Opera Quiz For July

July's opera quiz is upon us! Each month, A Passion for Opera with Peter Fox Smith offeres a different "mystery voice" (with a clue or two) and invites you to guess what great operatic voice it is.

This month's singer was born in Spain to Andalusian parents. Her early education took place at a convent, and then as a young lady she entered the Conservatory in her native Barcelona to study singing. She made her American debut in 1915 as Charlotte in Massenet's Werther at the Chicago Opera, where she also sang the fiery title role in Bizet's Carmen. (In fact, one of the recordings Peter and Sam played last Saturday was this singer's recording of "les tringles des sistres" from Carmen.)

Our singer was noted especially for her powerful chest register, and an extremely flexible upper voice that could easily scale the florid passages of Romantic opera. Above all, she was individual and creative in her style.

She made more than 200 recordings in her career, both operatic and in a vast song repertory in Catalan, Spanish, French, Italian and English, as well as pieces from zarzuela and even operetta.

Those are the clues.

Are you ready for the answer? This month's opera quiz 'mystery voice' is...Conchita Supervía!

Thanks to everyone who sent in guesses, the winner of this month's opera quiz is Vesna Danilovic of Buffalo, New York. Congratulations! She will be receiving an inscribed copy of Peter Fox Smith's book A Passion for Opera.

Listen in next month for a chance to guess the August 'mystery voice' on the opera quiz.

Opera Quiz For June

It's time for the latest installment of VPR Classical's opera quiz! Each month, A Passion for Opera with Peter Fox Smith invites you to listen in and identify a different mystery voice.

The subject of this month's quiz was born in Spain to parents who were theater performers, and the family moved to Mexico when he was 8. He attended the Mexico City Conservatory originally as a student of piano and conducting, but it didn't take long for his vocal talents to be discovered. It was a quick ascent from there to international recognition.

Our singer has been a major figure on opera stages since 1959, singing in every major opera house in the world. He's also a favorite performer at the Metropolitan Opera, having appeared there in more than 600 performances of 42 different roles since his Met debut in 1968.

Recent years have also seen him step into leading directorship roles at opera houses in Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C.

Peter Fox Smith and Sam Sanders selected an unusual aria for the hint on this month's quiz: on last week's show our mystery voice was heard singing the "prize song" from Richard Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nuernberg.

It's a little unusual because, for the most part, the mystery voice is better known for his work in Italian Romantic operas.

By now you probably realize that the answer to this month's opera quiz is...Plácido Domingo!

Thanks to everyone who sent in guesses, the winner of this month's opera quiz is Kathryn Tolbert of Westminster West, VT. Congratulations! She will be receiving an inscribed copy of Peter Fox Smith's book A Passion for Opera.

Listen in next month for another chance to guess the mystery voice on the opera quiz.

Opera Quiz For May

This spring VPR Classical has been featuring a series of listener-interactive quizzes on Saturdays during our opera program.

You may have noticed things have changed a little now, as of last weekend with our two new programs: A Passion for Opera with Peter Fox Smith, and Saturday Matinee.

One thing that has not changed is the fact that we're still having fun sharing a monthly opera quiz, opening the phone and internet lines, and inviting you to take your best guess as to who the "mystery voice" is.

Our May quiz features a singer whose personality and legend are nearly as towering as the treasury of music she's left as her legacy. You may have been thrown off by the fact that one of our musical clues was Wagner - she's not known for her Wagnerian roles, but rather for her Verdi and Puccini and Donizetti. This month's mystery voice is....."La Divina" - soprano Maria Callas!

Keep listening this summer for more quizzes and other fun stuff during our new program, A Passion for Opera!

Opera - And Then Some!

