Celebrating Kathleen Battle's 72nd Birthday With MET Streams

Kathleen Battle (center) is featured in the 1982 Metropolitan Opera production of Mozart's Così fan tutte with Maria Ewing (left) as Dorabella and Kiri Te Kanawa (right) as Fiordiligi (Photo: Winnie Klotz).

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Metropolitan Opera has been deep-diving into its video broadcast troves to stream the content out to users in hopes of fundraising and continued engagement. In honor of Kathleen Battle's birthday today (see our previous tribute here), we highlight the recently aired performance of L'Elisir d'Amore featuring her performance alongside Luciano Pavarotti (view here) and on August 22 they will present Il Barbiere di Siviglia with fellow artists Rockwell Blake and Leo Nucci (view here). Read the company's feature "Practically Perfect," written by photo editor Jonathan Tichler, on Ms. Battle here. More of the soprano's MET production photos after the jump.

Kathleen Battle with Luciano Pavarotti in L'Elisir d'Amore (Photo: Robert Cahen).

Legendary Lyric Soprano Kathleen Battle Celebrates Birthday

Today marks Kathleen Battle's 67th birthday. Celebrate by listening to audio clips and reading about her life by clicking here.

Soprano Lucine Amara Celebrates 90th Birthday Today

Lucine Amara in the title role of Aida

Lucine Amara turns 90-years old today. She began her career as a chorister with the San Francisco Opera. After starting out as a contralto, she switched to soprano and by 1946 was making her debut at the War Memorial Auditorium. The biggest part of her career was on the East coast at The Metropolitan Opera where she sang from 1950-1991 in 748 performances. She debuted as the Celestial Voice in Verdi's Don Carlo with a cast that included Jussi Björling, Delia Rigal, Robert Merrill, Fedora Barbieri, Cesare Siepi, and Jerome Hines. Her roles at the beginning of her career in New York tended to be mostly comprimario: First Lady (Die Zauberflöte), Ines (Il Trovatore), Wellgunde (Götterdämmerung), Kate Pinkerton (Madama Butterfly), Priestess (Aida), Countess Ceprano (Rigoletto), Frasquita (Carmen), Serving Woman (Elektra), Leaders of the People (Alceste), Flower Maiden (Parsifal), Annina (La Traviata). Rare exceptions in the first two years of performing at the MET were the roles of Nedda in I Pagliacci and Micaela in Carmen. By 1953 she was singing Mimì in La Bohème under the baton of Alberto Erede. She would go on to sing Pamina (Die Zauberflöte), Countess Almaviva (Le Nozze di Figaro), Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni), Desdemona (Otello), Antonia (Les Contes d'Hoffmann), Tatiana (Eugene Onegin), Leonora (La Forza del Destino), Liù (Turandot), Fiordiligi (Così fan tutte), Eva (Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg), Ariadne (Ariadne auf Naxos), Marguerite (Faust), Ellen Orford (Peter Grimes), Luisa (Luisa Miller), Maddalena (Andrea Chénier),  Alice Ford (Falstaff), Cio-Cio San (Madama Butterfly), Elsa (Lohengrin), Amelia (Un Ballo in Maschera), and the title roles in Aida and Tosca. Her final roles at the MET were Mother Marie (Dialogues des Carmélites), Santuzza (Cavalleria Rusticana), Gertrude (Hänsel und Gretel), and Madelon (Andrea Chénier). [Source] Be sure to visit the birthday tribute page for more photos and audio clips. More images after the jump.

Mirella Freni 80th Birthday Celebration Begins At La Scala

Teatro alla Scala in Milan, Italy, kicked off an early 80th birthday celebration of soprano Mirella Freni on Wednesday, February 25, with a conversation that included music critics Elvio Giudici and Alberto Mattioli. The evening was free to the public and included videos with audio clips documenting her career. [Source] In an interview prior to the evening, Madame Freni recounted the tale of how at the age of 2 she would forgo playing games to listen to music on the radio. And when asked at age 5 by her mother what she wanted to be when she grew up, she replied "a great opera singer." It was actually her Uncle who would play the piano and teach her songs for fun. That passion eventually grew and that's when she decided to study music. She debuted professionally in her hometown of Modena on February 3, 1955, at the age of 19 as Micaela in Bizet's Carmen. This is a role she would go on to sing all over the world and love so much that she named her daughter Micaela. She talks about all of her favorite roles and the secret to her long career was probably the ability to say "no" to certain offers. Read the whole interview by clicking here. Be sure to check out the birthday tribute with biography, photos, and audio clips, by clicking here. Friday, February 27, marks the official birthday of the soprano. Brava! See a wonderful archival photo of Mirella Freni from La Scala, and video of the evening in conversation with the soprano,  after the jump.

Celebrate The Birthday Of Legendary Grace Bumbry

Today marks the 78th birthday of opera singer Grace Bumbry. See a selection of rare photos after the jump that give a glimpse into her glamorous life and read more extensively about the singer's life by clicking here.

Celebrate Montserrat Caballé's Birthday At Her Hotel Suite

Soprano María de Montserrat Bibiana Concepción Caballé i Folch was born in Barcelona, Spain, on this day 81 years ago. As you listen to recordings and watch videos to commemorate the occasion, you might want to step it up and spring for a night at Hôtel Le Negresco in the suite named for the diva. Located in Nice on the French Riviera, the Montserrat Caballé Suite N° 121-122 houses, among other treasures, a Louis XV secretaire, two Sèvres porcelain lamps and a Louis XVI bed adorned with two gold-plated bronzes. Accommodating up to three guests, the 861 square luxury room boasts views of the Mediterranean Sea. Make your reservations by clicking here. See more pictures and read about the amenities after the jump.

