The Berkeley composer was asked about his first opera:

   "Aida.  It's like something out of Dickens: When I was 16, I
   got a letter in very shaky handwriting, and out came a check
   for $100.  It was from a man who had grown up in New Hampshire
   and lived at 1 Sutton Place.  He had read an article in some
   local newspaper about me, and he invited me to hear the Met.
   So my parents put me on a Greyhound bus.  I stayed at the Y.
   I was met by his wife - who told me in completely unexcited
   tones that he'd had a heart attack and was in the hospital.
   So she said `I'll take you.' It was with Birgit Nilsson and
   Richard Tucker, and I absolutely hated it.  I just thought
   it was the most hideous thing I'd ever heard or seen.  But I
   behaved well."

For the whole interview, see

   http://www.newyorkmetro.com/nymetro/arts/music/classical/10328/

Janos Gereben
www.sfcv.org
[log in to unmask]