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Sunday Morning Opera: Renée Fleming

February 24, 2019February 23, 2019 OPERA, Renée Fleming

Sunday Morning Opera: Black History Month, Part II

February 17, 2019February 16, 2019 CULTURE, Music, OPERA

Sorry, I can’t help it. I LOVE this music! Where possible, I have used Porgy & Bess. Next week will feature some of the

Sunday Morning Opera: Black History Month – Part I

February 10, 2019February 3, 2019 Bigotry, Cultural Illiteracy, CULTURE, Historial Ignorance, Music, OPERA, Racism

Once upon a time there was an episode of Bonanza about the good people of Virginia City engaging the top opera singer of the

Sunday Morning Opera: Gerald Finley

February 3, 2019February 2, 2019 Art, Barihunks, Baritones, CULTURE, MAIN PAGE, Met, Music, Opera, OPERA

Sunday Morning Opera: A Maltese Birthday

January 27, 2019January 26, 2019 CULTURE, Joseph Calleja, Met, Music, Opera, OPERA, Placido Domingo

The past week included dueling tenor birthdays. Let’s face it, as beautiful as the Maltese Tenor is, Placi is venerable.

Sunday Morning Opera: Happy Birthday Placido Domingo

January 20, 2019January 19, 2019 Baritones, CULTURE, MAIN PAGE, Met, Music, Opera, OPERA, Placido Domingo, Sherrill Milnes

In the world of opera, it is rather interesting that the most dynamic tenor-baritone duo in history celebrates birthdays about a week apart. Last

Sunday Morning Opera: Tosca

January 13, 2019January 12, 2019 Baritones, CULTURE, Opera, OPERA, Placido Domingo, Sherrill Milnes

Tosca is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It premiered at the

Happy Birthday Sherrill Milnes

January 10, 2019January 5, 2019 Baritones, Beverly Sills, CULTURE, Met, Music, Opera, OPERA, Sherrill Milnes

A birthday recital from the greatest voice this nation has ever produced, and the greatest baritone in the history of opera.

Sunday Morning Opera: Happy Birthday to the Greatest of Them All!

January 6, 2019January 5, 2019 Baritones, CULTURE, Music, OPERA, Sherrill Milnes

Sherrill Milnes has a birthday on Wednesday. I will be honoring him, all day, on Twitter, every hour on the hour for the entire

Sunday Morning Opera:Aida

December 30, 2018December 29, 2018 CULTURE, Leontyne Price, Met, Music, Opera, OPERA

Verdi’s masterpiece, Aida, premiered on December 24, 1871, at the Khedivial Opera House in Cairo. Let’s be honest. There is only one clip that

Sunday Morning Opera: Oh Holy Night

December 23, 2018December 22, 2018 Baritones, Bryn Terfel, CULTURE, Jonathan Estabrooks, Leontyne Price, Luciano Pavarotti, Music, Opera, OPERA, Placido Domingo, Thomas Hampson

I loath Christmas music that is sung poorly and six weeks before Christmas. Today is acceptable. It is December 23. And… We

Sunday Morning Opera: Giacomo Puccini

December 16, 2018December 15, 2018 CULTURE, Leontyne Price, Music, Opera, OPERA

Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini was born on 22 December 1858. It’s a good excuse for a little baritone festival – or…

Sunday Morning Opera: José Carreras

December 9, 2018December 8, 2018 CULTURE, Luciano Pavarotti, Met, Music, Opera, OPERA, Placido Domingo

José Carreras, survivor, turned seventy-two on December 5. Having lost a cousin and several friends to the cancer which hit him, this is something

Sunday Morning Opera: A Recital for My Birthday

December 2, 2018November 30, 2018 Baritones, Beverly Sills, CULTURE, Luciano Pavarotti, Met, Music, Opera, OPERA, PERSONAL, Placido Domingo, Sherrill Milnes, Thomas Hampson

Today is my birthday. I’ve decided to have a recital of my favorites. One of the fun things about opera is the possibility of

Sunday Morning Opera: A Smackdown

November 25, 2018November 24, 2018 Beverly Sills, CULTURE, Music, Opera, OPERA

Sunday Morning Opera: Remember

November 18, 2018November 17, 2018 Barihunks, Baritones, CULTURE, Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Met, Music, Opera, OPERA

It will be a year on Thanksgiving day. We remember it for the loss of three critically important people. John F. Kennedy C. S.

