The beginning of a beautiful relationship

25 years ago Nelly was appearing for the first time in Amsterdam with the Saturday Radio Matinee (once called VARA) for a concert performance of Mefistofele and one year later history was made when they sent her a new score for the following performance. Nelly looked at it and thought, "my God so many notes"..it was the score of Armida by Rossini which marked not only the beginning of the famous Nelly Miricioiu VARA Matinee concerts but also a whole new repertoire for Nelly, that later would become her trademark.
She then went on to sing Anna Bolena, Maria Sturda, Roberto Devereux, Norma, Tancredi, Semiramide, Il Pirata and also versimo roles like Francesca di Rimini and Iris. She had tremendous successes with Ernani and Le Vespres Siciliennes (in french) and in 2006 she sang Adriana Lecouvreur with Marianne Cornetti and the late Sergej Larin.
To mark this special anniversary she returns tomorrow, Saturday, 20 March for a concert performance of the rarely heard Caterina Cornaro by Gaetano Donizetti. Joining her are Dario Schmunck as Gerardo and Nicola Alaimo as Lusignano and David Perry conducting.
The cast will also include Mirco Palazzi, Károly Szemerédy, Peter Gijsbertsen. This performance will be recorded for a radio broadcast.
Below a fragment of the historic performance of Armida in Amsterdam.