Episodes

We are still in the midst of our summer holiday. And oh, what a sweltering summer it is turning out to be! Because of this, rather than producing a brand-new episode today, I’m bringing you an episode from nearly six years ago which celebrated a landmark birthday of mine, which is a playlist of a few of my favorite pop divas, my association with some of whom stretches all the way back to my childhood. But what a motley assortment it is! Marlene Dietrich, Judy Garland, Edith Piaf, Barbara Cook, E...

Onelia Fineschi (1921 – 2004) was one of the finest Italian lyric sopranos of her era. Probably most famous today for having provided the singing voice of Gina Lollobrigida in a 1948 filmed version of Pagliacci, she had a wide-ranging repertoire and an up-and-down career trajectory that lasted, however, nearly 25 years. Initially I became interested in Fineschi because one of my listeners gifted me with a visually arresting Cetra LP of her 1947 recordings of various opera arias, which, upon list...