Celebrate Leontyne Price 365 Days Of The Year

Yesterday marked the 87th birthday of soprano Mary Violet Leontyne Price and the United States deems February as "Black History Month," so we have double reason to celebrate this fine artist. Click here for a listening party in her honor and continue to celebrate the living legend every single day of the year, regardless of holiday.

Dame Kiri Te Kanawa To Celebrate Big Birthday With Tour Dates

Dame Kiri Te Kanawa in full-on Dynasty mode
in this portrait from September 1982.

"Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, one of the world’s greatest ever voices, will tour Australia in 2014 to mark her 70th birthday (March 6, 2014). The New Zealand / Mäori soprano became an international opera star in 1968. She has performed in the great music halls all over the world. Dame Kiri sang at the wedding Charles and Diana in 1981 and in 1984 was selected by conductor Leonard Bernstein for the part of Maria in his re-recording of West Side Story. Queen Elizabeth II appointed Dame Kiri a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire for her services to opera in 1984. In 1992 she performed with Paul McCartney for his classical work Liverpool Oratorio." Birthday Gala tour dates are:
May 10 and 11, Melbourne, Recital Centre
May 13, Perth, Concert Hall
May 16, Canberra, Llewellyn Hall
May 18, Adelaide, Festival Hall
May 20, Sydney, Opera House
[Source]

Celebrate the 80th Birthday of Montserrat Caballé in Spanish Style

Available April 30, 2013. Reserve your copy now by clicking here to order! A beautiful portrait of the soprano after the jump.

Happy Birthday: David Daniels

Happy Birthday: Barbara Hendricks

"Qui la voce...Vien diletto"
I Puritani (Bellini)

Soprano Barbara Hendricks was born November 20, 1948, in Stephens, Arkansas. She graduated from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln with a bachelor's degree in mathematics and chemistry at the age of 20. She then attended Juilliard School of Music in New York, where she studied with mezzo-soprano Jennie Tourel and participated in master classes led by soprano Maria Callas. She graduated with a bachelor's degree in music. In 1974, Hendricks made her professional operatic debut in Europe at the Glyndebourne Festival in Cavalli’s La Calisto and in America at the San Francisco Opera in Cavalli's Ormindo. During her career, she has appeared at major opera houses throughout the world, including the Opéra national de Paris, the Metropolitan Opera, Royal Opera House at Covent Garden, and La Scala. In 1998 she sang Liu in the historical performance of Turandot at the Forbidden City in Beijing. Hendricks has performed more than twenty roles, twelve of which she has recorded,

"Je veux vivre"
Roméo et Juilette (Gounod)

including Pamina (Die Zauberflöte), Ilia (Idomeneo), Antonia (Les Contes d'Hoffman), Micaela (Carmen), Manon (Manon), Juliette (Roméo et Juliette), Mélisande (Pelléas et Mélisande), Liù (Turandot) and Gilda (Rigoletto). Her portrayal of Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro was her debut role in Berlin, Vienna, Hamburg and Munich, as well as the role she sang in the last performances that the late Karl Böhm conducted of this opera. She appeared as Mimì in the Luigi Comencini film for La Bohème and in 1995 she sang the role of Anne Truelove in the Swedish film Rucklarens väg, an adaptation of Stravinsky's opera The Rake's Progress conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen. In 2007, she appeared in the film Disengagement by Amos Gitai and starring Juliette Binoche. She also recorded Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde which is the main theme for the film. She was a member of the jury at

"Cantilena"
Bachianas Brasileiras (Villa-Lobos)

the International Film Festival in Cannes 1999, presided by David Cronenberg. Barbara Hendricks has toured Japan with von Karajan (1977), Bernstein (1985), with the Vienna State Opera (1986) and the Hamburg Opera (1996). In 1974, she sang the American premiere of Gilbert Amy's Un Espace Déployé with the Chicago Symphony and Sir Georg Solti, who invited her back for the world premiere of the American Bicentennial Commission of David Del Tredici's Final Alice, which she subsequently performed with the Boston, Philadelphia and Cleveland Symphonies, and the New York and Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestras. She sang the American premiere of the Dies Irae of Penderecki in 1976 with the Los Angeles Philarmonic and Zubin Mehta. She gave the world premiere of Tobias Picker's The Rain in the Trees with Lorin Maazel and the Pittsburgh Symphony in 1996; as a special guest of Lord Menuhin, she premiered

"Elle a fui, la tourterelle"
Les Contes d'Hoffman (Offenbach)

works by five internationally known composers, dedicated to Lord Menuhin for his 80th Birthday Celebration at the closing concert of the Lincoln Center Music Festival; and in 1997, the world premiere in Japan, of songs by young Japanese composer Mari Takano. In 2000 she performed Sven-David Sandström's Mölna Elegy commissioned for her by the Gotland Chamber Festival. She performed in 2002 the world premiere of Bruno Mantovani’s Das erschaft der Dichter nicht commissioned for her by the Ensemble Intercontemporain of Paris. In addition to her busy concert and opera schedule in Europe and in the United States, she alternates every other year with extensive tours to the Far East or Latin America and performs regularly at international music festivals worldwide. Since her 1974 New York Town Hall debut, Barbara Hendricks has been acclaimed as one of the leading and most active recitalists of her generation and in addition to her

