I adore, adore these fotos. So elegant, so full of life and emotion. These people were from the old days when supposedly opera wasn’t about “acting” and “believable”.
Look at the expression and PERSONALITY of these singers. Hard to believe they didn’t bring that charisma to the stage and in their sounds.
Rosa Ponselle and Giovanni Martinelli
Tito Schipa.
Tetrazzini.
Amazing Maria Jeritza.
Glowing from inside, Astrid Varnay
Opera singers and their pets.
Leo Slezak and his adorable puppies.
My favorite, an avenging angel on all those who call opera stupid, passe’, a museum. Who treat the music and the libretto like confetti. Respect the music, respect the composer.
Despite a prehistoric attempt at conducting Bellini, with no hint of understanding the style from the maestro, these two young voices triumph in beauty and really great singing.
Tenor Bryan Hymel’s beautiful and heartfelt “A te o cara….” from Bellini’s I Puritani- with a fearless Db that sounds like everyone else’s high C, meaning no falsetto here but a full chest Db. Amazing…..and Eglisse Gutierrez ethereal piani with an interior crescendo-diminuendo that is ravishing. The future with these two very young talents who none the less are trying to be expressive and show their great talents, looks very bright indeed. Bravi!!
As most of my friends know for years I have loved my “soap operas”, the real ones, not my life!
They are a training ground for many great talents, and flat out an extended family when I was traveling so much early in my career. I started traveling when I was 18 or 19 years old.
Heard some of my favorites translated into many languages. They helped me keep calm, and focused, and were really little operas somewhat like those I was singing.
Full of heartbreak and tragedy and birth and war, family feuds and all the million and one things that make up people’s every day patterns.
I was always an ABC soap fan, strictly General Hospital’s “Luke and Laura” in the amazing Tony Geary and the incandescent Genie Francis, and Erika Slezak of One Life to Live, the six time Emmy winner who actually deserved each and every one of them and more.
I have been afforded the great privilege of coming to know this grand lady and her family, steeped in legendary opera and movie history (her grandfather was the great tenor, Leo Slezak and her father the gifted actor, Walter Slezak) and she introduced me first hand to the incredible pace of the soap world.
It is not for the timid or shy, with pages and pages to memorize, little rehearsal and no tolerance for delay.
I loved watching them do this. It is a magical world with cameras and lights and then they all join forces together and become the “other” world.
Meeting Tony and Genie was a cathartic moment. I was one of the 30 million viewers, the most watched program in the history of daytime programming over two days… who watched “them” marry in November. Less than one month later, at 22 years old, I left Los Angeles and my home for New York and the first days at the Metropolitan Opera. Thank God for GH and OLTL, I felt less frantic…. at least on TV my extended family came with me……
Getting to know later the beautiful, fabulous, amazing actress, Kassie Depaiva and her ultra handsome husband, James Depaiva, “Blair and Max” on One Life to Live, Robin Strasser, Phil Carey and the chiseled God with the face of an angel, David Fumero. Roger Howarth was absolutely breath taking and charismatic in person and everything odd and wonderful, as he should be, playing the anti-hero Todd. I was able to applaud the fabulously talented people behind the camera as well.
the luminous Kassie DePaiva and Roger Howarth.
Just recently I had the amazing thrill of meeting several of the legends on the powerhouse “Guiding Light” of CBS fame and 72 years on radio and television in one way or another.
They have faced a horrible disappointment; blind sided, after having been encouraged to believe they would be renewed for one more year with amazing stories so well written it reminds of you of why you loved the soap opera medium in the first place to begin with. Procter and Gamble and CBS decided to pull the plug. There is a possibility now that someone smart will ship this great company of show people and craftsman to another channel…… everyone is hoping there is a future for this Iconic soap.
Here are some of their “eye candy”, as well as great actors, Ron Raines, Tom Pelphrey, Justin Deas, Robert Newman, delectable, he makes me shiver, and the oh so sexy Bradley Cole, shiver twice over. Look at those eyes.
After all they survived the transitions from Radio to TV and lasted in that difficult medium for 50 years or more winning over one hundred Emmy’s. Something is wrong with this picture.
A nation at war, with so little continuity for anyone, things moving so fast, everything for the young, mindless game show after game show, or a new reality dud, what’s left for the older fans and what of their immense loyalty?
The rush to remake soaps is ongoing and having no effect really, more the pity, as some were showing signs of great life. An endless array of young actors with great looks and not much else are put up and discarded in characters badly founded and no one aware of how to make you care because they come and go so fast…..
and then there’s the mercurial, ultra talented Tom Pelphrey, Emmy award winner as well. He is a rare fellow himself, and should make the jump to prime time very soon. You cannot miss him.
