Desde siempre había pensado que me gustaba la pasta muy hecha, no al estilo al dente, pero reconozco que gracias a las indicaciones del amigo Ralphie estoy empezando a disfutarla mucho más.

En primer lugar podeis elegir la pasta que más os guste: a mí me gustan todas, incluyendo las diversas variedades italianas y, últimamente, las chinas que encuentro.

Independientemente del tipo de pasta, toda la que implique cocción debe incorporarse al agua siempre cuando ésta ya hierve con ganas. No racaneeis en agua para hervir. Lo suyo es una olla profunda para que no rebose en la cocción, pero eso ya depende de las posibilidades de la vajilla de cada uno.

Hay quien le echa un chorro de aceite: puede hacerla más pesada. Hay quien sólo le echa una pizca de sal. Luego están los de la hojita de laurel. En mi caso soy de la pastillita de caldo (no diré marcas), porque potencia el sabor y le da el punto justo de sal que me gusta.

El tiempo de cocción es crucial. Como os decía, yo pensaba que me gustaba muy hecha, por lo que la cocía dos o tres veces lo recomendado por el fabricante. Es un grave error, porque la pasta se hincha de agua y luego no absorbe la salsa. Ahora pongo justo lo que dice el paquete, aunque a veces, dependiendo del tipo de pasta, puedo añadir uno o dos minutos.

Una vez cocida la pasta no recomiendo pasarla por agua fría. El toque de Ralphie consiste en escurrirla levemente mientras derretimos un taquito de mantequilla en la misma olla donde se ha cocido, añadimos la pasta escurrida y la salsa con la que querais acompañarla, moviéndolo todo con fuego generoso durante 45 segundos. Después sólo falta servirla y disfrutarla.

Para terminar, creo que sería un bello homenaje y un fructífero ejercicio recorrer la serie completa de Los Soprano recopilando los intensos instantes gastronómicos que tanto abundan en ella. A mí, como se suele decir, se me hace la boca agua a cada momento.

For some reason, I have an audition for our state choir this Tuesday.  As in, tomorrow.

My aunt has been on at me for a while to audition.  Her rationale is, as I've played the flute for so long (and to a decent level), that I must be able to sing.  I wouldn't necessarily agree; but I've had singing lessons in the past, and I loved being in the school choir, so hell, I may as well give it a go.

I had a little practice at my aunt's house last night, where she gave me several useful pointers.  I thought I'd better get them down before my addle-pated brain forgot them.

• Open your mouth properly - think 'hot potatoes' - this enables the soft palate to rise and produce a clear sound on the high notes (I'm a soprano);
• Use your diaphragm - get your minds out of the gutter, people!! It's the muscle located below your lungs which helps control your breathing.
• Project!! I tend to have a little voice unless I deliberately sing to the back of the room.
• Use Cyberbass to learn your part in a choral work.  This is a fantastic resource which is free.
• Remember the dynamic markings.

I'm sure there were more, but yeah, my recall isn't the best.

My aunt also gave me the name of a singing coach who she goes to.  The coach lives reasonably close to me so I'll have to make sure to get in touch and arrange some lessons.  That is, if I get into the choir.  If I don't, well, it's less of a priority.

So the audition is at 6pm tomorrow night.  I'll be singing an excerpt from Brahms' German Requiem, and a little ditty Caro mio ben.  Wish me luck!

The role of the Queen of the Night, which is sing by a dramatic coloratura soprano is famous for its difficulty. A particularly demanding aria is the Queen of the Night's "Der Hölle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen" ("The vengeance of hell boils in my heart"), which reaches a high F. Whether they can sing it or not, everyone takes a crack at this aria:

Florence Foster Jenkins was a wealthy socialite and benefactor of the arts in the first half of the 20th century. She recorded her renditions of classical vocal works to give as gifts to friends. Here she sings Mozart's aria "Queen of the Night".

Parrots like to repeat what they hear people around them saying. I wonder who this parrot's owner is.

Now I don't know why someone would make a child learn this aria, but listen to this boy soprano. He is very accurate with the pitches and without the dramatic intent, he performs this aria very well in recital format.

Now for the real deal. Diana Damrau is the best I have seen (I haven't seen everyone one, so don't be offended if you like someone more.) She is scary as hell and sings the crap out of this aria. Not to mention that she looks fierce.

Check out YouTube for more Queen of the Nigh clips. See a production of The Magic Flute, because it's awesome!

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Misunderstood lyrics--like the famous Jimmy Hendrix line in the title--have been around as long our canine friend, Nipper has been an RCA logo and for as long as he's been trying to figure out the "ghost in the machine" that is the Victrola.

