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07 May 19537 May 1953
Callas sings Medea in Florence under Vittorio Gui. She will go on to give 31 performances during her career up to June 1962 at La Scala, Milan.
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02 May 19632–8 May 1963
Callas records Callas à Paris II in the Salle Wagram, Paris, under Georges Prêtre.
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23 Apr 195423 April 1954
Callas records Norma for the first time with the forces of La Scala in Milan conducted by Tullio Serafin. The cast includes Mario Filippeschi and Ebe Stignani. The sessions finish on 3 May 1954.
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12 Apr 195412 April 1954
Callas sings Elisabetta in Don Carlo at La Scala, Milan, under Antonino Votto. She gives five performances.
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04 Apr 19544 April 1954
Callas sings Gluck’s Alceste at La Scala, Milan, under Carlo Maria Giulini. She gives four performances.
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28 Mar 196128–31 March 1961
Callas records Callas à Paris I in the Salle Wagram, Paris, under Georges Prêtre. The sessions finish on 5 April. Her first venture into entirely French repertoire is a huge success.
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21 Mar 195916–21 March 1959
Callas records Lucia di Lammermoor for the second time. The tenor is Ferruccio Tagliavini, with the Philharmonia Orchestra under Tullio Serafin in Kingsway Hall, London.
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19 Mar 196519, 25 March 1965
Callas makes a triumphant return to the Metropolitan, New York, in two performances of Tosca with Tito Gobbi as Scarpia. Franco Corelli is her Cavaradossi on 19 March and Richard Tucker, who sang with Callas in La Gioconda in Verona in 1947, is Cavaradossi on 25 March.
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09 Mar 19573–9 March 1957
Callas records Amina in La sonnambula with the forces of La Scala, Milan, under Antonino Votto.
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09 Feb 19649 February 1964
The second act of the Zeffirelli production of Tosca at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, with Callas and Gobbi is televised as a ‘Golden Hour’ on British television.
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07 Feb 19577–14 February 1957
Callas records Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia in London with the Philharmonia Orchestra under Alceo Galliera with Tito Gobbi and Luigi Alva.
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29 Jan 197029 January 1970
Pasolini’s non-operatic film of the play Medea by Euripides starring Callas in the title role receives its gala premiere at the Paris Opéra. Its reception is muted and the film is not a commercial success.
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21 Jan 196421 January 1964
After an absence of several years, Callas makes a triumphant return to the stage at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, in a memorable new production of Tosca directed by Franco Zeffirelli that is highly praised on all counts. She gives six performances.
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19 Jan 194919 January 1949
Having just sung her first Brünnhilde in Die Walküre 11 days earlier, Callas, at the insistence of Serafin, replaces the indisposed Margherita Carosio in the coloratura role of Elvira in I puritani at La Fenice in Venice. The operatic world is stunned by her performance. This is the turning point in Callas’s career and the start of her involvement in the rehabilitation of the Italian bel canto repertoire.
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08 Jan 19558 January 1955
Callas sings Maddalena in Andrea Chénier with Mario de Monaco in alla Scala, Milan. She gives six performances.
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02 Jan 19582 January 1958
Pleading illness, Callas cancels after the first act of a gala performance of Norma in Rome, attended by the President of Italy and all of Rome society; she is harshly criticised in the media.
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27 Dec 19634–27 December 1963
Callas records three solo albums (arias by Mozart, Beethoven and Weber, arias by Rossini and Donizetti and Verdi Arias II) in the Salle Wagram, Paris, with the Paris Conservatoire Orchestra under Nicola Rescigno. Further sessions to complete the albums take place in January and April 1964.
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16 Dec 1964December 1964 - January 1965
Callas records Tosca for the second time – in Paris under Georges Prêtre with Tito Gobbi and Carlo Bergonzi as the soundtrack for a proposed film that does not eventuate.
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07 Dec 19547 December 1954
Callas works for the first time with the famous theatre and film director Luchino Visconti when she opens the season at La Scala, Milan, in La vestale by Spontini. She gives five performances.
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02 Dec 19232 December 1923
Happy 101st birthday, Maria Callas!
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La Divina continues to fascinate as a supreme artist, also as a woman and an icon of style. A magnetic presence, she brought operatic heroines to vivid life, magically shaping and colouring her tone.
Listen to the breathtaking new version of Vissi d’arte, the voice of La Divina shines like never before! -
11 Nov 195511 November 1955
Callas sings Madama Butterfly in Chicago under Nicola Rescigno with Giuseppe di Stefano. She gives three performances.
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29 Oct 195629 October 1956
Callas sings for the first time at the Metropolitan, New York, in Norma.
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19 Oct 195019 October 1950
Callas performs Rossini’s Il turco in Italia in Rome at the Teatro Eliseo under Gianandrea Gavazzeni and surprises everyone by her success in a comic role. She performs the part 9 times in her career up to May 1955 at La Scala, Milan.
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19 Sep 195819–25 September 1958
Callas records Verdi Arias I with the Philharmonia Orchestra under Nicola Rescigno in No.1 Studio at Abbey Road but she does not like the acoustic so the orchestra moves to Kingsway Hall after the final session on 24 September to record the Mad Scenes album scheduled to follow immediately.
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16 Sep 197716 September 1977
Alone in her Paris apartment, Callas dies from natural causes. Her death certificate specifies a heart attack but there was no autopsy before the body was cremated and the precise cause of death has never been established.
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12 Sep 195712-19 September 1957
On a let-out from her exclusive EMI contract, Callas records Medea at La Scala, Milan, under Tullio Serafin for Ricordi. The recording is released under licence in Europe by EMI and by Mercury in the USA.
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04 Sep 19564–9 September 1956
Callas records Un ballo in maschera at La Scala, Milan, under Antonino Votto with Giuseppe di Stefano and Tito Gobbi.
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03 Sep 19553–16 September 1955
Callas sings Gilda in Rigoletto recorded at La Scala, Milan, under Tullio Serafin with Tito Gobbi and Giuseppe di Stefano. In February 2013, Gramophone magazine selected this as its top recommendation for Rigoletto on record.
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31 Aug 195431 August 1954
Callas records Fiorilla in Rossini’s Il turco in Italia at La Scala, Milan, under Gianandrea Gavazzeni with Nicolai Gedda. The recording period ends on 8 September.
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20 Aug 195620–25 August 1956
Callas records Mimì in La bohème at La Scala, Milan, under Antonino Votto, a role she never played on stage. The recording was completed on 3 & 4 September.
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10 Aug 195310–21 August 1953
Callas sings Tosca in the legendary recording with Giuseppe di Stefano and Tito Gobbi at La Scala, Milan, conducted by Victor de Sabata, universally acclaimed as one of the finest recordings ever made.
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03 Aug 19563–9 August 1956
Callas records Il trovatore at La Scala, Milan, under Herbert von Karajan with Giuseppi di Stefano as Manrico.
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01 Aug 19551–6 August 1955
Callas records Madama Butterfly at La Scala, Milan, under Herbert von Karajan with Nicolai Gedda as Pinkerton.
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18 Jul 195718–27 July 1957
Callas records Manon Lescaut at La Scala, Milan, conducted by Tullio Serafin. This is an opera she never performed on stage.
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06 Jul 19646–20 July 1964
Callas records Carmen in the Salle Wagram, Paris, under Georges Prêtre with Nicolai Gedda as Don José.
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05 Jul 19655 July 1965
Callas is scheduled to sing four performances of Tosca at Covent Garden. She is advised on medical grounds to withdraw but she decides to sing just once. She chooses the Royal Gala on 5 July, which turns out to be her final appearance on the operatic stage.
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14 Jun 2024Quote from the Diva
"You are born an artist or you are not. And you stay an artist, dear, even if your voice is less of a fireworks. The artist is always there.” – Maria Callas
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09 Jun 19519 June 1951
Callas sings Euridice in the first ever stage performance of Haydn’s 1791 opera Orfeo ed Euridice under Erich Kleiber in the Pergola Theatre at the Maggio Musicale Festival in Florence. She gives two performances.
