 

at this tragic time send our

deepest feelings for their people.

HUGEST voice from a baritone. Great man...In

Ernani, the audience sometimes started to yell at the G 

before the A flat, so stupendous the sound!

  An Oddity!!!!!!  Beverly as Aida!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

8/21/33. One of the most haunting

voices imaginable.I am so sorry I 

never got to hear her live. My loss!!

   Tribute to the dear people of Barcelona

after this terrible tragedy.

  Es imposible expresar en palabras

   lo que siento!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  If you asked me what my all-time favorite commercial recording by a diva is, I would tell you that the Lotte Lehmann Wunder der Heliane aria is to me SUPREME!!!!

The lady had this "veiled and haunting" tone that thrills me no end!!!!

  The great ones never lose it. He is 67.

Ferruccio Tagliavini had an incredibly beautiful

"Gigli-like" voice. Here is an aria from a rare

Refice work, "Chopin."  He did not even have

a recording of it, saw my catalogue, sent me a 

request and I sent it to him!!!

   8/14/1913.  More to come.

  I saw this marvelous baritone

in Macbeth and I wish to show you

this clip on his birthday, Aug.12 (1966.)

                    FUNNY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Imagine attending a performance with your four

favorite singers in their respective voice categories.

   The matinee 1956 for me was something never to forget.

Zinka,my all-time favorite singer, is absolutely at her

PRIME!!!!  The B flat pp on "Invan la pace" is

UNREAL and the last "Maledizione" is sensational.

I was standing all the way down across the orchestra

pit.  Yes, I live in the past!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sweetest nicest guy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

8/8/79    Happy Birthday!!! Wonderful voice.

GREAT HIGHS!!!!!!!!

Lovable in person also!!!!!!!!!!!!

   Hilarious Traviata w. Carreras,Ricciarelli,Baltsa,Raimondi

Great cast!! (well,almost!)  

Milanov,Baebieri,Siepi,Warren. They had

to Baum, but that's life!!!!! DelMonaco

did other shows, but this is what did

occur at times.

I decided this morning to trace the stats 

for a given time period. In only three hours,

I observe,for example that there were 40

"hits" in this time period. I guess you have

not deserted me (like in that opera in

the desert where the soprano sings,

"Sola,perduta,e abbandonata."). I thank

you for years of support,despite some glitches (and

the flu). Please send me personally any comments

(Placido21@aol.com), as I cannot open 

the comments page here, or I will get

all sorts of ads. We are up to over a million and a

half "hits."  Keep listening!!!

   Lovingly   Charlie

I totally disagree with Placido singing baritone.

He has an amazing amount of voice at

75, and he was also born on a famous

day,Jan.21 (like me, but I sang the right stuff.)

Some of you will disagree,but I feel

he does not do proper justice to

the Verdi line. BUT here he shows what

a great singer he has been.

So there we were in the first row at Carnegie

and just before Tebaldi launched into this

aria, she looked down and winked at us! We

were sure she sang just for US!!!!!

Absolutely RIVETED by the Amfortas of

Ryan McKinny. I have seen the best, as 

you well know:London,Uhde,Schoeffler,etc.

This artist is a true STAR!!!

I do not believe that there has ever

been any soprano with the combination

of gorgeous voice quality and

Wagnerian volume.. When she sang "Pace"

at the Met in a concert with Bastianini

and Del Monaco, I thought the roof

would come down on the "Maledizione." I

so miss our yearly birthday (Feb.1) phone 

calls. NO artist was as sweet and dear

to us in our youth..and funny!

  One of the most riveting scenes in opera.

  It makes one cry!!!!!!! I met Silja once

and asked her for the Makropolous formula

so I could live 356 years so I could

listen to my collection. She must have thought I was nuts!! (I was!)

  Dear sweet funny Rolando had to

 see many doctors until he found

what was causing the vocal problems.

  I miss him..such fun we had with him.

After his Traviata debut we all walked

down Broadway and he was so excited

he almost hit his head on the glass

bus stop..I SAVED HIM!

  Sorry! My fonts were too big and some text is cut.I will be careful in the future.

I love singing the end of act two of my favorite opera and the video is of a show we did.I was the King (on left) BUT until I saw the tape, I did not realize that the great Sue Hassel thought she was Callas. How did I get involved in this mess?

Sue supposedly vocalizes on the NY Ed Koch bridge,walking home..This accounts for all the recent accidents!!!!

How do these people think they can sing??????????????

A marvelous compilation of the Aida E flat, made famous first by Callas.

I recall meeting Sondra long before she became one of our present great singers. You must be there is person to hear the incredible resonance of the voice, where she sounds as if she is singing in your ear!

 I want more chest voice from her, but in one opera I recall she sang more lows, and wrote on the program, "How did you like the chest,Charlie??"

Thinking of how  our 1971 Bolena rehearsal introduced us to a guy named Sam Ramey and how I looked down Marisa Galvany's throat when she hit those high notes.

  Now I see two people I know, Steven Costello and Sondra Radvanovsky in Bolena rehearsal...They seem to have fun, as we did back then.

Great mezzo Margarete Klose was born on 8/6/1899. Together with my favorite mezzo,Ebe Stignani, I am thrilled by the richness of her voice.