Initial message to our readers, scroll down for editorials!

LS

Thank you for visiting Operanostalgia. We hope that you will find items of interest and that you will come back often.

What is this site about?
Well, the name says it all. We will remember singers from the past but we will also note today’s operatic news and discuss future plans of interest.
Nostalgia items is what we mainly offer though ranging from reviews of cd’s, books, dvd’s, photos, singer profiles, discographies and much more dealing with legendary and not so legendary singers of yesteryear and yes, today as well.
We firmly believe that singing, especially great singing, is what opera is essentially about. There are billions of shellack-records, LP’s and CD’s around. There doesn’t exist even one operatic video or DVD with everything in place except the singing.
That proves which aspect of opera is preponderant though this doesn’t mean we are nostalgic for the times of stand and deliver (if these times ever existed, because many visual documents now prove the contrary).
We firmly believe there’s still a place for this kind of material on the worldwideweb.

Operanostalgia will try to offer information not available elsewhere.
A good start to illustrate what our site is about is to have a look at the cd reviews and the book reviews. As far as we know operanostalgia offers a first in several cases.

Don’t hesitate to contact us with requests, helpful comments or constructive criticisms. All these are welcomed.

PS 1
Artists shown on the home page are from left to right:
Maria Callas - Mario Lanza - Joseph Schmidt - Mario Del Monaco -Renata Tebaldi - Paul Robeson - Cesar Vezzani.

PS 2

This site is a non-professional site and for educational purposes only and thus we pay for maintenance ourselves which also means limited webspace. Therefore some things have to go with every new issue.

Rudi Van den Bulck, Editor
Jan Neckers, Assistant editor
Leslie Mickelson, Contributor
Charles Mintzer, Consultant

SUMMER 2010 (issue constantly updated)

NOTE from now it has been decided to add new additions directly on the homepage.

THOSE WHO LEFT US :

2008 :

John CARGHER (radio b'caster, author, 1919-2008)

Francis YEEND (28 January 1913 - 27 April 2008)

Gianni RAIMONDI (Italian tenor Bologna 17 April 1923 - Pianoro 19 Oct. 2008)

2009 :

Nicola FILACURIDI (Greek tenor Alexandria 1920 - 2009)

Vivianne DELLA CHIESA (American soprano 9 Oct. 1915 - Huntington 6 Jan. 2009)

Robert ILOSFALVY (Hungarian tenor 18 June 1927 - 6 Jan. 2009)

Deborah RIEDEL (Australian soprano, 31 July 1958 - 8 January 2009)

Hermann WINKLER (German tenor 3 March 1923 - January 2009)

Hermann BECHT (German baritone, 19 March 1939 - 12 Feb. 2009)

Ezio FLAGELLO (American bass, NYC 28 Jan. 1931 - Florida 19 March 2009)

Aldo BOTTION (Italian tenor)

William DIARD (American tenor, died 8 March 2009)

Betty ALLEN (American mezzo, Campbell 17 March 1930 - Valhalla NY 22 June 2009)

Jeanette VAN DIJCK (Dutch soprano, Utrecht 29 January 1925 - Baarn 3 May 2009)

Heather BEGG (mezzo, New Zealand, 1 Dec. 1932 - 12 May 2009)

Arjan BLANKEN (Dutch tenor, Den Haag 25 July 1934 - 27 June 2009)

Christian JEAN (French tenor 14 Sep. 1948 - 29 June 2009)

Annagul ANNAKULYEVA (Soprano, Turkemistan, died 18 July 2009)

Huberte VECRAY (Belgian soprano 16 Sept.1923 -Membach 3 July 2009)

Helmut BERGER-TUNA (Austrian basso)

Ira MALANIUK (Ukranian mezzo 29 Jan. 1923 - Graz 27 Feb. 2009)

Hildegarde BEHRENS (German soprano, Varel 8 Feb. 1937 - Tokyo 18 Aug. 2009)

Bruno SEBASTIAN (Italian tenor Povoletto 19 - Undine September 2009)

