Category Archives: Opera
Franco Corelli Interview
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 30th April 2025The video below is an interview with Franco Corelli (1921-2003) made around 1990. It’s in Italian, but it has English subtitles. The interviewer is not the most facile; nevertheless, Corelli’s comments are very interesting. Besides being on the short list of the greatest tenors of the last century, he was a sensitive and intelligent commentator…
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Mario Del Monaco in Recital
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 22nd April 2025Mario Del Monaco (1915-1985) was the great Italian dramatic tenor of the last century. The dramatic tenor is a rare specimen. He is distinguished from the spinto tenor by the baritonal timbre of his sound combined with powerful high notes reaching to C5. It is the voice Verdi had in mind when he wrote Otello….
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Maria Caniglia
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 11th April 2025Maria Caniglia (1905-1979) was a spinto soprano who sang at many of the major opera houses, though her career was mainly in Italy. She was a regular performer at La Scala and then at the Rome Opera House. She opened the 1938 Met season as Desdemona in Verdi’s Otello. After 14 performances during the 38-39…
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Radio Interview With The Front Row
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 4th March 2025Lubbock’s classical music station is KLZK 105.7. Its program “The Front Row is a weekday program devoted to coverage of the art and cultural community on the South Plains. Host Clint Barrick unpacks the musical, artistic, theatrical, and cultural events offered to the public and interviews the movers and shakers who create, sponsor, and provide…
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Gina Cigna
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 3rd March 2025Gina Cigna (1900-2001) was a dramatic soprano who was prominent during the interwar years. She was born in Angers, France to parents of Italian ancestry. She initially trained as a pianist studying with the renowned pianist Alfred Cortot. In 1921 she married French tenor Maurice Sens who convinced her to turn to singing. In 1927,…
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Federico’s Lament
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 17th February 2025Francesco Cilea (1866-1950) had the misfortune of attempting a career as an opera composer during the period dominated by Giacomo Puccini. His modest compositional skill forced him to abandon opera after 1907, mostly for pedagogy. He is best known for L’arlesiana (1897) and Adriana Lecouvreur (1902). Both operas benefited from the presence of Enrico Caruso…
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Rigoletto – Cortigiani
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 6th February 2025The title role of Verdi’s Rigoletto is the greatest role ever written for a baritone. That’s saying a lot, given that the composer wrote more great parts for the baritone than any other composer of opera. Of his 26 operas, five have the baritone’s name as their title. All the rest of the composer’s operas…
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Night and Day – Mario Lanza
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 27th January 2025Night and Day Mario Lanza is the title of the latest CD release of Lanza’s singing using Digitally Extracted Stereo to enhance the original mono recordings. The technique is a revelation. Lanza’s great voice sounds like it was recorded yesterday. The two-disc set contains 49 selections ranging from opera to popular songs and a lot…
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Aida in HD – 2025
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 25th January 2025Aida returned to the Met’s stage for the 1199th time today. It was the 4th time Verdi’s masterpiece has been telecast in the company’s HD series. This appearance marked the first telecast of Michael Mayer’s new production that replaced Sonja Frisell’s extravaganza which had survived about 270 mountings at the New York opera palace and…
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Maria – Review
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 14th January 2025Maria is a film depicting the last days of soprano Maria Callas. Streaming on Netflix, the movie directed by Pablo Larraín, is a tour de force for Angelina Jolie who plays the legendary singer. A lot has been made about the accuracy of the events surrounding Callas’ death in Paris at age 53. Similarly, some…
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