Renata Scotto was an Italian soprano, opera director, and voice teacher. Recognised for her sense of style, her musicality, and as a remarkable singer-actress, Scotto is considered to have been one of the preeminent opera singers of her generation.
Piero Cappuccilli was an Italian operatic baritone. Best known for his interpretations of Verdi roles, he was widely regarded as one of the finest Italian baritones of the second half of the 20th century. He was enormously admired within the field of opera for his rich and abundant voice, fine vocal technique and exceptional breath control. In the great Italian tradition he fused words and music into elegant phrases. He focused on Italian repertory, particularly the operas of Verdi, singing 17 major roles.
Lamberto Gardelli was a Swedish conductor of Italian birth, particularly associated with the Italian opera repertory, especially the works of Giuseppe Verdi.
Judith Blegen is an American soprano, particularly associated with light lyric roles of the French, Italian and German repertories.
Paul Plishka is an American operatic bass.
Live from the Metropolitan Opera later renamed The Metropolitan Opera Presents was an American television program that presented performances of complete operas from the Metropolitan Opera in New York City on the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) network.
Cornell MacNeil was an American operatic baritone known for his exceptional voice and long career with the Metropolitan Opera, which spanned 642 performances in twenty-six roles. Opera News opined he "was a great baritone in era of great baritones — Warren, Gobbi, Merrill, Milnes — and in the contemporary press, comparisons to his colleagues were frequent. But MacNeil's performances had singular musical richness, and moral and intellectual complexity that were his alone. MacNeil may have had rivals, but he had no equals."
Karl Gustaf Ingvar Wixell was a Swedish baritone who had an active international career in operas and concerts from 1955 to 2003. He mostly sang roles from the Italian repertory, and, according to The New York Times, "was best known for his steady-toned, riveting portrayals of the major baritone roles of Giuseppe Verdi — among them Rigoletto, Simon Boccanegra, Amonasro in Aida, and Germont in La traviata".
Vicente (Vicenç) Sardinero, né Sardinero-Puerto, was a Spanish operatic lyric baritone. Born in Barcelona, he made his debut at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in his native city in the 1964–65 season, as Escamillo in Carmen. His first appearance at the Teatro alla Scala was in 1967, as Enrico in Lucia di Lammermoor, opposite Renata Scotto, subsequently appearing there in Il trovatore (1978), I due Foscari (1980), and Falstaff. Sardinero also sang at London's Covent Garden and was often heard in zarzuela.
Richard Mohr was one of RCA Victor’s most prominent producers of classical and operatic music recordings from 1943 through 1977. His producing credits included recording the casts of the world premieres of Samuel Barber's Vanessa and Gian Carlo Menotti's Amahl and the Night Visitors, as well as the first LP recordings of Ernani,Luisa Miller and Lucrezia Borgia and three versions each of Rigoletto,Aida,La Traviata and Il Trovatore.
Nello Santi was an Italian conductor. He was associated with the Zürich Opera House for six decades, and was a regular conductor at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. He was focused on Italian repertoire, especially operas by Verdi and Puccini, in a style following the tradition of Toscanini. He made sound and video recordings of Italian operas, including in 1971 Leoncavallo's Pagliacci with Plácido Domingo, Montserrat Caballé and Sherrill Milnes, in 1976 Montemezzi's L'amore dei tre re with Anna Moffo, Domingo and Pablo Elvira, in 2000 Verdi's I due Foscari, and in 2006 Donizetti's Don Pasquale in a Zürich production. Santi conducted from memory, and said "I love all of Verdi, but when he composed Rigoletto, Il trovatore and La traviata he was in a profound state of grace."
Bonaldo Giaiotti was an Italian operatic bass, particularly associated with the Italian repertory.
Anthony Laciura is an American actor and operatic tenor. Laciura is often noted for his abilities as a comprimario, and actor. Born in New Orleans, he studied voice there with Charles Paddock, also the teacher of Ticho Parly. He is also well known for playing Eddie Kessler in Boardwalk Empire (2010–13).
Maralin Niska was an American operatic soprano. Well known as a singing-actress, she was a mainstay of the New York City Opera during the 1960s and 1970s. She was also a regular performer at the Metropolitan Opera from 1970 to 1977.
Betsy Norden is an American soprano who appeared with the Metropolitan Opera over 500 times.
The Metropolitan Opera Centennial Gala was a televised concert, lasting more than eight hours, that New York City's Metropolitan Opera staged on 22 October 1983 to commemorate the hundredth anniversary of its first performance. A 230-minute selection of excerpts from the concert was first released in 1985 on a pair of Pioneer Artists Laserdiscs, subsequently appearing on a pair of Bel Canto Paramount Home Video VHS videocassettes in 1989 and on a Pioneer Classics DVD in 1998. A remastered double DVD of the film was issued by Deutsche Grammophon in 2009.
The Metropolitan Opera Gala 1991 was a four-hour concert staged by the Metropolitan Opera on 23 September 1991 to celebrate the 25th anniversary of its opening night in its second home at Lincoln Center. It was televised by Cablevision, and issued by Deutsche Grammophon on Laserdisc and VHS videocassette in 1992 and on DVD in 2010.
Silvano Carroli was an Italian baritone.
Luisa Maragliano is an Italian soprano.
The soprano Renata Scotto made many recordings, some of complete operas, others of collections of arias. Some of her performances can be seen on video, recorded live, especially in Metropolitan Opera broadcasts.
