When opera singers were still a part of the fabric of American popular culture – Beverly Sills with Danny Kaye. Does Bubbles really pay tribute to Jimmie Walker?
Here’s the entire broadcast in color (with Turkish subtitles and intro!). The extracted Sills-Kaye routine begins around the 38 minute mark.
Oh, Kaye! Kaye, Sills, and Robert Merrill
I am sorry to report that soprano Roberta Peters has died. Rushed to the Metropolitan Opera as a last-minute substitute with no rehearsal time in 1950, she was propelled to stardom.
Here she is performing with her ex-husband, Robert Merrill, ten years after their amicable divorce:
They were only married for ten weeks. They remained good friends and continued to perform quite well together.
A reminder to tune in to WPRB 103.3 FM this morning from 6 to 11 a.m. ET, to enjoy the first of 14 summer programs, hosted by Classic Ross Amico.
Among my guests this week will be Sandy Steiglitz, host of WPRB’s “Sunday Morning Opera with Sandy” (heard Sundays, from 6 to 10 a.m.), who will introduce recordings of baritone Robert Merrill, on this his birthday anniversary. That should take place around 8.
I’ll also be joined by Marvin Rosen, host of “Classical Discoveries” (Wednesdays, 5:30 to 11 a.m.), “Classical Discoveries Goes Avant Garde” (Wednesdays 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.) and “Treasures of Early Music” (Mondays, 5:30 a.m. to 11 a.m.), who will introduce something extra special from his own record collection. Marvin will be flitting around all morning, since he doesn’t sleep.
Richard Tang Yuk will be in to talk about The Princeton Festival at 9. The festival kicks into high gear this weekend. Tang Yuk, the festival’s artistic director, will conduct three performances of Mozart’s “The Marriage of Figaro,” June 13, 21 & 28, at McCarter Theatre. For more information on the Princeton Festival, look online at http://www.princetonfestival.org.
Today is the 100th anniversary of the birth of American composer Alan Shulman. We’ll mark the occasion by listening to one of his neglected works. Also expect birthday nods, belated, in anticipation, or right on the nose, for Sir Edward Elgar, Carl Nielsen and Yevgeny Mravinsky.
If you tune in bright and early, you may even hear a couple of concert works by composers better known for their achievements in film. The signal is far-reaching, but if for some reason you can’t get it, you can hear the program anywhere via streaming at http://www.wprb.com.
Best wishes to the great Teri Noel Towe, host of Towe on Thursday, who, for just about the first time in seven years, did not have to uproot his life to ride New Jersey Transit on a Wednesday evening.
Keep it classy, folks, and remember I’m just getting my sea legs!
PHOTOS: Shulman enjoys a cigarette for his hundredth birthday; Mravinsky is just plain smokin’.
Classic Ross Amico returns to the airwaves! Beginning tomorrow, and for the next 14 weeks, I will be manning Thursday mornings at WPRB 103.3 FM, broadcasting from a bunker deep beneath Princeton University’s Bloomberg Hall.
The shift will extend from 6 to 11 a.m. ET, though apparently it is not unusual for hosts to turn up earlier and start spinning discs at 5:30. I’m suffering from a “summer cold” at the moment, so we’ll have to see about that.
Tune in for guest appearances by Sandy Steiglitz, host of WPRB’s @Sunday Morning Opera with Sandy (heard Sundays, from 6 to 10 a.m.), and Marvin Rosen, host of Classical Discoveries (Wednesdays, 5:30 to 11 a.m.), “Classical Discoveries Goes Avant Garde” (Wednesdays 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.) and “Treasures of Early Music” (Mondays, 5:30 a.m. to 11 a.m.).
Sandy will help us celebrate the birthday anniversary of American baritone Robert Merrill, and Marvin will introduce a special surprise from his own collection, long out of print and never issued on CD, which I am very excited to hear again after decades.
At 9:00, we’ll be joined by Richard Tang Yuk, who will talk a bit about The Princeton Festival, which begins in earnest this Saturday. Tang Yuk, the festival’s artistic director, will conduct three performances of Mozart’s “The Marriage of Figaro,” June 13, 21 & 28, at McCarter Theatre. For more information on festival events, look online at http://www.princetonfestival.org.
What else can you expect to hear? I’m still trying to figure that out. But you can bet there will be nods to American composer Alan Shulman, on the 100th anniversary of his birth, and conductor Yevgeny Mravinsky, on the 112th of his.
The signal is strong – it can be heard as far away as Philadelphia on old school analogue radio – but it is also accessible worldwide at http://www.wprb.com.
Join us tomorrow and keep it classy with Classic Ross Amico.
PHOTO: Marvin and me, exuding class
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