domingo? they probably hadn’t worked together in decades although that wouldn’t have been an impediment.

i wonder if there was a singer today that could have been chosen to honor bumbry, that could have been said to have been influenced by her and followed in her footsteps. maybe urmana? somewhat a different singer, but she’s pretty much taken up the same fach. don’t know if voigt or renee could have been a more appropriate choice.

overall, i think angie was a pretty good choice.

I started writing some this year again. So thank you very much for the positive feedback.

Brewer while a great singer is certainly not known for her Italian rep and again I say 95% of the viewing audience would have been clueless as to who she was. Let me preface this next statement by saying that I love, love, love her ( I actually flew to Paris a few seasons back to catch her in FrOSch after flying to Chicago to see her and Debbie perform in the opera) but she is not “camera ready”. Ratings people, its all about the ratings.

This could have been from Wembley. As far as I recall, Grace only sang Turandot in the Wembley performances, not in the house. But I may be wrong. I saw so many of those Turandots with every soprano under the sun. My only recollection of Grace in the role is at Wembley. Armerjacquino probably has a better memory of these things….

I am also along the lines of thinking that there may be some sort of personal connection with Angie and Grace. Lord knows that media-whore Renee wouldn’t have passed up an opportunity to be seen by her adoring public at such a high-brow event if her schedule allowed. Wasn’t Trebs in the audience. BTW it certainly was a star-studded affair. Everytime the camera panned the audience I was playing the “Oh my, that’s blah blah” game.

Why does she have to be honored by somebody black at all? It really burns me up whenever you mention one black singer and a person automatically compares them to another black singer. I am surprised that nobody has brought up Shirley Verrett yet. But hey I am so annoyed by most of these postings that I haven’t gotten to the bottom of this thread yet.

Someone mentioned earlier that she should be singing Tosca at the Met. Gelb should totally get on that. She would certainly be able to sell out any production they chose to present her in. Come on you know that you girls will be flying in from all points to hear it.

Again I say people there are no black opera singers today who have the stature and clout (or voice) to have sung a tribute to La Bumbry. Norman, Battle, Graves are all waaay past it. Angela Brown (nobody but us know her) and Lawrence Brownlee (ummmm hello he’s a guy and his rep has nothing to do with what she sang). The Kennedy Center did good by giving us a world famous black Escamilio in her tribute. That’s about it. Name me any other black opera singers they could have trotted out. Oh for the 70′s and 80′s when they had black folk singing all over the place.

On another note – yes, Michelle Obama has great arms for a middle-aged woman, but I am sooooo sick of seeing her rock the sleeveless look.

I think you are all missing the point. Grace (and the black singers of her generation) proved that art has no color. So why should we do some reverse racism thing and trot out a black opera singer. Though I would have preferred that La Norman was in place of Aretha. Come to think about it there aren’t that many black girls kicking out there these days. Ummm there is Angela Brown and nobody, but us opera queens knows who she is. Remember people its all about the ratings. Tosca was a signature role for Grace and it was only fitting that she be honored by the reigning Tosca of today. Remember I am talking p.r. points not whether Angela is or should be considered the reigning Tosca.

She should not have sung it, though, as the tongue is vibrating wildly. Yes, I know how that sounds, it’s meant sheerly as a technical observation.

She had the right hauteur for it, pity it was placed just a little too high for La Grace.

Well, indeed, she most certainly a great credit to her community and to country. I am proud to have started the bravos for her debut at the MET myself, singlehandedly, and with a big nasty SHUSHBird in front of me, who only made me redouble my bravos. It was such an excellently sung Ariadne, and she looked so overawed and grateful to be on the stage. I will never forget her debut, and I wished so much for her Brunnehilde which alas, will not be. The firmness and even quality of her voice reminded me so much of Traubel, that wondrous Isolde.

May the lady keep on singing as she is the REAL DEAL!

What Kashania says is just about right, i.e., seeing a glam dress with a slim lady, singing a nice “song” by Puccini.

This is America, not Europe.