the KlezmerShack

Judith Cohen posts to the Jewish-Music mailing list:

hi, as you know, I'm not a great opera fan, and much much less a fan of traditional songs being performed by opera singers. But Victoria de los Angeles was a great singer and a great person, whom I met because she pioneered the performance of Sephardic songs in Spain: her "10 Sephardic songs" were the introduction to the repertoire for many Spaniards and in many ways the "justification" of a folk repertoire in the eyes of those who need such "justifications". But more than that, she was also a great person. I met her about 13-14 years ago, when we were both giving brief summer workshops at a university in the north of Spain, she in opera technique, and I in Sephardic music. At the time, I was doing a post-doc project on the performance of Sephardic songs in non'traditional ways, and was interviewing several singers- finding her at that same setting was serendipitous, and very rewarding. I was struck by how completely unpretentious she was, and how easy and delightful to speak with - and very moved when she told me she had "learned from me."

I read in the SPanish papers this morning that she has just died, at 81, having been admitted to hospital New Year's Eve. Another great one has gone, Judith