So, "mondegreens", as they've been aptly named, are nothing new. Blog posts about them sure as hell aren't either. There are about a million blogs dedicated to hilarious misinterpretations of lyrics to popular songs.

I perused several of these venerable blogs one night and found quite a few lyrics that I've been misunderstanding most of my life--ever since learning how to adjust the volume on my turquoise transistor radio. Most made me laugh; most were what I believed to be legit lyrics. I looked for a few of my very own, but couldn't find any of the ones my friends and I misunder-heard as kids. And believe me, there were more than a few.

I'll share some with you now.

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EXAMPLE ONE:

This is from 1972. Nixon was President; Vietnam was still a conflict and my sister, Karol and I spent most of that summer in Europe. We couldn't understand what was being said on any of the TV's we watched--regardless of the countries we visited. And by the way, German TV is extremely strange. It's as if Bergman is directing every show. At least, that's the way it used to be.

Anyway, radio was all we had--especially those stations that played English speaking Top 40. This group got a lot of airplay that summer. I'm talking, of course, about Cornelius Brothers and Sister Rose.

The song?

"Too Late To Turn Back Now".

Listen to it.

Kicky, kinda fun, cheery, groovy, far out; very Greg Brady and very early 70's. Hear now as one of the Brothers Cornelius warbles these particular lyrics at the song's 2:15 mark.

He sings what I've always heard to be--"I wouldn't mind duh, eef ah nuped da really love me doo."

Listen for yourself.

Did you hear that mayonnaise mouth attempt to enunciate? Hilarious. It's supposed to be "I wouldn't mind it, if I knew she really loved me too".

Maybe, but we know better. I know what I ve always heard and frankly, I wouldn't mind duh, eef ah nuped da lyrics really wuh day wah".

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EXAMPLE TWO:

As most of you know, I was born and raised in a small town not far from San Antonio. That meant we listened to San Antonio radio stations. KONO....KTSA...both AM stations were GIANTS in their industry for the time. Now keep in mind, this was the mid-to-late 60's to early 70's when AM radio was king. That meant reception was also AM quality and all that that implies. It was staticky at best most of the time and never, ever crystal clear. Those two components lent themselves to frequently misunderstood lyrics, misunderstood adverts; misunderstood everything, really.

I remember my sainted mother becoming incensed after hearing a grocery store commercial once. The add was for bottles of salsa and she was convinced...CONVINCED through the glory of AM distortion, that she heard the store was advertising two-for-one bottles of spicy or mild asshole.

As if there are any other kinds.

But I digress....

This next offering was and continues to be a fave. It's lyrics have been misunderstood for decades. It's the Rascals', "Groovin'".

Listen closely at 1:56

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Did you hear, "Life would be ecstasy; you and me endlessly???

OR....

Did you hear, "That would be ecstasy, you and me and Leslie".

Who in the hell is Leslie?

Ménage à....huh?

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EXAMPLE THREE:

Remember "Build Me Up, Buttercup" by The Foundations?

This particular "mondegreen" is right at 1:00.

That's where I continue to hear the lead singer belting out an homage to biology. I hear him singing...

(Hey, hey, hey!) Baby, baby, try to buy
(Hey, hey, hey!) A little dime, and I'll make you happy
(Hey, hey, hey!) Ribsomones
I'll be some ribosomes ditty for you
Ooo-ooh-

.....and so forth.

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Here are the correct lyrics:

(Hey, hey, hey!) Baby, baby, try to find
(Hey, hey, hey!) A little time and I'll make you happy
(Hey, hey, hey!) I'll be home
I'll be beside the phone waiting for you
Ooo-ooh...

....and so forth.

I know the lyrics are intelligible on "the You Tube", but trust me, when we heard them as youngsters over an AM radio, broadcast in mono over one very well-worn and mechanically unrefined car speaker, I assure you, we heard The Foundations singing about minute, round particles composed of RNA and protein that are found in the cytoplasm of living cells and serve as the site of assembly for polypeptides encoded by messenger, RNA.

Ah yes...good times.

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EXAMPLE FOUR:

This next one isn't really a misunderstood lyric as much as it is a major production gaff. I guess you could even call it something that slipped through the cracks of the studio's quality control. And what's so weird is that this mistake is so blatant; so obvious, but very people have noticed it and the song is almost 50 years old.

It's J. Frank Wilson and The Cavaliers' famous, "Last Kiss"--a song which laments teen mortality as it relates to auto/train accidents.

Now, I want you to take note of the soprano singing background for J. Frank and the lads. Listen to what she does at 1:57.

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Did you hear that painful vocal train off? I swear it sounds like someone goosed her.

Now, I ask you--how and why was this NOT caught in initial production? It wasn't even caught in post production. Shoddy. As I stated, I never noticed it until Karol pointed it out to me a few years ago. Now it's ruined for me. So, I thought I'd spoil it for you, too. Sharing is fun. Now the whole damn lot us won't be able to hear the damn song without anticipating the sound of the soprano being rectally probed.