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05 Jun 19695 June 1969
Filming begins on a non-operatic film of the play Medea by Euripides, directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini, starring Callas as Medea.
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01 Jun 19571 June 1957
Callas sings in Gluck’s Ifigenia in Tauride at La Scala, Milan, under Nino Sonzogno and directed by Luchino Visconti. She gives four performances.
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22 May 196422 May 1964
Callas appears in Paris in Norma, directed by Zeffirelli, in a spectacular staging that is to be her last new production.
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21 May 195621 May 1956
Callas sings Fedora at La Scala, Milan, under Gianandrea Gavazzeni with Franco Corelli. She gives six performances.
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19 May 195819 May 1958
Callas sings Imogen in Il pirata at La Scala, Milan, under Antonino Votto with Franco Corelli. She gives five performances.
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Discover (or rediscover) her most legendary interpretations and :headphones: listen to the Maria Callas playlist here: https://w.lnk.to/pmcFA -
15 May 195915 May 1959
As part of a German tour, Callas gives a concert in the Musikhalle, Hamburg, conducted by Nicola Rescigno. A video recordings is available on DVD 4 92246 9 Maria Callas in Concert.
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07 May 19537 May 1953
Callas sings Medea in Florence under Vittorio Gui. She will go on to give 31 performances during her career up to June 1962 at La Scala, Milan.
More info -
02 May 19632–8 May 1963
Callas records Callas à Paris II in the Salle Wagram, Paris, under Georges Prêtre.
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26 Apr 2024Quote from the Diva
“It takes a little more time to get into the role, but not very much more. In making a record you don’t have the sense of projection over a distance as in an opera house. We have this microphone and this magnifies all details of a performance, all exaggerations.” – Maria Callas
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23 Apr 195423 April 1954
Callas records Norma for the first time with the forces of La Scala in Milan conducted by Tullio Serafin. The cast includes Mario Filippeschi and Ebe Stignani. The sessions finish on 3 May 1954.
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:camera_with_flash: Erio Piccagliani - 1960 -
14 Apr 195714 April 1957
Callas sings Anna Bolena at La Scala, Milan. This production is one of the high points of the bel canto revival that Callas instigated at La Scala. She gives 12 performances in total.
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12 Apr 195412 April 1954
Callas sings Elisabetta in Don Carlo at La Scala, Milan, under Antonino Votto. She gives five performances.
More info -
04 Apr 19544 April 1954
Callas sings Gluck’s Alceste at La Scala, Milan, under Carlo Maria Giulini. She gives four performances.
More info -
02 Apr 19522 April 1952
Callas sings Konstanze in Die Entführung aus dem Serail (in Italian) at La Scala, Milan, under Jonel Perlea. This is her only Mozart role. She gives four performances.
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30 Mar 195324–30 March 1953
Callas makes her first recording with the forces of La Scala in Milan. She sings Elvira in I puritani with Giuseppe di Stefano conducted by Tullio Serafin.
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:camera_with_flash: Mexico, 1952 -
28 Mar 196128–31 March 1961
Callas records Callas à Paris I in the Salle Wagram, Paris, under Georges Prêtre. The sessions finish on 5 April. Her first venture into entirely French repertoire is a huge success.
More info -
16 Mar 195916–21 March 1959
Callas records Lucia di Lammermoor for the second time. The tenor is Ferruccio Tagliavini, with the Philharmonia Orchestra under Tullio Serafin in Kingsway Hall, London.
More info -
19 Mar 196519, 25 March 1965
Callas makes a triumphant return to the Metropolitan, New York, in two performances of Tosca with Tito Gobbi as Scarpia. Franco Corelli is her Cavaradossi on 19 March and Richard Tucker, who sang with Callas in La Gioconda in Verona in 1947, is Cavaradossi on 25 March.
More info -
16 Mar 196216 March 1962
As part of a German tour, Callas gives a concert in the Musikhalle, Hamburg, conducted by Georges Prêtre. A video recordings is available on DVD: Maria Callas in Concert.
More info -
08 Mar 2024Quote from the Diva
“I am not an angel and do not pretend to be. That is not one of my roles. But I am not the devil either. I am a woman and a serious artist, and I would like so to be judged.” – Maria Callas
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05 Mar 19695 March 1969
Callas ends her EMI recording career with a final session working on Verdi arias that were not released during her lifetime.
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03 Mar 19573–9 March 1957
Callas records Amina in La sonnambula with the forces of La Scala, Milan, under Antonino Votto.
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23 Feb 2024Quote from the Diva
“I always imagine the very worst. I am not an optimist. I am proud, and my pride makes me fight.” – Maria Callas
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16 Feb 195616 February 1956
Callas sings Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia at La Scala, Milan, under Carlo Maria Giulini with Tito Gobbi. She sings five performances.
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15 Feb 194115 February 1941
Callas makes her professional operatic debut as Beatrice in Suppé’s Boccaccio with the Greek National Opera at the Pallas Cinema in Athens. She gives six performances.
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09 Feb 19649 February 1964
The second act of the Zeffirelli production of Tosca at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, with Callas and Gobbi is televised as a ‘Golden Hour’ on British television.
More info -
07 Feb 19577–14 February 1957
Callas records Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia in London with the Philharmonia Orchestra under Alceo Galliera with Tito Gobbi and Luigi Alva.
More info -
29 Jan 197029 January 1970
Pasolini’s non-operatic film of the play Medea by Euripides starring Callas in the title role receives its gala premiere at the Paris Opéra. Its reception is muted and the film is not a commercial success.
More info -
29 Jan 194829 January 1948
Callas sings Turandot for the first time at La Fenice in Venice under Nino Sanzogno. She will perform the role 24 times in her career up to June 1949 in Buenos Aires.
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26 Jan 2024Quote from the Diva
“I would like to be Maria, but there is La Callas who demands that I carry myself with her dignity.” – Maria Callas
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23 Jan 2024Diva by Daisy Goodwin
Maria Callas is the star of Daisy Goodwin’s captivating new novel about her life, love, and story on and off stage: DIVA :book::sparkles: Available now in the US!
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21 Jan 196421 January 1964
After an absence of several years, Callas makes a triumphant return to the stage at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, in a memorable new production of Tosca directed by Franco Zeffirelli that is highly praised on all counts. She gives six performances.
More info -
19 Jan 194919 January 1949
Having just sung her first Brünnhilde in Die Walküre 11 days earlier, Callas, at the insistence of Serafin, replaces the indisposed Margherita Carosio in the coloratura role of Elvira in I puritani at La Fenice in Venice. The operatic world is stunned by her performance. This is the turning point in Callas’s career and the start of her involvement in the rehabilitation of the Italian bel canto repertoire.
More info -
12 Jan 2024“Vissi d’arte”
An aria powerfully reminiscent of Maria Callas’s own story :broken_heart: Tosca’s tragic manifesto, “Vissi d’arte” (“I lived for art”), unfolds in this illustrated retelling by Matteo Cozzo.
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08 Jan 19558 January 1955
Callas sings Maddalena in Andrea Chénier with Mario de Monaco in alla Scala, Milan. She gives six performances.
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05 Jan 2024Maria Callas
“An opera begins long before the curtain goes up and ends long after it has come down. It starts in my imagination, it becomes my life, and it stays part of my life long after I’ve left the opera house.” – Maria Callas
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📸 Erio Piccagliani © Teatro alla Scala -
27 Dec 19634–27 December 1963
4–27 December 1963
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Callas records three solo albums (arias by Mozart, Beethoven and Weber, arias by Rossini and Donizetti and Verdi Arias II) in the Salle Wagram, Paris, with the Paris Conservatoire Orchestra under Nicola Rescigno. Further sessions to complete the albums take place in January and April 1964. -
19 Dec 195819 December 1958
Callas makes a sensational début in Paris in a gala benefit concert for the Legion d’Honneur at the Paris Opéra; celebrities in the audience include the President of France and Aristotle Onassis, who begins to take a closer interest in Callas.