(April 2010 - The view inside the Metropiolitan Opera, as I anxiously waited for Rossini's "Armida" to begin)

They must have known how much I wanted it, because (thanks Mom and Dad!) I got my first FM radio for Christmas when I was 12 years old. I still vividly recall the first cold Saturday afternoon later that winter when, scanning the dial, I stumbled upon a broadcast of classical music with voices unlike anything I'd heard before. They were serene and lyrical and joyous, and sometimes even ferocious. Most of all, regardless of the emotion being expressed, these beautiful voices were passionate.

I was completely captivated and immediately wanted to know more. But I had to wait, as the glorious music went on. And on and on. Later that afternoon I learned I'd been listening to a live broadcast of the Metropolitan Opera on my local commercial classical radio station. That was in 1979. I've been a devoted fan ever since.

That seems like a long time, until I consider that Peter Fox Smith has been sharing opera with listeners each Saturday on Vermont Public Radio for more than 30 years. He was among the very first voices heard on the then-nascent VPR. Since 1977 he's continued to be the beloved voice of Saturday Afternoon at the Opera, conveying his knowledge and love of the art form with a depth of expression that is matched only by the music and voices themselves.

This weekend VPR Classical takes a bold step forward in continuing its commitment to airing opera with two new programs. Peter will be hosting A Passion for Opera beginning at Noon on Saturdays, followed by the Saturday Matinee at 1pm featuring a wide array of operas recorded live in concert from our colleagues at the WFMT Radio Network.

Peter has said that throughout his career he's seen it happen time and again: people who were certain that opera was not for them become hooked once exposed to its dramatic power and beauty. That is the approach of A Passion for Opera; to make opera a welcoming and accessible experience for aficionados, casual fans, and newcomers alike.

We’ll explore opera together each week with a hand-selected program of operatic arias and scenes. We’ll explore themes, genres, styles, and artists in-depth, and celebrate holidays, special events, and landmarks in musical history. A Passion for Opera will offer much more than only information, it will be fun and a pleasure to listen to. We’ll also feature longstanding favorite features such as the annual American Musical Sampler and tribute to the great Swedish tenor, Jussi Björling, as well as regular opera quizzes.

A Passion for Opera will be followed by Saturday Matinee at 1pm, featuring operas recorded live in concert from various productions.

Highlights include:

• the opening opera (this Saturday, May 21st), from the Salzburg Festival: Christoph Willibald Gluck’s Orfeo ed Eurydice
• American baritone Thomas Hampson in the tormented title role of Verdi’s Macbeth from the Lyric Opera Chicago
• Plácido Domingo as Pablo Neruda in the LA Opera’s new production of Daniel Catán’s Il Postino (The Postman)
• Porgy and Bess from the San Francisco Opera
• The Houston Grand Opera’s productions of Madame Butterfly and Jake Heggie's Dead Man Walking

I hope you'll join me and other opera lovers around the region in celebrating Peter Fox Smith's ongoing contribution to the long legacy of opera on Vermont Public Radio, with A Passion for Opera and Saturday Matinee starting this weekend on VPR Classical.

Many things have changed in the last 30 years, but some things remain constant: I'll still be enjoying the opera on Saturday afternoons via good old FM radio.

Opera Quiz For April

This spring we've been having fun with opera quizzes on Saturday Afternoon at the Opera with Peter Fox Smith. April's quiz is one of the last two we'll have this Met opera season, and like the others it's just a matter of listening to a great operatic voice (past or present), picking up a clue or two, and taking your best guess as to who the voice is.

Our April mystery voice is someone who was seemingly destined for a life in music. His mother was an accomplished violinist and his father was a choir director. As a young man he worked at a busy bakery in his hometown in Germany and entertained the shop's patrons with his beautiful voice. At their urging he finally applied for enrollment in the Freiburg Music Academy in Breisgau, and the town fathers awarded the promising young talent a scholarship to attend. He studied both voice and French Horn at the school.

The natural lyric tenor went on to make his successful professional debut locally in the mid-1950s, and enjoyed singing roles (particularly Mozart roles) in major European opera houses including those in Bavaria, Vienna, and England.

