Cecilia Sophia Anna Maria Kalogeropoulos was born in New York December 1923 - the 2nd according to her doctor, the 3rd according to her school and the 4th according to her mother, but celebrated by Maria on the 2nd. Her parents had just arrived from Athens just 4 months prior. At 13 she won her first talent contest. She returned to Greece in 1937 and her first appearance on the opera stage was in 1939 as Santuzza in the Athens Conservatorium production of Cavalleria Rusticana. She sang her first Tosca in 1941 at seventeen. In 1944 she sang her only Leonora in Fidelio which brought success in Athens and she then returned to America in 1945. Her real career however, began at Verona 1947 in La Gioconda. This followed with the demanding Brunhilde in Die Walkure, Kundry in Parsifal and Turandot. Followed by Aida, La Forza del Destino and her first Norma in Florence in 1948. Thus began the career that became a legend. The debates on her voice and the scandals can be sought out elsewhere.





Joan Sutherland 26 sang the small role of Clotilde with Callas 28 and Ebe Stignani 48 in Norma in 1952 at Covent Garden. Sutherland also sang the High Priestess to Callas's Aida in

953. These were the only times they appeared together on stage except for a Gala in 1958. Callas (above right) appeared backstage at Joan's famous Lucia in 1959.

Aida 3.7.1951 - In Mexico city 1950 Maria Callas sang Aida, The manager Antonio Caraza-Campos asked that she add an extra note at the end of act 2. Callas always true to the composer, refused. The first woman to sing Aida in Mexico in the nineteenth century Angela Peralta interpolated this note. During the dress rehearsal Callas argued with the tenor Kurt Baum, and on opening night he continually tried to upstage her by holding onto his high notes longer than considered suitable. She and her friends were furious so she decided to go ahead with the unwritten note. As the chorus and orchestra are bringing the second act to a loud crashing finale and Aida's voice should fade to nothing Callas let fly with a full-voiced, sustained top E-flat that she held, soaring above the cacophony until the final notes and the explosion of an audience stunned with excitement. In 1951 she repeated the role and had by this time grown fond of the addition. The once bootleg live recording I have from the 1951 Mexico performance is so remarkable. A true lesson in how to show someone up. I play it to every visitor, opera fan or not; all are impressed.

is so remarkable. A true lesson in how to show someone up. I play it to every visitor, opera fan or not; all are impressed.