Sunday Morning Opera: The War to End All Wars

November 11, 2018November 9, 2018 20th Century US, Classic Hollywood, CULTURE, HISTORY, Music, OPERA, Simon Keenlyside

Simon Keenlyside recorded an album of song, dedicated to those who fought in World War I.

Sunday Morning Opera – Sir Bryn Terfel

November 4, 2018November 3, 2018 Barihunks, Baritones, Bryn Terfel, CULTURE, Music, OPERA

Sir Bryn Terfel Jones, golfer, turns fifty-three on November 9.

Sunday Morning Opera: Don Giovanni

October 28, 2018October 27, 2018 Barihunks, Baritones, Bryn Terfel, CULTURE, Dmitri Hvorostovsky, MAIN PAGE, Met, Music, Opera, OPERA, Sherrill Milnes, Simon Keenlyside, Thomas Hampson

My obsessive love affair with opera began on the afternoon of May 6, 1978 when Sherrill Milnes walked onto the stage in Atlanta, where

Don’t Be a Janis

October 22, 2018October 21, 2018 Baritones, Beverly Sills, CRIME, CULTURE, Leontyne Price, Luciano Pavarotti, MAIN PAGE, Met, Music, Opera, OPERA, Placido Domingo, Richard Tucker, Robert Merrill, Sherrill Milnes

I think I angered someone on Facebook when I did not react as I should to a photo of an obviously stoned Janis Joplin.

Sunday Morning Opera: A Richard Tucker Gala

October 21, 2018October 20, 2018 Baritones, CULTURE, Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Jamie Barton, Leontyne Price, Music, Opera, OPERA, Richard Tucker, Sherrill Milnes

Today is the annual Richard Tucker Gala. In honor of Richard Tucker, well..

Funny How the World Is

October 19, 2018October 18, 2018 Atlanta Braves, Barihunks, BASEBALL, Boston Red Sox, CULTURE, Dmitri Hvorostovsky, HISTORY, History of the Game, Met, MLB Hall of Fame, Opera, OPERA, PERSONAL, Ted Williams

I was going to bombast about something, but then I realized I just didn’t want to be that way as I write this, in

Live, the Universe, and Heartbreak

October 17, 2018October 16, 2018 CULTURE, Dmitri Hvorostovsky, FAITH, Music

I hate this time of the year. I dread days that are dank, overcast, rainy, blustery, with dying leaves. I don’t like the first

Sunday Morning Opera: Pavarotti

October 14, 2018October 13, 2018 CULTURE, Luciano Pavarotti, Met, Music, Opera, OPERA

The Great Luciano would have been 83 on October 12. We have another operatic birthday on October 16. I can’t do it. Just thinking

Sunday Morning Opera: Montserrat Caballé

October 7, 2018October 6, 2018 CULTURE, Met, Music, Opera, OPERA

We’ve lost another of the all-time greats. Montserrat Caballé, 12 April 1933 – 6 October 2018, has died in her beloved Barcelona. Her bel

Sunday Morning Opera: 50 Years of Placi at the Met!

September 30, 2018September 29, 2018 CULTURE, Met, Music, Opera, OPERA, Placido Domingo, Sherrill Milnes

Funny thing, I think I’ve seen Placido Domingo at the Met, more than any other tenor. I do think he is one of the

Sunday Morning Opera: It’s That Time of Year

September 23, 2018September 22, 2018 Barihunks, Baritones, CULTURE, Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Met, Music, Opera, OPERA

If you are an opera freak like I am, tomorrow is Christmas, New Year’s Eve, Fourth of July, and a birthday all wrapped up

Sunday Morning Opera: Stormy Weather

September 16, 2018September 15, 2018 Baritones, Beverly Sills, CULTURE, Luciano Pavarotti, Met, Music, Opera, OPERA, Placido Domingo, Sherrill Milnes

My personal favorite:

Sunday Morning Opera: Shenandoah Smackdown

September 9, 2018September 8, 2018 Baritones, Bryn Terfel, CULTURE, MAIN PAGE, Met, Music, Opera, OPERA, Thomas Hampson

Sunday Morning Opera: Simon Keenlyside

September 2, 2018September 1, 2018 Baritones, Bryn Terfel, CULTURE, Music, OPERA, Simon Keenlyside

The only possible way to describe the voice of Simon Keenlyside, who has a birthday this week, is elegant. Nothing else works. I love