I was a fan of Beverly's from the first time I heard her. I'm pretty sure I am the only chorister she ever personally hired while she was general director at City Opera and she was the best boss I ever worked for. She was patient, understanding, inspiring, down to earth, funny , generous, everything you could hope for in a boss. I saw her do so many kind, considerate things for others that no one will ever know about. She was one of a kind we will never see again.
In response to the folks that are saying that she is giving a self-portrait rather than a masterclass here, I offer two thoughts. First, masterclasses can sometimes be helpful, but they are often not so useful or even potentially dangerous. The guest offers a few quick fixes that either do nothing in the long-run or might cause the student to go on the wrong track. Workshops are different because they offer sustained instruction, and this segment was obviously part of a workshop. Second, here, she is offering general principles of what it takes not just to have a modern opera career, but also to make it to the top. She is using her own career as an example, and why shouldn’t she? Note too that she is American, and Americans tend to be open about their success, which I think is far preferable to false humility.
I am a male mezzo. I admire Sills' talent tremendously, but I wouldn't have walked away from this (judging by what is shown in the video) feeling much of anything other than a desire never to become this egocentric!
Very interesting but I can't help but feel disappointed by her apparent support for the idea that opera should become more like Hollywood. This wasn't even a new concept. Opera's been battling it since the inception of silent films. It's not a fight we can win. This is why it is so important that we focus on the one thing the opera singer should excel in - singing. We see now that even with lavish sets, beautiful faces and bodies and superb acting, opera is dying because it doesn't sound very good and it has become borderline irrelevant.
Beverly Sills NEVER said "opera should be more like Hollywood." I can hear her laughing boisterously at such an idea. You have totally misunderstood her message.
I don’t think she saw acting and singing in zero-sum terms. I think that for her, you need both. She says here that an opera that is “beautifully sung” “bores me to death” and that an opera that is “beautifully acted” “has me in agony.” And her implication is correct, that there needs to be more realism on the stage now than before. She couldn’t have foreseen just how much acting has become a compensation for a lack of singing. But it could be worse. The standards in musical theater have declined far more.
I'll take a fat great singer stand-and-deliver at the front of the stage over a bad skinny hyperactive singer running all over the place unsupported anyday.
She was incredibly talented, but... I fail to see how listening to her engage in nearly 20 minutes of self-adulation constitutes a "master class for singers."
The one thing she never revealed to young singers was the technique she learned from Estelle Liebling. ‘I’m not a teacher’ is a little selfish, I think.
@@ransomcoates546 I don’t see it as being selfish I think there are singers that are good teaching and some that are not. When I was a student I had a master class with one of my idols/divas Anna Moffo and I was very disappointed with her as a teacher. She just wasn’t good at teaching techniques. But you see a Virginia Zeani and she was fantastic. One of the best at teaching.
@@munequitodeebano3920 Yikes! I don’t think I’d take any advice about singing from Moffo. I just think that Sills had some obligation yo pass on the teaching of Liebling, who was the last link to the great bel canto tradition of the 19th century. Perhaps she simply felt that the culture had changed to the point that no girl could begin as young as she did and spend essentially her whole youth doing nothing but perfecting the voice.
