Highlight comments from the commenters below:
-From Lohengrin O
In 1991 Gruberova came to Athens along with Barbara Hendricks to sing in the Herodous Atticus Ancient Theatre which has the WORST acoustics in the universe... Marilyn Horne had stopped singing there after 3 minutes her recital had begun and had left :D and Agnes Baltsa had said she would never sing there unless a Plexiglass shield was placed behind her to reflect her sound to the audience (the back of the stage is actually made of ancient rocks which have holes where from the sound of the street (cars etc) comes in)... Not to mention Renee Fleming and Angela Gheorgiou who were as if they never sang there (no one could hear NOTHING!). In the Sunday before the recital, Edita gave an interview to an Athenean newspaper where she said two things that exploded in my mind: 1. that Callas very often sang roles that were NOT suited for her voice like for example (hold on to your seat) Lady Macbeth :D and 2. (after asked if she were afraid the famously BAD acoustics of the Herodous Atticus theatre) that she was not afraid at all for her Sound but she was a bit afraid about the sound of the small orchestra that accompanied the Zerbinetta aria she was going to sing (she sang Zerbinetta's aria, Lucia's Mad scene and Linda di Chamounix as encore) (I laughed at both comments and for the second I said: she is about to have the worst surprise of her life)... Barbara Hendricks began the recital and although I was sitting very near to stage I could not hear her at all and at one point a Pigeon that was on the rocks behind her started screaming COVERING HER SOUND completely (I felt so sorry for her)... Then Edita came out (the President of Democracy was present). Her sound was like a Miracle, it was almost deafening.. and as she turned her head from one side of the stage to the other, you could hear her Cone of Sound changing direction (becoming stronger or weaker) as if you could see her Beam / Cone of Sound... Edita was truly a Phenomenon
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