A vos jeux mes amis

THE SONGBIRD: Sylvia Geszty (1934 - 2018) was one of the leading coloratura practitioners of the 1960s-1980s. She made many studio recordings and was a regular on European television. Geszty was born in Budapest, but lived most of her life in Germany, with Berlin and Stuttgart as her bases. She made her debut in 1959 in Budapest, and then started her long association with Berlin in 1961 as Gluck's Amor. Her international appearances included Queen of the Night in London in 1966 and in Salzburg in 1967/68/70; and as Sophie in "Der Rosenkavalier" in Buenos Aires and in Los Angeles in 1969. Other cities heard her: Paris, Brussels, Moscow, Amsterdam, Glyndebourne, and Venice. In 1988, Geszty founded an international coloratura singing competition, and in 2004 published her memoirs, titled "Königin der Koloraturen."

THE MUSIC: "Hamlet" is a grand opera in five acts by Ambroise Thomas, with a libretto by Michel Carré and Jules Barbier based on a French adaptation of Shakespeare's play. It premiered at the Paris Opera in 1868. Swedish soprano Christine Nilsson had just been engaged at the Opéra and Thomas chose her for the role of Ophélie, adapting the score in places to fit her talent, including interpolating a Swedish folk song into the mad scene -- which was suggested by Nilsson. The mad scene is one of the longest and most demanding in the coloratura soprano repertoire, though here is is truncated with only one verse in the final section.