Conversation with Luca

This is from January Opera Magazine.

Luca Pisaroni is complaining about Italian singers.  "In Italy, a singer sings only opera and some Verdi Requiem.  Show me an Italian recitalist!"

Anna Caterina Antonacci?

"She lives in Paris."

Cecilia Bartoli?

"Bartoli's a rock star!  There is nobody like Bartoli in the business.  I adore Cecilia because she has a passion about what she does that nobody else has.  To come up with these programmes, it's not easy.  I wish everybody had the passion she has about older repertoire, to research, to find the material--she's a rock star, it's a fact."

This came in the mail years ago postmarked Roma. I am posting it in honor of the 20th anniversary of my instant infatuation with Cecilia. She's my rock star, too.