"Canzonetta sull'aria"
Le Nozze di Figaro (Mozart)
with Eugenia Moldoveanu

vast repertoire of German Lieder she is also known as a leading interpreter and staunch promoter of French, American and Scandinavian music. The pianists with whom she has performed and recorded include Dmitri Alexeev, Michel Béroff, Yefim Bronfman, Michel Dalberto, Youri Egorov, Ralf Gothoni, Radu Lupu, Maria Joao Pires, Roland Pöntinen, Staffan Scheja, Andras Schiff and Peter Serkin. Because of her love for chamber music, she regularly participates and also organises chamber music festivals with friends who share her passion. Barbara Hendricks has performed her extensive orchestral repertoire with all of the leading conductors and orchestras of our time. She is one of today's best-selling recording artists and has worked with conductors such as Barenboim, Bernstein, Davis, Dorati, Giulini, Haitink, Karajan, Maazel, Mehta, Sawallisch and Solti. She made her jazz debut at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1994 and has since then performed regularly in

"Der Hirt auf dem Felsen" (Schubert)

renowned jazz festivals throughout the world with the Magnus Lindgren Quartet. In 1975 she made her first recording for Decca of Clara in Porgy and Bess with Lorin Maazel conducting the Cleveland Symphony. The first collaboration with EMI (now known as EMI Classics) was in 1978 with the recording of the voice of heaven in Verdi's Don Carlo conducted by Herbert Van Karajan with Mirella Freni, Jose Carerras and the Berlin Philharmonic. Although she continued to record with other companies, Deutsche Gramaphone, Telarc, Teldec, Erato, CBS (Sony today), in 1983 EMI FRANCE offered her an exclusive contract for solo recordings. She has made nearly eighty recordings of opera, more than twelve roles of her active repertoire, including Gluck, Mozart, Puccini, Bizet, Lalo, Donizetti, Strauss, recitals of Schubert, Strauss, Wolf, Mozart, Fauré. Debussy, Duparc, Ravel, Grieg, Sibelius, Nielsen, many orchestra and oratorio works with the most prestigeous conductors and orchestras of

"Après un rêve" (Fauré)

our time, as well as jazz, operetta and Negro spirituals. More than fifty of these have been for EMI. In January 2006, she left EMI, and created the new label Arte Verum for which she records exclusively. Hendricks also performs jazz music and made her jazz debut at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1994. Since that time, she has performed at major jazz festivals around the world. Hendricks is also known for her love of chamber music and has organized a number of chamber music festivals. In March 2000 she added Tatiana in Eugene Onegin at the Nice Opera with Vladimir Chernov. In 2004 she premiered Arvo Pärt’s l’Abbé Agathon for eight cellos commissioned for her by the Festival L’Ensembles de Violoncelles in France. At the end of 2004 she will sing the part of The Angel in the world premiere of Peter Eötvös’s opera, Angel based on the Tony Kushner play Angels in America at the Châtelet Theatre, Paris. After nearly 20 years of

"Sometimes I feel like
a motherless child" (spiritual)

service to the cause of refugees and her untiring support for the UNHCR she has been named Honorary Ambassador For Life by the UNHCR and will be given special tasks that demand her long unparalleled experience and commitment. At the end of 1991 and 1993, she gave two solidarity concerts in war-ridden former Yugoslavia (Dubrovnik and Sarajevo). In 1998 she founded the Barbara Hendricks Foundation for Peace and Reconciliation to personalise her struggle for the prevention of conflicts in the world and to facilitate reconciliation and enduring peace where conflicts have already occurred. In 2001, at the special request of Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Kofi Annan, she sang for the Nobel Prize ceremony and gala concert in Oslo, and in May 2002 for the East Timor Independence Day Ceremony. She has received numerous awards for her artistic achievements and humanitarian work: Doctorat Honoris Causa from the

"I Feel Pretty"
West Side Story (Bernstein)

University of Louvain in Belgium (1990), Doctor in Law from the University of Dundee in Scotland (1992), Doctor of Music from the Nebraska Wesleyan University (1988), and Doctorat Honoris Causa from the University of Grenoble in France (1996). Honorary Doctor of Music from the Juilliard School of Music in New York (2000). Since 1990, she has been a Member of the Swedish Academy of Music. In 1986, the French government made Barbara Hendricks a Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres, and in 1992, she was awarded the rank of Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur by President François Mitterrand. In 2000 she was The Prince of Asturias Award for the Arts (Spain) recipient for her advocacy for human rights and for the contribution of her artistic work to mankind's cultural heritage. In 2001 she received the Lions Club International Award to encourage the actions of her foundation. The University of Gerona, Spain, awarded her the Premio Internacional Xifra Heras in 2004, given to persons who embody the characteristics of humanity, humility and honesty. In November 2010, she released an autobiography title Ma Voie: Mémories. She has lived in Europe since 1977 and currently lives on Lake Geneva in Switzerland with her husband and three children. She is also a citizen of Sweden. [Source, Source] Career timeline highlights after the jump.

"I Love My Man [Billie's Blues]" (Holiday)

Happy Birthday: Agnes Baltsa

"Non so più cosa son"
Le Nozze di Figaro (Mozart)

"Nacqui all'affanno...Non più mesta"
La Cenerentola (Rossini)

"Je vais mourir"
Les Troyens (Berlioz)

"Ah si, mie care...Or la sull'onda"
Il Giuramento (Mercadante)

"Una macchia è qui tuttora"
Macbeth (Verdi)

"L'amour est un oiseau rebelle"
Carmen (Bizet)

"Una voce poco fa"
Il Barbiere di Siviglia (Rossini)

"Nei giardin del bello saracin ostello"
Don Carlo (Verdi)

