🎶 Celebrating a year of Opera Daily 🎶

Most popular selections and a reflection on the year

Hi friends! Yes, it’s been a year of opera!

(The first issue of Opera Daily that went out on July 22, 2020)

I want to start by saying thanks to all of you who made this year one full of fascinating conversations and beautiful music. I started this newsletter last July as a simple way for anyone to explore the world of opera. I didn’t do it on my own, though. I convinced my friends to help along the way (some took over the reins and wrote some posts 🙏, others allowed me to interview them) and I had all of you contributing via the community posts and the comment sections each week.

“Looking at life from a different perspective makes you realize that it’s not the deer that is crossing the road, rather it’s the road that is crossing the forest.”

― Muhammad Ali

Life can get lonely — especially after the year we’ve had. There’s an interesting antidote to loneliness, though: One of the most effective ways to break the cycle of loneliness is to pursue a goal or a sense of purpose larger than yourself. For me, that has been Opera Daily. I am not sure what the future holds for this newsletter after our one year experiment, but the one thing I do know for sure is that knowing you all were on the other end of these emails has helped me tremendously this year. I hope in a small way we’ve been able to help each other.

To celebrate a year of Opera Daily, we are listening to the most loved pieces we’ve covered since we started. I’ve also consolidated all 170+ selections that we’ve shared since last July in one easy-to-access playlist on YouTube.

Thank you so much for sticking around and for being a thoughtful, supportive audience I’m genuinely proud of. 

Cheers to one year! 🥂

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Franco Corelli, Virginia Gordoni, “Vittoria! Vittoria!”, Tosca by Giacomo Puccini , Teatro Regio di Parma, 1967 

Cecilia Bartoli singing the aria “Non più mesta,”from the Italian opera La Cenerentola by Gioachino Rossini

Mirella Freni and Luciano Pavarotti singing “Suzel, buon dì…Tutto tace,” from Act II of the Italian opera L’amico Fritz by Pietro Mascagni

Shirley Verrett and Nicolai Gedda singing the love duet, “Nuit d'ivresse et d'extase infinie”, from Act IV of Hector Berlioz’s Les Troyens

“Bella figlia dell'amore” the quartet from Act III of the Italian opera Rigoletto by Giuseppe Verdi with Luciano Pavarotti, Joan Sutherland, Isola Jones, and Leo Nucci

Claudio Monteverdi, L'incoronazione di Poppea, “Pur ti miro, pur ti godo” with Sonya Yoncheva and Kate Lindsey

Tenor Lawrence Brownlee singing “Je crois entendre encore” from Georges Bizet's Les pêcheurs de perles

Cecilia Bartoli singing “Agitata da due venti” from Vivaldi’s Griselda 

“Bel raggio lusinghier” from Semiramide sung by dramatic coloratura soprano, Joan Sutherland

Act 2 duet, “Dio, che mi vedi … Sul suo capo” between Anna and Giovanna from Anna Bolena sung here by soprano Leyla Gencer and mezzo soprano Giulietta Simionato 

Anna Moffo singing “Chi il bel sogno di Doretta” a soprano aria from Act I of the Italian opera La Rondine by Giacomo Puccini

Maria Callas singing “Ernani! Ernani, involami” Elvira’s aria from Act I of the Italian opera Ernani by Giuseppe Verdi

Placido Domingo and Sherrill Milnes singing “Dio, che nell’alma infondere,” the duet from Act I of the 19th-century opera Don Carlo, composed by Giuseppe Verdi

The Letter Duet from Act III of Mozart’s opera Le Nozze di Figaro. Véronique Gens is singing the role of Countess Almaviva and Patrizia Ciofi is singing Susanna’s role

Victoria de los Ángeles, Habanera, Carmen

Renée Fleming singing “Puskai pogibnu ya” also known as Tatyana’s Letter Scene from Act I of the Russian opera Eugene Onegin by Peter Illyich Tchaikovsky

Soprano Mirella Freni, mezzo-soprano Christa Ludwig singing “The Flower Duet” in the 1975 movie of Madame Butterfly

The Easter Hymn from Pietro Mascagni's opera Cavalleria Rusticana, Maria Callas 

Trio from Act III of Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier, Renée Fleming (Marschallin), Christine Schäfer (Sophie), Susan Graham (Octavian). The Metropolitan Opera, 2010

“Ma, Signor”, the finale from Act I of Gioachino Rossini's opera Il Barbiere di Siviglia(The Barber of Seville)

🗣 Do you have a favorite piece that we haven’t included here? I love hearing from readers, so don’t hesitate to share your thoughts and feedback with me by simply hitting ‘reply’ on any issue of Opera Daily or let us know in the comments below.

As always, thank you for reading, listening, and sharing,

Michele

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