Suzanne Danco was a light lyric soprano who could also sing in the mezzo range. The words most often associated with her are impeccable and intelligent. The traits remarked on...
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I was thinking about what to write today, and I decided to write about two of my favorite French singers - Irma Kolassi and Ninon Vallin. Vallin sang earlier in...
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Born in Yorkshire in 1933, the famed English mezzo-soprano Janet Baker never had a formal musical education. Coming from a far from affluent family, she left school to work in...
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Here is my tale of woe with respect to this mezzo. There are very few recordings of her on youtube. Pulling excerpts off of youtube makes my life much easier....
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I thought that for the end of the year/the beginning of next year, I would post what some might call "opera's greatest hits". These are two duets, one from Delibes'...
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Zara Aleksandrovna Dolukhanova: March 15, 1918 – December 4, 2007 Dolukhanova was an important Russian mezzo-soprano of Armenian descent, who was not heard that frequently in the West for political...
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Dolukhanova was an important Russian mezzo-soprano of Armenian descent, who was not heard frequently in the West for political reasons. I wanted to post tis one song by Rimsky-Korsakov with...
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I had a friend who once told me that Giulietta Simionato was an Italian institution. He was only exaggerating slightly. Giulietta Simionato (May 12, 1910 – May 5, 2010) was...
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Before introducing Régine Crespin, I want to describe what a Falcon soprano is. The term "Falcon" comes from Marie Cornélie Falcon, a French singer who lived from 1814–1897. Roles that...
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On September 23, 1921, Bizet's opera Carmen was performed at the Vienna State Opera, and an unknown 18-year-old woman sang the most difficult arias of the opera. Franz Schalk, the...
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