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I had the good fortune to see three of the four great Otellos of the second half of the 20th century: James McCracken, Jon Vickers and Placido Domingo. I missed Mario del Monaco by a few years and thus the last great Italian Otello of recent times. McCracken and Domingo I saw multiple times, but the only opportunity I had to see Vickers in the role came in 1978 when he appeared opposite Renata Scotto who was singing her first Met Desdemona. Just a few days after the performance I attended there was a Live From The Met telecast which has now - finally - been released on DVD:

Metropolitan Opera House


September 25, 1978 Broadcast/Telecast

OTELLO {229}
Giuseppe Verdi/Arrigo Boito

Otello..................Jon Vickers
Desdemona...............Renata Scotto
Iago....................Cornell MacNeil
Emilia..................Jean Kraft
Cassio..................Raymond Gibbs
Lodovico................James Morris
Montàno.................Robert Goodloe
Roderigo................Andrea Velis
Herald..................Arthur Thompson

Conductor...............James Levine

Production..............Franco Zeffirelli


Veel plezier ermee..