Beverly Sills

[Mme. Hermine]

Anthony Tommasini has an appreciation of Sills in today's New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/04/arts/mus...m.html?ref=arts

Watching Ms. Sills schmoozing with her friends on television, hearing her sing comic duets with Ms. Burnett one moment and lyrical Donizetti arias the next, had a major impact on American culture. Millions of viewers who had assumed that opera was an elitist art form for bloated divas pretending to be lovesick adolescents experienced little epiphanies before their television sets. In her day, Ms. Sills was not just the best-known, best-loved and highest-paid opera singer in the business. She was the public face of opera, and the performing arts in general, throughout America.

[drb]

Met Opera Radio is honoring Ms. Sills with Thursday and Friday evening broadcasts:

Remembering Beverly Sills

Tuesday, Thursday, Friday

Beverly Sills, one of the great sopranos of the late twentieth century as well as one of the most prominent administrators and fundraisers in the history of opera in America, died Monday of cancer. She was 78. Metropolitan Opera Radio will mark her passing with two memorable Met performances. Hear Ms. Sills perform the role of Pamira in her 1975 broadcast debut of Rossini's L'Assedio di Corinto on Tuesday at 9:00 pm ET and Friday 8 pm ET. On Thursday at 9 pm ET, we will air her 1978 performance in the title role of Thais.

For technical details:

http://www.sirius.com/servlet/ContentServe...d=1158082416364

Please note that there is a free-online trial.

[dirac]

An appreciation by Tim Page in The Washington Post.

She was the telegenic "diva next door," a friendly redhead from Brooklyn whose friends called her Bubbles; she was an aggressive Manhattan snob who never let it be forgotten that she did hold grudges. She was the warmest and most brilliant American coloratura soprano of her time; she was a high-culture power broker and adept political infighter. Those who knew her slightly liked her enormously; those who knew her better were sometimes a little afraid of her.

Beverly Sills, who died of lung cancer yesterday at the age of 78, was a complicated person, and any attempt to sum up her life and work will necessarily turn into a string of contradictions.

[Farrell Fan]

Her importance to the performing arts is demonstrated by the full-page ad in the Arts section of today's New York Times, signed by all twelve constituents of Lincoln Center.

[Paul Parish]

"an adept political infighter"

She DID have to threaten to quit -- which is pretty tough love -- in order to get the role of Cleopatra at NYC Opera (in which she triumphed, and also made the case for Handel's operas, which hadn't been heard for decades. In fact her singing Cleopatra's aria "V'adoro, pupille," is STILL the oneId mention, to recommend Handel to someone who wondered if Handel's operas are any good -- we had a thread up here about that last year, in fact....)

Maybe those years singing on Major Bowes' show got her ready to make her way on fancier stages. Major Bowes was the guy with the proverbial hook (as in, "Get the hook!") It was as tough an audience as the Apollo's. You had to be good, and you had to know it.

[drb]

The current Playbill has a number of pieces on Ms. Sills, and also notes the passing of Regine Crespin at 80.

There is also a very positive piece on the state of Pavarotti's health:

http://www.playbillarts.com/news/article/6747.html

A viewing of telecasts of Ms. Sills at the Paley Center for Media:

...A long-lost 1962 WCBS television program featuring Douglas Moore (1893-1969), composer of the opera The Ballad of Baby Doe, and Sills, who played Baby Doe Tabor in the legendary 1958 New York City Opera production of the work.

Highlights include Sills's rendition of the "Willow Song" from Baby Doe and "When All is Still and Fair" from another Moore opera, Wings of the Dove... (1962; 45 minutes)

Screening from July 5 to July 15.

Tues/Wed/Fri/Sat/Sun at 3 p.m.; Thurs at 6 p.m.

