Teresa Stratas
Also Known As: Anastasia Strataki
Biography: Teresa Stratas, born in Toronto's Cabbagetown, started her musical journey singing Greek songs in her parents' restaurant. Her talent led to radio performances and a Royal Conservatory scholarship. At 20, she debuted in La Bohème at the Toronto Opera Festival and became a renowned figure at the Metropolitan Opera, captivating audiences globally. Notably, she made history performing dual lead soprano roles at the Met in 1995. Her illustrious career includes performances at prestigious opera houses worldwide. Stratas notably sang the title role in the premiere of Alban Berg's Lulu at the Paris Opera in 1979. She's been honoured with the Order of Canada and the Governor General's Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Performing Arts. Stratas holds five honorary degrees and is known for her vibrant personality, disdain for snobbery, and her eight-year involvement with conductor Zubin Mehta. Her passion for life is evident in her zest for both its joys and complexities.
Department: Acting
Place of Birth: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Adult: No
Birthday: May 26, 1938
Age: 86 years old
Gender: Female
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Known For:
La traviata
Overview: This “Traviata” became one of the most succesful of all opera films, especially in France, where 800,000 Parisian cinemagoers flocked to it in the first six week. It was nominated for two Oscars (for production and costume design) and won BAFTAs in those two categories, as well as receiving BAFTA and Golden Globe nominations as 1983’s Best Foreign-Language Film.
Genres: Drama Music
Original Language: it
Release Date: 1982-10-07
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September Songs: The Music of Kurt Weill
Overview: Filmmaker Larry Weinstein stages a wide range of performances in tribute to the compositions of Kurt Weill.
Genres: Music Documentary
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1994-01-25
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The Seven Deadly Sins
Overview:
Genres: Music
Original Language: de
Release Date: 1993-01-01
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Alban Berg - Lulu
Overview:
Genres: Music
Original Language: es
Release Date: 1986-01-01
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Paganini
Overview: Operetta concerning the love affair of Niccolò Paganini, the violinist, and Élisa Bonaparte, the younger sister of Napoleon.
Genres: History Music Drama
Original Language: de
Release Date: 1973-01-04
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The Emperor of Atlantis
Overview:
Genres: Drama
Original Language: de
Release Date: 1977-01-01
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Cavalleria rusticana
Overview: Franco Zeffirelli directs these two legendary La Scala productions telling tragic tales of jealousy. Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana features performances by Elena Obraztsova, Plácido Domingo, and Renato Bruson. Leoncavallo's I Pagliacci stars Teresa Stratas, Plácido Domingo, and Juan Pons. Both are conducted by George Pretre. This production of Pagliacci earned director Franco Zeffirelli the coveted Emmy as Best Director in the category of Classical Music Programming.
Genres: TV Movie Music
Original Language: it
Release Date: 1982-06-15
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The Bartered Bride - The Met
Overview: This MET production of Bedrich Semtana's classic folk opera boasts a superb cast, including Nicolai Gedda, Jon Vickers, Teresa Stratas, and Marti Talvela. The staging and mis-en-scene is traditional and very well done. Everyone seems to be enjoying this presentation. Although not to the same standard as today's HD productions, this is still a wonderful way to get to know this delightful opera.
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1978-01-01
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Puccini: La bohème
Overview: "La Bohème" is one of Giacomo Puccini's most popular and timeless works and the second-most performed opera at New York's Metropolitan Opera. This production, directed by the legendary Franco Zeffirelli, features José Carreras, Teresa Stratas, Renata Scotto and Richard Stilwell. The opera is replete with extraordinary visual beauty as it presents the tragic story of young bohemians struggling to make it in the world.
Genres: Music
Original Language: it
Release Date: 1982-01-01
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Under The Piano
Overview: An autistic child growing up in the 1940's and 50's with a mother who is bitter because her fear of success has denied to herself a possible career in opera. This anger translates into an over-protectiveness of her mentally ill daughter, even into the child's adulthood. But a loving sister, herself having an arm that is paralyzed, is a bastion against the limitations imposed by the mother and finally helps her sister to live a more full life.
Genres: Drama TV Movie
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1996-10-01
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Giuditta
Overview: The story tells of the Army officer Octavio and his consuming love for Giuditta, a passionate spitfire, who leaves him because he refuses to desert the colours for her; their chance meeting several years afterwards comes too late, though they realise how much they have lost.
