THIRD TENOR BECOMES SOPRANO!!

No, we're not talking about a transgender operation, we're at the Waldbuehne in Berlin in 2006 for the current version of the three tenors World Cup Concert. I hope Placido Domingo, Rolando Villazon and Anna Netrebko all made a lot of money out of this because it's at least as much fun as when all three were tenors.

Placido is a tenor in this concert. The love duet from Otello is lovely. I will have to lay off of him, I guess. For a man my age he sounds damn good. Who can resist this duet from Les pêcheurs de perles with Rolando? It's ravishing.

Tip for other sopranos: Anna always looks like she loves every man she sings to. This is a tremendous gift. So work on it. Learn to love them or learn to fake it a lot better. Anna may not be faking it, you know.

Can I ever get enough of "Meine Lippen, sie kuessen so heiss" [my lips they kiss so hot] when Anna sings it? Unlike those in the audience, I can hear it again, and do. She sings it as if it were her own life she were describing, and perhaps it is.

The encores are fabulous. In the concert our Mexican tenors can't resist doing a lot of semi-popular Spanish songs, but as an encore Rolando sings Rossini's "La danza." Viva!

Anna's encore is Musetta's Waltz. The first verse she sings clutching the microphone like a pop singer, but in the second verse she walks away from the mike and belts it out unamplified. She has a big voice--she should flaunt it.

I confess it can't be too corny for me. At the end all are standing and shouting, including the orchestra. It is what it is to the absolute nth degree. If you were there, you would tell your grandchildren. If you weren't there, you can buy the DVD which is finally available in America.
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