My joke..Ariadne Obnoxious (not her)

Lise Davidson..Gorgeous new voice!!!!!!     Brava!!!!!

In case you never heard my buddy Maria Galvany do this......It is

the greatest..and remember, I am the only one

alive who looked down her throat on those Bolena

high notes... Buddies since 1965!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You do not have to be Nilsson!!!!! She "gives a

music lesson" to all...Adored by all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Olivia's work with Inner city kids

in California...just got a million dollar gift.

  A sweetheart of a person....and better

than all of them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  Herniated vocal chord shortened

his great career.A true GREAT!!

5/30/1909.One of the greatest

singers EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(See if you can spot him in a uniform

behind Ingrid Bergman in the scene

in Casablanca where they sing the Marsellaise.)

I went to Bolena for Galvany and out

came this then mezzo,Olivia. I went NUTS!

Olivia Stapp is a dear friend and one

of the greats... 5/30/39. Adore her.

      Her last performances....She

will never walk alone in opera 

literature..She will be with us forever!!!

Birthday celebration of an adored lady!!!

Shirley Verrett 5/31/31   Blew the roof

off on the B.  I adored her!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  Wonderful new CD with rare Forza

and Ernani arias.  RECOMMENDED!!!

Will review soon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Neri died only at 49.( 5/21/1909)

Imagine those two together@@@@@@@@

  Imagine telling Gigli or Corelli that

the opere had to end with her Mad Scene.

  Nella Melba   5/19/1861    MEAN!!!!!!

   But great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                 Two special men

Non posso imagginare….Coming in

July!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Cannot sing even

Il cavallo scalpita..  SHOCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Doing Santuzza in July......Mamma ma!!

She is delusional!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  I adored this great man!!!!!!

5/18/1958    I always told Lauren she

is a rare lady because she takes chances.

RARE among divas....and a friend!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  The Caruso of Bassos...…..

Ezio Pinza 5/18/1892

  The greatest ever!@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

On Jan Kiepura's 5/16/ birthday,let

us celebrate my favorite singer,my

dear Piotr Beczala.Kiepura would love him!

  Piotr introduced me to his son!!! He then

  got on the phone and called "Hi ma"...It was

Martha Eggerth!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  We lost this great man too young!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  She had a tremendous repertory,

I hope you enjoy this.Rest in Peace.

  Remembering Daniela Dessi. I know

  Fabio misses her.

  Fabio thanked me for remembering his 

   late wife..She left us too soon.

He makes Bonisolli seem calm!!!!!

I think they put LSD in his lasagna.

Re-enactment of REAL THINGS that

happened on opera stages!!!! FUNNNY!

My all-time favorite tenor of those I saw.

Sadly died before Met was to have given 

him the role.   

Bidu Sayao,born 5/11/02 once spent an entire

Met Gioconda intermission chatting with us.

Her husband was Giuseppe Danise, Resnik's teacher,

and Resnik was the Laura that night!!!!

Ruth Welting  5/11/49....so sad she died young.

Like Pons, this is one tone UP!!!!!!!!!

  I am the only person who looked down

Galvany's throat on her E flats!!!!!!!

Imagine Zampieri has a career?????????????

  I just heavenly texted Corelli and sent

this....He said, "Sono geloso!!!!!!"

LOVE on your May 8 birthday, Mike!!!!!!

  One of our greats today and a sweet guy!!!

Happy Birthday,Mike….5/8/84!!!!!!

But who knows???????????????ad!!

Died at only 64. HUGE voice. Was a

patient of my dentist. I bet she had

a mike in her throat.... Great!!!

Forget it!!!!!!!!!!!! You'll never hear

anything like this again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Without the Ring, my life would not

be treasurable

  If you asked me to name the greatest

performance of any role by any singer

in my ENTIRE opera life (live), it is the

Ludwig (a mezzo) Frau Dyer's Wife!!!!!!!

   Do you have one????????????????????????????

  Courtesy of the late Ed Rosen!!!!!

     My favorite tenor of those I saw!

     I am nuts!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

   I think my friend Piotr might not like

  this too much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

   Whom do you like best??????????

  A very variable singer, but superb here.

  Watch the way she just WALKS..a thrill!!!!!

  Roberta Peters  5/4/30. An artist

  with great technique!!!!!!

  They did not do this cabaletta in

  the olden days....Except for the last

note, Callas plunges into this aria

with fabulous excitement!!!!!

  Michael has it all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  Callas 1952 Live..They do not allow

  this now....a Shame!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  On the "Fa"  we went nuts!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  Who needs the Met Ring 

Back again? HERE is the

Proper analysis!!!

Crazy Lady!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What language???

First mezzo I EVER heard, when I got a hernia

taking the 1929 Aida 78's from the library at 15.

      Sad...Allies bombed her villa and she died.

  Wonderful!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now they are

together again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  A shame she cancelled so much, but GOD!!!!

When she did not cancel, she was a sensation, as in her

NY debut!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Amazing!!!  4/12/1898 birthday. She

sounds great.I was never a big fan, but this

is glorious!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  Thanks for the E flat!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Birthday, dear Aprile!!!!!!

Love them both!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Birthday to sweet dear Aprile Millo.

She has always been so kind and loving, and a great artist.