Erika MECHERA (Austrian soprano, Wien 31 Oct. 1931 - Wien 2 Oct. 2009)

Helen WATTS (British mezzo Wales 9 Dec. 1927 - Pembrokeshire 7 Oct. 2009)

Erik SAEDEN (Swedish baritone, 1924 - 3 November 2009)

Margreta ELKINS (Australian mezzo, Brisbane 16 Oct. 1930 - 1st April 2009)

Anneke VAN DER GRAAF (Dutch soprano 1920 - 2009)

Gene FERGUSON (American tenor, 4 June 1930 - 3 June 2009)

Sandra WARFIELD (American mezzo, Kansas City 8 June 1921 - NY 29 June 2009)

David HILLMAN (British tenor, 21 Nov. 1934 - 8 Aug. 2009)

Alfredo MARIOTTI (Italian bass, 1932- 23 August 2009)

Alfredo COLOSIMO (Brazilian tenor, Rio 30 Sep. 1923 - Rio 27 Aug. 2009)

Alfred WERNER (Viennese baritone 1949 - 31 August 2009)

Paulette MERVAL (French soprano 3 Nov.1920 - 21 June 2009)

Maria MURANO (French mezzo , 14 July 1918 - Limoges 10 Jan. 2009)

Ian WALLACE (British bass-baritone London 10 July 1919 - London 12 Oct. 2009)

Herbert FLIETHER (German bass baritone Velbert 29 Oct. 1911 - Hamburg 3 Sept. 2009)

Barry SEROTA (Legendary Cantorial music collector/producer from Chicago , 16 Nov.2009)

Jacques STROUK (legendary French 78 rpm collector, Oran 1913 - Agen 18 Sept.2009)

Pamela RUSSELL (former editor of the Record Collector, died 9 Sept. 2009)

Norman PELLEGRINI (radio b'caster, author, 1929-2009)

Anny DELORIE (Dutch mezzo, 17 January 1925 - 19 November 2009)

Elisabeth SODERSTROM (Swedish soprano, 27 May 1927 - 20 November 2009)

Volker HORN (German tenor, Klagenfurt 1943 - Berlin 20 November 2009)

Gyorgy MELIS (Hungarian baritone, Szarvas 1923 - 27 November 2009)

Vjekoslav SUTEJ (Croatian conductor, Rijeka 31 July 1951 - Zagreb 2 Deccember 2009)

Mary CURTIS-VERNA (American soprano, Salem 9 May 1921 - 4 December 2009)

Walter RAFFEINER (Austrian tenor, Karinthien 8 April 1947 - Frankfurt 25 December 2009)

Isaac SCHWARTZ (Russian composer, 13 May 1923 - 27 December 2009)

Juan ONCINA (Spanish tenor, Barcelona 15 April 1921 - Barcelona 29 December 2009)

Ude KREKOW (German bass, aged 69)

2010

Alexandru IONITZA (Rumanian tenor 1949(?) - 2 January 2010)

Lila DEIS (American soprano, 7 january 2010)

John DICKIE (British tenor London 5 September 1953 - Vienna 7 January 2010)

Otmar SUITNER (Austrian conductor/pianist, Innsbruck 16 May 1922 - Berlin 8 January 2010)

Wladimiro GANZAROLLI (Italian bass, 9 January 1932 - 14 January 2010)

George JELLINEK (Radio b'caster, Budapest 1919 - NY 16 January 2010)

Andrej KUCHARSKY (Czech tenor 6 January 1932 - 17 January 2010)

Camille MAURANNE (French baritone 29 January 1911 - 21 January 2010)

Alfons HERWIG (German baritone, 1 February 1919 - January 2010)

Irina ARKHIPOVA (Russian mezzo, Moscow 2 January 1925 - 11 February 2010)

John REED (British character baritone, Close House 13 February 1916 - Halifax 13 February 2010)

Michel GLOTZ (French record producer, 1931 - 16 February 2010)

Kathryn GRAYSON (American movie soprano, 9 February 1922 - 16 February 2010)