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13 Dec 2023Le Cid in Hamburg
Grief, heartbreak, and hurt resonate through every note of Chimène’s aria that opens Act 3 of the opera Le Cid, following a horrifying turn of events 💔
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In 1962, Maria Callas transported her audience to that very moment with Massenet’s despairing heroine, from the stage of her recital in Hamburg. -
07 Dec 1954La Vestale at La Scala
Callas works for the first time with the famous theatre and film director Luchino Visconti when she opens the season at La Scala, Milan, in La vestale by Spontini. She gives five performances.
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05 Dec 2023100 iconic performances by La Divina 🌟
100 iconic performances by La Divina 🌟 From her spellbinding portrayals of complete opera roles to her numerous recitals, both live and in the studio – this new digital collection invites you into Maria Callas's radiant artistic world through a selection of her very best recordings.
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02 Dec 2023Happy 100th birthday, Maria Callas! 🎈
Happy 100th birthday, Maria Callas! 🎈 Today, we celebrate the legacy of this diva unlike any other, whose breathtaking voice, awe-inspiring presence, and pure talent still capture our hearts today.
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You can enjoy myriads of her recordings from the stage and studio in special collections on digital platforms, CD, and vinyl! Watch her electrifying performance of Carmen's Séguedille, performed live in Hamburg in 1962, on Warner Classic's YouTube channel. -
23 Nov 2023La mamma morta
The turbulent days of the French Revolution set the stage for the opera Andrea Chénier, by Umberto Giordano. Maria Callas portrays both the anguish and the incredible strength of its young heroine, Maddalena di Coigny, in the aria "La mamma morta".
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21 Nov 2023Carmen's Habanera
Carmen's vivacious Habanera plays out in illustration to the sound of Maria Callas's voice 🌹 Discover the new video by Matteo Cozzo, dedicated to La Divina as Bizet's most famous leading lady – out now on the Warner Classics YouTube channel!
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17 Nov 2023Maria Callas as Chimène
In this 1962 stage performance from Hamburg, Maria Callas conveys the incredible battle that Chimène, the heroine from Massenet's opera Le Cid, faces within herself after the loss of her father at the hands of her love
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10 Nov 2023Callas Concerts in Hamburg
Available for the first time as a digital video album! 📽️💐 These two concerts were recorded at the Hamburg Laeiszhalle (formerly Musikhalle) in 1959 and 1962 and present the divine Maria Callas in a myriad of spectacular arias by Verdi, Rossini, Bizet, and more.
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05 Nov 2023Maria Callas as Rosina
In this masterpiece 1957 recording of Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia, Maria Callas assumes the dazzling role of Rosina – even singing her cavatina in its original mezzo range – and demonstrates her underrated talent for comedy repertoire 💫 Listen to it now on digital platforms.
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She is joined by a young Luigi Alva (who would later become an iconic Count Almaviva), Tito Gobbi, and Alceo Galliera conducting the Philharmonia Orchestra. -
03 Nov 2023La Wally
Wally, the title role of Catalani's last opera, is a unique and memorable heroine 💘 Though her story is rarely told on stage, Maria Callas sings the aria for which she is memorialized, "Ebben? Ne andrò lontana", in this sublime 1954 recording with Tullio Serafin and the Philharmonia Orchestra.
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29 Oct 1956Maria Callas
29 October 1956
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Callas sings for the first time at the Metropolitan, New York, in Norma. -
25 Oct 2023World Opera Day
Today is #WorldOperaDay! And who better to demonstrate the transcendent power of opera than the supreme Divina, Maria Callas 🎭⭐
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Here, she sings "Tu che le vanità" from Verdi's Don Carlo, live in Hamburg in 1959. Watch her performance of the full aria on the Warner Classics YouTube channel! -
23 Oct 2023Bellini's Norma
The most emblematic role of La Divina, Bellini's Norma is a passionate and intense central figure that Maria Callas embodies with grace and power 🌟
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Her 1960 recording with Tullio Serafin and the Coro e Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala di Milano is available now for streaming! -
20 Oct 2023O mio babbino caro
The voice and artistry of Maria Callas breath new life into the aria "O mio babbino caro", from Puccini's opera Gianni Schicchi, in this entrancing illustrated video designed by Matteo Cozzo ✨
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This recording is now available as a single on digital platforms! -
12 Oct 2023Carmen's Habanera
Maria Callas's 1964 recording of the famous "Habanera" from Bizet's Carmen has become one of her most beloved performances, striking admiration in classical aficionados and casual listeners alike with its fiery spirit and humor 🔥
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10 Oct 2023Happy birthday, Verdi!
Happy birthday, Verdi! Born on this day in 1813 🎈
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Maria Callas sings the emotion-laden aria "Tu che le vanità", from the final act of his 1867 opera Don Carlo, in this live performance in Hamburg, with conductor Nicola Rescigno and the Sinfonieorchester des NDR. -
06 Oct 2023Maria Callas as Violetta
Callas only left behind one studio recording in the iconic, heartbreaking role of Violetta 🥀 Made in 1953, she sings Verdi's La Traviata alongside Francesco Albanese and Ugo Savarese, conducted by Gabriele Santini.
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03 Oct 2023Maria Callas as Rosina in this 1959 performance in Hamburg
Maria Callas dazzles in Rosina's spirited aria from The Barber of Seville (Il barbiere di Siviglia) by Rossini in this 1959 performance in Hamburg, with conductor Nicola Rescigno and the Sinfonieorchester des NDR ✨
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29 Sep 2023Rediscover Maria Callas's 1953 Tosca
A landmark in recording history 🔥 Maria Callas's 1953 studio performance in the title role of Tosca puts on display her unique dramatic finesse and power. Conducted by Victor de Sabata, she sings side-by-side with two of her closest colleagues, tenor Giuseppe di Stefano and baritone Tito Gobbi. Rediscover the recording, remastered in Abbey Road Studios in 2014, now on digital platforms.
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27 Sep 2023The Best of Maria Callas - Her Greatest Roles
Five hours of Maria Callas at her finest 👑 This compilation of Her Greatest Roles captures the most prominent characters that she impersonated on stage and on record, from Violetta Valéry and Norma to Carmen and Turandot. Out now on digital platforms!
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25 Sep 2023New LP Vinyls
For the vinyl collectors 💝 Enjoy the unparalleled voice of Maria Callas in some of her most beloved recordings, now featured in a series of colorful LPs!
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The three new vinyls are La Divina Maria Callas, available in standard black vinyl as well as a stunning limited edition red, and Assoluta Maria Callas, a dazzling crystal vinyl and also a limited edition. The tracklists include famous renditions of such arias as "O mio babbino caro", "Vissi d’arte", "Casta diva", and the Carmen Habanera. -
23 Sep 2023Maria Callas sings
The divine Maria Callas sings "Una voce poco fa" from Rossini's opera The Barber of Seville (Il barbiere di Siviglia), an iconic aria – first written for contralto, but often performed by a wide range of voice types – which demands a dazzling demonstration of skill, personality, and force ⚡
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21 Sep 2023Maria Callas on the cover of Luister Magazine
Luister magazine is marking the 100th birthday year of Maria Callas in style with a cover feature and an exclusive Luister Special, dedicated entirely to the iconic soprano! 🌟
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This mini-issue is available to subscribers of the Dutch magazine and highlights the new deluxe Warner Classics boxset and other special releases of her recordings, alongside rare photos of La Divina and more. A beautiful celebration for her centenary 💐 -
19 Sep 2023Maria Callas on the cover of Opera Now
The radiant Maria Callas on the cover of Opera Now ✨
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The new October edition features interviews with contemporaries and admirers of La Divina and highlights the deluxe 135-disc Warner Classics boxset, releasing this Friday! Pick up a copy of the magazine to learn more about her legacy in this milestone year of her centenary 🎈 -
16 Sep 1977Maria Callas
Alone in her Paris apartment, Callas dies from natural causes. Her death certificate specifies a heart attack but there was no autopsy before the body was cremated and the precise cause of death has never been established.