The creation of “Nightshift” for Soapnet, a cable exclusive for soap operas and off shoot of GH but using more of the old time stars and veterans, was genius and this year, written by GH fan and history buff Sri Rao, focused on most of the great families and stories from the 80’s and got a huge response and success from the viewers who returned in large numbers for their favorites.
The CBS channel had the first gay love story for two men. Highly controversial on ATWT……. ABC with All My Children’s “Bianca”, a groundbreaking story of Erica Kane’s daughter coming out allowed to fizzle in and out with no pay off for the long time viewers. Just recently she and her “lover” married (!) on screen, another first, only to have it pulled back by the betrayal of the lover having kissed a man!… organ plays.
On the “Guiding Light”, in New York carried at 10 am in the morning on CBS, they are currently unfolding a story of such incredible length, one year in the reveal and lead up, with little or no fanfare, about the attraction between two women.
No “Erica Kane’s daughter is gay!” headlines and publicity, no fanfare…. NO labels.
Two straight women exploring their growing attraction for and love of each other. Just a beautifully crafted story penned by former soap star and now GL writer and executive producer, Ellen Wheeler and one of the head writers, Jill Lori Hurst, told with such a naturalness and integrity to confirm it should be no big difference from any other story.
It has created the all important “buzz” in the media, with TV GUIDE voting Miss Chappell sexiest person of the year, and Entertainment Weekly and a host of other main stream media voting for the “couple” affectionately named for it’s two characters Olivia and Natalia, “Otalia” as “Must See!” TV.
Gay or straight, you would have to be made of stone not to understand their feelings.
Courageous, to say the least of the two actresses, the gorgeous, powerhouse actress and Emmy award winner, Crystal Chappell and the talented and young Audrey Hepburn-like Latin beauty, Jessica Leccia give an important voice to a large segment of society rarely heard from.
Think of the movie stars who have done such work, all oscar winners. Charlize Theron, Cher, Meryl Streep and Nicole Kidman to name only a few. Of course Heath Ledger and Sean Penn just recently…… all searing and accurate, heartbreaking and triumphant in “Brokeback Mountain” and “Milk”……
I had the chance to meet just recently Crystal Chappell and you couldn’t find a more accomplished, gracious and lovely person who remains off the charts brilliant on screen. An earthy, sultry actress with hypnotic eyes, who can go from zero to heartbreak and back in seconds, she is a real find. A Streep-like luminous quality, a something-is-always-going-on-therefore-don’t-look-away-from-me kind of actress. And like Streep, down to earth, with an amazingly gifted and extremely handsome husband, actor Micheal Sabatino and two beautiful children, her look and philosophy of life; aware and blessed.
God bless her, and all those who have worked so tirelessly over these many decades to give people a place to escape, and characters to hate and cheer for, and lose ourselves for a simple hour of make believe as we “solve” their “problems” and find our own less burdensome. To all my friends in this most imaginative and creative medium, thanks for all your commitment and talent.
For the “Guiding Light”, wake up some cable giant and realize they come with an built in, loyal audience, who will be forever grateful to whomever actually rewards them for years of faithful viewership.
In an unlikely forum came a chance to learn a valuable lesson.
On Britain’s Who’s Got Talent out came a lady who says she hasn’t been outside her village for a long distance since she was 12; never been on a date or been kissed; who works as a church volunteer, and lost her Mum two years ago who had always hoped she would do something with her life…. as she lives alone with her cat, Pebbles, in Blackburn, Scotland.
Why was she there now at 48? “Never been given the chance before….”
As famous as….? “I’d liked to be as famous as Elaine Page….”
Out she comes to a brutal pre judgement by a crowd, jeers and wolf calls and flat out derision. Laughter when she said she wanted to be a professional singer.
Her outward appearance gave plenty of fodder for the superficial grist mill manned by ‘merry andrews’ all too eager with a nasty gibe or two.
Then she sings.
Sums it up. The talent is still the most important thing. The voice. You either have it or not. An indictment on today’s cynical speed that some are written off, and others given advancement on looks.
Her Mum must be smiling broadly in the Scottish Hills. 10 million plus have watched on Youtube alone, they all join her. I know I do.
Enjoy!
A brand new, beautiful official website with lots of great fotos, and news about her Exhibit next in Napoli, the scene of so many great triumphs of the great soprano, Renata Tebaldi.
May you find all the eggs before everyone else, and may they be filled with lot of fun toys and chocolate.
Somehow, those who are suffering, may your pain be less and your joy increase, and may we all feel connected to each other more and more as we work to solve the problems that will effect us all and our generations to come.
LOOK at this room….. and the talent within it.
Can you imagine?
Long before turnstiles at a movie theater were part of opera, here we have in one room, Maria Callas and Luchino Visconti with Lenny Berstein photographed in a break during a rehearsal.