Or something..

And is it just me or did anyone else find the still frames of Israeli EMT's unloading obvious terrorist attack victims from an ambulance a bit unnerving AND a smidge incongruous?????

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BONUS...BONUS...BONUS....

The lovely and talented Martha Martinez sent me this the other day and I loved it. This almost "literal" interpretation of what Joe Cocker is singing is the perfect ending for this post. We've all wondered what he was lyrically spewing forth from that British fish and finger pie hole of his. Now, we know.

Finally.

The song is, "A little Help From My Friends", from his riveting performance at Woodstock.

Enjoy the music and Joe's sweet, sweaty spasticity!!

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I just wish someone would do the same for Van Morrison

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No llegamos a darnos cuenta de la gran importancia que tiene la música en una Boda.

Desde la Música para la Ceremonia hasta el Dj de la Barra libre. Este va a ser un recuerdo sonoro que perdurara para toda la vida.

La canción de entrada en la Iglesia, la de salida, el Vals de los Novios, las canciones de moda que bailaremos junto a nuestros invitados a la boda. Son momentos todos muy íntimos, familiares y que estoy segura recordareis de una manera muy especial

MÚSICA PARA CEREMONIA

Teneis una gran variedad dependerá de vuestros propios gustos.

Trio o cuarteto de cuerda, Conjunto de Cámara, Soprano, Pianista, Coro Rociero, cualquiera de ellos son ideales para el día de vuestra Boda.

Un consejo, teneis que tener en cuenta a la hora de contratar la música para boda en primer lugar y si vuestra Cereminia es religiosa que el cura o la Iglesia donde os vayais a casar os permita la Música. En caso que sí, debereis tener en cuenta el tiempo de que disponeis.

Con los músico deberéis llegar al acuerdo de las canciones que os gusta y los momentos concretos en que queréis que la toque. Debéis tener en cuenta la canción de entrada y de salida de la Iglesia.

MÚSICA DURANTE COCKTAIL, APERITIVO DE BIENVENIDA O RECEPCIÓN

En este momento podéis tener música clásica de fondo. El Cocktail, aperitivo de Bienvenida o Recepción es cuando los ya recién casados aprovechan para agradecer a los invitados la asistencia y saludan a los asistentes.

Para que disfruteis realmente de este día os recomiendo que intenteis tener una hora y media o dos horas de intervalo entre que termine la ceremonia y hasta que de comienzo el Cocktail, Aperitivo o Recepción. Durante ese tiempo podeis hacer las fotos correspondientes para que cuendo llegueis a l lugar de la Celebración podáis disfrutar de vuestros invitados, tomandoos una copita.  

VALS DE LOS NOVIOS

Dice el protocolo que es el padre de la novia el que debe comenzar el Baile, el Vals con la Novia, para posteriormente cederle el baile y su hija a el nuevo esposo.

Cada vez más los novios deciden cambiar el típico Vals por alguna canción especial de los novios. Esa canción que bailaron por primera vez, la que sonaba por primera vez cuando se conocieron, la canción con la que se identifican...

Il 25 giugno da Christie’s a New York si svolgerà un’asta con alcuni oggetti donati dal mondo dello spettacolo, dello sport, della musica e dell’intrattenimento, tra cui, appunto, alcuni vestiti da James Gandolfini: il ricavato degli oggetti regalati da Tony andrà al Wounded Warrior Project, un gruppo noprofit che si occupa di assistere i soldati feriti in Iraq e in Afghanistan. Secondo la celebre casa d’aste, Gandolfini ha potuto tenere i vestiti alla fine de “I Soprano“, ed ha personalmente autenticato tutti gli oggetti in vendita: tra questi, l’accappatoio di cotone bianco con la S sul taschino, il vestito che Tony indossava quando Zio Junior gli ha sparato, ed il vestito che indossa nella sigla d’apertura, oltre il completo ‘Tony a casa’, con maglietta e boxer: ogni pezzo partirà da una base d’asta di 500 dollari, ma la ‘Tony Soprano Collection’ dovrebbe far guadagnare al WWP almeno 36,500 dollari.

E se per caso Tony non vi piacesse, potete sempre comprare i vestiti di altri personaggi della serie della HBO, tra cui Junior Soprano, Paulie Walnuts, Christopher Moltisanti e A.J. Soprano. Icostumi per la serie sono stati disegnati da Juliet Polsca, che ha ricevuto due nomination agli Emmy e un Costume Designers Guild Award: i proventi ricavati dai vestiti degli altri personaggi, tra cui il completo indossato da Silvio Dante nell’omicidio di Adriana, non andranno però in beneficenza.

fonte: televisionando

We are going to start performing for festivals in July of 2008 and we'll have some music you can download too.