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📷 Erio Piccagliani © Teatro alla Scala -
12 Sep 1957Maria Callas - Cherubini: Medea (1957 - Serafin)
On a let-out from her exclusive EMI contract, Callas records Medea at La Scala, Milan, under Tullio Serafin for Ricordi. The recording is released under licence in Europe by EMI and by Mercury in the USA.
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09 Sep 2023Behind the Scenes
Maria Callas as you've never heard her before 🎙️🎬 Immerse yourself in the recording process of La Divina with her collaborators in three rare behind-the-scenes excerpts from rehearsal sessions of Guglielmo Tell (1961), Il Pirata (1961), and Manon (1963) – bringing to light the skill, dedication, and perfectionism that led to her legendary performances.
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08 Sep 2023Puccini: Turandot
Maria Callas dons the towering persona of Turandot, the frigid princess whose heart is melted by love, in this legendary 1957 recording with Eugenio Ferrandi as the enamored prince Calaf and Elisabeth Schwarzkopf as the lovesick Liù
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04 Sep 1956Maria Callas - Un ballo in maschera
Callas records Un ballo in maschera at La Scala, Milan, under Antonino Votto with Giuseppe di Stefano and Tito Gobbi.
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03 Sep 1955Maria Callas - Rigoletto
Callas sings Gilda in Rigoletto recorded at La Scala, Milan, under Tullio Serafin with Tito Gobbi and Giuseppe di Stefano. In February 2013, Gramophone magazine selected this as its top recommendation for Rigoletto on record.
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25 Aug 2023Maria Callas - Aida
Maria Callas performed the ambitious title role of Verdi's Aida almost thirty times on stage in the course of her career 🥀. This studio performance carries on her legacy in recording: made in 1955, it features Fedora Barbieri and Richard Tucker under the baton of Tullio Serafin.
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20 Aug 1956Maria Callas - La bohème - Milan 1956
Callas records Mimì in La bohème at La Scala, Milan, under Antonino Votto, a role she never played on stage. The recording was completed on 3 & 4 September.
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16 Aug 2023Maria Callas live - Hamburg in 1962
One of Verdi's most masterful operas, Ernani, lends an aria to soprano repertoire that has become a favorite in recital settings: "Surta è la Notte ... Ernani, Involami" 💘
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10 Aug 1953Maria Callas - Tosca - Milan 1953
Callas sings Tosca in the legendary recording with Giuseppe di Stefano and Tito Gobbi at La Scala, Milan, conducted by Victor de Sabata, universally acclaimed as one of the finest recordings ever made.
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08 Aug 2023Maria Callas
A symbol of unfaltering virtuosity 💖
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Maria Callas dedicated her life to her craft, sharing her voice with unabashed candor and vulnerability and pouring herself into each role that she represented. Her stage and studio performances come together in the new special edition set, celebrating La Divina in all her operatic roles.
🎨 Amandine Comte -
01 Aug 1955Maria Callas - Madama Butterfly - Milan 1955
Callas records Madama Butterfly at La Scala, Milan, under Herbert von Karajan with Nicolai Gedda as Pinkerton.
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29 Jul 1952Maria Callas - EMI
After lengthy negotiations lasting more than one year, Callas signs an exclusive recording contract with EMI. This same contract will continue until the end of Callas’s recording career in 1969.
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26 Jul 2023Maria Callas sings Spontini: La Vestale: "Tu che invoco con orrore" (Hamburg, 1959)
This moment from Maria Callas's iconic 1959 performance in Hamburg, with conductor Nicola Rescigno and the Sinfonieorchester des NDR, captures the opening of the monumental aria "Tu che invoco con orrore" from Spontini's tragédie lyrique La Vestale 🕯️
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21 Jul 2023Maria Callas
"I would like to be Maria, but there is La Callas who demands that I carry myself with her dignity.” – Maria Callas
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18 Jul 1957Maria Callas - Manon Lescaut - Milan 1957
Callas records Manon Lescaut at La Scala, Milan, conducted by Tullio Serafin. This is an opera she never performed on stage.
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14 Jul 2023Ponchielli: La Gioconda, Op. 9
🥀 The heartbreaking story of Gioconda holds a special place in the career of Maria Callas, as it was with this role that she made her Italian debut. She recorded her second studio version of this Ponchielli opera in 1959, with conductor Antonino Votto and, notably, a young Fiorenza Cossotto in one of her first major roles.
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09 Jul 1957Maria Callas - Turandot
Callas records Turandot at La Scala, Milan, conducted by Tullio Serafin
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07 Jul 2023Maria Callas - Carmen - 1964
6–20 July
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1964 Callas records Carmen in the Salle Wagram, Paris, under Georges Prêtre with Nicolai Gedda as Don José. -
05 Jul 2023Maria Callas - Tosca - London 1965
5 July 1965
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Callas is scheduled to sing four performances of Tosca at Covent Garden. She is advised on medical grounds to withdraw but she decides to sing just once. She chooses the Royal Gala on 5 July, which turns out to be her final appearance on the operatic stage. -
01 Jul 2023Maria Callas live in Hamburg - 1962
Maria Callas soars through the emotional range of the aria "O Don Fatale, O Don Crudel", from Act III of Verdi's Don Carlo, in this concert recorded live in Hamburg in 1962 🎙️
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27 Jun 2023Maria Callas
"Callas? She was pure electricity." ⚡ – Leonard Bernstein
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From her awe-inspiring stage presence to her tireless dedication behind the scenes, Maria Callas gave herself wholeheartedly to her art and achieved a radiance that set her apart from peers and predecessors. Delve into her legacy of recordings and exclusive material in the 100th anniversary boxset, releasing this September.
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23 Jun 2023Puccini - Madama Butterfly
Maria Callas is a radiant Madama Butterfly in this 1955 studio recording of Puccini's heartrending operatic masterpiece, led by Herbert von Karajan on the podium 🦋🎶
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20 Jun 2023Maria Callas - Il Trovatore - Mexico City - 1950
20 June 1950
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Callas sings Leonora in Il trovatore in Mexico City under Guido Picco. She will go on to perform the role 20 times in her career up to November 1955 in Chicago with Jussi Björling. -
17 Jun 2023Maria Callas - Pagliacci - 1954
12–17 June 1954
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Callas records Nedda in Pagliacci with the forces of La Scala under Tullio Serafin with Giuseppe di Stefano and Tito Gobbi. This is a role she never sang on the stage. -
14 Jun 2023Maria Callas - Il Trovatore - 1956
Made in 1956, this recording served as Maria Callas's farewell to a role that she triumphed on stages around the world: the tragic, yet virtuosic, Leonora in Verdi's Il Trovatore ("The Troubadour") 🎭 Herbert von Karajan conducts La Divina alongside a five-star vocal cast and the Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala di Milano.
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08 Jun 2023Maria Callas
“ART is domination. It’s making people think that for that precise moment in time there is only one way, one voice. Yours.” – Maria Callas
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05 Jun 2023Maria Callas - Medea - 1969
5 June 1969
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Filming begins on a non-operatic film of the play Medea by Euripides, directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini, starring Callas as Medea. -
01 Jun 2023Maria Callas - Ifigenia in Tauride - Milan - 1957
1 June 1957
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Callas sings in Gluck’s Ifigenia in Tauride at La Scala, Milan, under Nino Sonzogno and directed by Luchino Visconti. She gives four performances. -
31 May 2023Maria Callas - 1953 - I Puritani
In the time of Puritans versus Royalists in 17th-century England, the character of Elvira finds her own destiny entangled within political conflict and forbidden love 💔 Maria Callas captures her incredible emotional range in this 1953 recording of Bellini's I Puritani, under the baton of Tullio Serafin.