Mezzo-soprano Agnes Baltsa was born on the Greek island of Lefkas on November 19, 1944. From the age of six she took piano lessons. In 1958 she moved to Athens where she graduated from the conservatory in 1965. In the same year she won a Maria Callas scholarship which enabled her to continue her studies in Munich (Germany). In 1968 she made her first appearance as Cherubino (Le Nozze di Figaro, Mozart) at the Frankfurt Opera, followed by Octavian (Der Rosenkavalier, R. Strauss) at the Vienna State Opera in 1970. Until today, she is the youngest Ocativian ever at the Vienna State Opera. From that year on, her career developed rapidly: the Deutsche Oper Berlin, various opera houses in the United States (among which the Metropolitan Opera in New York), the Bavarian State Opera (München), Govent Garden, Zürich, the Paris Opera etc. Under the guidance of Herbert von Karajan, she was a regular guest at the Salzburger Festspiele. Her repertory includes works by Mozart (Le Nozze di Figaro, Così fan Tutte, Requiem, etc.), Rossini (Il Barbiere di Siviglia, La Cenerentola, L'Italiana in Algeri), Mascagni (Cavalleria Rusticana), Verdi (Aida, La Forza del Destino, Il Trovatore, Don Carlo, Requiem) and Bellini (I Capuleti e I Montecchi), Donizetti (Il Campanello, Maria Stuarda), etc. But she is, of course, most famous for her performance of Carmen (Bizet), a role she has sung with José Carreras, Placido Domingo and Niel Shicoff many times. In 1980, Agnes Baltsa became Kammersängerin at the Vienna State Opera; she has been an honorary member of this opera house since 1988. In 1992, she made her first full-length motion picture called Duett, in which she plays a Hungarian opera singer. Baltsa continued to add new roles to her repertory like Fedora (Giordano), Hérodiade (Massenet), of which a live recording from Vienna was issued, and Fidès (La Prophète, Meyerbeer) at the Vienna State Opera. At the Wiener Festwochen 1999, she sang Orlofski (Die Fledermaus, J. Strauss) again, a role she hadn't sung for years. In February 2000 she successfully sang the part of Despina (Così fan Tutte) at the Zürich opera alongside Cecilia Bartoli. In the beginning of 2000, she again picked up a role she had abandoned many years ago: the Composer in Richard Strauss' Ariadne auf Naxos (in Japan). This performance was part of the tour the Vienna State Opera made of Japan. The organisation especially asked Baltsa to return to Japan to sing The Composer again, since she had been tremendously successful with this role (also with the VSO) over there in 1985. The cast of Ariadne also included Edita Gruberova and Cheryl Studer, the performance was conducted by Giuseppe Sinopoli, who sadly passed away in 2003. Quite surprisingly, for the first time in over 30 years, Baltsa was not scheduled to appear at the 2000-2001 Vienna State Opera season. She decided not to accept the offer to sing the long-awaited role of Lady Macbeth (Verdi) in Zürich in July 2001, but did very successfully perform the role of Kundry (Parsifal) at the Teatro Real (Madrid) in March 2001. Cast also included Pladico Domingo, Matti Salminen and Frans Grundheber. Even though conductors such as Karajan and Muti had pleaded with her to sing Kundry, it wasn't until 2001 that she finally decided to sing the role that had 'persecuted' her throughout her career. In May 2001, Baltsa gave various concerts in Austria and Germany. Agnes Baltsa was extremely successful at her debut as Kostelnicka in Janacek's Jenufa at the Vienna State Opera in February 2002. One of the most interesting performances of the year 2002 would have been her long-awaited return to the US, where she was to appear in a concert performance (Boston) of Haensel und Gretel as the Witch. Unfortunately, Baltsa had to cancel these performances due to illness. Significant performances in 2003 included an opera gala in Japan and an opera gala in Athens. In March 2003, Agnes Baltsa also returned to the opera house in Frankfurt, where she made her debut as Cherubino in 1968, for two performances of Cavalleria Rusticana. In October 2003 she also appeared in her home country again for four performances of Santuzza (Cavalleria Rusticana) in Thessaloniki. Highlights in 2004 were: a concert performance in Malmoe (her very first appearance in Sweden), Greek Songs, as well as L'Italiana in Algeri in Japan and a concert on the occasion of Carreras' 30th Anniversary at the Vienna State Opera (see news for more info). Baltsa quite unexpectedly dropped out of the production of Lohengrin at the Vienna State Opera in 2005. In 2005 she added a new role to her repetoire: Klytemnaestra (Elektra), Japan 2005, with Ozawa, as well as Vienna (2007) and Athens (2007), München (2008-2009) and Berlin. In October 2005, Agnes Baltsa and Placido Domingo sang the Radames/Amneris duet from Aida on the occassion of the 50th anniversary of the reopening of the Staatsoper in Vienna. For the past few years, her career seems revolve around Elektra, Jenufa, numerous opera concerts and the very successful concerts with Greek Songs, mostly in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Greece. She has recorded for Deutsche Grammophon, Philips Classics, EMI and Sony. Agnes Baltsa is married to the German opera singer Günter Missenhardt and lives in Bern (Switzerland) and Athens (Greece). [Source] More photos and audio clips after the jump.

