Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Opera tenor from Sicily.
On the island
Eight records
I've loved one Sicilian song. Yes. And this Sicilian song Which the the English audience particularly always loved. I recorded this many years ago.
I would love to play the the maestro Toscanini together, me with the maestro, I mean in the Verdi's Requiem, but I had the great uh joy and honor to sing with him in uh in the fifty years anniversary of uh Verdi's death.
One night I was invited to the concert, the Kanigol that Horowitz gave there on the 51. But boy, what the pianist! I went to this concert. I was so impressed
Adagietto (from Symphony No. 5)
being in an island, I think that uh I don't wanna hear I I like to to hear very sweet music, full of uh uh atmosphere.
Qui la voce sua soave (from I Puritani)Favourite
one of the most beautiful moments of enjoyment for me in the du in my career was to do Puritani with Maria, because in the second act When uh I was not on stage, but from my dressing room I could listen.
Autumn (from The Four Seasons)
recently in uh in New York I was so lucky to listen to Perlman. The violinist, Isaac Perman. And I love him so much.
I will play the singers I love most in uh In pop music. Yeah. The first one is Barbara Streisen. And since I love people, you know already what kind of song you're going to listen.
The other singer that I love so much, the Nutkin Call, in a in a song that is called This Is All I Ask.
In conversation
Presenter asks
2:29Was there music in your home [growing up]?
Nobody knew anything about music. As a matter of fact, when I start to talk about making a… sing uh to become a tenor. They almost threw me out of the house. What is that? Something to eat? I said, No, no, no, tennis. It's somebody who sings and makes money with singing. I don't believe, said my father, you better be another Caribbeaner, you better do something different, but what is this tenor?
Presenter asks
3:15Did you sing in the church choir as a boy?
Yes, I did sing. but never uh arouse an enthusiasm from my parents. They they never came, they never cared about that. But uh a young man who was four years older than me… became my friend because he loved opera… And one day while we were playing cards and the he was singing all the time… I had to listen all the time opera arias. As a matter of fact, the first opera arias I learned from him.
Presenter asks
4:24You took lessons and you began going to the opera house?
Well, it's not that easy, eh? Because I I didn't I di I hate opera… I love to go to dance every night with my friend. I love songs. I didn't care about opera. But finally he got me one night in the in the Scala… and the first experience was turndo and I didn't like at all. But few few weeks later I heard Beneminiogigli… And then when I heard the voice of Benemino Gigli, I went wild. I started to love him and to love the opera.
The keepsakes
The book
Maria Callas: The Woman Behind the Legend
Arianna Stassinopoulos
since I didn't read it yet, I would like to take with me this Maria, the book that Arianna Stasinopoulos wrote.
Presenter asks
7:47What was your job in the army?
Well, my job was to to be a soldier. And uh it was a tough one because I was in the artillery. So and then uh uh it was very easy to catch in cold, you know. So one day I started to go to the infirmary and ask the doctor what I could do because I was afraid of uh my voice.
Presenter asks
10:47At one point they were going to send you off to the Eastern Front, weren't they?
Yeah, we were supposed to get to go together with the with my regiment. Against against the the Russians. That was serious. That was very serious, I mean… when the order came to go to Russia, my mother came, I said goodbye, and I was ready to live with him. But uh out of the blue sky, the same morning the regiment left, he called me and he told me that he he could not sleep all night and he had a a big problem in his conscience and he he thought that uh it would be better that I stay as a soldier… So maybe you stay here and one day you will sing for our country.
Presenter asks
24:31Do you still prefer the concert hall [to opera]?
Yes. See, I need a lot of rehearsals in the opera. And I need also an old-fashioned conductor, the one who looks in your eyes, smiles… But then we had carrion, you know, great conductor, but a different style. So I have to adjust to this style. They don't guide you. I need to be guided, because I think that's a very tough job… In any case, I enjoy to with the with the piano because I have a a direct contact with the public.
“I hate opera. I love to go to dance every night with my friend. I love songs. I didn't care about opera.”
“I need also an old-fashioned conductor, the one who looks in your eyes, smiles.”
“I hate gambling. I love roulette. Now it's to enter in this world of uh craziness, of uh disorder, because she sh she doesn't obey any rule, this little boy.”