Tribute to Beverly Sills

Update: Taking Opera to the Heights and Down to Earth This is a wonderful article by Anthony Tommasini.

Take a few moments to listen to Beverly Sills sing this alternate opening cavatina/aria/cabeletta for Lucia in Donizetti’s Lucia Di Lammermoor.

Gerald Moore has written a magnificent article on Beverly Sills. For those interested in Ms. Sills career and her influence on the International Opera world, this column is a must read.

I asked her if she was aware that she was probably the only real opera star between Callas and Pavarotti to have become a household name – the term superstar could well have been invented for her in the 1970s. She replied that superstardom isn’t everything it’s cracked up to be.

‘When you become a superstar, you immediately become much more attractive to a certain section of the public, and much less to another. At least in my day, when I went on The Johnny Carson Show, I could sing what I like. If I wanted “Let the Bright Seraphim”, an orchestra and a trumpeter would be produced. Johnny told me not to sing popular music, but to bring my opera arias to the public. Nowadays, everything is dumbed down, our television is moronic.’