Placido Domingo has been named the winner of the first $1 million Birgit Nilsson Prize for achievements in classical music. [via AP]

By on February 20, 2009 at 8:12 AM
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A foundation created by the late soprano Birgit Nilsson will award a prize of one million dollars this year to an “outstanding achievement of a concert or opera singer, a classical or opera conductor, or a specific production by an opera company.” The first award winner was chosen by Ms. Nilsson herself and the foundation…

By on December 07, 2008 at 4:31 PM
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Those muckraking scamps over at Opera News are at it again, quoting a in their June issue a particularly inflammatory passage from the mad gay diaries of mad gay Cecil Beaton. Dear Cecil, you will recall, designed the Met’s celebrated 1961 production of Turandot that starred Birgit Nilsson. It seems that mere critical and popular…

By on June 20, 2008 at 10:26 PM
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Obviously the snippet of Birgit Nilsson‘s singing in the Curse Quiz does not represent the great dramatic soprano at her considerable best, since it’s taken from a post-retirement gala performance. Here’s Nilsson’s Isolde at her peak in one of La Cieca’s very favorite YouTube clips, from a 1967 telecast. (It’s been posted here before, but…

By on May 06, 2008 at 11:52 PM
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