The San Francisco Opera season of 50 years ago was especially memorable. The long-awaited debut of Maria Callas was aborted when she did not show up for her dress rehearsals of Donizetti’s “Lucia di Lammermoor” and was fired by San Francisco Opera General Director Kurt Herbert Adler. Her scheduled performances in two roles were taken [...]
Entries Tagged as '50 Year Anniversaries'
Young Leontyne’s 1957 S. F. Opera Debut Season: A Supernova is Born
December 25th, 2007
Tags: 50 Year Anniversaries
Young Gencer’s Stunning “Lucia” at L. A. Shrine - November 10, 1957
May 24th, 2007
An important milestone in soprano Leyla Gencer’s distinguished career occurred at age 28, when in 1956 she debuted at the San Francisco Opera, substituting for Renata Tebaldi in the title role of Zandonai’s “Francesca da Rimini”, once a great verismo hit that even in the 1950s had become a rarity. She was invited back in [...]
Tags: 50 Year Anniversaries
Callas Fired, An Opera Changed - S. F. Opera’s “Aida” at the Fox, November 7, 1957
May 16th, 2007
When purchasing a ticket for an opera, the opera company’s often includes the statement that “casts and operas are subject to change”. Over time, opera goers inevitably will experience cast changes, such as I did earlier this year at Houston’s “Faust” (see my review elsewhere on this website). But how often does an opera company [...]
Tags: 50 Year Anniversaries