In 1984, I was working at the Ambassador International Cultural Foundation in Pasadena as an assistant to the head of public relations, Sam Lurie. He was getting on in years and was, at turns, brilliant, charming, and witty, or grumpy and imperious. For some odd reason, he took a liking to me, and we got along famously. We worked closely with the Los Angeles area music press. Sometimes, my boss would fall asleep while dictating a press release to me, nap for a while, then awaken and finish the sentence he was dictating without missing one word.

The Ambassador International Cultural Foundation was headed up by the late great Wayne Shilkret, who had worked in the New York office of Sol Hurok.
In those days, Elly Ameling performed every year in Pasadena as part of the Stars of Opera series. The Stars of Opera series featured Jessye Norman, Montserrat Caballe, Renata Scotto, Jose Carreras, and Kathleen Battle. Ambassador also sponsored several other classical arts series including Great Orchestras of the World, where Riccardo Muti appeared (he required a hair and makeup artist), and Great Classical Artists, which annually starred a number of major stars, including the guitarist Christopher Parkening, my big unrequited crush at the time, who was straight, married, not at all flirty, and sometimes forgot my name. Why wouldn’t we have a future?

Back to Madame Ameling. I had heard the renowned Dutch soprano on recordings and was an admirer of hers. I was unprepared, however, for such a truly memorable evening.

Daniel Cariaga for The Los Angeles Times, captured the essence of her performance:

“She remains the model recitalist, a witty and pointed storyteller in song, the maker of instant dramas. Every moment rang true. The communication between stage and auditorium never faltered. Sincerity and directness informed every musical and vocal gesture.”

When I saw the subject for Parterre Box was “Favorite Art Song performance,” there was no question that Ameling would be my choice. In her honor, I have selected her deeply communicative, for me incandescent, performance of Brahms’ “Feldeinsamkeit.” Here is a later performance I found on YouTube. Her accompanist is the redoubtable Rudolf Jansen, who was her accompanist at the Ambassador concert as well:

Thanks for letting me go down memory lane with this theme. Cheers! TildyDiva.