[Long before becoming First Lady of Alameda, CA, Fredericka von Stade
lived in London, Some time ago.  And yet, she will only now make her BBC
Proms debut, then - in October - she is due for her first appearance in
Wigmore Hall.  The half debut? A tentative plan for her first Marschallin.
Could there be a Podunk-by-the-Bay?]

   Financial Times / July 19, 2002
   The Arts / Music

   A SINGER WITH TIME ON HER SIDE
   By Martin Bernheimer

   Frederica von Stade doesn't look, or act, like a diva.  She's simply
   too earthy, too direct, too candid.  If she commands a full-scale
   operatic ego, she keeps it well-hidden.  And if, as the reference
   books insist, she's 57, her appearance contradicts that silly statistic.
   She still resembles the freckled kid next door, a kid easily transformed
   into the mischievous image of Mozart's pageboy, Cherubino. The
   hormonally-primed adolescent in "Le Nozze di Figaro" was her signature
   role for decades.

   ...

   http://tinyurl.com/q2b

Janos Gereben/SF
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