Regina Resnik would have turned 100 today.
She made her opera debut as the Lady in Verdi’s Macbeth in December 1942 with Fritz Busch’s New Opera Company at the Broadway Theatre in Manhattan.
She later scaled down to mezzo.
Regina died in Manhattan in August 2013, just short of her 91st.
The Doric String Quartet, on the road since…
The US violinist has announced she is still…
The Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires has appointed…
The press service of the Mariinsky Theater has…
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She may have made her debut IN Macbeth, but probably not AS Macbeth… in any case, she was a great artist.
http://www.bruceduffie.com/resnik.html
Here is a lovely and an illuminating interview transcribed between Bruce Duffie in Chicago for WNIB Classical 97 radio station and Regina Resnik.
While I was too late to catch her in her prime, I did hear/see has as Klytämnestra (at a time when she was still singing Carmen), Herodias, Dame Quickly, the Countess in “Pikovaya dama”, and a totally scene-stealing La marquise de Berkenfield in “La Fille du régiment” aside some frumpy singers called Sutherand and Pavarotti (she and Ferdando Corena totally dominated the action!), and Resnik NEVER scaled ANYTHING down!
I raise a glass to her artistry, versatility, and her magnificent sense of humour and spontaneity! My archives include an outrageous autographed photo of her as the Marquise, eyes bulging and a wide grin from behind a huge florid headpiece (which tries to dominate but loses).
In a studio recording of KISMET (London/Decca), Miss Resnik’s singing and yodeling of “Not Since Nineveh” and “Zubbedyiah” put all rivals to flight.
There is YouTube footage of her in the NYCO production of A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC as Madame Armfeldt. But could you include softer sweeter examples of her considerable art? And if you do I won’t mention how a**hole Rudolf Bing only used her in supporting roles. Thank you and Happy Birthday, ‘o mia Regina’.
Bing did not give Resnik star treatment until the mid-60s when she appeared in new productions of FALSTAFF, QUEEN OF SPADES and ELEKTRA, plus FILLE- al major gigs. But though she did loudly complain about being given Marcellina in NOZZE, under Bing’s regime she in fact sang Amneris, Eboli, Azucena, Donna Elvira, Marina, Musetta, Carmen, Santuzza, Laura Adorno, the Principessa di Bouillon, the Old Baroness in the WP of VANESSA, Gutrune, Chrysothemis, Rosalinde and Orlofsky–none of which is a character part.