THIS is opera! Astounding technique, stage presence, musicality, pathos. And superb costumes! Not the usual modern, contemporay and revisited s***t we are used to today. Legendary!
Eduardo Braivein Many people said she was difficult to work with, despite her extraordinary singing. She had a huge career in Europe, but wasn’t invited to the Met often. She sang a lot in her early years at the New York City Opera, but badmouthed Beverly Sills too many times.
She a reason to badmouth Beverly SHRILLS!!!! June is a real diva wirh a real voice huge in size. Unlike Sills who had a tiny winy very shrill voice with a horrid technique reason why she did not last anything.
June Anderson and Rossini are a match made in heaven! Her sparkling coloratura, always in gorgeous legato is always in great display when singing his music.
She is absolutely perfect for this role. Perfect timbre, perfect technique. Her voice has that clear silvery sheen and crystalline purity without the awful canary quality to it. And both her diction and phrasing are wonderful. All coloratura sopranos try to sing this show stopping aria but hardly any of them do it justice. And her additional embellishments fit beautifully into the Rossini lines, and her top notes are miraculously melodious. I am sure Rossini himself would have been impressed.
She's got an amazing voice, crystal clear diction and I love the way her coloratura ability comes to play naturally especially when she strikes those high Es. Bravissimo. 🙏❤🖤🌹
The best Semiramide ever. No one has sung Semiramide like her ever again. Back in the day Lella Cuberli and Joan Sutherland did a great job. And recently Elena Mosuc and Jessica Pratt has done it wonderful. But no one like June Anderson. Let's hope to see Annick Massis or Marina Rebeka in the role someday.
hectoragb thanks for reminding us Lella Cuberli! One of the most beautiful and skillful soprano voices I’ve ever heard! But I’m totally agree about Anderson! She is sublime!
Lucia...Semiramide...Traviata....ascoltate da lei ...sono impresse nel mio Cuore per sempre. Donizetti Rossini, Verdi erano in buone mani.Qui è al top.....con la Horne...e Ramey....che delizia....Chapeau!!!!!
But how gloriously she can sing. In my opinion. It is so precisely executed and sounds effortless. The high coloratura is outstanding. I love precise singing and thorough technique. It's giving a singer a noticeably better sound and freedom to express I believe. And the better the technique and the precision, the better. Always. Some singing qualities seem to have died out with the 1900-1940 generations. But this is the world of today. Less quality, more focus on image and looks and performance.
Fascinating voice.....those High E's were truly incredible......interesting twist at the end......she looks like a young Joan Sutherland.....I respect all the fast passages she sang....this particular aria goes down twice to the low A and then (the way she and Sutherland and Gruberova sang it) up to the High E natural.....so it is a Bravura ASSOLUTA aria of extreme difficulty and range.....Miss Anderson is a worthy successor of Miss Sutherland
The only reason she touches on high F is that she's a wee bit sharp. June's singing the aria in the original key, and that note properly should have been a high E natural. It kind of adds to the excitement of the moment, and if you're going for a high note, it's certainly better to be sharp than flat. Dame Joan sang it in the original key in the early sixties, hitting high E's, but soon lowered it by a semitone, making the top note an Eb. She sang it as late as 1983, where she had lowered the cabaletta by a minor third, making the top note a C sharp.
Best Semiramide ever. Perfect technique and wonderful voice. Only Sutherland and Callas are at the same level. No one comes even close to her these days.
This is from Dec 15, 1990. I know it because I was there. I had already seen Salome earlier that day (w Behrens) and this was the evening perf. Brilliant! With Anderson, Horne, Ramey. Cond by Conlon, who had also conducted Salome. Anderson was a truly great soprano, and she's still singing pretty well in Europe.
Ah - THIS is the original Semiramide costume for this production! Nice- and Anderson looks and sounds fantastic. In its current iteration at the Met, it looks like they pulled down Scarlett O'Hara's mama's stiff brocade curtains and attached them loosely the the bulk of Meade.