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26 May 2023Maria Callas
"I want to be a mature artist with a different kind of thinking.” – Maria Callas
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22 May 2023Maria Callas - Norma - 1964
22 May 1964
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Callas appears in Paris in Norma, directed by Zeffirelli, in a spectacular staging that is to be her last new production. -
21 May 1956Maria Callas - Fedora
Callas sings Fedora at La Scala, Milan, under Gianandrea Gavazzeni with Franco Corelli. She gives six performances.
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19 May 1958Maria Callas - Il pirata
Callas sings Imogen in Il pirata at La Scala, Milan, under Antonino Votto with Franco Corelli. She gives five performances.
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18 May 2023Maria Callas - Lucia di Lammermoor
Maria Callas's first Lucia ✨ In her iconic first recording of the title role of Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor, made in 1953, La Divina officially began her collaboration with EMI and performed alongside two of her future long-term collaborators, Tito Gobbi and Giuseppe Di Stefano.
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13 May 2023From Studio to Screen
The powerful voice of La Divina has inspired storytellers of every medium over the years, particularly in the colorful world of cinema 📽️🎞️ This vinyl compilation explores the many imaginative uses of Maria Callas's recordings in movies from Philadelphia and Fargo to The Bridges of Madison County and Bohemian Rhapsody.
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12 May 2023Carmen - 3 LP set
"Callas is Carmen" 🌹 This statement rippled throughout the opera world when this recording first appeared on vinyl in 1964. Though Maria Callas would never portray the title role on stage, her vivid studio performance revealed an interpretation both fiery and charmingly subtle – in Gramophone's words, "a Carmen to haunt you."
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Now available once more on vinyl! -
04 May 2023Maria Callas - Callas à Paris - 1963
2–8 May 1963
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Callas records Callas à Paris II in the Salle Wagram, Paris, under Georges Prêtre. -
30 Apr 2023Maria Callas
"I will always be as difficult as necessary to achieve the best.” – Maria Callas
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23 Apr 1954Maria Callas - Norma - 1954
Callas records Norma for the first time with the forces of La Scala in Milan conducted by Tullio Serafin. The cast includes Mario Filippeschi and Ebe Stignani. The sessions finish on 3 May 1954.
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21 Apr 2023Maria Callas - La bohème - 1956
While Maria Callas never had the opportunity to embody the role of Mimì on stage, she portrayed this endearing Puccinian character in a 1956 studio recording with Antonino Votto and the Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala di Milano – capturing Mimì's intense zest for life and heartbreaking fragility with her trademark artistry and skill.
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19 Apr 2023Franco Zeffirelli on Callas
"The magic of a Callas is a quality few artists have ... There are many very good artists, but very few who have that sixth sense, the additional, the plus quality. It is something which lifts them from the ground: they become like semi-gods. She had it.” – Franco Zeffirelli, as quoted in Callas: The Art and the Life (1974) by John Ardoin
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14 Apr 2023Maria Callas - Anna Bolena - Milan, 1957
Callas sings Anna Bolena at La Scala, Milan. This production is one of the high points of the bel canto revival that Callas instigated at La Scala. She gives 12 performances in total.
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12 Apr 2023Maria Callas - Don Carlo - Milan - 1954
12 April 1954
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Callas sings Elisabetta in Don Carlo at La Scala, Milan, under Antonino Votto. She gives five performances. -
07 Apr 2023Maria Callas - La sonnabula - 1957
This milestone studio performance by Maria Callas tells the compelling story – through an incredibly demanding role in the style of bel canto – of Amina, whose sleepwalking (or somnambulism) causes a scandal that puts her at risk of losing the love of her life.
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Listen to the 1957 recording of La Sonnambula, with Antonino Votto, now on digital platforms! -
04 Apr 2023Maria Callas - Alceste - Milan - 1954
4 April 1954
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Callas sings Gluck’s Alceste at La Scala, Milan, under Carlo Maria Giulini. She gives four performances. -
04 Apr 2023Maria Callas 100 years anniversary - Boxset
She changed the history of opera forever
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This year, the 100th anniversary of her birth, celebrate Maria Callas in all of her 74 roles immortalized in recording. The new boxset will be released this September! -
02 Apr 2023Maria Callas - La Divina
The signature aria of Maria Callas, in two splendid versions. Enjoy these celebrated recordings by La Divina: the first made in the studio in 1960 under the baton of Tullio Serafin, the second captured during a fiery 1958 recital in Paris with conductor Georges Sebastian.
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30 Mar 2023Maria Callas - Callas à Paris - 1961
28–31 March 1961
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Callas records Callas à Paris I in the Salle Wagram, Paris, under Georges Prêtre. The sessions finish on 5 April. Her first venture into entirely French repertoire is a huge success. -
28 Mar 2023Maria Callas - I puritani -1953
24–30 March 1953
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Callas makes her first recording with the forces of La Scala in Milan. She sings Elvira in I puritani with Giuseppe di Stefano conducted by Tullio Serafin. -
25 Mar 2023Maria Callas - Tosca - New York - 1965
19, 25 March 1965
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Callas makes a triumphant return to the Metropolitan, New York, in two performances of Tosca with Tito Gobbi as Scarpia. Franco Corelli is her Cavaradossi on 19 March and Richard Tucker, who sang with Callas in La Gioconda in Verona in 1947, is Cavaradossi on 25 March. -
24 Mar 2023Maria Callas Live
The electrifying experience of Maria Callas live. Relish the magic of Callas on the stage in this digital collection of Her Greatest Live Recitals, 10 legendary concerts held in cities including Paris, London, Amsterdam, and San Remo.
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17 Mar 2023Maria Callas - Manon Lescaut - 1957
Though she never performed the role on stage, Maria Callas left us an incomparable portrayal of Manon Lescaut, Puccini's compelling yet tragic heroine. Her 1957 recording was made with Giuseppe Di Stefano by her side and Tullio Serafin at the podium.
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16 Mar 2023Maria Callas - Hamburg - 1962
16 March 1962
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As part of a German tour, Callas gives a concert in the Musikhalle, Hamburg, conducted by Georges Prêtre. A video recordings is available on DVD: Maria Callas in Concert. -
15 Mar 2023Maria Callas - Norma - 1960
The last complete recording of Maria Callas in her most iconic role. Her 1960 portrayal of Norma, made with Tullio Serafin and the Coro e Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala di Milano, is now available in a 4-LP vinyl set!
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12 Mar 2023Maria Callas
“I belong to the givers. I want to give a little happiness even if I haven’t had much for myself. Music has enriched my life and, hopefully - through me, a little - the public’s. If anyone left an opera house feeling more happy and at peace, I achieved my purpose.” – Maria Callas
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10 Mar 2023Maria Callas - La Forza del destino - 1954
The first Verdi role that Maria Callas assumed in her career was that of Leonora, a tragic yet passionate young woman facing grief, forbidden love, danger, and exile
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07 Mar 2023Maria Callas - Il Turco in Italia - 1950
After nearly a century of neglect, Rossini's Il Turco in Italia was brought to light again first in 1950 and then in this brilliant Zeffirelli production, both times starring Maria Callas as Fiorilla.
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03 Mar 2023Maria Callas - Amina in La sonnambula - 1957
3–9 March 1957 Callas records Amina in La sonnambula with the forces of La Scala, Milan, under Antonino Votto.
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02 Mar 2023Maria Callas
“To sing is an expression of your being, a being which is becoming” – Maria Callas
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27 Feb 2023Maria Callas jewelry
On the 17th of November 2004, some jewelry formerly owned by Maria Callas was auctioned off by Sotheby’s in Geneva. How many pieces were sold? Tell us in the comments
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24 Feb 2023Maria Callas - Un Ballo in Maschera - 1956
This 1956 recording at La Scala stars Maria Callas as Amelia, torn between her love for Riccardo (Giuseppe Di Stefano) and her faithfulness to Renato (Tito Gobbi) in Verdi's dark and conspiratorial Un ballo in maschera.