  Not appreciated enough!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, Tebaldi 1949 does it, but I cannot

have it all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  A great lady, and a rarity today,along

with Netrebko and precious few others.

One of the TINY number of special

divas of today who are special. An

amazing quality (and you MUST be

there live) is that like Cossotto,

the resonance sounds as if she is

singing in your ear!! It is not just a

big voice...it has an amazing penetration.

      ...and you thought Mari Lyn

was like Muzio...NO!!!!!

This guy beats them all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  Yes, I know people love him. My friend studied

with Enrico Rosati, teacher of Gigli,Lauri-Volpi,

and Lanza. His voice was souped up, but

essentially probably fine..BUT what he does

at the "le dolce brezze" makes me want to

shoot him!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

...but in small groups I did some bass

roles......but it was fun,despite the fact

I was no Pinza.  With dear Jennifer Zarchy.

Be kind!!!! Remember, I can't read music!

    NEVER FORGET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  So what if it was B instead of C!!!!

  I saw his Met debut and 40 more times.

  Yes, he could be a pain...but a fabulous

  man on that stage. Note the B flat Celeste

 Aida DIMINUENDO. Friends of mine and his

loved him as a person. In the book it tells

how he and wife Loretta fight in a hotel room.

I asked Frank Guarrera, "With SAUCE???"

    YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

   NO one like him and Del Monaco today!!!

Rather controversial figure but sometimes

people are Goering to separate his possible

Nazi connections from his art. I can do that,

but not everyone can...but a GREAT MAN!!!!

  Truly superb artist!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  If you asked me what 5 singers of the past I would

most want to hear, Ebe Stignani would be one. The

others I guess would be Lehmann,Caruso, Muzio 

and Eva Turner.  Stignani never came to the Met,

another one of their stupid mistakes.

Stop with the "fat" stuff. If anyone

can sing like Anna, I do not care

if she looks like a hippo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  Here are two of my buddies,Sondra

Radvanovsky and Stephen Costello,

enjoying a Bolena rehearsal!!!!!!

  Stracciari is my all-time

  favorite baritone.

        We are now up to 1,979,221

    downloads!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I love my friend Olivia Stapp's "Giudici."

  However, when Ramey, Galvany, and I

 did it in 1970, she held the D so long

I ran out of breath!!!!!

Gencer and MacNeil!!!!!!

  Listen to that ending!!!!!!!!!

OH!!!Calisto Bieito loves to stage

those Verdi operas in a "traditional"

manner...  E pazzo!!!!!

Luciano must have had a great

time with Isola Jones. They

always had to make doors wider

so she could enter. I once told

Soviero to wear metal panties,

knowing what he enjoyed!!!

Someone did not like some

post I made on Facebook and

they blocked me two days.So you

are getting more videos! Good 

for you. Maybe I said Peretyatko

is better than Callas?????

  Nice to see stars have fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  What a nice guy...Stefan Kocan…but

Met does not appreciate him...

Such a wonderful artist and friend.

  La Scala audience is very MEAN!!!!!

Placido might try this in 2098...Michael is amazing!

  Great voice..I do not know if she sings 

anymore..The enormous weight might have

been a problem..but love the voice.

  Stella and Bergonzi in great scene.

 I am too lazy to redo the Tebaldi

comments;much is cut off;in the

future I will be more careful.

Note she runs on the B flat and it is

the closest to what I heard live..Ten

Jet planes!!!!!

    LUV IT....but note Heddle Nash does it in falsetto. Hard note after an entire aria...Best for me is the GEDDA ATTACK. My poor friend had to make a series of LP's for Eddie Smith, the first pirate of 101 of the entire aria..His poor wife almost wanted a divorce!!!!!

Love this...but nothing compares with Corelli in Parma...which is really almost "funny" like the Caballe Don Carlo ending.

  I am sure that many of you have met, and in some cases, became friendly with opera stars. In my case, it is the great Renata Tebaldi with whom I had a closer-than-usual relationship. It was on every birthday that we spoke, and since my mother had met her once, she always said, "Carlos,com'e la mamma??"She called me "Carlos" rather than "Carlo" since her English was limited and my Italian was limited...so I used my Spanish. NO ONE in my life,except my ma, meant more to me...Now it is Virginia Zeani, in that same kind of feeling, whom I will forever treasure...and as compared to Zinka, whom you could NEVER call by her first name, Tebaldi was only "Renata" to us. Bless her forever!!!!

We always had guessing games so why don't you give out prizes for those who can guess the most of these singers???

I love this guy.....why is he not here at the Met????

Well, they have no taste!!!!!   Please note I am doing only many videos, but a big variety.

Please send me comments to Placido21@aol.com. We were both born Jan.21, except I am a real baritone.(ooops, am I mean???)

I will never ever forget the golden sound at "Beviamo ai novissimi legaaaaaaami"...this is like a Di Stefano or Gigli sound..I loved him, and she  was one of the greatest..Just turned 90!!!!!

  One of the FIVE tenors I saw and adored (Tucker,Bergonzi,Corelli,Del Monaco) were the others.The man had the most gorgeous middle voice I ever heard. He did push but the basic sound was absolutely ravishing..especially in the first act of Butterfly, "O Kami O Kami....BEVIAMO AI NOVISSIMI LEGAAAAAMI." I will not ever forget him!!!!! I will post the Butterfly.