Extraordinaire artiste . quelle technique ,perfection des coloraturas ,dans le legato et le staccato .Une étendue vocale incroyable .Des suraigus étincelants .
June was singing so beautifully in this performance and at this time. So many beautiful clear high E's and then she shocked me at the end and didn't put the final E. I wish I knew why. She was in fine voice!!
Very gorgeous voice and interpretation. She sang an unforgettable Violeta at Municipal de Santiago Ópera Nacional de Chile. Warm greetings from Santiago,Chile. Dr. Fernando Rivas-Burattini.
+dike chukwudi waaaaaay better. Sutherland was born with a bigger voice and she just sing the notes with less power so she can make it seem like she has more agility. June Anderson's coloratura is sweeping, more effortless with power, clarity, and evenness, it's just higher quality singing, period.
J'ai eu la chance d'entendre et de voir June Anderson en 1985 pour la 1ère fois c'était dans Robert le diable de Meyerbeer : sublissime c'était la 1ère fois qu'elle chantait à l'Opéra de Paris. je l'ai réentendu de nombreuses fois par la suite. Ona dit qu'elle ressemblait à Joan Sutherland-La Stupenda- or ce n'est pas le même type vocal même si elles ont chanté le bel canto romantique toutes 2.
@Bravo Luca Me too, I just attended last year to the Met 50th anniversary (and heard the "world top" singers, and went several times this year. There is not that quality of singing anymore.
this is a great performance of this aria and June certainly thrives in this role...but those of you who think she is the best Semiramide clearly have not listened to a certain someone...i'll give you a hint...she's STUPENDOUS!
Michael Brock Right! Pity she didn't make a studio recording of this opera! It is she who should have recorded it, not Cheryl Studer! (although the ideal time should have been middle-late 1980's, approximately by the time she recorded "Maometto II" by the same author.
not my favorite rendition, but my favorite interpretation. Semiramide is in love. she's supposed to sound HAPPY! most singers sing this piece in such a serious, formal manner, like it's a march or a declaration of war.
Brava Ms. Anderson! I cannot imagine that until today, I had not heard of this exceptional artist and her extraordinary instrument. A very good interpretation of this aria. Up there with those by Dame Sutherland and Madame Callas. Her timbre and interpretation, not to mention that jawline, remind me so much of Dame Sutherland. Glorious singing!
Funny story: Richard Bonynge introduced Sutherland to June Anderson and said, 'Miss Anderson sings all your roles.' Sutherland quipped, 'My dear, the high notes are in that jaw!'
+Nigel O Very true,if you look at all the great Sopranos/Mezzos they all have large or very large jaws,which act as a sort of reverberance chamber(I must confess to having become quite obsessive about this).Having stood next to Joan in the wings at Covent Garden,I can truthfully state that her jaw was probably larger than it appeared from the stalls.Actually she had a dislike of being photographed from below,as this made the jaw seem even bigger.However,aren't we glad of the big jaw,and the sound it helped to create.
Acacia Bloom I'm pretty sure that's exactly what Sutherland meant when she made that quip to Anderson. They both had big jaws, as well as seemingly effortless high notes.
@marchesano I wish i knew too! The performance was so spectacular and crystal perfect without it anyway. A lot of sopranos that do have that note don't add it all the time. She's a smart girl(she didn't go to Yale for nothing!). She knows what she's doing.
I would like to now why she is considered a dramatic coloratura?? I know she has large voice for a coloratura soprano, and a very rich voice but when I think of dramatic, I think of Dimitrova, Nilsson, Callas, Gencer, J. Norman, etc... and I can't imagine June singing Wagner or the heaviest Verdi roles, and she also doesn't have a dark timbre. Does someone know??
Daniliz81 She is a dramatic coloratura because she has a very big voice but flexible and with easy high notes. Actually, Callas and Gencer were in the same classification as Sutherland was. Nilsson and Dmitrova were just dramatic sopranos, no coloratura. Although, Dmitrova had a more italianate sound and never sang Wagner but the voice was big and had low notes enough for this.
