Showing posts with label Agnes Baltsa. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Agnes Baltsa. Show all posts

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Requiem Aeternam for Christos Lambrakis


Berlin, Philarmonie, September 1975,

Anna Tomowa-Sintow and Agnes Baltsa meet Werner Krenn and José Van Dam and with the Berliner Philharmoniker under the direction of Herbert Von Karajan create one of the most emblematic recordings of Mozart's 626.

Salzburg 1989,
Anna Tomowa-Sintow and Agnes Baltsa meet Gösta Winbergh and Ferruccio Furlanetto and this time sing Mozart's Requiem in the Memory of Herbert Von Karajan under Riccardo Muti
.

Athens, Megaron, 17 March 2010
35 years after the DG recording and 21 years after the Salzburg Requiem the two Grandi Dive meet again on stage, in order to sing Mozart's Requiem for their friend, Christos Lambrakis, who passed away in December 2009.

The In Memoriam Gala was organized for friends, partners, associates, employees of the late Lambrakis and was not open to the public - a shame, as there were many empty seats despite the big number of music-lovers that were calling the Athens Megaron desperate for a ticket.


Greek pride, star-violinist Leonidas Kavakos left us breathless with his out-of-this-world virtuosity in Beethoven's Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 61
and said his goodbye to Christos Lambrakis with the Andante from Bach's Sonata no.2 - offered to the audience as an encore -probably the most glorious minutes of the whole night.


Second part of the concert and the great Divas step on stage to meet tenor Mario Zeffiri and bass Christophoros Stamboglis. Anna Tomowa-Sintow, 69 years old, ("Toscanini never had access to a voice like hers - she can hit C sharp at nine o'clock in the morning" HV Karajan) sang with pathos but in obvious vocal decline while Agnes Baltsa was sensational in a piece she has not sung in 21 years.


Zeffiri and Stamboglis at the peak of their careers and with their vocal powers intact, contributed to the vocal pleasure. Unfortunately the Camerata Orchestra was miles away from Mozart's divine partitura and there were moments trully embarassing for both the orchestra and the conductor.

Photo album
(with Agnes Baltsa looking like a million $$$)


Stunning Agnes Baltsa:



Two short videos from the News





Tuesday, January 26, 2010

A Requiem for Christos Lambrakis


Veteran divas Anna Tomowa-Sintow and Agnes Baltsa, together with tenor Mario Zeffiri and bass Christophoros Stamboglis, will be the soloists of the performance of Mozart's Requiem , that will take place on the 16th of March at the Athens Megaron and will be dedicated to the memory of Christos Lambrakis.


Star violinist Leonidas Kavakos, will also perform Ludwig van Beethoven's Violin Concerto in D major with the Athens State Orchestra under the direction of Vyron Fidetzis.


Christos Lambrakis, a close friend of Baltsa, Tomowa-Sintow etc, a major patron of the Arts and one of the most influential people in Greece, passed away on December 21st 2009.

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Agnes Baltsa: 65 years of awesomeness


Bundespräsident Dr. Heinz Fischer hat Kammersängerin Agnes Baltsa zum Geburtstag ein Glückwunschschreiben übermittelt, in dem er ihr als einer ihrer zahlreicher Bewunderer für die vielen Musikerlebnisse dankt. "Durch Ihr so erfolgreiches Wirken an der Wiener Staatsoper und auf unzähligen Bühnen der ganzen Welt schenken Sie vielen Menschen unvergessliche Stunden", so der Bundespräsident in seinem Schreiben.

Federal President Dr. Heinz Fischer has sent to the Kammersängerin Agnes Baltsa a letter wishing her a happy birthday and expressing his gratitude as one of her numerous admirers, for the wonderful performances at the Wiener Staatsoper and other innumerable stages of the world.

Happy Birthday, eternal, divine, sublime
-superlatives fail me -
Agnes Baltsa!

Saturday, September 26, 2009

Agnes in Athens 1984 - 2009


Agnes Baltsa - Songs my country taught me
Athens, 15 Sept '09


Last time Agnes Baltsa appeared at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus was in 1984, as Carmen, in the Jean-Pierre Ponnelle production,
with José Carreras next to her as Don José,
a legendary performance that has haunted the memory of the Athenians.

This time Baltsa returned at the Roman Amphitheatre -after an absence of 25 years- to sing "the Greek concert" -for the second time in Athens.
The Concert sold out in just a few days (more than 5.000 tickets) and a new concert was announced for the 17th of September which was -alas!- cancelled due to heavy rain.


Günter Missenhardt, Agnes' husband on the left

Ultra-rare memoirs from the 1984 performances:

La cartolina and the ticket

A photo of Agnes and José,
scanned from the printed program


A photo, scanned from the printed program
carrying Agnes' autograph

(courtesy of LV)

Thursday, July 30, 2009

Photoshop miracles

Agnes Baltsa, 2009

Monday, May 12, 2008

Per lui che adoro!!

Parsi's got something for you.....

Agnes Baltsa singing "Cruda Sorte" in Athens, April 2008



Mario Zeffiri singing "Forse verrá il momento" in Athens, April 2008



Happy?