Nicolai Gedda (July 11, 1925 – January 8, 2017) [
Nicolai Gedda sang well into his late seventies. He could do so fluently and idiomatically in flawless French, Russian, German, Italian, English, Czech, and Swedish.
Gedda made some two hundred recordings, making him one of the most widely recorded opera singers in history.
He was a late bloomer and had to work as a bank teller to pay for his voice lessons, but once he made his professional debut at age 26 (Swedish National Opera) he was unstoppable.
There were tenors who had more powerful voices or could sing higher or do whatever it is that makes some tenors more famous than others. But when it came to finesse, to phrasing, to elegance, to style, to musicianship, to musicality, to perfect diction in any languages in which he sang…well, he was in a class by himself.
He’s now up there in the company of other great Scandinavian singers…Birgit Nilsson…Jusi Bjoerling…Aksel Schiøtz…
He will always be remembered by all who love great singing.
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Rafael de Acha has enjoyed a distinguished career in the arts as a performer, stage director, producer, and educator. He was born and grew up in Cuba. At the age of 17 he moved to the United States to study Drama at the University of Minnesota, and later Languages at L.A. City College, Music at the Juilliard School of Music, at the University of Cincinnati’s College Conservatory of Music, and at the New England Conservatory of Music, from which he received the Master's degree. He has taught courses on the History of Music at the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music and at Florida International University, and contributed writings and reviews to Seen and Heard International (www.seenandheard-international.com ) and to this blog. He co-founded the award-winning New Theatre in Coral Gables, Florida, where he produced and staged twenty seasons of classical and contemporary theater, including fifty world premieres of plays that went on to have international and national productions on and off Broadway, including Ana in the Tropics by Nilo Cruz (Pulitzer Prize for Drama 2002 and Tony Nomination 2003.) In 2006 he was presented with a citation from The Dade County Cultural Affairs Council for “trailblazing contributions to the arts in South Florida.”
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His voice was on so many of the opera albums my mother used to play at top volume on our living room stereo. Great memories of my youth.
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