Fernando Lourenço She said that HERSELF! IT'S an interview here on TH-cam with Celletti(a critic and fan of hers) and someone else. And they agreed that, as good as she was, she had a small voice! And the interview with operaclick... she said she had a small voice. So... Yes. What l just said
Tomba 2 She can say that. She can think that her voice was small. She can considered herself a soprano leggero but it was not was she was considered by conductors, critics, agents etc. She can hear herself like a small voice but as I said I knew people that heard her live and the voice was not small. Not very large but not small at all. Other think is that she can say that but she accepted to do a career with a repertoire much heavier than of a soprano leggero. So, or she was not so convinced in her thoughts about herself or she lied to the public. Another exemple, Sherrill Milnes said that his voice was a medium size voice. Everyone that heard him live said that although it was not a enormous voice, it was a pretty big voice indeed. Don't forget that no one can hear their own voice from the audience.
YES, YES, YES, This is Rossini, good technique, coloratura, bright and agile voice, little rubato, a good tempo. Bravissima
Oscar Grau Anderson does sing the best version of this aria ever!
THIS is opera! Astounding technique, stage presence, musicality, pathos. And superb costumes! Not the usual modern, contemporay and revisited s***t we are used to today. Legendary!
she was one of the most underrated singers of belcanto shameful glorious voice
Donald Kramer
She was underused by the MET.
Eduardo Braivein Many people said she was difficult to work with, despite her extraordinary singing. She had a huge career in Europe, but wasn’t invited to the Met often. She sang a lot in her early years at the New York City Opera, but badmouthed Beverly Sills too many times.
@@wotan10950 hearsay
I see you deleted your reply where you named gossiping friends. Probably smart.
She a reason to badmouth Beverly SHRILLS!!!! June is a real diva wirh a real voice huge in size. Unlike Sills who had a tiny winy very shrill voice with a horrid technique reason why she did not last anything.
A true dramatic coloratura. I have always loved June Anderson's voice. There is heft to it, but she can hit those high notes spot on.
June Anderson and Rossini are a match made in heaven! Her sparkling coloratura, always in gorgeous legato is always in great display when singing his music.
She is absolutely perfect for this role. Perfect timbre, perfect technique. Her voice has that clear silvery sheen and crystalline purity without the awful canary quality to it. And both her diction and phrasing are wonderful. All coloratura sopranos try to sing this show stopping aria but hardly any of them do it justice. And her additional embellishments fit beautifully into the Rossini lines, and her top notes are miraculously melodious. I am sure Rossini himself would have been impressed.
Compare this with the recent Angela Meade performance... good old days :-)
Bravissima ! Graziosa ! Dolce ! Amabile ! LA REGINA DEL BEL CANTO !
sono completamente d'accordo .The best number one
Best Semiramis ever, and best version of Anderson is this one. Its from MET production with Horne, Ramey ... sublime.
This is something Rossini should've listened. It is true bel canto, no wonder she was a great admirer of Joan Sutherland.
Un miracolo di coloratura e belcanto
Fantastic Bel Canto 💖.
Magnificent.🌟
She's got an amazing voice, crystal clear diction and I love the way her coloratura ability comes to play naturally especially when she strikes those high Es. Bravissimo. 🙏❤🖤🌹
Grandissima interpretazione, tra le migliori in circolazione e si parla di Callas, Caballe e SUTHERLAND.
Regina. She IS this role.
I love Gruberova, but Sutherland and Anderson in this aria are the best. undoubtedly.
Bravissima,con una voce virtuosa ,ed è anche bellissima !!
The best Semiramide ever. No one has sung Semiramide like her ever again. Back in the day Lella Cuberli and Joan Sutherland did a great job. And recently Elena Mosuc and Jessica Pratt has done it wonderful. But no one like June Anderson. Let's hope to see Annick Massis or Marina Rebeka in the role someday.
