Maria Callas (December 2, 1923 – September 16, 1977)

"Col sorriso d'innocenza" Il Pirata (Bellini)

EMI Classics Tease For Angela Gheorghiu Homage Disc

As previously posted, Angela Gheorghiu is releasing a new CD that pays homage to the art of Maria Callas. Check out the teaser that EMI Classics put out on their YouTube channel catching Ms. Gheorghiu at a photo shoot. They promise more "coming soon." Perhaps the EPK will hit the airwaves post haste.

Angela Gheorghiu Pays Homage to Maria Callas on EMI

Now that the vast majority of operatic recordings made by Maria Callas are in the public domain, EMI Classics needs to figure out how to keep profiting from its #1-selling artist. How do you do that when said artist has been deceased since 1977? Perhaps the answer lies in taking one of the current divas that signed onto your roster in 1998 and create a new tribute album of sorts. That is exactly what the public gets from the latest release from Angela Gheorghiu: Homage to Maria Callas. The soprano is joined by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of conductor Marco Armiliato and the part-time colleague tenor James Valenti for his offstage singing on the Traviata track. The curious part of this project is that Ms. Gheorghiu has always professed that fellow Romanian Virginia Zeani is the soprano she most admires
and practically modeled herself after once deciding to become an opera singer (listen to an audio interview here). Before becoming an exclusive artist with EMI, Ms. Gheorghiu had signed with competitor Decca records. It was for this label that Virginia Zeani herself recorded two full studio albums. One recording was an all-Puccini program of arias from Gianni Schicchi, Turandot, Madama Butterfly, Tosca, La Rondine and more, with conductor Franco Patanè. The second operatic recital with conductor Gianandrea Gavazzeni featured coloratura arias from prime Callas territory including La Traviata, I Puritani, Lucia di Lammermoor, La Bohème and


La Sonnambula. In some ways it may seem that Zeani was Decca's answer to EMI's Callas. Recording repertoire wasn't the only thing they shared. In 1952, conductor Tullio Serafin replaced Maria Callas with Virginia Zeani as Elvira in I Puritani at the Teatro Communale in Florence. The bass that evening was Nicola Rossi Lemeni, future husband to Ms. Zeani. So it seems odd that Decca never took advantage of their exclusive rights to Ms. Gheorghiu when they had her in order to make a dedication album to her homeland heroine. One thing that Ms. Gheorghiu does share with Madame Callas is that this "homage" will feature music that dips into mezzo-soprano repertoire (Samson et Dalila, Le Cid, Carmen), something that the latter began to record once vocal decline began to set in. 2012 will mark the 60th anniversary of Callas joining the EMI family and that just might prompt an increase in sales of her greatest recordings. [Source]
Label Divas: Maria Callas (l) and Virginia Zeani (r) strike similar poses:"Homage to Maria Callas is a collection of beloved French and Italian operatic masterpieces performed by Angela Gheorghiu, the defining diva of this century. The programme is inspired by the career and recordings of Maria Callas, the greatest diva of the last century. The arias are shared favourites of both Callas and Gheorghiu, and Angela’s new recording demonstrates once again her extraordinary vocal and emotional range. Angela Gheorghiu said recently, 'Callas was original in everything she did; she was a phenomenon. In every performance she gave her all. She was the most wonderful painter and you can always hear exactly the right colour in her voice. Just hearing her sound, you understand all the power or fragility of her emotions. That’s a rare talent and a great gift.' Gheorghiu continued, 'EMI was her record label and it’s mine too. It feels like a family.' Recorded at London’s iconic Abbey Road Studios in London and in New York, the repertoire of Gheorghiu’s first studio recital in six years (during which time she recorded several complete operas, including a multi-award-winning Madama Butterfly), shows her versatility in lyric, spinto and mezzo roles, with each of which she feels a strong emotional connection. These include Mimi (La bohème), Marguerite (Faust), Imogene (Il Pirata), Adriana (Adriana Lecouvreur – an opera which Gheorghiu added to her repertoire in 2010 to great critical acclaim), Maddalena (Andrea Chénier), Nedda (Pagliacci), Wally (La Wally), Medea, Chimène (Le Cid) and Delilah (Samson et Delilah). The new album also includes two arias from the opera that launched her career: La traviata by Verdi, New York Magazine praised at the time that 'Her lady of the camellias is a worthy successor to Garbo and Callas.' [Source]
Did Angela Gheorghiu inadvertently pay tribute to Maria Callas
while still on the Decca label with this 1998 release?
Paul Pelkonen reports, "...the most controversial addition to the disc is a digitally built duet between La Gheorghiu and the late Maria Callas. The two sopranos, one living, one very dead, will sing 'L'amour c'est l'oiseaux rebelle,' the Habañera from Act I of Bizet's Carmen. According to a press release (received today from EMI Classics) the new 'duet' was created from the original master tape of Callas' 1961 recording of the aria. The engineers chose this over the '63 recording of the complete opera, because it lacked the usual choral accompaniment. In the engineering booth, the original orchestra (the Orchestre National de la Radiodiffusion Française under the baton of George Prêtre) was scrubbed out. The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (conducted by Marco Armiliato re-recorded the music, with the players using a special click track to match the original. Ms. Gheorghiu also chose to learn Callas' particular sense of rhythm and meter, enabling the two divas to warble together, or seperately. Leaving aside obvious reservations (the biggest one being that the Habañera is intended for one singer!) the new disc will hit New York's few remaining record shops in October [sic], shortly before Ms. Gheorghiu's scheduled appearance with the Opera Orchestra of New York. In the OONY performance, she will sing the title role in Cilea's Adriana Lecouvrer." [Source]

