Divi of the Day Archives

Edita Gruberová

December 1, 2016 Trevor Gillis Bellini, coloratura, Die Zauberflöte, Donizetti, Mozart, Opera, Queen of the Night, Rossini, Slovakia, soprano, The Magic Flute, The Met0 comment

Edita Gruberová is one of the singers I wish I had discovered earlier in my life; every time I hear her, I’m amazed by her intonation, ornamentation, and clarity in both tone and diction. Born in 1946, the Slovak soprano studied music at the Bratislava Conservatory and the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava, which opened in 1949. Gruberová is a coloratura soprano. She is a renowned interpreter of many leading ladies in the bel canto genre, as well as the Queen of the Night (Mozart, Die Zauberflöte or The…

Divi of the Day

Olga Peretyatko sings Bellini’s I puritani

November 16, 2016December 23, 2016 Trevor Gillis bel canto, Bellini, diction, I puritani, intonation, Opera, soprano, The Puritans0 comment

I’ve heard a lot of naysayers talk about Olga Peretyatko’s diction and intonation, but just listen to her in this recording of Bellini’s I puritani. What a gorgeous sound in such an exquisite work, an excellent example of bel canto. I puritani premiered in Paris in 1835, the year of the composer’s death. Olga Peretyatko made her Met debut singing this role (Elvira) in 2014. +20

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Ferruccio Furlanetto

November 3, 2016 Trevor Gillis bass, Carreras, Claudio Abbado, Così fan tutte, Domingo, Figaro, Herbert von Karajan, Italy, James Levine, Le Nozze di Figaro, Mozart, Opera, Opera News, Pavarotti, Verdi0 comment

Italian bass Ferruccio Furlanetto has a powerful, unforgettable sound. I know him primarily through Mozart – as Figaro in a famous Met recording of Le Nozze di Figaro and as Don Alfonso in another James Levine led production of Così fan tutte (this one was with the Vienna Philharmonic). Although I know him primarily from Mozart operas, he is a renowned interpreter of Verdi as well. Ferruccio Furlanetto | Biography Furlanetto was born in Sacile, Italy in 1949. He began his opera career in Italy, but after making his U.S….

Divi of the Day

Diva of the Day: Dawn Upshaw

October 18, 2016October 30, 2016 Trevor Gillis Deh vieni non tardar, Le Nozze di Figaro, Manhattan School of Music, Mozart, soubrette, Susanna, The Marriage of Figaro0 comment

Diva Dawn Upshaw has a light and sparkly soprano sound, ideally suited to soubrette roles. It was in just such a role that I first heard her – as Susanna in a Metropolitan Opera recording of Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro. Diva Dawn Upshaw – Biography Upshaw was born in 1960 in Nashville, Tennessee. She studied at the Manhattan School of Music, after which she won numerous awards, including the Young Concert Artists International Auditions in 1984 and the Walter M. Naumburg Competition in 1985. She made her Met debut…

Divi of the Day

Sherrill Milnes

October 10, 2016October 30, 2016 Trevor Gillis Gerald Finley, Metropolitan Opera, Pavarotti, Rigoletto, Sutherland, Verdi0 comment

Sherrill Milnes was another name that kept popping up on the CD box sets I was buying. I first heard Milnes on the famous 1971 recording of Verdi’s Rigoletto with Sutherland and Pavarotti. Like so many great singers, he has an unforgettable and unmistakable sound. The first word that comes to mind when I think of Milnes is power. He also has a wonderful ability to convey emotion in his tone and bring out different colors of his instrument. Listen below to see what I mean. I wouldn’t say his…

Divi of the Day

Kathleen Battle

October 5, 2016October 30, 2016 Trevor Gillis Ariadne auf Naxos, coloratura, Donizetti, lyric, Met Opera, Opera, R. Strauss0 comment

The opera world loves a good controversy, and Kathleen Battle certainly provided one! Born in 1948, Battle first appeared on the operatic stage as Rosina in Michigan Opera Theater’s 1975 production of Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia. Two years later she made her Met debut, playing the Shepherd in Wagner’s Tannhäuser. During the 1980s, Battle became a renowned interpreter of lyric and coloratura soprano roles. 00

Divi of the Day

Kiri Te Kanawa

September 30, 2016October 30, 2016 Trevor Gillis Don Giovanni, Le Nozze di Figaro, lyric, Maori, Mozart, soprano0 comment

I first noticed Kiri Te Kanawa because she kept appearing on opera CD box sets I bought – Le Nozze di Figaro, Rigoletto, Don Giovanni, Così fan tutte, etc. She had a gorgeous, warm, unmistakable lyric soprano voice that seemed especially suited to Mozart. She has gone on to become one of my favorite divas. 00

Divi of the Day

Joan Sutherland

September 27, 2016October 30, 2016 Trevor Gillis bel canto, coloratura, Donizetti, Lucia di Lammermoor, mad scene, Pavarotti, Rigoletto, soprano, Verdi0 comment

Joan Sutherland was the first operatic soprano I ever knew. My passion for opera began with a 1971 Decca recording of Verdi’s Rigoletto in which Joan played Gilda opposite Pavarotti’s Duke of Mantua. Although never a master of diction, Sutherland had an unforgettable voice with a natural flair for coloratura passages. 00

Divi of the Day

Tito Gobbi

September 26, 2016October 30, 2016 Trevor Gillis Maria Callas, Opera, Puccini, Scarpia, Tosca0 comment

Italian baritone Tito Gobbi was a prolific and versatile performer and stage director from his debut in 1935 to his retirement in 1979. He appeared in over 25 film versions of operas and played Scarpia in Puccini’s Tosca almost 1,000 times. In fact, he played Scarpia opposite Maria Callas‘ Tosca in the famed 1953 de Sabata recording. Gobbi was also a famous interpreter of Verdi characters Iago and Falstaff, as well as Mozart’s Don Giovanni and Count Almaviva (in Le Nozze di Figaro). Listen to Gobbi’s power in one of…

Divi of the Day

Maria Callas

September 24, 2016October 30, 2016 Trevor Gillis bel canto, Bellini, Donizetti, Maria Callas, New York City, Opera, Puccini, Rossini, Tosca1 Comment

The quintessential diva, Maria Callas was renowned not just for her beautiful singing, but also for her superb acting. The short-lived Greek-American star was born in New York City in 1923. She studied music in Greece and first emerged on the operatic stage in Italy. Callas is widely regarded as one of the great interpreters of the 19th-century bel canto technique, singing virtually all the major Donizetti, Bellini, and Rossini soprano roles. A recording of her singing the title role of Puccini’s Tosca in 1952 is still considered the gold…