On this day in 1985 baritone Giuseppe Taddei made his belated Metropolitan Opera debut as Falstaff. Birthday anniversaries of composers Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683), Nicola Conforto (1718), Jesús Guridi (1886) and Roberto Gerhard (1896); poet and librettist Jaroslav Kvapil (1868); baritone Dennis Noble (1899); soprano Gerda Lammers (1915) and conductor Colin Davis (1927).
Happy 65th birthday sopranos Rita Cullis (65) and Adelina Scarabelli (64).
Dan Soda (Windy City Operaman) is a Chicago native whose first visit to opera was at age 17 and Massenet’s Werther with Troyanos and Kraus. Nothing was ever the same. Opera and concert performances, recordings and video are an obsession. He prepares Parterre Box’s daily birthday and anniversary tributes. He also enjoys concerts, live theater and movies.
Parterre Box concludes the thrilling first year of Talk of the Town by inviting your lightning rod opinions on several more categories of operatic argumentation.
