canariasesmusica

The soprano Anneliese Rothenberger enjoyed a distinguished stage career and was also a greatly beloved figure on German television. She could have spent her entire artistic life singing operetta heroines and the light sopranos of Mozart and Strauss. She chose, however, to balance those areas of her repertoire with a good deal of contemporary opera, which played to her impressive strengths both musically and dramatically. Rothenberger’s reach as a communicator extended well beyond opera houses and concert halls, thanks to her own highly successful television show, which made her a household name throughout the German-speaking world. Although she sang several coloratura roles (among them Oscar, Blonde, Olympia and Adele), her voice was more of a high lyric soprano. As such she was utterly at home in two definitive Strauss portrayals widely viewed as definitive, Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier and Zdenka in Arabella. Enhancing Rothenberger’s artistry in all her roles were thoughtful musicians...

Controversial soprano Kathleen Battle is one of my favorite singers of all time. I admire all the qualities that has been described over and over about her voice. She recorded this EP with five Japanese songs with pianist Ken Noda and harpist Nancy Allen in February of 1993 for Fun House Inc and distributed by BMG Japan.  Born Aug. 13, 1948 in Portsmouth, Ohio, U.S., Kathleen Battle is an American opera singer, among the finest coloratura sopranos of her time. As a child and young adult Battle was both a good student and a good singer. She was awarded a scholarship to the University of Cincinnati College–Conservatory of Music in Ohio, where she earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in music education. While teaching, she continued to study voice privately; when Thomas Schippers (then conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra) heard her sing, he hired her to perform at the 1972 Festival of Two Worlds in Spoleto, Italy. Battle’s debut at the festival in Johannes Brahms’s Ein de...

I have always admired Maria Ewing. I know she was controversial but the power of her performances was beyond any doubt. Here is a semblance of her life from presto music.com. Born in Detroit to an African-American father and Dutch mother, Maria Ewing trained at the Cleveland Institute of Music and in New York and Ohio, giving her first professional performance at the Ravinia Festival in Illinois in 1973. In the early part of her career she concentrated on lyric mezzo repertoire, and three years later made her Metropolitan Opera debut as Cherubino in Günther Rennert’s production of Le Nozze di Figaro, opposite Kiri Te Kanawa and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau as the Almavivas. She went on to sing in the house’s premiere productions of Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites (as Blanche de la Force) and Shostakovich’s Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk (as Katerina Ismailova). Ewing made her Glyndebourne debut, as Dorabella in Così fan tutte, in 1978; she became a regular fixture at the Festival over the nex...

Welsh operatic tenor Stuart Burrows was known as the King of Mozart performed regularly at the Covent Garden as well as at the Metropolitan Opera. A promising rugby player he finally decided to study voice at the Trinity College of Carmarthen. Exquisite singer to enjoy! If you want to listen this recording send me an email to canariasesmusica@gmail.com and I will send the link.

Frequently criticized for copying Leontyne Price, Oklahoma born Leona Mitchell was the principal soprano pinto during 18 seasons at the Met. She made her debut as Micaela at the San Francisco Opera in 1973 and two years later did her debut at the Met singing the same role. She received a Grammy for the wonderful recording of Gershwin's Porgy and Bess. A very beautiful voice to enjoy. Send me an email to canariasesmusica@gmail.com if you want to listen to and I will send the link as soon as possible.