Happy Birthday: Leonie Rysanek

"Der Männer Sippe"
Die Walküre (Wagner)

Born Leopoldine Rysanek on November 14, 1926 in Vienna, Austria, the world came to know this dramatic soprano as Leonie Rysanek. Born to working-class parents, she found herself in a musical family in a musical city. Both her brother and her younger sister, Lotte (who became a professional soprano), showed vocal talent. Early life wasn't easy, but she managed to enroll in the Vienna Academy, where her teachers included two noted baritones, Alfred Jerger and Rudolf Grossmann. Her education was slowed by the war years, during which she was obliged to work in a factory, but by the age of twenty-two she was ready for her official stage debut, as Agathe in Der Freischütz, at the Innsbruck Landestheater. The following year, she married Grossmann, a quarter-century her senior, and undertook two-year contracts at the Saarbrücken State Theater, then at the Munich State Opera. In the

"Una macchia è qui tuttora"
Macbeth (Verdi)

meantime, her stature as a Wagnerian was affirmed by Sieglinde in Die Walküre at the 1951 Bayreuth Festival under conductor Herbert von Karajan, with Wieland Wagner as stage director. She was to become a Bayreuth regular, taking on the romantic lyric-dramatic roles of Elsa in Lohengrin, Senta in Der Fliegende Holländer and Elisabeth in Tannhäuser. The 1950s also saw the start of a long series of guest appearances in foreign theaters -- La Scala (Milan), Covent Garden (London), the Paris Opera and major German houses. In 1956 she made her U.S. debut with Senta at San Francisco Opera, where she continued to appear for the rest of her life, taking on a variety of German and Italian roles. Her desire to maintain this variety interfered at first in her relations with Rudolf Bing, who wanted to bring her to the Metropolitan Opera -- but only in German operas. Rysanek held her ground,

"Traft ihr das Schiff"
Der fliegende Holländer (Wagner)

finally convincing Bing, her fellow Viennese, to sign her for a mixed repertory. Scheduled for a debut as Aida on February 25, 1959, she actually first appeared twenty days earlier as an emergency replacement in Macbeth* for Maria Callas, who had come to a parting of the ways with Bing over the terms of her contract. During this mature period of her career, she entered upon her second marriage, to Ernst-Ludwig ("Elu") Gausmann, a writer. She came to divide most of her appearances between the Vienna State Opera and the MET. Currently available figures credit the soprano with a grand total of 532 performances at the Viennese theater and, at the MET, 299 in her thirty-one seasons over a nearly thirty-seven-year period, in twenty-four roles. In the Strauss repertory, her most frequent MET appearances were as the Empress in Die Frau ohne Schatten*, Chrysothemis in Elektra and the Marschallin

"In questa reggia" Turandot (Puccini)

in Der Rosenkavalier. These were matched by her many outings as Wagner's Senta and Elisabeth. As a Verdian, she sang Lady Macbeth and Abigaille in Nabucco* especially often; she also was heard frequently in Fidelio and Tosca. No less important were her Ariadne* and Salome, her Desdemona, Aida and Elisabetta in Don Carlo. In her last seasons with the company, she undertook two taxing character parts in Czech -- Kabanicha in Janácek's Kát'a Kabanová* and Kostelnicka in his Jenufa. She made her farewell to the MET as the Countess in The Queen of Spades (sung in Russian) in January 1996. Her final performance was at the Salzburg Festival in August 1996, as Klytämnestra in Elektra. She was appointed curator of the Vienna Festival a few months after her retirement, a post she held until her death in Vienna at age 71 (she had been diagnosed with bone cancer

"Del fiero duol che il cor mi frange"
Medea (Cherubini)

during her last MET performances). Leonie Rysanek's voice was astride the spinto and dramatic soprano voices in certain roles. Although her voice fell in the upper end of the jugendlich-dramatisch and dramatischer sopran categories in the German repertoire, it was exclusively dramatic by Italian operatic standards. In the octave just above middle C, the voice could sound dry with wobbly intonation, but at the top of the staff it blossomed into one of the most glorious sounds of the twentieth century. Her endurance in the high tessitura of Strauss' operas is legendary. She excelled in the music of Richard Strauss. She was especially successful as the Empress (Kaiserin) in Die Frau ohne Schatten, the title role in Salome, the Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier and Chrysothemis in Elektra. She occasionally sang Ariadne/Prima Donna in Ariadne auf Naxos and female leads in Strauss operas rarely staged (Die ägyptische Helena

"Vater, bist du's?"
Die Frau ohne Schatten (R. Strauss)

and Die Liebe der Danae). However, cautious of playing out of her league, she didn't tackle Salome until 1972 when she was 46, although she kept the role of Sieglinde in her active repertoire from her early 20s until age 62. She avoided offers to sing Isolde in Wagner's Tristan und Isolde despite speculation that the role would be perfect for her. She sang Brünnhilde in Die Walküre in 1950 in Innsbrück but did not return to this role. She stated in interviews that her great respect for her colleague Birgit Nilsson was a factor in her avoidance of that soprano's signature roles. Extraordinarily, one of her performances in Die Walküre took place in the same week as her appearance as Gilda in Rigoletto. This little-known feat equals the more often cited accomplishment of Maria Callas, who once performed Die Walküre and Bellini's I puritani within the same week. Strauss

"Allein, Weh ganz allein"
Elektra (R. Strauss)

sopranos often make excellent Puccini voices and accordingly Rysanek sang many Toscas and a few Turandots. She also sang a remarkable Leonore in Beethoven's Fidelio. In Wagner, she sang many Tannhäuser Elisabeths and Lohengrin Elsas, a few Ortruds in her later career - she virtually owned the role of Senta in Der fliegende Holländer for two decades, but the role in which she was most revered, in addition to Strauss's Kaiserin and Chrysothemis, was Sieglinde in Die Walküre. Such a powerful, long and expressive voice as Rysanek's allowed her to sing many Verdi leads, notably Desdemona in Otello, Lady Macbeth in Macbeth, Amelia in Un ballo in maschera, Elisabetta in Don Carlo, Leonora in La forza del destino, and Aida. She also sang Abigaille in the Metropolitan Opera's first staging of Nabucco in 1960. She found this last role uncongenial, and the strain of performing it numerous times during that season

