It all started with Hector Berlioz and his Evenings with the Orchestra! A group of bored musicians is stuck in a small town playing overrated operas. With nothing else to do, they tell tales, read stories and exchange gossip about the world of music and musicians. And that’s the idea “Behind the Curtain!” In short, humorous and entertaining tales, we’ll discover the “human side” of famous composers and performers!

Long before the advent of social media, Maria Callas was a media phenomenon! She undoubtedly had one of the most dynamic and distinctive voices in operatic history, but her fiery love life and heated battles with opera companies and fellow singers made headlines around the world. Journalists and reporters could not stop writing about her stormy relationship with the Greek shipping tycoon Aristotle Onassis, and it was rumored that a love child with Onassis died soon after birth. When Onassis left Callas to marry the widowed Jacqueline Kennedy in 1968, many believed that Callas continued her affair with Onassis well into his marriage with the former lady. A symbol of the jet-set elegance and celebrity chic, Callas was in a constant battle to control her weight. Apparently, she once ingested a live tapeworm to shed the pounds! But Callas was not the only operatic game in town. The exceptional Renata Tebaldi—dubbed the “Voice of an Angel,” sang many of the same roles and appeared in many of the same venues. It all started when the two divas alternated performances of La Traviata in Rio de Janeiro in 1950. At a gala concert, they sang their scheduled arias, and despite a no-encore agreement, Tebaldi sang two! Insults were exchanged, and it got really ugly in a hurry. Things reached boiling point when management favored Tebaldi over Callas, and the latter got fired. Callas supposedly responded by saying “If the time comes when my dear friend Renata Tebaldi sings Norma or Lucia one night, then Violetta, La Gioconda or Medea the next – then and only then will we be rivals. Otherwise, it is like comparing champagne with cognac. No, make that Coca-Cola.” Meow!!!

Renata Tebaldi

Maria Callas