Sutherland owns that part; it has never been surpassed. Anderson is great, but not better than Sutherland. No one is.
hectoragb thanks for reminding us Lella Cuberli! One of the most beautiful and skillful soprano voices I’ve ever heard! But I’m totally agree about Anderson! She is sublime!
Lucia...Semiramide...Traviata....ascoltate da lei ...sono impresse nel mio Cuore per sempre. Donizetti Rossini, Verdi erano in buone mani.Qui è al top.....con la Horne...e Ramey....che delizia....Chapeau!!!!!
STUPENDA. I am nailed to the groud here. How great she can "encore" this for us here, a million times if you want to! Thank you for posting. ♥
But how gloriously she can sing. In my opinion. It is so precisely executed and sounds effortless. The high coloratura is outstanding. I love precise singing and thorough technique. It's giving a singer a noticeably better sound and freedom to express I believe. And the better the technique and the precision, the better. Always. Some singing qualities seem to have died out with the 1900-1940 generations. But this is the world of today. Less quality, more focus on image and looks and performance.
Fascinating voice.....those High E's were truly incredible......interesting twist at the end......she looks like a young Joan Sutherland.....I respect all the fast passages she sang....this particular aria goes down twice to the low A and then (the way she and Sutherland and Gruberova sang it) up to the High E natural.....so it is a Bravura ASSOLUTA aria of extreme difficulty and range.....Miss Anderson is a worthy successor of Miss Sutherland
well, if u listen to hers, it was to high F and not E-natural. Sutherland sang hers a semitone below. just an observation.
+dike chukwudi I didn't realize that!
The only reason she touches on high F is that she's a wee bit sharp. June's singing the aria in the original key, and that note properly should have been a high E natural. It kind of adds to the excitement of the moment, and if you're going for a high note, it's certainly better to be sharp than flat. Dame Joan sang it in the original key in the early sixties, hitting high E's, but soon lowered it by a semitone, making the top note an Eb. She sang it as late as 1983, where she had lowered the cabaletta by a minor third, making the top note a C sharp.
Magic Rainbeaux right. The original key is A major, so all those high dominants are E's, there wouldn't be an F.
george prentice
I even prefer her interpretation to Lella Cuberli's.
She absolutely nailed this!!!
Best Semiramide ever. Perfect technique and wonderful voice. Only Sutherland and Callas are at the same level. No one comes even close to her these days.
This is from Dec 15, 1990. I know it because I was there. I had already seen Salome earlier that day (w Behrens) and this was the evening perf. Brilliant! With Anderson, Horne, Ramey. Cond by Conlon, who had also conducted Salome. Anderson was a truly great soprano, and she's still singing pretty well in Europe.
That sounds like quite the day!
+Dave Glo what a cast!
Superbe voix dans une superbe production comme on n'en fait que très rarement de nos jours hélas !!!
What a powerful voice! Magnificent!
Ah - THIS is the original Semiramide costume for this production! Nice- and Anderson looks and sounds fantastic. In its current iteration at the Met, it looks like they pulled down Scarlett O'Hara's mama's stiff brocade curtains and attached them loosely the the bulk of Meade.
The Best yet just brilliant
DAMNNNNNN those high notes are GREAT ! Wonderful singing !
June Anderson es una gran soprano y su voz es ágil y maravillosa para Rossini
Fantastic! June Anderson was truly magnificent in the Rossini repertoir. :D
I love June Anderson. She was interesting in a variety of repertoire. I heard her in Trovatore, and she was pretty awesome.
What can one say its Magical
what a flawless high range.
This is amazing - the absolute best rendition of this aria I've heard. Brava June!
Superb! This is true Singing. Musicality, technique, effortless, its all there.❤️🎶❤️
Extraordinaire artiste . quelle technique ,perfection des coloraturas ,dans le legato et le staccato .Une étendue vocale incroyable .Des suraigus étincelants .
