Broadway star, opera diva, image consultant, self-help guru: the late Dorothy Sarnoff was all these and more. But did you know that (according to the New York Times) Ms. Sarnoff was also a pioneer in the field of gay-themed opera?

By on December 28, 2008 at 12:20 PM
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Legendary “Queen of Exotica” Yma Sumac has died at the age of 86. Among many credits in a career spanning more than half a century was a screen appearance as (obviously) a Peruvian priestess in the 1954 film Secret of the Incas.

By on November 02, 2008 at 6:35 PM
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Actress, singer and comedienne Edie Adams died on Wednesday at the age of 81. La Adams performed such operatic roles as Hanna Glawari and Despina in Cosi fan tutte regionally, and she created leading roles on Broadway in Wonderful Town and L’il Abner. She is particularly remembered for her personal and professional partnership with TV…

By on October 17, 2008 at 1:51 PM
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Legendary Metropolitan Opera wig mistress Nina Lawson died last week at the age of 82. Above, a sample of Ms. Lawson’s coiffure for Joan Sutherland‘s first Met Norma at the peak of the Big Diva Hair era, circa 1970. [via NYT]

By on September 17, 2008 at 1:23 PM
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Members of the cher public indigenous to the District of Columbia and its environs will welcome Anne Midgette as music critic for the Washington Post, as leaked this morning on Ionarts.  In fact, Midgett’s full-time appointment is good news on a national scale, given the media’s current scary cutbacks in arts coverage. The scribe’s current…

By on June 30, 2008 at 12:59 PM
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“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…

By on May 10, 2008 at 12:35 PM
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Director of the Met and ENO Madama Butterfly (and librettist of the Met’s Osvaldo Golijovcommission) is dead at 54. Further details are not available at this time.

By on March 18, 2008 at 10:08 AM
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With his usual impeccable taste, Ed Rosen has posted five selections of prime Giuseppe di Stefano on his Premiere Opera Podcast page. Investigative Operachic follows reactions in the Italian media. Opera News has republished a profile of the tenor from 2000 with some representative di Stefano anecdotes. And here di Stefano appears on Il Musichiere,…

By on March 03, 2008 at 10:29 PM
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Operachic reports, and further sources confirm, that tenor Giuseppe di Stefano died earlier today after an illness lasting several years. He was 87.

By on March 03, 2008 at 11:02 AM
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