Niel Rishoi

Niel Rishoi fell in love with the high soprano voice when he was 6 years old with Marni Nixon when he heard her sing on a Disneyland record of Hansel and Gretel, the story with the music of Engelbert Humperdinck. Julie Andrews, Jeanette MacDonald, Kathryn Grayson, and Beverly Sills led him to Edita Gruberova in 1983. In 1996 his book on Gruberova was published in German, with subsequent Japanese and Slovak translations following. In between writing reviews, recording booklet notes, and programs, he trains as a bodybuilder, a decades-long passion. A true vocal aficionado, his other favorite artists are Cesare Siepi, Perry Como, Renata Tebaldi, Fiorenza Cossotto, Piero Cappuccilli, and, yes, Doris Day. Niel resides in Metro Detroit with his spouse Ron and their crazy menagerie of dogs and cats.