Romanian soprano Angela Gheorghiu sings Chimène’s great aria ‘Pleurez, pleurez mes yeux’ from Massenet’s LE CID at a concert given in Amsterdam, 2005.
Watch and listen here.
Author: Philip Gardner
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Bonaldo Giaiotti ~ Il lacerato spirito
The great Italian basso Bonaldo Giaiotti sings Fiesco’s lament “Il lacerato spirito” from Verdi’s SIMON BOCCANEGRA.
Watch and listen here.
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Onelia Fineschi ~ Ebben? Ne andrò lontana
Onelia Fineschi sings the aria “Ebben? Ne andrò lontana” from Alfredo Catalani’s LA WALLY[ the recording dates from 1947.
Listen here.
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Bruna Baglioni ~ Judgement Scene
Mezzo-soprano Bruna Baglioni (above) is Amneris in this concert performance of the Judgement Scene from Verdi’s AIDA given at Brescia, date unknown. Nicola Martinucci is Radames, and Bonaldo Giaiotti sings Ramfis.
Watch and listen here.
Ms. Baglioni, a native of Frascati, Italy, made her operatic debut at Bologna in 1974 as Leonora in LA FAVORITA. She sang at opera houses throughout Italy, and at Vienna, London, Barcelona, and The Bolshoi. Her roles were many: Verdi’s Fenena, Ulrica, Azucena, Eboli, Amneris; Olga in EUGEN ONEGIN, Adalgisa, both Laura and La Cieca in LA GIOCONDA, Charlotte in WERTHER, Carmen, the Princesse de Bouillon in ADRIANA LECOUVREUR, Dalila, the title-role in Giordano’s FEDORA, and the Gran Vestale in the Spontini opera.
In 1978, I saw Bruna Baglioni in the role of Azucena at The Bushnell in Hartford, Connecticut. The production, sets and costumes, conducting, and the other principal singers were all at a rather provincial level, but Ms. Baglioni was superb: “…she rose above the many flaws of the performance to create a truly potent Azucena…the role is a gift really, and the singer seized upon it with power and subtlety in both her singing and acting. She won the evening’s biggest applause for her Act II monologue in which her strong tops and impressive chest voice were put forth to fine dramatic effect. Her duets with Manrico, and her scene with di Luna, were the highlights of the evening, and she successfully captured both the terror and repose of the old gypsy in the opera’s final scene, ending the evening strongly with fine high B-flat. Had her colleagues attained a similar level, this would have been an exciting performance indeed.”
In that same year, Ms. Baglioni made her debut at The Met as Laura in LA GIOCONDA. Her other Met roles were Santuzza, Eboli, Dalila, and Leonora in LA FAVORITA. In 1982, she sang Laura again in a GIOCONDA series; I saw her in the role twice. At the first, she more than held her own in a powerhouse cast led by Eva Marton and Placido Domingo. A couple weeks later, she sang Laura opposite Galina Savova and Domingo, and it was again a very exhilarating performance.
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Celibidache Conducts Debussy
Sergiu Celibidache (above) conducts the Munich Philharmonic in a performance of Claude Debussy’s Prélude a l’après-midi d’un faune given in May 1994.
Watch and listen here.
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Ermonela Jaho ~ Io son l’umile ancella
Ermonela Jaho sings “Io son l’umile ancella” from Cilea’s ADRIANA LECOUVREUR at a concert given in Paris in 2016.
Watch and listen here.
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Boris Christoff as Philip II
The peerless Bulgarian basso Boris Christoff in a film of King Philip’s great monolog “Ella giammai m’amò” from Verdi’s DON CARLO.
Watch and listen here.
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Deborah Polaski ~ Die stille Lotosblume
Deborah Polaski sings Clara Schumann’s Die stille Lotosblume from a recital with pianist Charles Spencer.
Watch and listen here.
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Giuseppe Giacomini Has Passed Away
The great Italian tenor Giuseppe Giacomini has passed away at the age of 80.