We are from Staunton, VA.

Soprano, rappeur marseillais issus du groupe « Psy4 de la rime » a sorti en 2007 son premier album solo, "Puisqu'il faut vivre", étiquetté en France "rap conscient". Avec un voix et un style introspectif peu banal, le rappeur, écorché vif, analyse et réfléchit sur la vie, la condition humaine et la société.

"Puisqu'il faut vivre", est l'invitation désenchantée à ne pas prendre la vie comme on monte dans un bus, la confession d'un esprit volontaire mais prisonnier de ses démons. Parmi la vingtaine de son, on trouve ainsi "Dans ma tête" où Soprano décrit une joie de vivre mêlée de désespoir ou « Mélancolique anonyme » où il met en scène une réunion d'un groupe de parole.

Why this topic? I've been singing since I was quite young and singing in choral ensembles has been and continues to be an important part of my life. It has brought joy to my soul and at times has kept me sane. But over the past 10 years I've found that singing wasn't so fun because I had to push to get the notes I used to reach so easily. Some would say, but that is just normal...as you age your vocal range lowers. That answer didn't work for me and fortunately I have at my access a secret weapon, the person who first introduced me to choral music and one of the most interesting musicians around. If anyone could help me figure out what was going on, I knew he could and after about 10 months, I'm starting to have fun singing again - and those high notes are starting to come easily and with better quality than probably any time in the past.

Is there such a thing as the aging voice? Of course, but what probably happens to most people is that abuse of the voice over time finally creeps up and the body says 'No MORE!' I actually have had voice lessons at various times throughout my life, but I've had to relearn how to be aware of what I am doing while singing and how I am breathing.

If you are having problems with your voice, if you are losing range, there are solutions. Are you ready to try some unusual exercises, something different than most voice teachers would have you do? If so, come back and I'll share with you what I've done - and let me know if they work for you, too.

Artist: Nicole Cabell
Album: Soprano

Tracks :

1. Quando Me N Vo
2. Ah Je Veux Vivre
3. What A Curse for A Woman is A Timid Man
4. Dieu Quel Frisson Court Dans Mes Veines
5. O Mio Babbino Caro
6. Les Filles de Cadix
7. Summertime
8. How Can I Cherish My Man in Such Days
9. Les Belles Fleurs Entre Lamour ET Le Devoir
10. Depuis Le Jour Ou Je Me Suis Donnee
11. Eccomi in Lieta Vesta Oh Quante Volte
12. Chi Il Bel Sogno Di Doretta
13. Quel Guardo Il Cavaliere So Anchio la Virtu Magica

Elizabeth Forbes

The Turkish soprano Leyla Gencer became one of the most loved and admired operatic idols in Italy during the Fifties, Sixties and Seventies. Although she sang all over Europe and America, from London to Vienna, from San Francisco to Buenos Aires, it was in Italy, at La Scala, Milan, at the San Carlo, Naples, at La Fenice, Venice, at the opera houses of Rome, Florence, Turin, Trieste and many other cities, that she spent the main part of her career, singing a very wide repertory whose core consisted of the works of Donizetti and Verdi. A singing actress of great expressive power, she used her voice as a weapon in her dramatic armoury. That did not mean that she could not, when appropriate, sing with great gentleness and beauty of tone.

She was born Leyla Ceyrekgil in Istanbul in 1924. Her father was Turkish, her mother Polish and she was educated at an Italian high school and liceo. She studied at the Ankara Conservatory with the Spanish coloratura Elvira de Hidalgo, and in 1946 married a banker, Ibrahim Gencer.

Leyla Gencer made her operatic debut in 1950 in Ankara as Santuzza in Cavalleria rusticana. After further study with the Italian soprano Giannina Arangi-Lombardi and the baritone Apollo Granforte, she went to Italy, where she made her debut in 1953 at the Arena Flegrea in Naples, again singing Santuzza. Later in the season she sang the title role of Madama Butterfly at the San Carlo.

In 1956 Gencer went to San Francisco, where she made her debut in the title role of Zandonai's Francesca da Rimini. During the next two seasons she also sang the title role of Lucia di Lammermoor, Violetta in La traviata, Massenet's Manon, Gilda in Rigoletto and Elisabeth in Don Carlos. Elisabeth would become one of her finest Verdi roles, which she repeated with great success at La Scala (1960), the Vienna State Opera and at Covent Garden (1962), where she sang the role in an emergency when Gre Brouwenstijn became ill. Gencer was in London rehearsing Donna Anna in Don Giovanni, which should have been her debut role.