"Abscheulicher!...Komm, Hoffnung"
Fidelio (Beethoven)

brought on something of a vocal crisis, from which she successfully recovered. The overall nature of Rysanek's voice is particularly evident in her 1959 recording of Lady Macbeth, when she was in her prime at age 33, where her somewhat hollow lower register is combined with soaring, dramatic power in her upper range, with strong skills at negotiating Lady Macbeth's upper range coloratura. As an Austrian and a Mitteleuropäerin, Rysanek also took an interest in music from Slavic countries, both Russian (Tchaikovsky) and Czech (Smetana, Janáček). Of the notorious five "biggest" soprano roles, Rysanek sang Turandot and enjoyed success as Kundry in Parsifal at the MET and the Bayreuth Festival. Starting her career when Kirsten Flagstad was still alive and Birgit Nilsson and Astrid Varnay at the peak of their vocal abilities, Rysanek knew better than to go for Wagner's Isolde or any of his three Brünnhildes. However, in 1981, Karl Böhm persuaded her to sing Elektra for a Unitel film (with the soundtrack recorded in the studio), not a live production in an opera house. In her later years, and like many "big" soprano voices, Rysanek reverted to dramatic

"Pace, mio Dio" La Forza del Destino (Verdi)

mezzo-soprano roles like Ortrud in Wagner's Lohengrin, Herodias in Strauss's Salome and Klytemnestra in his Elektra. [Source, Source]

*Leonie Rysanek starred in the MET premieres of these operas.

Happy Birthday: Lucia Popp

"Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen"
BWV 51 (J.S. Bach)

Born as Lucia Poppová in Uhorška Veš (now Záhorská Ves), Slovakia (formerly Czechoslovakia) on November 12, 1939 to a father who was an engineer. The late soprano known by the world as Lucia Popp began her career as a soubrette soprano, and later moved into the light-lyric and lyric coloratura soprano repertoire and then the lighter Richard Strauss and Wagner operas. after finishing school, studied medicine for two semesters. She began her career by training as an actress. Anna Hrusovska-Prosenkova, a voice teacher at the Academy, happened to hear her singing during a performance of Molière's Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme, and offered her voice lessons. Only then did she begin studying music and singing at the Conservatories of Brünn and Prague. She attended the Bratislava Music Academy for four years, completing course in general music and voice studies. She began her studies as a mezzo-

"Chi cede al furore"
Serse (Händel)

soprano, but her voice quite suddenly developed a high upper register. She made her stage debut as a singer at age 23 at the Bratislava Opera singing Queen of the Night in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte. In 1963 Herbert von Karajan heard her sing and engaged her on the spot to sing with the Vienna State Opera company. Her first appearances were so successful that before long she was offered a three-year contract with the Vienna State Opera. She started her engagement there in 1963, and became famous overnight singing the Queen of the Night, a role in which she was considered unsurpassed. In 1963 she sang also Barbarina in Le nozze di Figaro at the same opera house. It was in Die Zauberflöte with which she made her debut, also in 1963, at the Salzburg Festival, and was also recommended to conductor Otto Klemperer by English record producer Walter Legge, a recording she made in 1964.

"Laudate Dominum"
Vesperae de Dominica (Mozart)

Lucia Popp made her debut at Covent Garden Opera in London in 1966 as Oscar in Un ballo in maschera, and she has since performed there regularly. She sang the Metropolitan Opera in New York for the first time in February 1967, in Marc Chagall's production of Die Zauberflöte. At the MET, she only sang 26 performances of three roles (Queen of the Night and Pamina in Die Zauberflöte, Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier) in three seasons (1966-1967, 1969-1970, 1980-1981). During the 1970s, Popp turned from coloratura roles to lyric ones. The audience at La Scala in Milan discovered her in 1976 in the role of Sophie in Richard Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier, conducted by Carlos Kleiber. Then, in the 1980s, she added heavier roles to her repertoire, such as Elsa in Wagner's Lohengrin and Eva in the same composer's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg. As a result of this vocal progression, Popp sang various roles in the same opera at different stages in her career, including Zdenka

"Der hölle rache"
Die Zauberflöte (Mozart)

and Arabella in Richard Strauss's Arabella; Susanna and the Countess in Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro; Queen of the Night and Pamina in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte; Zerlina, Donna Elvira, and later Donna Anna in Mozart's Don Giovanni; Adele and Rosalinde in Johann Strauss II's Die Fledermaus; Annchen and Agathe in Weber's Der Freischütz; and Sophie and the Marschallin in Richard Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier. In 1983 she performed for the first time the title role in Arabella under the baton of Wolfgang Sawallisch. She created a sensation in her first appearance as the Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier in 1985, and then had a triumphant success in the role of the Countess in Capriccio for Salzburg in 1987. She was also a notable singer of Janácek. She began getting large contracts for lucrative guest performances at smaller theatres, where she could rehearse new roles in new productions. She has worked with such famous conductors as Leonard Bernstein, Lorin Maazel, Neville Marriner, Charles

"Quel guardo il cavaliere"
Don Pasquale (Donizetti)

Mackerras, Rafael Kubelik, Bernard Haitink and Georg Solti. She participated in concert productions in Austria, Germany and England. Lucia Popp has widened her repertoire by her experience in recordings (with such eminent conductors as Georg Solti, Raphael Frübeck de Burgos, Otto Klemperer, István Kertéz, John Pritchard and Joseph Krips), and through television. Many of her recordings have received international awards. The Vienna Philharmonic awarded her the "Silver Rose," an honour of which she was particularly proud. Lucia Popp also had a successful concert and recital career. The lied occupies a special place in her repertoire. She has given recitals in America, Australia, Israel, South Africa, Great Britain, Austria, Italy, Switzerland and Germany. After a London Schubert recital the Daily Telegraph remarked: "...with her natural charm, she imbued the songs, which were mainly unfamiliar, with a degree of perfection