Giacomini made his operatic debut in 1966 at Vercelli as Pinkerton. and was soon singing throughout Italy. His international career commenced at Berlin in 1970, which led to engagements at Lisbon, Barcelona, Munich, and in Vienna, where he received the title Kammersänger.
He triumphed at La Scala, in Turin, and in Rome, and made his Metropolitan Opera debut in 1976, with debuts at Paris and Covent Garden following soon after.
Giacomini is featured on the Metropolitan Opera’s DVD of LA FORZA DEL DESTINO with Leontyne Price, and on commercial recordings as Turiddu (opposite Jessye Norman), Pollione (with Renata Scotto), Otello (with Dame Margaret Price), and he is Cavaradossi on the Muti TOSCA with Carol Vaness.
The tenor celebrated his 60th birthday singing in TOSCA at Covent Garden, and in 2010 he toured China with the Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra.
I first saw Giuseppe Giacomini onstage (his US debut) at The Bushnell in Hartford, where he appeared in an exciting FANCIULLA DEL WEST opposite Radmila Bakočević in 1975. At the 1987 Richard Tucker Gala, Giacomini brought down the house twice with his singing of the final scene of ANDREA CHENIER with Eva Marton, and with his powerhouse performance as Otello in the Act II duet with Sherrill Milnes; during the applause that followed, Mr. Milnes bestowed a comradely kiss on the tenor’s cheek. Watch and listen here.
On December 10th, 1988, Giacomini gave a thrilling performance as Canio in PAGLIACCI at a Met matinee. The tenor – along with Diana Soviero (Nedda) and Juan Pons (Tonio) – was simply on fire, his top notes blazing into the hall. During the bows, a crowd gathered at the orchestra railing – like in the old days – to scream their heads off for the singers. I was so elated to be part of it.
As it turned out, that PAGLIACCI was Giuseppe Giacomini’s last Met performance.
Giuseppe Giacomini – Un tal gioco – PAGLIACCI – Met bcast 1988
There’s lots of Giacomini to be found on YouTube; here are a few of my favorite things:
Giuseppe Giacomini sings Calaf’s aria “Non piangere Liu” from TURANDOT from a Paris Opera production in 1981. Watch and listen here.
The tenor sings the Improviso from ANDREA CHENIER here…
…and Calaf’s “Nessun dorma” from a 1989 Moscow concert here…with an encore!
And here’s Giacomini as Radames…
Giuseppe Giacomini ~ Celeste Aida ~ Chicago 1988
…and in the final duet from ANDREA CHENIER, with Ghena Dimitrova:
ANDREA CHENIER ~ final duet – Ghena Dimitrova & Giuseppe Giacomini
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Junetta Jones
Above: soprano Junetta Jones performing with the Goldman Band in Central Park in the early 1960s.
Born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1936, Junetta Jones studied at the Peabody Conservatory and later at the New England Conservatory and the Tanglewood Music Center.
In 1963, Ms. Jones was a winner in the Metropolitan Opera National Auditions (Jane Marsh and Justino Diaz were also winners that year); she made her Met debut as the Celestial Voice in Verdi’s DON CARLO a few months after her Auditions win. Her other Met roles were a Genie in THE MAGIC FLUTE, the Page in RIGOLETTO, and Barbarina in NOZZE DI FIGARO. She last appeared at The Met in 1965.
Like so many young American singers at that time, Junetta Jones then re-located to Europe where she sang at Dusseldorf, Wuppertal, Regensburg, Munster, Trier, and Lucerne. She returned to the USA from time to time, singing with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and with Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops. When she appeared in Handel’s SAMSON at Carnegie Hall in 1965, the New York Times called her singing “beguiling”.
Above: Junetta Jones in MADAMA BUTTERFLY; date and venue not specified
Following her retirement from performing, Ms. Jones worked for 20 years on the advisory committee for art and culture for the city of Baltimore. She passed away in 2015.
Listen to Junetta Jones in her Met debut role, the Celestial Voice, here.
Oberon's Glade 