A report on Joan Sutherland and Montserrat Caballé

Other celebrated singers who debuted at the Met during Bing's tenure include: Roberta Peters, Victoria de los Ángeles, Renata Tebaldi, Maria Callas, who had a bitter falling out with Bing over repertoire,, Birgit Nilsson, Joan Sutherland, Régine Crespin, Mirella Freni, Renata Scotto, Montserrat Caballé, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Anna Moffo, James McCracken, Carlo Bergonzi, Franco Corelli, Alfredo Kraus, Plácido Domingo, Nicolai Gedda, Luciano Pavarotti, Jon Vickers, Tito Gobbi, Sherrill Milnes, and Cesare Siepi.

It was revived at the Royal Opera, London, in 1966 for Joan Sutherland.

As a non-singing role, the Duchess of Crakenthorp is often played by non-operatic celebrities, including actresses such as Dawn French, Bea Arthur, Hermione Gingold, and Kathleen Turner, or by retired opera greats such as Kiri Te Kanawa and Montserrat Caballé.

Notable exponents of the title role in the post-war period have been Maria Callas, Leyla Gencer, Joan Sutherland, and Montserrat Caballé.

That situation changed significantly after World War II with the advent of a group of enterprising orchestral conductors and the emergence of a fresh generation of singers such as Montserrat Caballé, Maria Callas, Leyla Gencer, Joan Sutherland, Beverly Sills and Marilyn Horne, who had acquired bel canto techniques.

A famous performance of Lucrezia Borgia presented by the American Opera Society Ensemble in 1965 at Carnegie Hall with soprano Montserrat Caballé, who was making her American debut, was soon followed by a recording featuring Caballé, Shirley Verrett, Alfredo Kraus, and Ezio Flagello, conducted by Jonel Perlea, who also led the Carnegie Hall performance.

Lucrezia Borgia is often produced as a vehicle for a star soprano, including Leyla Gencer, Mariella Devia, Beverly Sills, Dame Joan Sutherland, Renée Fleming, Edita Gruberová and Sondra Radvanovsky.

Presentations at La Scala in Milan in December 1962 with Joan Sutherland and Giulietta Simionato required the re-assembly of the entire score from the Rossini autograph, since no other texts were known to exist.

A major revival at the Aix-en-Provence Festival in 1980 was directed by Pier Luigi Pizzi and featured Montserrat Caballé in the title role with Marilyn Horne as Arsace.

8 (8:27) "Bel raggio lusinghier", with Joan Sutherland (Semiramide), conducted by Richard Bonynge

3 (10:09) "Vicino a te s'acqueta l'irrequieta anima", with José Carreras (Andrea Chénier) and Montserrat Caballé (Maddalena), conducted by James Levine

During his long and distinguished career at the Met, Alexander sang opposite many famous artists, including the Met debuts of Renata Scotto (Pinkerton to her Butterfly), Montserrat Caballé (Faust to her Marguerite) and, in the same night as Caballé, Sherrill Milnes' (who portrayed Valentin).

His discography includes recordings of Bellini's Norma (with Dame Joan Sutherland and Marilyn Horne, 1964) and Donizetti's Anna Bolena (opposite Elena Souliotis, 1968–69).

Il pirata, with Montserrat Caballé, Bernabé Martí, Ruggero Raimondi, conducted by Gianandrea Gavazzeni, EMI 1970.

I puritani, with Joan Sutherland, Luciano Pavarotti, Nicolai Ghiaurov, conducted by Richard Bonynge, Decca 1975.

She sang Adalgisa next to the Normas of Callas, Joan Sutherland, Montserrat Caballé, Leyla Gencer, and Elinor Ross