VERSIONS AVAILABLE:
- Deluxe Edition comprises a CD encased in a hardcover book containing an essay from Angela in three languages, a gallery of glamorous new photos and exclusive access to a video and mini-feature on the making of the CD.
- Standard Edition consists of a CD in a digipack with a booklet excerpting Gheorghiu’s essay. Both Deluxe and Standard editions feature song texts in English, French, German and the original language, if different, as well as booklet text in all three languages.
- Standard Digital Version offers the entire standard CD contents.

RELEASE DATES: USA (9/28),  UK (11/7) and Germany (11/18)
Sample tracks by clicking here.
TRACK LISTING:
1. "Donde Lieta Uscì" (Mimì's Farewell): La Bohème, Act Iii
2. "O Dieu! Que De Bijoux" (Jewel Song ): Faust, Act Iii, Scene 6
3. "Col Sorriso D'innocenza": Il Pirata, Act Ii, Scene 3
4. "Qual Fiamma Avea Nel Guardo!...Stridono Lassu": I Pagliacci
5. "Mon Coeur S'ouvre à Ta Voix": Samson Et Dalila
6. "Ebben?...Ne Andrò Lontana": La Wally
7. "L'amour Est Un Oiseau Rebelle" (Habanera): Carmen
8. "La Mamma Morta": Andrea Chénier, Act Iii
9. "Dei Tuoi Figli La Madre": Medea, Act I, Scene 1
10. "De Cet Affreux Combat...Pleurez Mes Yeux": Le Cid
11. "Poveri Fiori": Adriana Lecouvreur
12. "È strano! È strano!...Ah, Fors` è Lui": La Traviata
13. "Follie! Follie!...Sempre Libera": La Traviata - with James Valenti

Callas, Bizet and The Museum of Sex?

WARNING: VIDEO CONTAINS NUDITY AND IS NSFW (BUT THE SOUNDTRACK IS PERFECTLY FINE FOR WORK...):

obscene diary from onur karaoglu on Vimeo.

