Anja Silja celebrated her 85th birthday on April 18th, 2025. She had made her operatic debut 70 years earlier, as Rosina in BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA. In 1980, I saw her in a riveting performance of Alban Berg’s WOZZECK at The Met, with Jose van Dam in the title-role and James Levine on the podium. The production was issued on DVD and is very much worth watching…if you can find it.
Read Bruce Duffie’s 1996 interview with the German diva here.
A performance of Gluck’s ORFEO ED EURIDCE given in 2023 at the Teatro La Fenice, Venice, in a production by Pier Luigi Pizzi, conducted by Ottavio Dantone.
Principal cast: Orfeo – Cecilia Molinari; Euridice – Mary Bevan; Amore – Silvia Frigato
Chorus Master: Alfonso Caiani
Watch and listen here.
Mongolian baritone Enkhbatyn Amartüvshin sings the Prologue from Leoncavallo’s PAGLIACCI.
Watch and listen here:
Gertrud Rünger (1899-1965) sang both mezzo-soprano and dramatic soprano roles during her career. She began as a choral singer, moving on to solo roles in smaller German houses in 1923.
In 1930, she joined the ensemble of the Vienna State Opera, and in 1934 came to the Berlin Staatsoper. She sang Verdi’s mezzo roles in German, and developed a reputation as a Wagnerian soprano, singing in Paris, London, Amsterdam, Dresden, and Munich.
Ms. Rünger sang the Nurse in FRAU OHNE SCHATTEN at the Salzburg Festival in 1932-1933, and later appeared there as Klytemnestra and as Beethoven’s Leonore. She sang briefly at The Met in 1937, as the WALKURE and GOTTERDAMMERUNG Brunnhildes, Fricka in RHEINGOLD, and as Ortrud opposite Kirsten Flagstad’s Elsa.
Designated as Kammersängerin, Gertrud Rünger continued to perform into the 1950s, whilst also teaching voice. She passed away at Berlin in 1965.
Gertrud Rünger – Sleepwalking Scene ~ MACBETH – in German
Gertrud Rünger – DON CARLO aria – in German
And here is Ms. Rünger live in a thrilling rendition of Ortrud’s Invocation.
~ Oberon
Latonia Moore and Jesus Garcia sing the St. Sulpice duet from Massenet’s MANON in a concert given by the Vermont Youth Symphony in 2013.
Watch and listen here.
Dwayne Croft as Donner summons the mists as Wagner’s DAS RHEINGOLD draws to its finish. I vividly recall how thrilling this was in the House as the baritone strode up the inclined stage and deployed his powerful voice into the great cavern of The Met.
The performance dates from 2010 and is conducted by James Levine.
Watch and listen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBETnbgm6sE
Dmitry Hvorostovsky sings Rachmaninov’s In The Silence of the Secret Night from a 1990 recital. This was not long after he had won the 1989 Cardiff Singer of the World Competition.
Tatiana Troyanos sings Mahler’s Rückert Lieder, recorded “live”; date unknown.
Listen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1rpkuBZuU0
Above: composer Matthijs van Dijk
Matthijs van Dijk’s MOMENTS IN A LIFE as performed at Endler Hall at the Stellenbosch International Chamber Music Festival on July 6, 2016.
Watch and listen here.
The narrator is Denis Goldberg, author of the text.
The performance is conducted by Xandi van Dijk with the following musicians: Ferdinand Steiner (clarinet), Rob Knopper (percussion), Gareth Lubbe (overtone singer), Farida Bacharova (violin 1), Suzanne Martens (violin 2), Juan-Miguel Hernandez (viola), Anzél Gerber (cello), Uxia Martinez Botana (bass), and Megan-Geoffrey Prins (piano).
When I saw this work performed the Met Orchestra Chamber Group at Weill Hall in October of 2024, I ended my review with these prophetic words:
“The work is so timely right now, when our democracy stands on a precipice. If we falter, our country – and indeed the world – will be forever changed.”
George Szell (above) conducts the Cleveland Orchestra in a live performance of the Messa di Requiem by Giuseppe Verdi given in 1968. Gabriella Tucci, Dame Janet Baker, Pierre Duval, and Martti Talvela are the soloists.
Listen here.
Oberon's Glade 