Gencer first appeared at La Scala in 1957, singing Madame Lidoine, the new prioress, in the world premiere of Poulenc's Dialogues des Carmelites. Later that year she sang Leonora in La forza del destino, another favourite Verdi role that suited her passionate temperament extremely well. In 1958 she took part in another premiere, of Pizzetti's Assassinio nella Cattedrale, based on T.S. Eliot's Murder in the Cathedral, in which she sang the First Woman of Canterbury. The opera was conducted by Gianandrea Gavazzeni, who became a mentor to the soprano throughout her career. He conducted her as Maria in Pizzetti's Lo straniero (1969) in Naples.

Gencer sang two early Verdi roles, Lucrezia in I due Foscari in Venice (1957) and Lida in La battaglia di Legnano in Florence (1959) before returning to 20th-century opera with Renata in Prokofiev's The Fiery Angel at the 1959 Spoleto Festival. In 1960/61 she sang again at La Scala, as Paolina in Donizetti's Poliuto, taking over from Maria Callas, and as Lisa in Tchaikovsky's Queen of Spades. Her Lisa was an unexpected success, and she sang it again at Turin in 1963. Meanwhile she sang her first attempt at the title role of Bellini's Norma at Barcelona in 1962, repeating it the following season at the Coló*in Buenos Aires.

As related, Gencer made an emergency debut at Govent Garden in Don Carlos in January 1962, before she sang Donna Anna in February in Franco Zeffirelli's new production of Don Giovanni. But Mozart was not one of Gencer's strongest suits: far better was Donizetti's Anna Bolena, which she sang at Glyndebourne in 1965, conducted by Gavazzeni. Anna was always one of Gencer's finest roles and even in 1977, not long before she retired, she gave a wonderful performance of it in Rome.

Otherwise, during the Sixties Gencer sang Elena in Jerusalem (the Paris version of Verdi's I Lombardi) and the title role of Bellini's Beatrice di Tenda at La Fenice in Venice; Queen Elizabeth I in Donizetti's Roberto Devereux in Naples; and Aida at La Scala and in the Verona Arena, where she was a great favourite. Gluck's Alceste was much applauded in Rome in 1967, even better liked at La Scala in 1968 and liked best of all at La Scala in1972, with Gavazzeni in the pit.

In the last decade of her career, Gencer had several new roles that were, vocally and dramatically, very well suited to her abilities. One of these was Ponchielli's La Gioconda, but one small point annoyed purists: Gioconda describes herself as blonde, but Gencer wore her own black hair. Another very popular role was the heroine of Donizetti's Maria Stuarda, which she first sang at the Florence Maggio musicale and then in Naples. Verdi's Lady Macbeth, which Gencer sang under Gavazzeni's baton in Venice, and later in Rome and Florence, scored even greater triumphs.

Other Donizetti roles in which Gencer was greatly admired included Lucrezia Borgia, which gave the soprano scope for every conceivable emotional expression. She sang it first in Naples, then in Rome, Bergamo, Dallas and Florence; Antonina in Belisario in Venice, Bergamo and Naples; Caterina Cornaro in Naples and Pauline in Les Martyrs (the Paris version of Poliuto) in Bergamo were all great rarities, very well sung.

But Gencer's finest performance in the Seventies was not in an opera by Donizetti, but in Mayr's Medea in Corinto in Naples. In very good voice she was, as always, totally involved in the drama going on around her.

Leyla Ceyrekgil, opera singer: born Istanbul 10 October 1924; married 1946 Ibrahim Gencer (deceased); died Milan, Italy 9 May 2008.

Renaud Machart

La soprano turque a souffert du statut de légende vivante de sa rivale, Maria Callas. Les témoignages de son art ont le plus souvent été captés sur le vif

Comme il est coutume de dire que la contralto britannique Kathleen Ferrier (1912-1953) occulta l'importance de sa consoeur hollandaise Aafje Heinis, ou que la carrière de la soprano autrichienne Elisabeth Schwarzkopf (1915-2006) brima celle de Lisa della Casa, il est souvent prétendu que la soprano turque Leyla Gencer, qui vient de mourir, à Milan, samedi 10 mai, à l'âge de 79 ans, a souffert du statut de légende vivante de sa rivale Maria Callas (1923-1977). Comble de malchance pour Gencer, une autre rivale fameuse, Renata Tebaldi (1922-2004), s'interposa entre elle et Callas... Mais si le chant essentiellement apollinien de Tebaldi ne pouvait se comparer par sa nature à celui de Callas, l'engagement dramatique de Gencer le rappelait en bien des points.