"Last year saw the rediscovery of a major figure whose remarkable story illustrated the secret history of gay life throughout the 20th Century. In Secret Historian: The Life and Times of Samuel Steward, Professor, Tattoo Artist, and Sexual Renegade, author Justin Spring tells the thrilling tale of Sam Steward, a man who documented every one of his many sexual exploits in obsessive detail, providing a wealth of understanding to future generations looking to understand the pre-Stonewall era. Now the artifacts of Steward’s life have been collected and displayed in a brilliant, inspiring show at the Museum of Sex in New York City. Keep the Lights On‘s documentarian Onur Karoaglu asked Justin Spring to show him around the exhibition one morning a few weeks ago. Secret Historian, along with An Obscene Diary: The Visual World of Sam Steward is in bookstores now." [Source]

Maria Callas Electrifying First "Trovatore" Performance in 1950

Listen to this incredible excerpt of "D'amor sull'ali rosee" taken from a performance during the run of Maria Callas's first time singing the role of Leonora in Verdi's Il Trovatore. The performance took place in Mexico City during June 1950 at the Palacio de Bellas Arte. To listen to the whole aria, including the "Miserere," click here.

Trivia: The performances of Il Trovatore occurred on June 20, 24 and 27. Madame Callas had sung the title roles in Aida on June 15, Tosca on June 10 and Norma on May 27. [Source]

Zachary Woolfe Explores "Charisma" in Opera Singers

Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the most
charismatic of them all?
Maria Callas photographed by Angus McBean.

"Charismatic performers are those whom you simply can’t look away from. Their charisma is an almost physical presence, a spark that powers even the most unassuming musical passage. To experience a charismatic performance is to feel elevated, simultaneously dazed and focused, galvanized and enlarged. It is to surrender to something raw and elemental, to feel happy but also unsatisfied. Charisma calls forth a melancholy, a vaguely unrequited feeling. I’ve caught myself, after certain performances of an aria or a movement, leaning forward, as if drawn against my will. Charisma requires that you acknowledge a new, larger set of possibilities. It is demanding. We are told of Callas’s overwhelming use of her body and voice onstage. As Schonberg added, of that 1965 Tosca, 'the stage presence shown by Callas in her performance would have raised the hackles on a deaf man.' The question is whether people want to be swept up. Charisma can be exhilarating but also frightening. Our surrender to it demands a trust that is not easily conceded. If our desire from performance is only for comfort and reassurance, charisma will repel us. It is about revealing scope, and it raises the stakes dangerously high....Recently I was in the Met Opera Shop, and a video clip came on the screen above the CD racks. The longtime Met soprano Aprile Millo was singing 'La mamma morta,' the ecstatic aria from Giordano’s Andrea Chenier, with burning intensity. The sales clerk and I both watched raptly. Later I e-mailed Ms. Millo to ask her what charisma is. 'Hemingway gave us a haunting clue to it,' she replied. 'In his obsession with the Spanish bullfights, he spoke of the lust of the crowd and its desire to feel something special, a raw authenticity, even in so brutal a setting. What he mentions is the hush that would come over the crowd at the entrance of the toreadors. The people could sense the difference between those who did it for the fame, the paycheck, and those who had the old spirit: the nobility, bravery, heart, ‘duende.’ I believe this also happens in the theater. The crowd can sense the one with the authentic message, the connection to the truth.'" [Source]

Lord Harewood - Queen's Cousin and Opera Lover - Dies at 88

Watch an interview of Lord Harewood and Maria Callas from 1968
by clicking on the photo below:

A complete obituary can be found here.

Opera Singers as Wax Figures at Musée Grévin in Paris

Opera blog Intermezzo reports today that Cecilia Bartoli has joined the ranks of fellow opera singers Maria Callas, Roberto Alagna and Luciano Pavarotti, by becoming a was figure herself at Musée Grévin in Paris, France. Check out another shot of Ms. Bartoli at the unveiling as well as photos of the other singers after the jump.