She is the best Semiramide!
June was singing so beautifully in this performance and at this time. So many beautiful clear high E's and then she shocked me at the end and didn't put the final E. I wish I knew why. She was in fine voice!!
Grandissima June ❤❤❤
This is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO GOOD ! DPK
how does that much power and that sweet timbre exist in the same voice?
Lei e' bravissima!!
Ah, opera has one good bag of IV left. Love everything of Anderson's and she's American!
Krist-yon Narain I agree!
Magnificent, thrilling, beautifully executed...I do not think I have heard better than this.
I love June! Brava!!
Wonderful performance.
Very gorgeous voice and interpretation.
She sang an unforgettable Violeta at Municipal de Santiago Ópera Nacional de Chile.
Warm greetings from Santiago,Chile.
Dr. Fernando Rivas-Burattini.
Great June Anderson!
Lovely singing ....
Top notes are like bells... phenomenal.
yes,she is glorius,but hell,who is conducting this beauty?
i think so far, her interpretation was better than sutherlands. just saying sha!
+dike chukwudi waaaaaay better. Sutherland was born with a bigger voice and she just sing the notes with less power so she can make it seem like she has more agility. June Anderson's coloratura is sweeping, more effortless with power, clarity, and evenness, it's just higher quality singing, period.
AstriaICOW
Besides, Anderson's diction is way better and clearer than Sutherland's.
Bell canto/ coloratura aria from the opera Semiramide by Rossini
Lovely June Anderson as Semiramide, Queen of Babylon.
This aria is as difficult as hell and June Anderson sings the spots off of it. BRAVA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I like the way her coloratura flows...
perfección y belleza.
Uwielbiam to nagranie!
Fantastico! Stupendo! Veramente super bravissima!
Splendida! !!!!!!!
GREAT!!!
June and Lella Cuberli were the greatest Semiramidas ever!!!They performed this part in Metropolitan in early 1990s with wonderful success.
J'ai eu la chance d'entendre et de voir June Anderson en 1985 pour la 1ère fois c'était dans Robert le diable de Meyerbeer : sublissime c'était la 1ère fois qu'elle chantait à l'Opéra de Paris. je l'ai réentendu de nombreuses fois par la suite. Ona dit qu'elle ressemblait à Joan Sutherland-La Stupenda- or ce n'est pas le même type vocal même si elles ont chanté le bel canto romantique toutes 2.
This doesn’t exist anymore at The Met :\
@Bravo Luca Me too, I just attended last year to the Met 50th anniversary (and heard the "world top" singers, and went several times this year. There is not that quality of singing anymore.
this is a great performance of this aria and June certainly thrives in this role...but those of you who think she is the best Semiramide clearly have not listened to a certain someone...i'll give you a hint...she's STUPENDOUS!
Michael Brock
Right! Pity she didn't make a studio recording of this opera! It is she who should have recorded it, not Cheryl Studer! (although the ideal time should have been middle-late 1980's, approximately by the time she recorded "Maometto II" by the same author.
Sublime!
she completely nailed it!!!
Beautiful.
Amazing! First opera singer I've appreciated since Callas. Any other recommendations?
Sutherland and Caballe.
@@NLidar After Anderson, it's useless.
Personal favorite rendition
Simplesmente angelical!!!
Magnifica! A true queen!
the chorus is soooo old but june is exceptional
questo è il massimo!!! fantastica:-)))))
I love this rendition!!! I have another two favorites of this piece...Joan Sutherland (The art of the prima donna) and Teresa Berganza!!
wonderful performance
Just great..👏👏👏
Bravissima ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
BRAVISSIMA !!!!!!!!!
Wow!!!
The best soprano ever recorded, no doubt.
Thank you for introducing me to this opera.
Sorry but this is not from 1991; this Semiramide was conducted by James Conlon in 1990!!!
