wilhelmenia fernandez

i watched the movie 'diva,' last night -- for the first time in decades -- it became an instant cult-classic, when it came out, in '81, '82

the movie brought wilhelmenia wiggins fernandez to the attention of the world, with her great rendition of 'ebben? ne andro lontana' -- at the start of the movie

here are two more great performances

a very slow take...on 'patria mia' -- in luxor

a 'vissi d'arte'...that just floors you

she was musetta, in a 'boheme' with kiri te kanawa and placido domingo

he conducts the audience

last night (wednesday), i saw, on the silver screen, 'nabucco,' from la scala -- this has sent me on a...'va, pensiero'...trek

somebody on one of the youtube pages...recommended a muti-led rendition

here's the first one that turned up, with muti...conducting the audience

next, i saw...a little-longer version, with muti...introducing the singing, then...with the full applause, afterwards

finally, i saw a much-longer version...of the whole thing -- it's the encore...that gets muti speaking,...to the audience...and introducing the encore

the scala 'nabucco'...was fantastic, with leo nucci...in the lead -- what can you say about him -- all the principals...were resplendant, especially liudmyla monastyrska, as abigail -- what a powerful instrument she possesses

a year ago, she blew me away, from the first time she opened her mouth, as aida, from the met

i've yet to find a 'pensiero'...from the scala production

surrounded by aidas

aida in the mornin',

aida in the evenin',

aida at suppertime....

i just learned that they're doing 'aida' in detroit, this month

in the summer, they're doing it in cincinnati

in the fall, in pittsburgh

and, back in the bullseye, we've got the elton john/tim rice version, at the end of the month

the amazing hui he