Montserrat Cabballé returns from the dead to fight for Armenia
mainA posthumous album by the late Spanish soprano who died in 2018 takes sides in the Armenian-Azeri war.
From the press release:
In 2013 and 2014, the legendary soprano Montserrat Caballé (1956-2018) visited some of the most ancient churches, cathedrals and monasteries in the world, in homage to the 1700 anniversary of the adoption of Christianity as the state religion in Armenia. She performed in Yerevan and Stepanakert and recorded several pieces, among them two Armenian songs.
Impressed and deeply touched by her experience of visiting Armenia and Artsakh, including the historic sites of St Echmiadzin (Armenia, 385 AD) and Amaras (Artsakh, 338 AD) Caballé said: “Armenia is far from me, but it is close to my heart. Christian to the core, I fell in love with Artsakh and Armenia”. She called this album The Island of Christianity: Armenia and Artsakh.
A certain opera couple are not in the target market for this product, we suppose.
lol totally agree.
Caballe born 1956? I’ve heard of divas shaving years off their real birthdates (Kirsten razored off a good ten), but most sources say MC was born in 1933.
Correction: Montserrat Caballé (1933-2018)
You could have at least spelled her name right in the HEADLINE
Uh… she has also gotten a bit younger posthumously. Her actual dates are 12 April 1933 – 6 October 2018.
Armenia was the first country in Europe to adopt Christianity in I think AD303, then Georgia. There are wonderful World Heritage sites all over both countries, well worth seeing even for an atheist like me!
I’m not surprised that Caballé was “impressed and deeply touched” by what she experienced in Armenia. Twenty years ago, as a guest of the Catholicos, I attended Sunday liturgy at Etchmiadzin. It was an unforgettably stirring experience if only for the extraordinary passion and quality of the singing. It was almost frightening. If MC heard it no wonder it affected her so deeply. Elizabeth Owen’s comments are spot on and the Armenian people I found to be warm, welcoming and quietly proud of their country.
It was the writer of the press release who gave the wrong year of Caballe’s birth, not the diva herself.