Elizabeth Taylor, Friend of Opera, Dies at 79

"Ave Maria" (Mascagni)
performed by Kathleen Battle

According to her publicist, actress Dame Elizabeth Taylor has passed away at age 79 from congestive heart failure. It is said she died peacefully. In 1963, the actress was featured in the film Cleopatra. She used a signature eyeliner many defined as "cat eyes" that inspired opera singer Maria Callas to begin wearing a similar look to add more glamour to her appearance. The relationship between the two women, however, went beyond makeup. In fact, Ms. Taylor became an active member in the opera community. As part of the royal media scene, Ms. Taylor and Richard Burton were members of a social elite that included opera diva Maria Callas and oil tycoon Aristotle Onassis. It may very well have been Madame Callas that introduced

Maria Callas with the actress

Ms. Taylor to Franco Zeffirelli because he had previously directed the opera singer in La Traviata, Norma and Tosca, and the two were close friends. Ms. Taylor and Richard Burton soon appeared together in Franco Zeffirelli's film debut, The Taming of the Shrew, in 1967. Based on the William Shakespeare play, it was an over-the-top Hollywood budget buster with the lead actors sinking $1 million of their own fortunes into the project and waiving their fees for a percentage of the box-office revenues. The collaboration sparked a lifelong friendship between the actress and the director. Zeffirelli was to become one of the preeminent
opera directors of the last century. Ms. Taylor's lifelong friendship with Franco

Elizabeth at the Paris Opera 1963

Zeffirelli also spawned an introduction in the 1980's to singer Aprile Millo who appeared in the director's production of Puccini's Turandot at the Metropolitan Opera. The spinto soprano was chosen by the director to be the voice of Ms. Taylor (playing Nadina Bulichoff) for his film Young Toscanini in 1988. She even sang "Ave Maria" for the wedding of Ms. Taylor and Larry Fortensky in 1991. The life of Elizabeth Taylor could easily be confused for an opera plot with all its adventure, love and tragedy. She lived her life for all the world to be inspired by beauty and charm. She possessed a magnetism that made her one of the few select people in the world who could actually steal focus from an opera diva if the two were in the same room. For

At the Rome Opera 1966

all of the glitz of gowns and jewels, one cause that must be mentioned for which Elizabeth Taylor worked tirelessly, is her contributions to AIDS research and the development of potential cures. In addition to her legendary screen performances, Ms. Taylor was a staunch advocate in the fight against HIV/AIDS. Thanks to her friendship with co-star Rock Hudson, she began with an AIDS Project Los Angeles dinner in the early 80's and by 1985 she was working with amfAR's Dr. Mathilde Krim to use her celebrity in promoting the organization's cause. In 1991, she established the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation to create "funding to AIDS service organizations throughout the world to assist those living with HIV and AIDS." By 1999 she had raised an estimated $50 million to fight the disease. Even as late as 2006, she had commissioned a 37-foot "Care Van" equipped with examination tables and X Ray equipment (in addition to a personal contribution of $40,000) for the New Orleans Aids task force.

Hers was an accomplished life worth singing about.

Maria Callas, Elizabeth and Aristotle Onassis in 1964.

Franco Zeffirelli (far left) and Elizabeth at the Teatro dell'Opera in 1966.

In London. Left to right: Maria Callas, Peter O'Toole, Elizabeth and Richard Burton.

Elizabeth with Noel Coward in the film "Boom!" in 1968.

Backstage after Turandot in 1987. Left to right: Birgit Nilsson, Franco Zeffirelli, James Levine, Eva Marton, Elizabeth and Plácido Domingo.

Eva Marton, Aprile Millo and Elizabeth backstage after Turandot at the Metropolitan Opera.

Aprile Millo (far left) sings at the wedding of Taylor and Fortensky in 1991.

[Source, Source, Source, Source, Source, Source]

Maria Callas Keeps Watch Over Adele at NPR

One vocal goddess (hiding in the corner) observes another during a performance.

"A best-selling U.K. pop singer, Adele rocketed to fame a few years ago, alongside a handful of other soulful throwbacks. But unlike many other past recipients of the Best New Artist Grammy (Adele won the award in 2009), it's hard to imagine her fading from the public consciousness in the years to come; her voice is too pure, too charismatic. Witness this three-song Tiny Desk Concert at the NPR Music offices, wherein she belts out three songs — the heartbreaking ballad "Someone Like You," the ubiquitous hit "Chasing Pavements" and the first single from 21, "Rolling in the Deep" — with only the low-key accompaniment of keyboardist Miles Robertson and guitarist Ben Thomas." Live in-studio performance video is after the jump! [Source]