Karola AGAY (Hungarian soprano, 19 November 1936 - 22 February 2010)

Wyn MORRIS (Welsh conductor, 4 February 1929 - 23 February 2010)

Bernard COUTAZ (record producer and founder of Harmonia Mundi 1922 - 28 Feb. 2010)

Philip LANGRIDGE (British tenor, Hawkhurst 16 December 1939 - London 5 March 2010)

Blanche THEBOM (American mezzo, 19 September 1918 - 23 March 2010)

Carlos PIANTINI (conductor 5 May 1927 - 26 March 2010)

Eva ILLES (Hungarian soprano 1929 - Vienna April 2010)

Morag BEATON (Scottish soprano, 2 July 1926 - Sydney 1 April 2010)

Kenneth McKELLAR (Scottish tenor, Paisley 23 June 1927 - Lake Tahoe, California 9 April 2010)

William WALKER (American baritone, Waco 29 October 1931 - Forth Worth 10 April 2010)

Thomas G. KAUFMAN (opera chronologer and author, Vienna 6 July 1930 - Baltimore 22 April 2010)

Willy CARON (Dutch tenor, Venlo 15 June 1934 - The Hague 26 April 2010)

Franz BAUER-THEUSSL (Austrian conductor 25 September 1928 - Salzburg 30 April 2010)

Raimund GRUMBACH (German baritone Eibelstadt 1934 - Munich 5 May 2010)

Giulietta SIMIONATO (Italian mezzo, Forli 12 May 1910 - Rome 5 May 2010)

Benno KUSCHE (German basso, Freiburg 30 January 1916 - 14 May 2010)

Rudolf MAZZOLA (Swiss basso, Basel 22 April 1941 - Vienna 18 May 2010)

Anneliese ROTHENBERGER (German soprano Mannheim 19 June 1921 - Munsterlingen 24 May 2010)

Giuseppe TADDEI (Italian baritone, Genova 26 June 1916 - Rome 2 June 2010)

Evgenij RAIKOV (Russian tenor 25 March 1937 - June 2010)

Fuat MANSUROV (Russian/Kazakh conductor 10 January 1928 - Moscow 11 June 2010)

Hanny STEFFEK (Austrian soprano, Bielitz 12 December 1927 - 11 June 2010)

Giacinto PRANDELLI (Italian tenor 1914 - Milan 14 June 2010)

Christine JOHNSON (American mezzo, Hopkinsville - 16 June 2010)

Maureen FORRESTER (Canadian contralto, Montreal 25 July 1930 - Toronto 16 June 2010)

Eva TRENKA (Hungarian soprano 1922 - 16 June 2010)

Ferenc SZILAGYI (Hungarian tenor 31 October 1925 - 18 June 2010)

Herta TALMAR (Austrian soprano, Salzburg 4 July 1920 - Salzburg 24 June 2010)

Peter-Christophe RUNGE (German baritone, Luebeck 12 April 1933 - Duesseldorf (?)25 June 2010)

Yon DE MURGUIA (Spanish tenor, Brussels 30 June 2010)

Cesare SIEPI (Italian bass, Milan 10 February 1923(?) - Atlanta 5 July 2010)

Eva JABLONKAY (Hungarian mezzo (1939 - 12 July 2010)

Charles MACKERRAS (Australian conductor Schenectady NY 1925 - London 15 July 2010)

Henk SMIT (Dutch bass-baritone, Surhuisterveen 25 May 1932 - Paris 17 July 2010)

Anthony ROLFE JOHNSON (British tenor, Tackley 5 November 1940 - London 21 July 2010)

Carla MARTINIS (Croation soprano, Danculovice 19 January 1922 - Vienna 9 August 2010)

Franco TAGLIAVINI (Italian tenor, Novellara 29 October 1934 - Novellara 15 August 2010)

Jurgen E. SCHMIDT (Record producer Preiser label, Berlin 1937 - Vienna 19 August 2010)

Robert BAXTER (Philadelphia based music critic, 25 August 2010)