Recent Blogs Posts

On December 2nd 1923, when an unwanted third child was born to immigrant Greek couple Goerge and Litsa Kalogeropoulos at Flower hospital, Manhattan, neither could have imagined that this soon-to-be chubby and awkward little girl would one day become the quintessential epitome of Opera.


Maria Callas was, and still is, a legendary household name among Opera connoisseurs and neophytes alike, as well as outsiders of the genre who stumble upon her haunting recordings in one way

0 Likes

...

For September, both of my Tuesday Blog installments are dedicated to the music of Gustav Mahler, featuring two of his later symphonies his “Tragic” Sixth and this week, his mammoth Eighth.

Until 1901, Mahler's compositions had been heavily influenced by the German folk-poem collection Des Knaben Wunderhorn. The music of Mahler's many Wunderhorn settings is reflected in his Symphonies No. 2, No. 3 and No. 4, which all employ vocal as well as instrumental forces. From about 1901, however,

1 Likes

Rogerx liked this post

...

In which I discuss Crawford's talents as a singer and interpreter, with focus on his most famous musical role.


The Voice

The Phantom of the Opera is the name of the character Michael Crawford created in both the London and Broadway productions of Andrew Lloyd Webber's beloved musical. The music the Phantom sings is challenging, but Crawford’s voice could only seem operatic to someone unused to opera singers. In fact, his voice is very much a “Broadway”

0 Likes

...

A Tenor on Broadway:
An Evaluation of Jerry Hadley's CD Standing Room Only

Jerry Hadley (1952-2007) was a rare kind of opera tenor. Famous at the Metropolitan Opera and other major houses in a repertoire that ranged from Mozart, Massenet, and the lighter Verdi roles to Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress, he habitually sang songs from Broadway musicals; these songs form a sizable part of his recorded legacy, and in general he sounded completely at home in them. When Leonard

2 Likes

Figleaf, Belowpar liked this post

...

This installment of Once Upon the Internet looks at a 1950's studio version of Gershwin's opera Porgy and Bess, featuring singers Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong, which I uploaded years ago from (as I re all) a Russian site.

The Porgy discography is vast - from the 1940's "original cast" recording, the soundtrack to the Otto Preminger feature film, to large opera productions by established opera companies, with "concept albums" inspired from the Gershwin work,

0 Likes

...