I loved her interpretation
Brava!
not my favorite rendition, but my favorite interpretation. Semiramide is in love. she's supposed to sound HAPPY! most singers sing this piece in such a serious, formal manner, like it's a march or a declaration of war.
Brava Ms. Anderson! I cannot imagine that until today, I had not heard of this exceptional artist and her extraordinary instrument. A very good interpretation of this aria. Up there with those by Dame Sutherland and Madame Callas. Her timbre and interpretation, not to mention that jawline, remind me so much of Dame Sutherland. Glorious singing!
Funny story: Richard Bonynge introduced Sutherland to June Anderson and said, 'Miss Anderson sings all your roles.' Sutherland quipped, 'My dear, the high notes are in that jaw!'
+Nigel O Very true,if you look at all the great Sopranos/Mezzos they all have large or very large jaws,which act as a sort of reverberance chamber(I must confess to having become quite obsessive about this).Having stood next to Joan in the wings at Covent Garden,I can truthfully state that her jaw was probably larger than it appeared from the stalls.Actually she had a dislike of being photographed from below,as this made the jaw seem even bigger.However,aren't we glad of the big jaw,and the sound it helped to create.
Sutherland's jaw was just as big
Acacia Bloom I'm pretty sure that's exactly what Sutherland meant when she made that quip to Anderson. They both had big jaws, as well as seemingly effortless high notes.
@marchesano I wish i knew too! The performance was so spectacular and crystal perfect without it anyway. A lot of sopranos that do have that note don't add it all the time. She's a smart girl(she didn't go to Yale for nothing!). She knows what she's doing.
I miss it too! :)
A melhor versão de todas.
'Armida', I've never heard of it ;P. I'll look for it!
What do you call that light burn in her crown at 6:00-6:09? I could also see it in other retro videos.
Superb!!!
where can i watch the full performance? please and thanks! ^_^
I would like to now why she is considered a dramatic coloratura?? I know she has large voice for a coloratura soprano, and a very rich voice but when I think of dramatic, I think of Dimitrova, Nilsson, Callas, Gencer, J. Norman, etc... and I can't imagine June singing Wagner or the heaviest Verdi roles, and she also doesn't have a dark timbre. Does someone know??
Daniliz81 She is a dramatic coloratura because she has a very big voice but flexible and with easy high notes. Actually, Callas and Gencer were in the same classification as Sutherland was. Nilsson and Dmitrova were just dramatic sopranos, no coloratura. Although, Dmitrova had a more italianate sound and never sang Wagner but the voice was big and had low notes enough for this.
Gencer was a leggero, with a small voice, even according to her
Tomba 2 A leggero with a small voice that sang Aida in Verona. Of course! I know people that heard her live. Not a small voice at all!
Fernando Lourenço She said that HERSELF!
IT'S an interview here on TH-cam with Celletti(a critic and fan of hers) and someone else. And they agreed that, as good as she was, she had a small voice!
And the interview with operaclick... she said she had a small voice.
So... Yes. What l just said
Tomba 2 She can say that. She can think that her voice was small. She can considered herself a soprano leggero but it was not was she was considered by conductors, critics, agents etc. She can hear herself like a small voice but as I said I knew people that heard her live and the voice was not small. Not very large but not small at all. Other think is that she can say that but she accepted to do a career with a repertoire much heavier than of a soprano leggero. So, or she was not so convinced in her thoughts about herself or she lied to the public. Another exemple, Sherrill Milnes said that his voice was a medium size voice. Everyone that heard him live said that although it was not a enormous voice, it was a pretty big voice indeed. Don't forget that no one can hear their own voice from the audience.
why you don't give us the complete opera?
eccezionale june!
Anyone else here after hearing Meade's "performance?"
Painful
June, I love you!
meravigliosa e meglio perfino della Sutherland
Aww I love it when she sings the E.... :-(
This is MET's performance I think, with M. Horne, S. Ramey - very good one, have a video tape at home.