April 12 is the 80th birthday of opera singer Maria de Montserrat Bibiana Concepcion Caballe i Folch, known as Montserrat Caballe. Born in Barcelona, the Spanish soprano made her professional debut in Basel, Switzerland, in 1956. She became internationally famous in 1965 after her performance as a stand-in in Donizetti's Lucrezia Borgia at New York's Carnegie Hall.

LOOK at this room….. and the talent within it. Can you imagine? Long before turnstiles at a movie theater were part of opera, here we have in one room, Maria Callas and Luchino Visconti with …

British contralto opera singer Kathleen Ferrier at the Edinburgh Festival in 1947.

Welcome to the 108th work in the Slipped Disc/Idagio Beethoven Edition...