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22 Feb 2023Maria Callas Boxset
⭐ This September ⭐
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100 years after the birth of Maria Callas, the impact of her voice, her musicality, and her iconic personality continues to reign supreme. This new collection presents La Divina in all 74 roles for which audio documents exist – becoming the most comprehensive set of her recordings ever released. -
18 Feb 2023Maria Callas
“You are born an artist or you are not. And you stay an artist, dear, even if your voice is less of a fireworks. The artist is always there.” – Maria Callas
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15 Feb 2023Maria Callas - Athens - 1941
15 February 1941
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Callas makes her professional operatic debut as Beatrice in Suppé’s Boccaccio with the Greek National Opera at the Pallas Cinema in Athens. She gives six performances. -
14 Feb 2023Valentines Day
Happy Valentine's Day! 💖💐 Today is the day to fall head over heels for the best love songs and arias that opera has to offer, sung by Maria Callas. Traversing the ups and downs of romance, her voice carries us through feelings from passion and bliss to jealousy and regret.
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10 Feb 2023Maria Callas - Rigoletto - 1955
Rigoletto is a cornerstone of Italian opera and delivers one of Verdi's most challenging role evolutions: that of Gilda, daughter of the jester Rigoletto ✨
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Maria Callas recorded this part just once in the studio, in 1955 with Giuseppe Di Stefano and Tito Gobbi. -
09 Feb 2023Maria Callas - Tosca - London 1964
9 February 1964
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The second act of the Zeffirelli production of Tosca at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, with Callas and Gobbi is televised as a ‘Golden Hour’ on British television. -
07 Feb 2023Maria Callas - Il Barbiere di Siviglia - London - 1957
7–14 February 1957
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Callas records Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia in London with the Philharmonia Orchestra under Alceo Galliera with Tito Gobbi and Luigi Alva. -
05 Feb 2023Maria Callas - Il Barbiere di Siviglia
In February 1957 Callas recorded Il Barbiere di Siviglia under Alceo Galliera. In which city?
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Tell us in the comments -
03 Feb 2023Maria Callas - Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana
Though she only performed the role once on stage – for her youthful debut in Athens, when she was still just a teenager – Maria Callas left a splendid studio recording for us to treasure of her interpretation of Santuzza in Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana. The version features Giuseppe Di Stefano and Rolando Panerai.
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01 Feb 2023Maria Callas
“I’m not an angel and I don’t pretend to be an angel. It’s not one of my roles. But I’m not even the devil. I am a woman and a serious artist, and I would like to be judged for that.” – Maria Callas
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29 Jan 2023Maria Callas - Turandot - Venice 1948
29 January 1948
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Callas sings Turandot for the first time at La Fenice in Venice under Nino Sanzogno. She will perform the role 24 times in her career up to June 1949 in Buenos Aires. -
29 Jan 2023Maria Callas - Paris - Medea - 1970
29 January 1970
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Pasolini’s non-operatic film of the play Medea by Euripides starring Callas in the title role receives its gala premiere at the Paris Opéra. Its reception is muted and the film is not a commercial success. -
26 Jan 2023Maria Callas - Pagliacci - 1954
In this legendary recording made at La Scala in 1954, Maria Callas portrays the femme fatale Nedda/Colombina in Leoncavallo's tragic, jealousy-fueled opera Pagliacci. At her side in the studio were Tito Gobbi, Giuseppe Di Stefano, and the Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala di Milano conducted by Tullio Serafin.
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21 Jan 2023Maria Callas - Tosca - London 1964
21 January 1964
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After an absence of several years, Callas makes a triumphant return to the stage at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, in a memorable new production of Tosca directed by Franco Zeffirelli that is highly praised on all counts. She gives six performances. -
20 Jan 2023Maria Callas - Norma - 1954
Has there ever been a more perfect Norma? This role was emblematic for Maria Callas, who performed it nearly 100 times over the course of her career.
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She made her first studio recording as this tragic legendary character in 1954, under the baton of Tullio Serafin -
19 Jan 2023Maria Callas - Venice - 1949
19 January 1949
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Having just sung her first Brünnhilde in Die Walküre 11 days earlier, Callas, at the insistence of Serafin, replaces the indisposed Margherita Carosio in the coloratura role of Elvira in I puritani at La Fenice in Venice. The operatic world is stunned by her performance. This is the turning point in Callas’s career and the start of her involvement in the rehabilitation of the Italian bel canto repertoire. -
14 Jan 2023Maria Callas - 1951 - La Traviata
14 January 1951 Callas sings Violetta in La traviata for the first time in Florence under Tullio Serafin. She will perform this role 63 times in her career up to November 1958 in Dallas.
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12 Jan 202330,000 Instagram followers
30,000 Instagram followers ⭐ Thank you to everyone who has joined our community and contributed to keeping the great legacy of Maria Callas alive! Tell us in the comments: what is your favorite role that she performed?
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11 Jan 2023Maria Callas
“An opera begins long before the curtain goes up and ends long after it has come down. It starts in my imagination, it becomes my life, and it stays part of my life long after I've left the opera house.” – Maria Callas
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08 Jan 2023Maria Callas - Andrea Chénier - 1955
8 January 1955
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Callas sings Maddalena in Andrea Chénier with Mario de Monaco in alla Scala, Milan. She gives six performances. -
06 Jan 2023Maria Callas - 1952 - Milan - Gioconda
The first recording that Maria Callas made in the tragic role of Gioconda – one she particularly liked and frequently performed – took place in 1952 with the Orchestra sinfonica di Torino della RAI and conductor Antonino Votto.
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02 Jan 2023Maria Callas - Norma - Rome - 1958
2 January 1958
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Pleading illness, Callas cancels after the first act of a gala performance of Norma in Rome, attended by the President of Italy and all of Rome society; she is harshly criticised in the media. -
27 Dec 2022Maria Callas - Paris 1963
Callas records three solo albums (arias by Mozart, Beethoven and Weber, arias by Rossini and Donizetti and Verdi Arias II) in the Salle Wagram, Paris, with the Paris Conservatoire Orchestra under Nicola Rescigno. Further sessions to complete the albums take place in January and April 1964.
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19 Dec 2022Maria Callas - Paris - 1958
19 December 1958
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Callas makes a sensational début in Paris in a gala benefit concert for the Legion d’Honneur at the Paris Opéra; celebrities in the audience include the President of France and Aristotle Onassis, who begins to take a closer interest in Callas. -
16 Dec 2022Maria Callas - Tosca - Paris 1964
Callas records Tosca for the second time – in Paris under Georges Prêtre with Tito Gobbi and Carlo Bergonzi as the soundtrack for a proposed film that does not eventuate.
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07 Dec 2022Maria Callas - 1954 - Milan - La vestale
7 December 1954
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Callas works for the first time with the famous theatre and film director Luchino Visconti when she opens the season at La Scala, Milan, in La vestale by Spontini. She gives five performances. -
02 Dec 2022Maria Callas 100 years anniversary
On this day 99 years ago, Maria Callas was born. She would become one of the greatest icons of the classical music world, awing and enchanting listeners around the world – from the stage and the studio – with her unparalleled voice.
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In 2023, we will honor the centenary of her birth, with exclusive experiences, exhibitions, concerts, and events around the world. -
11 Nov 2022Maria Callas - Madama Butterfly - Chicago 1955
Callas sings Madama Butterfly in Chicago under Nicola Rescigno with Giuseppe di Stefano. She gives three performances.
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10 Nov 2022Maria Callas - Cetra - Turin 1949
Callas makes her first recordings for Cetra in Turin. They are three 78-rpm discs of arias from Norma, I puritani and Tristan und Isolde (in Italian).
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29 Oct 2022Maria Callas - Norma - New York 1956
Callas sings for the first time at the Metropolitan, New York, in Norma.
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19 Sep 2022Maria Callas - Verdi Arias - London 1958
Callas records Verdi Arias I with the Philharmonia Orchestra under Nicola Rescigno in No.1 Studio at Abbey Road but she does not like the acoustic so the orchestra moves to Kingsway Hall after the final session on 24 September to record the Mad Scenes album scheduled to follow immediately.
