April Millo: Verdi - Aida, 'Oh patria mia'.

Aprile Millo (born April 14, 1958) is an American operatic soprano of Italian and Irish ancestry who is particularly admired for her interpretations of the works of Giuseppe Verdi. Possessing a spinto voice of power, warmth and temperament, Millo became one of the most celebrated opera singers of the late twentieth century. Although she has performed at many of the world's leading opera houses and with many orchestras and ensembles internationally, Millo has spent much of her career appearing in productions at the Metropolitan Opera. Aprile Millo was born in New York City, the daughter of two opera singers, tenor Giovanni Millo (John Hamill) and soprano Margherita Girosi. Millo became interested in music at an early age and received her musical education primarily from her parents. Millo is noted for the beauty of her voice and her nuanced interpretation. On April 4, 1986, Donal Henahan wrote in the New York times of Millo's performance in Don Carlo: "Miss Millo sounds more and more like the Verdi soprano we've been waiting for." Later in 1986 (June 18), reviewing a Metropolitan Opera production of Aida in Central Park, Mr. Rockwell wrote, "Miss Millo has a real Verdi sound...her darkly yet delicately colored lower voice, full of urgency in the phrasing, and her overall mastery of this role from a technical and interpretive standpoint, are already very moving. Her performance reached its high point just where it must, in the third act, when Aida grows from a supplicating ingenue into a woman torn by her conflicts. With singing like this, nothing could dull the intensity of Verdi's drama. The concert formality, the populist setting, the amplification, all fell away in the face of real operatic drama embodied in song. If Mr. Domingo and Mr. Pavarotti can match that in the next two parks openers, the Met and its fans will be fortunate indeed."... en.wikipedia.or...
Lyrics & English Translation
Radames will come here!
What will he want to say to me? I tremble!
Ah! If you come to bring me, cruel one,
your last farewell,
the dark whirlpools of the Nile
will give me a tomb, and perhaps peace,
and perhaps peace and oblivion.
O my country, never more will I see you!
Never more, never more will I see you!
O blue skies, o sweet native breezes,
where the morning of my life shone peacefully,
o green hills, o fragrant river-banks,
o my country, never more will I see you!
Never more! no, no, never more!
O cool valleys, o calm refuge
which one day was promised to me by love,
now that the dream of love has vanished,
o my country, I will see you never more.
O my country, never more will I see you!
A link to this wonderful artist's personal website: operavision.org/
Please Enjoy!
I send my kind and warm regards,