A l'époque de ses débuts à la Scala, dans la première mondiale, en italien, des Dialogues des carmélites, de Francis Poulenc, en 1957, Leyla Gencer était souvent affectée aux deuxièmes distributions de l'illustre maison milanaise, tandis que Callas régnait sur les premières. Mais " la Diva turque ", qui avait fait ses débuts à Ankara, en 1950, aura chanté un répertoire plus large (72 rôles), qui, outre le bel canto italien (avec une prédilection pour Donizetti), comprenait des créations et des opéras du XXe siècle ainsi que beaucoup de raretés oubliées de l'opéra italien du XIXe siècle qu'elle servait avec un respect scrupuleux du texte et de ses indications. Gencer partageait avec Callas un caractère trempé et ombrageux et les anecdotes à propos de ses " caprices " ne manquent pas.

En dépit d'une rivalité entretenue surtout par les partisans de la Grecque et de la Turque, Gencer reconnaissait cependant, dans un entretien en anglais transcrit sur le site Internet www.belcantosociety.org [http://www.belcantosociety.org] que Callas " avait la voix la plus imparfaite du monde, mais cela ne veut rien dire. Elle était pleine de défauts, mais elle avait le feu sacré. Elle était merveilleuse. Qui l'égale aujourd'hui ? ".

Un chant engagé

Si Callas est aujourd'hui aussi connue que du temps où elle chantait sur scène, c'est notamment en raison d'un legs discographique important. Leyla Gencer a quant à elle peu enregistré en studio, et les témoignages de son art sont le plus souvent captés sur le vif et publiés dans des éditions pirates, en opéras séparés ou en coffrets anthologiques. On trouve beaucoup d'extraits filmés, certains publiés officiellement (par la firme américaine Vai), d'autres reproduits par des particuliers sur des sites Web, dont YouTube.

Le chant de Gencer était extrêmement engagé, et ses incarnations dramatiques allaient parfois à l'encontre de la beauté du son. Elle manquait d'agilité, mais le timbre était superbe et sa musicalité en aura touché plus d'un. Sa qualité première est demeurée un aigu pianissimo dont elle a parfois abusé, surtout lorsque le tonus de la voix lui manquait et que le vibrato la gagnait dans les nuances fortes. La chanteuse reconnaissait d'ailleurs qu'elle avait donné " davantage de mauvaises représentations que de bonnes ".

On l'entend ainsi se produire, à 50 ans, à l'Opéra de San Francisco, avec la voix d'une chanteuse en toute fin de carrière. Mais ce document, reproduit sur le site www.youtube.com, est, comme tant d'autres, enregistré dans des conditions précaires et donc sujet à caution. Gencer ne se retirera de la scène lyrique qu'en 1985 et ne donnera plus que des concerts, jusqu'en 1992. Ensuite, elle s'est consacrée à l'enseignement, notamment à la Scala de Milan, où elle fut directrice du programme pour les jeunes chanteurs à l'instigation du chef d'orchestre Riccardo Muti.

Après une crémation à Milan, le 12 mai, ses cendres devaient être dispersées dans la baie du Bosphore, dans son pays natal.

10 octobre 1928, Naissance à Istanbul

1953, Débuts italiens à Naples

1957, Débuts à la Scala de Milan : rôle de Madame Lidoine lors de la création mondiale des " Dialogue des Carmélites " de Francis Poulenc

10 mai 2008, Mort à Milan

Patrick O'Connor

Leyla Gencer, who has died aged 79, was the greatest Turkish opera singer of the 20th century and a singing actor of formidable power and individuality. Although she came from what she herself referred to as a "Muslim and oriental" background, she had the good fortune, as a student in Istanbul, to study with the famous Italian dramatic soprano Giannina Arangi-Lombardi, so that when she went to Italy in 1953, she was thoroughly grounded in the traditions of Italian opera.

Gencer was a very beautiful woman, with large dark eyes, a wide, generous mouth and a natural command of the stage. Born Leyla Ceyrekgil in Istanbul, the daughter of a Turkish Muslim father and a Polish Catholic mother, she married Ibrahim Gencer, a wealthy banker, in 1946; he eventually predeceased her. She made her debut as Santuzza in Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana at the open-air summer festival in Naples in 1953, and remained a particular favourite with the Neapolitans.

Her early successes were in verismo roles - Madama Butterfly, Tosca, Francesca da Rimini (by Zandonai). By 1957 she had been engaged by La Scala, Milan, where she created the role of the New Prioress in the world premiere of Poulenc's Les Dialogues des Carmelites, and shortly after sang the title role in La Traviata at the Vienna Staatsoper, under Herbert von Karajan.