Genres: Drama Romance
Original Language: de
Release Date: 1970-10-29
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Il Tabarro & Pagliacci
Overview: Puccini's Il Tabarro & Leoncavallo's Pagliacci; Pavarotti and Domingo star in MET 1994-1995 season opener.
Genres: Music
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1994-09-26
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Der Zarewitsch
Overview: Lehar romantic operetta set in Russia about a beautiful dancer who is set up to attract a tsar's son, and they fall in love. Beautiful settings and wonderful music.
Genres: Music
Original Language: de
Release Date: 1973-04-25
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The Canadians
Overview: When the Sioux come to Canada, the Canadians permit them to stay in Canada if they come peacefully. However, some cowboys kill all inhabitants of one of their villages. The cowboys seek to get back their horses, but they pretend to search for a girl who once had been robbed by the Indians.
Genres: Action Drama Western
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1961-03-11
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Salome
Overview: This filmed version of Strauss' shocker features Teresa Stratas as opera's most depraved teenager, and she's as perfect a Salome as one would ever hope to see or hear. Stratas inhabits the role, exploring the character's sensuousness as she vainly woos Jochanaan, her venomous hatred when she's rejected, the crazed look in her eyes when she demands his head--on a silver platter, no less. Such complete identification with a role, especially of a character so malignant helps make this 1974 Salome stand out among the many fine DVDs of the opera.
Genres: Drama Music
Original Language: de
Release Date: 1974-04-10
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Pagliacci
Overview: The story is set in southern Italy and recounts the tragedy of Canio, the lead clown (or pagliaccio in Italian) in a commedia dell'arte troupe, his wife Nedda, and her lover, Silvio. When Nedda spurns the advances of Tonio, another player in the troupe, he tells Canio about Nedda's betrayal. In a jealous rage Canio murders both Nedda and Silvio. Although Leoncavallo's opera was originally set in the late 1860's, Zeffirelli's production is updated to the period between World War I and World War II.
Genres: Music Drama
Original Language: it
Release Date: 1987-05-01
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Cavalleria Rusticana/Pagliacci
Overview: Plácido Domingo accomplishes the rare feat of singing both leads on the same night at the Met in 1978 on opera's most popular double-bill.
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1978-04-05
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Così fan tutte
Overview: Nikolaus Harnoncourt conducts the Wiener Philharmoniker in this filmed studio performance of Mozart's opera recorded in 1988.
Genres: Music
Original Language: it
Release Date: 1989-01-01
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Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny
Overview: John Dexter’s brilliant production, James Levine’s masterful conducting of the eclectic score, and a sensational cast come together to make this Kurt Weill–Bertolt Brecht masterpiece a riveting evening of music theater. At the center of the action is Jimmy Mahoney (Richard Cassilly), a logger who stumbles onto the city of Mahagonny, where (almost) anything is allowed. Teresa Stratas gives a mesmerizing performance as Jenny, the prostitute who takes up with Jimmy, until he is executed for the greatest of all crimes in Mahagonny—to not have any money. The legendary Astrid Varnay, in her final Met appearances, is Leocadia Begbick, and Cornell MacNeil sings Trinity Moses.
Genres: Music Drama Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1979-11-27
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The Ghosts of Versailles
Overview: What happened to Figaro and his friends after the events told in Rossini’s and Mozart’s operas? One possible sequel is told in John Corigliano’s “grand opera buffa” The Ghosts of Versailles—an uproariously funny and deeply moving work inspired by Beaumarchais’s third Figaro play, La Mère Coupable, and commissioned by the Met to celebrate its 100th anniversary. This telecast captures its world premiere run, conducted by James Levine. Håkan Hagegård is Beaumarchais, Figaro’s creator, who is deeply in love with Marie Antoinette (Teresa Stratas in a heart-searing performance) and determined to rewrite history and save her from the guillotine. A young Renée Fleming, at the beginning of her international career, sings the unfaithful Rosina. Gino Quilico is the wily Figaro who tries to take matters in his own hands, and Marilyn Horne stops the show as the exotic entertainer Samira.
Genres: Music
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1992-01-10
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Amahl and the Night Visitors
Overview: One night in Judea, a disabled shepherd boy-turned-beggar and his mother are visited by three strangers. They are the Three Kings, and they are on their way to Bethlehem to visit the Christ Child, who has just been born.
Genres: Music
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1978-12-24
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