I saw my first opera in 1972 - The Barber of Seville. I was hooked for life. When I was at the Dana School of Music, we used to go to recitals at E.J. Thomas Hall in Akron. As a music student, our tickets were $1.00. For $1.00, I saw Joan Sutherland, Marilyn Horne, Beverly Sills, Luciano Pavarotti, Shirley Verrett, Elly Ameling and lots of others.
Living in Northeastern Ohio, my only exposure to the Met was the Met on Tour at the Cleveland Coliseum (giant hockey rink). But what performances: Turandot with Corelli; Boris with Talvela; Lohengrin with Lorengar and Alexander; Norma with Verrett; Il Trittico with Scotto; La Prophet with Horne, L’Italiani in Algeri with Horne; and lots of others.
I first went to the Met in NYC in 1980: Elektra with Nilsson; Fidelio with Vickers.
When I moved to NYC in 1982, I become a regular in the standing room lines: Lucia with Sutherland and Kraus (7 times); Gioconda with Marton and Domingo.
Thereafter I become a subscription holder. I am incredibly thankful that I saw Leontyne Price, Leonie Rysanek, Christa Ludwig, Nicolai Gedda, Carlo Bergonzi, Roberta Peters, Renata Scotto, Marilyn Horne, Joan Sutherland, Monserrat Caballé, Martti Talvela, Pilar Lorengar, Gilda Cruz-Romo, Fernando Corena, Magda Olivero and Regine Crespin all before their retirement.
The following pages contain an on-going work:
Introduction and Guide to Abbreviations
A Guide
to Opera on Compact Disc & DVD
Links to Opera Sites:
Rec.Music.Opera - The Opera Newsgroup
© 1997-1999 
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