Throughout her career, Gencer had a very wide repertoire, ranging from Monteverdi, Gluck and Mozart to Verdi, Ponchielli and Puccini. During her career she sang virtually every soprano role in Verdi's operas, but it was especially in the revival of bel-canto works by Bellini, Donizetti and Pacini that she made her mark. To some extent, Gencer shot to fame in the immediate aftermath of the end of Maria Callas's Italian career - Gencer followed Callas as Anna Bolena at La Scala, and in the role of Paolina in Donizetti's Poliuto - the last new part Callas undertook. As Queen Elizabeth I of England, first in Donizetti's Roberto Devereux, and then in Rossini's Elisabetta, Regina d'Inghilterra, Gencer preceded Montserrat Caballe and Beverly Sills, who later recorded the roles.

Gencer's voice was not a natural dramatic soprano - she sang all the coloratura roles, such as Lucia, Elvira (Puritani), Amina, Gilda. The sound had a strange, smokey quality which could - and quite often did - turn sour and detracted from the pleasure of her singing. "We're in great luck tonight," said the impresario Denny Dayviss, when I met her at the San Carlo in Naples in 1972, "Leyla-gal's in great voice." The opera was Donizetti's Caterina Cornaro, in which Gencer was partnered, as often before, by Giacomo Aragall. Gencer tore into the role of the daughter of St Mark, the Venetian girl who becomes Queen of Cyprus, her voice ranging from fiercely declaimed dramatic recitative right up to a ringing high E with which she capped the first-act finale.

Although Gencer's career was mostly in Italy, she appeared in the United States, where she made her debut in San Francisco as Lucia in 1957, returning there, as well as to Chicago and Dallas. John Ardoin described her voice in a memorable Lucrezia Borgia in 1974, as "poignant, compelling" and mentioned the "strange colours and deep pathos of her art". In England she was heard at Glyndebourne as the Countess in Figaro, and as Anna Bolena. At Covent Garden she was Donna Anna in Zeffirelli's 1962 production of Don Giovanni, then Elisabeth de Valois in Don Carlos. Gencer's most memorable UK appearances were undoubtedly in the title role of Donizetti's Maria Stuarda, at the Edinburgh Festival in 1969. The sparks that flew on stage in the confrontation - historically absurd but dramatically thrilling - when Gencer as Mary Stuart ripped off her glove and flung it in the face of Shirley Verrett as Elizabeth I at the words, "Vil bastarda" will surely live in the memory of all who witnessed it.

As a recitalist Gencer also had a wide repertoire of 19th and early 20th-century songs. Some of her later appearances were in recital in Paris at the Athenee in the 1980s, when a young French public, who had never had the opportunity to see her on stage, proved receptive to her high-flown style and hailed her as the greatest living prima donna. Gencer had no career whatsoever as a recording artist, but many of her broadcasts from Italian radio have now been issued on disc and are a fine memorial to her voice and dramatic ability. Especially noteworthy are performances of Verdi's I due Foscari (under Serafin), Donizetti's Belisario (from Venice in 1970) and Simon Boccanegra, from the 1959 Salzburg Festival, in which she is partnered by Tito Gobbi.

Gencer said of herself: "I am a fatalist and am instantly resigned to adversity, my temperament is gentle and I am incapable of putting up a fight for anything." None of this was evident on stage, where she projected a suberb sense of dramatic power. In 1987 she was the first recipient of the Donizetti Prize awarded by the city of Bergamo, and in 1995 the Leyla Gencer Voice Competition was established in Istanbul. In recent years she was artistic director of La Scala's academy for advanced courses for opera singers.

Leyla Gencer, soprano, born October 10 1928; died May 9 2008

By Margalit Fox

Leyla Gencer, an operatic soprano who was among the last of a generation of larger-than-life divas that included Maria Callas, died on Friday at her home in Milan. As befits a prima donna, Ms. Gencer's exact age was shrouded in carefully arranged mystery; she was believed to be either 79 or 83.

The cause was heart failure and respiratory problems, La Scala and the Turkish State Opera and Ballet told The Associated Press. Information on survivors was not made public.

Popularly known as La Diva Turca, Ms. Gencer performed in opera houses throughout Europe and the United States from the 1950s to the 1980s. Although her major career was in Europe -- she sang at La Scala in Milan for many years -- she was also admired by fans, and at least some critics, on this side of the Atlantic.

Ms. Gencer (pronounced GHEN-djer) sang more than 70 roles but was most closely associated with the bel canto style of Donizetti. Her singing was characterized by a burning intensity but was also widely praised for its exquisite pianissimo -- the attainment of maximum audibility at minimum volume that eludes even many fine singers.

Though Ms. Gencer appeared on many of the world's major stages, among them Covent Garden in London, she never sang at the Metropolitan Opera. She did not make her New York debut until 1973, when she sang the title role in Donizetti's little-known opera ''Caterina Cornaro'' in a semi-staged production at Carnegie Hall by the Opera Theater of New Jersey.