He very much looked forward to the day he could sing on the Metropolitan Opera stage as well. That date should have been October 8, 1966, singing the role of Don Ottavio in a new production of Mozart's Don Giovanni. But, it was not to be. He died unexpectedly on September 17, 1966 (a week before his 36^th birthday) when he took an accidental fall down a stone stairway at a friend's country estate in Heidelberg.

Though his career was cut short he is still considered one of the finest lyric tenors the world has ever known. Ready to guess? ...... OK, here goes: the subject of April's opera quiz is......Fritz Wunderlich!

No one correctly guessed the mystery voice this time around, but please listen in again for the next one. Our season finale Saturday Afternoon at the Opera quiz is coming up on May 21st.

Here's Herr Wunderlich singing Tamino's aria from Mozart's The Magic Flute:

Opera Quiz for March

From now through May when you listen to Saturday Afternoon at the Opera with Peter Fox Smith you'll have a chance to play the opera quiz. It's easy: you'll listen to a great operatic voice (past or present), pick up a clue or two, and take your best guess as to who the voice is.

This month's quiz took place last Saturday, with NO clues given except for the voice itself. If you were listening closely, however, you probably realized the very same voice was featured in the Met's production of Tchaikovsky's "The Queen of Spades" at 1pm.

Our singer first came to international attention in 1983 at age 23 when she won the annual Cardiff Singer of the World competition. She was still a student at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki at the time. Her professional debut came two years later in the role of Pamina, in a Covent Garden production of Mozart's "The Magic Flute".

Perhaps her most - celebrated - stage appearance came in 2008, when the 49-year old singer took on the scintillating title role of Salome in the Metropolitan Opera's regular season production. Singers generally have the option with this role to go in the buff, as the screen action calls for, or to wear a more modest tight-fitted skin-colored leotard. Our singer created an outright sensation by saying she "had nothing to hide" when she boldly chose the first option!

With that many clues you probably already know the answer by now, so we'll bring this month's quiz to a "big Finnish" and reveal the mystery voice. She is.................Finnish soprano Karita Mattila!

Thanks to everyone who sent in guesses, the winner of this month's opera quiz is (again!) Edward Roesner of Saranac Lake, NY. Congratulations! He will be receiving an inscribed copy of Peter Fox Smith's book A Passion for Opera.

Listen for the next two Saturday Afternoon at the Opera quizzes on April 16th, and May 7th. And, until then - enjoy this delicious (but appropriately modest - don't worry) "Dance of the Seven Veils" scene from Mattila's famous 2008 Met appearance as Salome.

Opera Quiz For February

It's been so much fun having an occasional opera quiz that we've decided to start a mini-series of them this spring!

Once a month from now through May when you listen to Saturday Afternoon at the Opera with Peter Fox Smith you'll have a chance to hear from a great operatic voice, pick up a clue or two, and take your best guess as to who the voice is.

Our 'mystery voices' so far have included Austrian tenor Richard Tauber and American Wagnerian soprano Helen Traubel. A week ago, we held February's quiz. We were looking for the name of a singer whose most notable role was in the opera Don Pasquale - AND, a singer who was just as famous for his café songs. Any guesses?

We now know this Italian tenor had three Christian names (Raffaele Attilio Amedeo) , none of which were actually his stage name. In 1929, he appeared in a short film, singing an aria from Martha. And, like his contemporary Richard Tauber, also enjoyed success as a conductor.

Ready for the answer?

The mystery voice is.................Italian tenor Tito Schipa!

Thanks to everyone who sent in guesses, the winner of this month's opera quiz is Edward Roesner of Saranac Lake, NY. Congratulations! He will be receiving an inscribed copy of Peter Fox Smith's book A Passion for Opera.

Listen for the next Saturday Afternoon at the Opera quizzes on March 26th, April 16th, and May 7th.