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15 Sep 2022Maria Callas - Puccini Arias and Lyric and Coloratura Arias - London 1954
Callas makes her first recordings in London: Puccini Arias and Lyric and Coloratura Arias in the Watford Town Hall with the Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Tullio Serafin. The Puccini Arias album is believed to be Callas’s all-time best-selling solo recital.
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12 Sep 2022Maria Callas - Medea - Milan 1957
On a let-out from her exclusive EMI contract, Callas records Medea at La Scala, Milan, under Tullio Serafin for Ricordi. The recording is released under licence in Europe by EMI and by Mercury in the USA.
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04 Sep 2022Maria Callas - La Gioconda - Milan 1959
Callas records La Gioconda for the second time. The cast includes Fiorenza Cossotto and Piero Cappuccilli with the forces of La Scala, Milan, under Antonino Votto.
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04 Sep 2022Maria Callas - Un ballo in maschera - Milan 1956
Callas records Un ballo in maschera at La Scala, Milan, under Antonino Votto with Giuseppe di Stefano and Tito Gobbi.
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03 Sep 2022Maria Callas - Rigoletto - Milan 1955
Callas sings Gilda in Rigoletto recorded at La Scala, Milan, under Tullio Serafin with Tito Gobbi and Giuseppe di Stefano. In February 2013, Gramophone magazine selected this as its top recommendation for Rigoletto on record.
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31 Aug 2022Maria Callas - Il turco in Italia - Milan 1954
Callas records Fiorilla in Rossini’s Il turco in Italia at La Scala, Milan, under Gianandrea Gavazzeni with Nicolai Gedda. The recording period ends on 8 September.
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30 Aug 2022Maria Callas & Cartier
Cartier has officially launched its summer program for 2022: a virtual, immersive tour of the planet’s most desirable seaside destinations, each one with an iconic figure as inspiration.
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The Maison chose to begin its season by following the footsteps of the inimitable Maria Callas: proposing a digital trip to Mykonos inspired by a photograph of her holidaying on the legendary island. Both the Maria Callas Estate and the Maison Cartier are more than pleased for this great partnership between the two major names.
Credits : © Ara Güler Doğuş Sanat ve Müzecilik A.Ş. / Magnum Photos -
20 Aug 2022Maria Callas - La bohème - Milan 1956
Callas records Mimì in La bohème at La Scala, Milan, under Antonino Votto, a role she never played on stage. The recording was completed on 3 & 4 September.
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11 Aug 2022Maria Callas - Aida - Milan 1955
Callas records Aida at La Scala, Milan, under Tullio Serafin with a cast including Richard Tucker, Fedora Barbieri and Tito Gobbi.
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10 Aug 2022Maria Callas - Tosca - Milan 1953
Callas sings Tosca in the legendary recording with Giuseppe di Stefano and Tito Gobbi at La Scala, Milan, conducted by Victor de Sabata, universally acclaimed as one of the finest recordings ever made.
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03 Aug 2022Maria Callas - Il trovatore - Milan 1956
Callas records Il trovatore at La Scala, Milan, under Herbert von Karajan with Giuseppi di Stefano as Manrico.
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02 Aug 2022Maria Callas - La Gioconda - Verona 1947
Callas makes her Italian début in the Arena at Verona in La Gioconda conducted by Tullio Serafin. She will perform La Gioconda 13 times during her career up to February 1953.
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01 Aug 2022Maria Callas - Madama Butterfly - Milan 1955
Callas records Madama Butterfly at La Scala, Milan, under Herbert von Karajan with Nicolai Gedda as Pinkerton.
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29 Jul 2022Maria Callas - EMI - 1969
After lengthy negotiations lasting more than one year, Callas signs an exclusive recording contract with EMI. This same contract will continue until the end of Callas’s recording career in 1969.
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18 Jul 2022Maria Callas - Manon Lescaut - Milan 1957
Callas records Manon Lescaut at La Scala, Milan, conducted by Tullio Serafin. This is an opera she never performed on stage.
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15 Jul 2022Maria Callas - Margherita - Verona 1954
Callas sings Margherita in Boito’s Mefistofele at the Arena in Verona. She gives three performances.
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09 Jul 2022Maria Callas - Turandot - Milan 1957
Callas records Turandot at La Scala, Milan, conducted by Tullio Serafin
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06 Jul 2022Maria Callas - Carmen - Paris 1964
Callas records Carmen in the Salle Wagram, Paris, under Georges Prêtre with Nicolai Gedda as Don José.
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05 Jul 2022Maria Callas - Tosca - London 1965
Callas is scheduled to sing four performances of Tosca at Covent Garden. She is advised on medical grounds to withdraw but she decides to sing just once. She chooses the Royal Gala on 5 July, which turns out to be her final appearance on the operatic stage.
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27 Jun 2022Maria Callas - La Gioconda - Naples 1947
Callas arrives in Naples by ship from New York and goes the next day to Verona to begin rehearsals for La Gioconda. In Verona, she meets Giovanni Battista Meneghini, a wealthy Italian industrialist and opera lover, 28 years her senior.
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20 Jun 2022Maria Callas - Il trovatore - Mexico City 1950
Callas sings Leonora in Il trovatore in Mexico City under Guido Picco. She will go on to perform the role 20 times in her career up to November 1955 in Chicago with Jussi Björling.
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17 Jun 2022Maria Callas - Rigoletto - Mexico City 1952
Callas sings Gilda in Rigoletto under Umberto Mugnai in Mexico City with Giuseppe di Stefano. She gives two performances.
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12 Jun 2022Maria Callas - Pagliacci - Milan 1954
Callas records Nedda in Pagliacci with the forces of La Scala under Tullio Serafin with Giuseppe di Stefano and Tito Gobbi. This is a role she never sang on the stage.
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10 Jun 2022Maria Callas - Lucia di Lammermoor - Dallas 1952
Callas sings Lucia di Lammermoor for the first time in Mexico City under Guido Picco with Giuseppe di Stefano. She will go on to perform the role 46 times in her career up to November 1959 in Dallas.
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09 Jun 2022Maria Callas - Euridice - Florence 1951
70 years ago: Callas sings Euridice in the first ever stage performance of Haydn’s 1791 opera Orfeo ed Euridice under Erich Kleiber in the Pergola Theatre at the Maggio Musicale Festival in Florence. She gives two performances.
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05 Jun 2022Maria Callas - Medea - 1969
Filming begins on a non-operatic film of the play Medea by Euripides, directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini, starring Callas as Medea.
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01 Jun 2022Maria Callas - Ifigenia in Tauride - Milan 1957
Callas sings in Gluck’s Ifigenia in Tauride at La Scala, Milan, under Nino Sonzogno and directed by Luchino Visconti. She gives four performances.
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26 May 2022Maria Callas - I vespri socilliani - Florence 1951
Callas sings Elena in I vespri siciliani under Erich Kleiber in Florence. Its great success leads to her being invited to open the next season at La Scala on 7 December in the same role, which she goes on to perform 11 times up to January 1952.
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22 May 2022Maria Callas - Norma - Paris 1964
Callas appears in Paris in Norma, directed by Zeffirelli, in a spectacular staging that is to be her last new production.
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21 May 2022Maria Callas - Fedora - Milan 1956
Callas sings Fedora at La Scala, Milan, under Gianandrea Gavazzeni with Franco Corelli. She gives six performances.
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19 May 2022Maria Callas - Carmen - New York 1962
Callas sings two arias from Carmen at Madison Square Garden, New York, in a concert celebrating the 45th birthday of President Kennedy at which Marilyn Monroe sang: ‘Happy Birthday Mr President’.
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19 May 2022Maria Callas - Il pirata - Milan 1958
Callas sings Imogen in Il pirata at La Scala, Milan, under Antonino Votto with Franco Corelli. She gives five performances.
