Joan Sutherland: Bell Telephone Hour 1961-1968 (DVD)

In the early 1960s, the Australian soprano Joan Sutherland emerged as an opera star of the first magnitude, setting new standards of vocal excellence in the bel canto repertoire that have yet to be matched. Fortunately, Miss Sutherland's American career included numerous television appearances, prominent among them her performances on the Bell Telephone Hour, from 1961 to 1968. The earliest of these telecasts marked Miss Sutherland's American television debut, less than a month after her New York debut (in a concert performance of Bellini's Beatrice di Tenda) and well before her Metropolitan Opera debut (as Lucia, on November 26, 1961). Video Artists International is proud to present Dame Joan's complete Bell Telephone Hour performances on one DVD.
Color/B&W, 102 minutes, 4:3, All regions

HAMLET (Thomas) Mad Scene (1961)
OTELLO (Verdi) Willow Song (1961)
ERNANI (Verdi) "Ernani, involami" (1961)
LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR (Donizetti) Mad Scene (1962)
LA SONNAMBULA (Bellini) "Ah, non credea... Ah, non giunge" (1963)
I PURITANI (Bellini) "Qui la voce... Vien, diletto" (1963)
I PURITANI (Bellini) "Ah sento, o mio bel angiolo" (1963)
NORMA (Bellini) "Casta diva... Ah bello, a me ritorna" (1964)
LA TRAVIATA (Verdi) "Ah, fors'è lui... Sempre libera" (1965)
CRISPINO E LA COMARE (Ricci) "Io non sono più l'Annetta" (1967)
LAKMÉ (Delibes) Bell Song (1967)
TOSCA (Puccini) Excerpts from Act II with Tito Gobbi (1968)
RIGOLETTO (Verdi) Quartet with Nicolai Gedda, Tito Gobbi, Mildred Miller (1968)
LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR (Donizetti) Sextette with Nicolai Gedda, Tito Gobbi, Mildred Miller, Charles Anthony, Jerome Hines (1968)

Joan Sutherland, soprano
The Bell Telephone Hour Orchestra & Chorus
Donald Voorhees, conductor