Today we celebrate great composer Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini’s 154th birthday. Puccini is probably my favorite composer and while he isn’t considered a “genius”, his music still has the power to touch everyone in every way.
In the spirit of Christmas, I have included a video of the 2008 Live in HD transmission of La Boheme with Angela Gheorghiu and Ramon Vargas with Nicola Luisotti conducting. Enjoy and HAPPY BIRTHDAY MR. PUCCINI!
P.S. The YouTube channel that provided this video is a real treasure trove of opera performances both new and old and a great resource. A time limit was placed on the uploader so no more operas will be added but I guarantee you will be satisfied with what you find there. However, there is a strong channel YouTube may shut this channel down soon due to copyright restrictions. My advice: Download and enjoy.
I am so glad that you finally discovered how wonderful Angela Gheorghiu is!
Unfortunately sometimes her public image is far away from the real one. Although she does many charity activities in Romania, she never speaks about them and you only find out if she cancelled one performance. By the way, have you ever known that she regularly visits the nuns from a famous Romanian monastery and sings in the monastery for the believers?
Merry Christmas!
I agree! True, she’s maybe not the nicest person to work with, but there’s a reason she’s so famous. I have her Puccini arias CD and it’s simply beautiful.