Tosca opera met nyc3/9/2023 ![]() ![]() He used to scour the Jersey flea markets for 78s of Caruso, Martinelli, Gigli, and the like, he had a real crank up 78 player with the horn in his basement, the whole bit. But I had a friend George in high school who sang and loved tenors. Most of my first performances were with my parents, most often it was my mother and my sister or I’d go alone, sitting upstairs on one side of the house or the other. ‘64 – ’65 was my third season at the Met. OM: Well, I didn’t know she was coming until much later in the year. We were definitely looking forward to it. While at camp together in the summer of 1964, we read in the Times that Callas coming back to the Met the following March to sing Tosca. Ira Siff (IS): My friend Lex Seldin was an opera lunatic like me. How did you find out she was coming back to the Met? Ira. She was, therefore, more or less off the local radar, so to speak. Maria Callas hadn’t appeared at the Metropolitan Opera since 1958. OperaMetro (OM): First about that ’64 – ‘65 season. The first is Ira Siff, who is Commentator for the Metropolitan Opera Broadcasts and also a recognized Voice Teacher/ Interpretation Coach the second is Andrew Ousley, who is Director of Marketing & Publicity, Warner Classics North America.Īs customary on these pages, OperaMetro’s Q & A is patched together as if we were in the same room, responding to the questions, enjoying each other’s company, and negotiating who will spring for coffee. ![]() The big event loomed less than a week away.ĭeeply touched by the art of Maria Callas, OperaMetro interviewed (via email) two others equally smitten by her: one, as I, who was there for her return to the stage of the Metropolitan Opera in March of 1965 and one who was not there but, at a young age, was profoundly touched by her voice, images, and now, importantly, is committed to preserving her recorded legacy. But chaos threatened: there were police, even cameras around. We were awake, though not quite thawed out yet. ![]() I’d met the woman I was with only once before, standing, mind you, not face down. On the morning of March 13, on Broadway, fifty years ago, I awoke face down on the sidewalk. Celebrating the 50th anniversary of the return of Maria Callas ![]()
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