"Měsíčku Na Nebi Hlubokém"
Rusalka (Dvořák)

that had only been realised until now by the great performers of the past." In January 1979 Lucia Popp received the title of Kammersängerin in Vienna, and in 1983 she received the title of Bayerische Kammersängerin from the Bavarian State Opera in Munich. She was married three times: conductor Georg Fischer, director of English National Opera Peter Jonas, and finally in 1986 to tenor Peter Seiffert who was 15 years her junior. Lucia Popp died of brain cancer on November 16, 1993 in Munich, Germany, at the age of 54. She was buried in Cintorín Slávičie údolie, Bratislava. Her second husband, noted German tenor, Peter Seiffert, survives her. In March 2007, on BBC Music

"Tu Qui! Perche? Che Vuoi?"
La Bohème (Leoncavallo)

magazine's list of the "20 All-time Best Sopranos" based on a poll of 21 British music critics and BBC presenters, Lucia Popp placed seventh. She rarely recorded roles she did not perform on stage (with a few exceptions, including Elisabeth in Wagner's Tannhäuser and the title role in Richard Strauss's Daphne). She can be seen in the role of Pamina in a performance of Die Zauberflöte, recorded live at the Bayerische Staatsoper in 1983, and published by Philips, catalogue number 070 505-3. Also, in Smetana's The Bartered Bride as Marie (the female lead). In Franz Lehar's The Merry Widow recorded in 1982 in Vienna, published by Deutsche Grammophon Catalogue number 00440 073 4360, and in Die Fledermaus as Rosalinda (TDK). Also in Orff's Carmina Burana as the female soloist, recorded in 1975, published by BMG Ariola catalogue number 74321 85285 9. Also as Marzelline in 1968 Fidelio with the Hamburg State Opera. It's well known that flashy, high, bright-timbered voices usually have trouble developing a warm tonal colour. But Lucia Popp was able to warm up her tone, which, with its

"Zueignung" (R. Strauss)

sweet, meditative piano, English critic John Steane (in his book The Grand Tradition - Seventy Years of Singing on Record) compared to an oboe. Thus, from the Queen of the Night - probably the best exponent of the role on record (according to Steane) - Lucia Popp became a lyric singer with a dazzling technique, and further enriched the aural and colour possibilities of her voice by singing Lieder. [Source, Source, Source]

Happy Birthday: Gwyneth Jones

"Crudele... Non mi dir"
Don Giovanni (Mozart)

Dame Gwyneth Jones DBE (born November 7, 1936, Pontnewynydd, Wales, UK) is a Welsh soprano. She was born into a musical family and sang regularly as a teen. Before becoming a professional singer, Dame Gwyneth worked as a secretary at the Pontypool foundry. She won many formidable prizes at Eisteddfodau Festival. She studied music at the Royal College of Music, London, the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena as well as the International Opera Studio in Zürich. One year after making her professional debut in 1962 as a mezzo-soprano in Gluck's opera Orfeo ed Euridice at the Zurich Opera House, she made her Welsh National Opera debut as Lady Macbeth in Verdi's Macbeth. She soon discovered that her easy top range could enable her to sing soprano roles and she switched to the soprano repertoire from around 1964, her first major soprano role being Amelia in Verdi's Un ballo in maschera. Jones came to

"D'amor sull'ali rosee"
Il Trovatore (Verdi)

prominence in 1964 when she stood in for Leontyne Price as Leonora in Verdi's Il trovatore at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Her career then developed rapidly, and she met with success as Aïda, Leonore (in Fidelio), Desdemona (in Otello), Elisabeth (in Don Carlos), Donna Anna (in Don Giovanni), Cio-cio-san (in Madama Butterfly), Lady Macbeth (in Verdi's Macbeth), Santuzza (in Cavalleria Rusticana), Octavian (in Der Rosenkavalier), Médée (in the Italian version) and Tosca. From these, she gradually proceeded to heavier roles like Minnie (in La fanciulla del West), Chrysothemis (in Elektra), Salome, the Marschallin (in Der Rosenkavalier), Eva (in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg), Senta (in Der fliegende Holländer), Kundry (in Parsifal), both Venus and Elisabeth (in Tannhäuser), Helena (in Strauss's Die ägyptische Helena), Ariadne (in Ariadne auf Naxos) and Sieglinde (in Die Walküre). She has appeared frequently at almost every

"Ritorna vincitor"
Aida (Verdi)

major opera house in the world, including the Vienna State Opera, the Zurich Opera, the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, the Bayerische Staatsoper, the San Francisco Opera, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Paris Opéra. She made debut at Teatro alla Scala as Leonora in Il Trovatore on April 4, 1967. She returned to La Scala as the title role of Salome in January 1974. On November 24, 1972, she made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera House of New York as Sieglinde in Die Walküre. Until her latest appearance at the MET on April 22, 1995 (as Kundry in Parsifal), she sang 11 parts in 10 operas for 93 times at the Met; the most frequent part was the Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier (20 times). In August 1979 she made her debut at Salzburg Summer Festival as the Marschallin. Jones's large-scaled, powerful dramatic soprano voice, unusually robust vocal stamina, stage presence and acting abilities were widely admired, although she also faced criticism for the wobble that her voice developed in the 1970s and which afflicted