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15 May 2022Maria Callas - Musikhalle, Hamburg 1959
As part of a German tour, Callas gives a concert in the Musikhalle, Hamburg, conducted by Nicola Rescigno. A video recordings is available on DVD 4 92246 9 Maria Callas in Concert.
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07 May 2022Maria Callas - Medea - Milan 1953
Callas sings Medea in Florence under Vittorio Gui. She will go on to give 31 performances during her career up to June 1962 at La Scala, Milan.
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02 May 2022Callas à Paris II (1963) - Maria Callas Remastered
Callas records Callas à Paris II in the Salle Wagram, Paris, under Georges Prêtre.
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26 Apr 2022Maria Callas – Rossini: Armida (1952, Florence) – Callas Live Remastered
Callas sings the fiendishly difficult leading role in Rossini’s Armida in Florence under Tullio Serafin. She gives three performances.
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23 Apr 2022The Pure collection - Limited-edition Red Translucent Vinyl
Remastered recordings of Maria Callas singing opera favorites – has never been more dazzling than in this limited-edition red translucent vinyl, now also featuring the iconic aria "Il dolce suono" from Lucia di Lammermoor.
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Available today exclusively at independent record stores! -
23 Apr 2022Bellini: Norma (1954) - Maria Callas Remastered
Callas records Norma for the first time with the forces of La Scala in Milan conducted by Tullio Serafin. The cast includes Mario Filippeschi and Ebe Stignani. The sessions finish on 3 May 1954.
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21 Apr 2022Callas marries Giovanni Battista Meneghini
21 April 1949
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Callas marries Giovanni Battista Meneghini in Verona and sails that night on her own for Argentina to sing at the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires. -
17 Apr 2022Maria Callas - La Forza del destino - Trieste 1948
Callas sings Leonora in La forza del destino in Trieste under Mario Parenti. She gives a total of six performances during her career up to May 1954.
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14 Apr 2022Maria Callas - Anna Bolena - Milan 1957
Callas sings Anna Bolena at La Scala, Milan. This production is one of the high points of the bel canto revival that Callas instigated at La Scala. She gives 12 performances in total.
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12 Apr 2022Maria Callas - Don Carlo - Milan 1954
Callas sings Elisabetta in Don Carlo at La Scala, Milan, under Antonino Votto. She gives five performances.
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04 Apr 2022Maria Callas - Alceste - Milan 1954
Callas sings Gluck’s Alceste at La Scala, Milan, under Carlo Maria Giulini. She gives four performances.
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02 Apr 2022Maria Callas - Die Entführung - Milan 1952
Callas sings Konstanze in Die Entführung aus dem Serail (in Italian) at La Scala, Milan, under Jonel Perlea. This is her only Mozart role. She gives four performances.
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09 Nov 2018The Maria Callas Room
Discover the many facets of La Divina’s voice, personality and art in the Maria Callas Room – on audio and video … individual tracks, recital albums, playlists, complete operas and landmark box sets.
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07 Oct 2018Spanish opera singer Montserrat Caballe dies at 85 - The Washington Post
In her almost unlimited repertoire, she starred in 90 opera roles with nearly 4,000 stage performances. Opera singer Maria Callas is once said to have answered “Only Caballe ...” when asked once who she considered a worthy successor.
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14 Sep 2018Official Hologram Tour soundtrack, featuring legendary Callas recordings, released 14 September
‘I don’t know what happens to me on stage. Something else seems to take over.’ –Maria Callas
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A new generation of opera lovers can experience the larger-than-life diva Maria Callas perform live in a worldwide concert tour, in the form of a three-dimensional hologram. BASE Hologram has captured Callas at the height of her powers with innovative technology and finely-honed stagecraft for a unique and compelling show: Callas in Concert — The Hologram Tour.
BASE Hologram has partnered with Warner Classics, the sole guardian of La Divina’s recorded legacy, to curate the official soundtrack and playlist of the tour. The Callas in Concert album mirrors the program and encores of the stage show, with her original iconic recordings, re-mastered in 24-bit/96kHz sound at Abbey Road Studios. (For The Hologram Tour, a team of highly experienced sound engineers isolated the voice of Callas so that her hologram incarnation could once again take the stage with a live orchestra.) The recital includes many of the arias in which she proved her prowess on stage and in the studio, and in which she remains unrivalled today: Bellini’s Casta Diva, Puccini’s Vissi d’Arte, Bizet’s L’Amour est un oiseau rebelle, among others. -
07 Dec 2017Callas again opens La Scala’s season!
Back in 1993, Callas’s recording of the aria ‘La mamma morta’ heightened the impact of the Tom Hanks film Philadelphia. Now it has been chosen by La Scala, Milan to promote the live TV broadcast of the theatre’s new production of Andrea Chénier, which opens its 2017-18 season on December 6th. One of Callas’ complete 1955 performances of the opera at La Scala features in the Warner Classics box set Maria Callas: Live.
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02 Dec 2017Multiple views on Callas
Mille e una Callas (1001 Callases) is a collection of some 40 essays, edited by Luca Aversano and Jacopo Pellegrini. It offers a fascinating variety of views on Callas, her art and her legacy – from personal reminiscences to philosophical analysis.
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13 Nov 2017
“A diva for all time”
The highly-respected Dutch magazine Luister includes insights from Bertrand Castellani of Warner Classics in an article about the box set Maria Callas: Live, entitled “Spectacular remasterings”.
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06 Nov 2017
Callas for Christmas
“A definitive live Callas” is the headline in The New York Times Gift Guide as Michael Cooper, the newspaper’s Classical Music & Dance Reporter, recommends Warner Classics’ box set Maria Callas: Live for “the Callas cultist”.
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14 Sep 2017Callas symposium at La Scala, Milan
Held at La Scala to mark the 40th anniversary of Callas’s death, a public symposium features Eliana de Sabata – daughter of Victor de Sabata, who conducted Callas’s La Scala recording of Tosca – and baritone Rolando Panerai, who performed frequently with Callas.
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15 Sep 2017Maria Callas Live: Remastered Live Recordings 1949-1964
Warner Classics has released a 42-CD box set of Callas’ live recordings, all in remastered sound. Among the 20 complete operas in the collection are 12 that Callas never recorded in the studio.
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Release of the Live Box set back in September -
15 Sep 2017Callas exhibition at La Scala, Milan
Splendid stage costumes worn by Callas at La Scala form the focus of an exhibition at the museum in Milan’s legendary opera house. (Runs until 31.01.18)
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20 Oct 2017
Better than ever before
El País, one of Spain’s most important newspapers, discusses Warner Classics’ box set Maria Callas: Live, observing that the recordings have ever sounded better than they do in these remasterings.
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13 Oct 2017
“This set is a must-have”
The November 2017 edition of the UK magazine Opera Now runs a full-page feature on Warner Classics’ box set, Maria Callas: Live, concluding: “This set is a must-have not just for Callas fans, but for any serious opera lover.”
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20 Sep 2017
Setting a new standard
Writing in the Italian magazine Classic Voice, Elvio Giudici praises Warner Classics’ box set Maria Callas: Live."The sound has been restored with such sophistication by Studio Art et Son in partnership with Studio Circé … that it defies comparison.”
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19 Sep 2017
Closer to the Callas legend
“A veil has been lifted,” says the German magazine Oper! on hearing the remastered recordings in Warner Classics’ box set Maria Callas: Live. After Callas Remastered in 2014, “another small miracle has been achieved, bringing us a little closer to the legend that is Maria Callas.”
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16 Sep 2017
Revelatory remasterings
The German public broadcaster Deutschlandfunk, listening to Warner Classics’ box set Maria Callas: Live, finds the remastered sound revelatory. “In these lovingly restored recordings, Callas’ achievement becomes especially evident: this is vocal art for eternity.”
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13 Sep 2017
A transformational influence
Discussing Warner Classics’ box set, Maria Callas: Live, the influential French magazine Télérama writes: “We continue to be amazed by the creativity of a diva who transformed the world of opera.”
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