Oh, to have been a fly on the wall during this exchange of ideas !!
These next photos are a study in how true acting is not only in dashing around on stage with directors gimmicks and distracting the viewers, however fun it can be, but in the total concentration of an artist and their faith in the music and the message of the composer…….
Maria Callas as Violetta in Verdi’s La Traviata, receiving the doctor to hear about her “life” and “hope” as she struggles against the TB that is killing her, all the while fully aware she is awaiting death’s arrival with such sweetness and perfect vulnerability…… nobile.
Here too a distraught Violetta perfectly etched on the magnificent face of the amazing Renata Tebaldi……. just after the letter reading, “E’ tardi…..!!!!!”
Our eyes would be no where else and our hearts would break at the destruction of this Lucia’s mental and emotional health…… Callas as Lucia in Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor…
Joan Sutherland clings to reality with a tenuous thread as Lucia in the famous Mad Scene, where just having killed her husband she is greeting her “wedding” guests covered in his blood.
and years before her the legendary Galli-Curci not the most sane of brides in the same unending madness and fragility. Amazing horror and true madness.
The sense of radiance and truthful carriage onstage…… who could argue with this?
Franco Corelli and Renata Tebaldi in “Adriana Lecouvreur”……
Tebaldi with great vocal mentor and conductor genius Tullio Serafin prepping one of her greatest roles, Mimi in Puccini’s “La Boheme”.
The great voice and emotion of Zinka Milanov with Leonard Warren.
No words are needed….. Medea, Callas.
Or her great friend and colleague. Titto Gobbi…… in his Rigoletto played as a living gargoyle.
Raw passion in a rare display from Netrebko and Kaufman, in Traviata.
I so wish recordings were still being explored these days. Look at these fabulous shots from recording sessions with cat glasses diva, Renata Tebaldi and Carlo Bergonzi and Herbert Von Karajan.
Pretre’ and Callas and Gobbi and Bergonzi…….
There lurks in every great opera house “spiriti” of the greats and they watch and listen and wait for one of “their own” to show up and continue the great line of traditions. The very best and creative and fully prepared do not fear them, but welcome them knowing they have set a standard, and every young singer should be inspired by their discipline and strength and success.
Before every performance I have ever given I go and salute them and ask their guidance and support, as I try to serve the music and God through that music. Pretty heady stuff. Otherwise, it’s all just notes.
Do not be afraid ever to look back as you go forward.
The composer’s blue print of his soul are in the pages of every musical score. Embedded within a little tiny time capsule, written in a different time, with different musical ways and theatrical truths.
Callas, Tebaldi and all the greats faced the same challenges we face today, yet they never apologized for their art, or their music or the task at hand. We sing on in hopes the public will be enchanted still by the glories of this music, facing a modern audience that stills knows what it means to serve your country,falling in love with someone you cannot have, getting married, cheat or betray someone, demand or hope for revenge. Sacrifice and family, doing your best to survive. This is all in the music, then, now, and forever.
May WE be worthy of it’s greatness.
Joan Sutherland at her debut at the Old Met in Lucia.
The voice prays when she sings and she brings you straight to God.
A person, a connection,indeed a way of life. an example of what it used to mean to be called “artist” that exists to this day in her. No apologies for the art, no saying they are not a disciplined, dedicated OPERA SINGER, just humility and a complete knowledge of service.
Direct first hand stories of a memorable, legendary career and of collaborations with Puccini, Giordano, Gigli, Cilea, Serafin, Schipa. It is enough to make your mind boggle.
Always aware of her connection with God on stage, “walking into a sacred halo”, protected by her belief in the greatness of the art and her total commitment to it. She BECAME the character.
At the end of the interview she gives thanks to God and to all “for what you gave me.”
Today Magda, great Magda, Happy Birthday, the word thank you, as you said, cannot encompass everything we mean to say to you, thank you for what YOU gave us.
Happy Birthday, Grande Olivero!!!!!!!!!!!
Mind you this is a tape of a concert, the real voice is likely even more wonderful. Not yet thirty, in great hands,she will grow. But how assured and what crystal pristine color for the extreme tops.
Young and talented. From time to time I like to highlight people who are going to be someone to watch.
Mr. Costello and Ailyn Perez, Eglisse Guttierez and now this lovely “real” coloratura.
Aprile Millo Master Sessions or Donations
A place to pay for private Master Class sessions online or in person, Covid permitting. Donations for Mme. Millo's Summer Academy with Dr. Maria Vetere in Busseto, Italy. Operavision Academy. Proceeds donating would be used to help towards a grant or scholarship for study. The fee is for one hour and 15 minutes
$300.00
The High Priestess of that old fashioned operatic religion- Aprile Millo definitely not the girl next door! Opera is Divine and takes to a place you will not see before you die and you live to tell the story!
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