"Dei tuoi figli la madre" Medea (Cherubini)

some of her performances. Nonetheless, she could still be remarkably secure and tonally rock steady beyond the age of 60. One of her most noted achievements was her interpretation of Brünnhilde in the Bayreuth centennial production of Der Ring des Nibelungen under Pierre Boulez and directed by Patrice Chéreau, a performance preserved on both video and audio discs. The recording won a Grammy in 1983. Her career at Bayreuth Festival - 1966: Sieglinde in Die Walküre; 1968: Eva in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg; 1969: Senta in Der fliegende Holländer; Kundry in Parsifal; 1970: Sieglinde in Die Walküre; Senta in Der fliegende Holländer; Kundry in Parsifal; 1971: Sieglinde in Die Walküre; Senta

"Dich teure halle"
Tannhäuser (Wagner)

in Der fliegende Holländer; 1972: Elisabeth and Venus in Tannhäuser; Sieglinde in Die Walküre; 1973: Elisabeth and Venus in Tannhäuser; Sieglinde in Die Walküre; 1974: Elisabeth and Venus in Tannhäuser; Brünnhilde in Götterdämmerung; 1975: Brünnhilde in Der Ring des Nibelungen cycle; 1976 : Brünnhilde Der Ring des Nibelungen cycle; 1977: Brünnhilde in Der Ring des Nibelungen cycle; Elisabeth and Venus in Tannhäuser; 1978: Brünnhilde in Der Ring des Nibelungen cycle; 1979: Brünnhilde in Der Ring des Nibelungen cycle; 1980: Brünnhilde in Der Ring des Nibelungen cycle; 1982: Senta in Der fliegende Holländer. Later in her career (from 1980 onwards), she undertook the title role of Elektra as well as Isolde (in Tristan und Isolde), the Dyer's Wife (in Die Frau ohne Schatten) and Turandot. While best known for her work in the Wagner-Strauss-Puccini repertoire, her versatility enabled her to take on

"Zweite Brautnacht"
Die Ägyptische Helena (R. Strauss)

other roles, such as Poppea (in L'incoronazione di Poppea), Hanna Glawari (in The Merry Widow) and Norma. Starting from the 1990s, other than the aforementioned parts, she went on to sing Widow Begbick (Mahagonny), Ortrud (in Lohengrin), the Woman in Arnold Schoenberg's Erwartung, the Kostelnicka (in Jenůfa), the Kabanicha (in Káťa Kabanová), the Woman in Poulenc's La voix humaine, Ruth (in The Pirates of Penzance), Gertrud (in Hänsel und Gretel), Herodias (in Salome) and Klytemnästra (in Elektra). Dame Gwyneth made roles that exemplify the Wagnerian/heavy dramatic soprano fach, such as Brünnhilde, Isolde, Elektra, the Dyer's Wife and Turandot, part of her core repertoire, and performed them throughout the 1980s and 1990s. She once famously undertook the roles of both Elisabeth and Venus in Götz Friedrich's production of Tannhäuser at the Bayreuth Festival in the 1970s, and has also been

"Marie Theres'...Hab' mir's gelobt"
Der Rosenkavalier (R. Strauss)
w/Brigitte Fassbaender & Lucia Popp

credited with the unique achievement of having performed all three major female roles in Elektra on stage. She also performed in concerts and lieder recitals, television and radio broadcasts and participated in several film projects, including the epic television series, Wagner, in which she played the first Isolde, Malvina Schnorr von Carolsfeld. She has also devised for herself a couple of one-woman music-theatrical shows - O, Malvina! and Die Frau im Schatten - which are inspired by real historical characters, namely, Malvina Schnorr von Carolsfeld and Pauline de Ahna (wife of Richard Strauss). The soprano part in the Symphony No. 9, titled Vision of Eternity, of Welsh composer Alun Hoddinott was written for and premiered by her. In 2003 Dame Gwyneth made her debut as director and costume designer in a stage production of Der fliegende Holländer in Weimar, Germany. She has also given master-classes for young singers and acted as an adjudicator in international vocal competitions, including the 2009 BBC Cardiff

"Teco io sto" Un Ballo in Maschera
(Verdi) with Plácido Domingo

Singer of the World competition. Despite her advancing years and the extraordinary demands of her chosen repertoire, she remains an active performer on the stage, taking on various soprano, mezzo-soprano and even contralto roles with vocal authority and dramatic conviction. In June 2007, she created the role of the Queen of Hearts in the world premiere of Unsuk Chin's new opera, Alice in Wonderland, at the Bavarian State Opera. In February 2008 she sang the part of Herodias in Stephen Langridge's production of Richard Strauss' Salome at Malmö Opera in Sweden. She repeated this role in August 2010, alongside the Salome of Deborah Voigt, in a concert performance at the Verbier Festival in Verbier, Switzerland, and is scheduled to perform the part on stage at the Vienna State Opera in May 2012. She was made Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1976 and was promoted to Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in 1986. She is also the recipient of numerous musical/cultural awards and honours from many different countries and organisations, including the Verdienstkreuz 1. Klasse of the Federal Republic of Germany, the Golden Medal of Honour in Vienna, the Austrian Cross

"Immolation Scene"
Götterdämmerung (Wagner)

of Honour First Class, the Shakespeare Prize and the Puccini Award. She is a Kammersängerin at both the Vienna State Opera and the Bavarian State Opera and she has been made a Commandeur de L'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in France. She has also been conferred honorary doctorates by the University of Wales and the University of Glamorgan. She is currently the President of the Wagner Society of Great Britain. She also took on an ambitious project to convert Adelina Patti's mansion and miniature opera house, Craig y Nos, in the Swansea Valley, into a Welsh Glyndebourne, which sadly came to nought. Jones's daughter Susannah Haberfeld is a mezzo-soprano. [Source, Source]