Gianna Rolandi - Delibes: LAKMÉ, Bell song, New York City Opera 1984, High E

THE SONGBIRD: Gianna Rolandi (1952 - 2021) was a leading coloratura soprano at the New York City Opera in the 1970s and 1980s. She made her debut there as Olympia in "Tales of Hoffmann" in 1975 right after graduating from the Curtis Institute and basically stayed on the roster for 15 years in over 30 roles. (You can hear her NYCO debut performances and others on my channel). She was a Met Auditions finalist in 1974 and sang several seasons at The Met (Sophie, Olympia, Rossignol, and Zerbinetta), as well as making many appearances around the U.S. I heard her in San Diego as Ophelia in 1983 and met her backstage! Rolandi also made select guest performances at major venues and festivals abroad before she retired from singing in 1994 at the age of 42. THE MUSIC: This production of Delibes's 1883 opera "Lakmé" at New York City Opera in 1984 (borrowed from Chicago) was the first staged production of the opera in New York since The Met shuttered its Lily Pons production in 1947 (Patrice Munsel stepped into the title role at that last Met performance). Gianna Rolandi was in the initial performances at NYCO and is quoted in the NY Times on the role: ''When I started working on it,'' she said, ''I think I tended to agree with those old reviews; it seemed a little shallow and decorative. And yes, the story is silly. But the more I lived with the role, the more substance I felt there was in it -- and that feeling came from getting more and more into the text, into the drama of it, not so much from the vocalism. It's very similar to Butterfly, really.'' The Times review of opening night was positive for Rolandi: "Still, there were some pretty things in this first performance, most of them achieved by Gianna Rolandi, who tossed off the Bell Song with heady accuracy and coloratura that did something more than tinkle. For Pons fanciers, the Rolandi voice may have seemed a bit heavy, but it rang every bell."