Update: Athens DIDN'T hear Dimitra's first Liebestod!

Some changes have been made at the last night's concert of the 7 divas (...) . First of all, Dimitra Theodossiou didn't sing the Liebestod. Thank God for this as she gave us an incredible Abigaille! And she brought down the House! 4 full minutes of applause after the cabaletta and people yelling like crazy (among them, Parsifal of course hehe). She was definitely the highlight of the night.

Now, the cons of the performance: Dimitra appeared on stage with one of these typical old-fashioned dresses she wears (remember the Ancona Roberto Devereux?) and even though her singing was almost flawless, her movements and her stage presence were not what you expect from a diva of the 00's. Anyway, i'm of the old school where singing is much more important than posing and i would definitely prefer an Anita Cerquetti (one of the ugliest divas ever) to 10 Netrebkos....

Other highlights: Elena Kelessidi was beautiful and sang an excellent Musetta. Julia Sougklakou also brought down the house with her Pace mio dio. Jenny Drivala withdrew and didn't sing her Bolena (i was quite sure that this would happen! "I'm Jenny Drivala you fools! I'll be the last to sing and Theodossiou will eat my dust"). So, the divas were only 6.

Parsifal visited mrs. Theodossiou during the interval and had a chat about many many thangs. Among them, her new recording of "Bianca e Fernando" (it will be available in 5-6 months), the recital at La Fenice ("It was the best recital i 've ever given, i had 32 minutes of applause and will be telecast by the RAI soon!"), the Dynamic DVD of her Bolena (Parsifal stated:"What you see on the dvd is not the best Dimitra one can have"), the last year's Nabucco (Dimitra was singing Abigaille with high fever) and the upcoming new roles, Lucrezia Borgia in Bergamo and Margherita (Mefistofele) in Palermo. Parsifal also stated that it's a pitty to have the best Elisabetta on the planet and NOT have a new production of Roberto Devereux in Athens. We went on talking about stuff that cannot be written (the managerial chaos of the Athens Lyric, the dictatorial ex-director, his eminence with Twiggy-divas etc) and i left after asking her to sing the best Abigaille she has ever sung. Judge for yourselves guys . You will find it HERE

(Excellent sound, ripped at 256kbps, with the full 4min. applause)

The full recording will be upload soon enough (the Kasarova recital comes first).

The program
Semiramide
Ouverture

I Puritani
«O rendetemi la speme ? Qui la voce ? Vien diletto»
Vassiliki Karayanni

Norma
«Casta diva»
Martha Arapi

Manon Lescaut
Intermezzo

Boheme
«Quando m’en vo»
Elena Kelessidi

Forza
Ouverture

Forza
«Pace, pace mio Dio»
Julia Sougklakou

I Masnadieri
«Venerabile, o padre?Lo sguardo avea degli angeli»
Mata Katsouli

Nabucco
«Anch'io dischiuso....Salgo gia del trono aurato»
Dimitra Theodossiou

Tristan Und Isolde
Ouverture and Liebestod (for orchestra)