Pearls of great Price Pearls of great Price

Anticipating Leontyne Price’s 96th birthday on February 10, Chris’s Cache presents the American diva in an epic collection of live performances.

The boys from Syracuse The boys from Syracuse

Trove Thursday begins February with two striking versions of Rossini’s Tancredi.

Leyla and the pirates Leyla and the pirates

Next month in Bergamo Plácido Domingo takes on his zillionth—and possibly final—new role, so Trove Thursday previews it by returning to the same venue 50 years earlier for Donizetti’s Belisario with Leyla Gencer and Renato Bruson, a real baritone as its titular hero.

“Savage” love “Savage” love

Trove Thursday offers a problematic yet fascinating work that would almost certainly not be staged today: Il Guarany by Carlos Gomes featuring João Gibin, Gianna d’Angelo, Piero Cappuccilli and Nicola Zaccaria.

Bel canto: Is it a bop? Bel canto: Is it a bop?

I need to get something off my chest. I love bel canto.

Prendete questo fiore Prendete questo fiore

A much-loved diva overdue for this site is Anna Moffo.

Normative Normative

La Cieca is sort of out of words trying to describe what makes a great performance of the role of Norma, as opposed to the conscientious traversal of the notes.

Leyla Gencer 1928 – 2008

“La Diva Turca” died this morning in Milan. In tribute to the art of Leyla Gencer, here is the soprano in the final scenes of Bellini’s Norma at La Scala on January 13, 1965. She is joined in this performance by Bruno Prevedi (Pollione) and Nicola Zaccaria (Oroveso); Gianandrea Gavazzeni is the conductor. UPDATE: The…