[Met Performance] CID:192640

Zinka Milanov's 25th anniversary

Andrea Chénier
Metropolitan Opera House, Mon, December 17, 1962

Debut : Mariano Caruso




Andrea Chénier (109)
Umberto Giordano | Luigi Illica
Andrea Chénier
Richard Tucker

Maddalena de Coigny
Zinka Milanov

Carlo Gérard
Robert Merrill

Bersi
Rosalind Elias

Countess di Coigny
Margaret Roggero

Abbé
Gabor Carelli

Fléville
George Cehanovsky

L'Incredibile
Mariano Caruso [Debut]

Roucher
Calvin Marsh

Mathieu
Fernando Corena

Madelon
Lili Chookasian

Dumas
Osie Hawkins

Fouquier Tinville
Norman Scott

Schmidt
William Walker

Major-domo
Lloyd Strang

Speaker
Lauder Greenway


Conductor
Fausto Cleva





Presentation: Lauder Greenway, Chairman of the Board
The onstage ceremony honoring Milanov preceded Act IV.

Review 1:

Review of Michael Brozen in Musical America
Viva Zinka!

If these were the days of horse and buggy, Zinka Milanov's fans would probably still be pulling her carriage through the streets. The soprano celebrated her 25th anniversary at the Metropolitan Opera on December 17, in "Andrea Chénier," and the house celebrated with her. Miss Milanov sang Maddalena with perhaps less strength than at the beginning of the past quarter century, but with many moments of vocal beauty, and with a conviction that some younger singers might well envy. (That the object of this conviction was Milanov and not Maddalena is typical of this singer, of course, and certainly no cause for alarm.) The audience went wild at every opportunity.

After Act III, congratulatory speeches were made by Lauder Greenway, chairman of the Met's board of directors, and Rudolf Bing, general manager of the house, and Miss Milanov was presented with a bouquet by the chorus and with a silver bowl by Mr. Bing. Miss Milanov's sweet speech of acceptance contained more than a trace of the Yugoslavia of her birth, which only added to its charm. Miss Milanov is rumored to have said that she wants a gold bowl after the next 25 years.

After the final curtain, the audience did everything but leap from the balconies. Miss Milanov's fan club was much in evidence, wearing white carnations which they threw to the stage and which Miss Milanov kissed and threw back to the audience. A blizzard of torn paper descended from the Met's upper reaches, and Miss Milanov was accorded a standing ovation that repeatedly forced the house lights down and the soprano back to the stage.

Richard Tucker, one of the Met's sturdiest properties, performed the title role for the first time this season, singing his poetry with fervor and giving Miss Milanov gallant support. Mariano Caruso, properly sinister as the spy, made his first appearance at the house.


Search by season: 1962-63

Search by title: Andrea Chénier,



Met careers