...The much-heralded musical special, taped at New York's Metropolitan Opera House and featuring Sills and her good friend, comedienne Carol Burnett.... opens with a dialogue between Burnett and Sills, who then sing "Only an Octave Apart." Other highlights include Burnett and Sills in an audition sketch, Sills performing "O luce di quest'anima" from Donizetti's Linda di Chamounix, and the two women singing a medley of torch songs paired with arias that also express the blues ...(1976, 60 minutes)

Screening from July 17 to July 29.

Tues/Wed/Fri/Sat/Sun at 3 p.m.; Thurs at 6 p.m.

[At] Paley Center's New York branch (25 West 52nd Street in Manhattan, between 5th and 6th Avenues). The suggested donation is $10 ($8 for students and seniors, $5 for children under 14). Patrons of the Center's Los Angeles branch may view the programs at any time in the center's library.

For more details:

http://www.playbillarts.com/news/article/6741.html

Ms. Crespin:

http://www.playbillarts.com/news/article/6743.html

[carbro]

Ch. 13 New York will rebroadcast PBS' Great Performances special, "Beverly Sills: Made In America."

Great Performances presents this delightful musical scrapbook chronicling the career of Brooklyn-born opera superstar Beverly Sills. Introduced by Barbara Walters, the film tells the story of Beverly Sills' career in her own inimitable, effusively charming words, as excerpted from her many television appearances.

Encore airings:

• Saturday, July 07, 9:00pm
  
• Thursday, July 12, 12:30 am
  
• Saturday, July 14, 4:00 pm
  

Also, remembrances by Tony Huizenga and an emotional Carol Burnett are currently available from NPR. You can also find a tribute from Fresh Air, and links to many of her performances.

[artist]

I just watched a wonderfully delightful clip of 7 y.o. Sills singing. She is very cute; like Shirley Temple. Amazing what she could do at that age.

If this link is OK, here's where you can watch it: http://www.artsjournal.com

[Farrell Fan]

Thank you, artist. That was wonderful.

[dirac]

The PBS show is very good, well worth catching.

[artist]

Yes, dirac, it is. I caught the last 45 minutes and was blown away by her talent. The clip from (the opening?) of the Barber of Seville was incredible - my favorite. And I liked how she said that she never really thought of her farewells as the 'last' performance; she always gave it her all when she performed and truly embodied the roles regardless of singing on stage for the last time or not. She also shows such warmth and seems to be so down to earth. She doesn't show any diva attitudes at all; she's a prima donna without the prima donna temperament. It was also fun to watch her sing and dance with (forgive me, I forgot the name) from Broadway? ...And those hair styles!

[carbro]

It was also fun to watch her sing and dance with (forgive me, I forgot the name) from Broadway?

Danny Kaye.

[SanderO]

WBAI's Through the Opera Glass did and amazing three hour presentation of Ms Sills work last Sunday AM. It is well worth a listen. She was truly an amazing artist. You can hear it on the WBAI's archieves.

[bart]

Opera News (October issue) has an article on Sills the singer, by Ira Siff. (Siff, cohost of the Met broadcasts, is a diva of sorts on his own, as those who have heard him perform as Vera Galupe-Borszkh with Gran Scena Opera will know.)

This article is not available online to subscribers, but if you can get a copy, you'll find an intelligent and wel-balanced view of Sills's voice and vocal artistry, placed in the context of her personality and intelligence, on and off stage.

So vast are the accomplishments of Beverly Sills, so seemingly countless the boards on which she has served, charities for which she has worked, so important are the cultural offices she has occupied, so ubiquitous is her presence as a televised culture hostess, that it all threatens to bury her greatest accomplishment, and the one that brought her all the others -- her singing.

Siff focuses on the three Donizetti queens: Elizabeth (in Roberto Devereux) and in the title roles of Maria Stuarda, and Anna Bolena.

If you're a Sills lover, but not a subscriber to Opera News, the article -- and the wonderful photos -- are worth a trip to the library. It's part of the 6th Annual "Diva" Issuse.

[Helene]

Thank you so much, bart! My Opera News just came in the mail today, and I'm going to read it now.