By this time, Ms. Gencer was 50, give or take. Reviewing her performance in The New York Times, Harold C. Schonbergwrote: ''Her voice shows signs of the abuse that comes from overwork and an insufficient technique. She clearly was an experienced singer of the old arm-waving school, and the middle range of her voice had moments of appealing beauty. But the top is virtually gone, and fortissimo high notes emerged in ear-splitting yells.''

Leyla Ceyrekgil was born in Istanbul on Oct. 10. Ms. Gencer was publicly coy about the year; sources give it variously as 1924 or 1928. The daughter of a Polish mother and a Turkish father, she grew up on the city's Asian side.

From an early age, according to published accounts, she showed signs of the intensity that would serve her well. As Stefan Zucker wrote in a biographical article on the Web site of the Bel Canto Society (www.belcantosociety.org [http://www.belcantosociety.org]), ''Her mother pulled her out of a lyceum at 16 because she had fallen in love with a 34-year-old Polish architect with whom she read Plato.''

Leyla enrolled briefly at the Istanbul Conservatory before leaving to study privately in Turkey with the noted Italian soprano Giannina Arangi-Lombardi. She later studied with the Italian baritone Apollo Granforte.

In 1946, she married Ibrahim Gencer, a banker. ''She was temperamental and difficult,'' Mr. Zucker wrote, ''but he loved her.''

In 1950, Ms. Gencer made her operatic debut in Ankara, as Santuzza in Mascagni's ''Cavalleria Rusticana.'' She made her La Scala debut in 1957, as Madame Lidoine in the world premiere of Francis Poulenc's ''Dialogues of the Carmelites.'' Her United States debut was with the San Francisco Opera in 1956, in the title role in Ricardo Zandonai's ''Francesca da Rimini.''

Ms. Gencer's other roles included Verdi (Amelia in ''Un Ballo in Maschera,'' Violetta in ''La Traviata,'' Leonora in ''Il Trovatore'' and Aida), Mozart (the Countess in ''The Marriage of Figaro'' and Donna Elvira in ''Don Giovanni'') and title roles in Donizetti's ''Lucia di Lammermoor,'' Bellini's ''Norma'' and Puccini's ''Madama Butterfly.''

In 1995, an international voice competition named for Ms. Gencer was inaugurated in Turkey.

Pre-empted by better-known contemporaries like Callas and Renata Tebaldi, Ms. Gencer did not have a contract with a major commercial record label. But her voice traveled the globe many times over in bootleg recordings, earning her the nickname the Pirate Queen.

If she ''never made a lira'' from these recordings, as Ms. Gencer told Opera News in 2003, they had other compensations.

''All the young people know me,'' she said at the time. ''They write me long letters. They tell me: 'It's as if we were in the theater. We see you. We hear you through your discs as if we were there.' This is a great miracle!''

En el marco del centenario del Teatro Colón y bajo el lema “Teatro Colón. Es argentino, cumple 100 años y es de todos”, CraveroLanis presenta la primera etapa de una campaña que seguirá a lo largo de todo el año.

En diferentes espacios urbanos, donde no es común ver representaciones artísticas de este tipo, se realizarán intervenciones sorpresivas y de alto impacto, donde los artistas del Teatro Colón se mimetizarán con el público brindando espectáculos breves de danza, música y canto de altísima calidad.

La locación elegida para el lanzamiento de la campaña fue, minutos después del acto inaugural de la Feria del Libro, en el hall de entrada a la Sala José Hernández.

El público será sorprendido por un espectáculo de diez minutos basado en extractos de óperas populares y una de las particularidades es que los actores, según el lugar donde se realice la puesta, estarán vestidos cómo personal de mantenimiento, guardias de seguridad, técnicos de sonido, obreros de la construcción o simples transeúntes. Lo pertinente de esta campaña es que utiliza el mismo arte como elemento de comunicación y el medio es precisamente el espacio publico, que es el origen mismo de la ópera.

"Se trata de una experiencia inusual de muchísima cercanía con las personas” afirmó Darío Lanis, presidente de CraveroLanis, “Estamos acercando el teatro a más gente, rindiendo homenaje a su único y fiel dueño que es la comunidad" continuó el creativo.

Los artistas integrantes del Instituto Superior de Arte del Teatro Colón, dirigido por la Lic. Ana Massone, que participarán de las intervenciones son: Mariana Mederos (soprano), Leandro Menna (barítono), Duilio Smiriglia (tenor), Mercedes Bralo Cisternas (arpa), Florencia Barrientos (redoblante) Mtra. Alicia Mazzieri (piano y preparación musical) y Mtra. Elizabeth Lizzie Waisse (regie y adaptación), encargada de la puesta en escena y la coordinación general.

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