Not everybody can remain youthful and nubile…full of nubilosity and nubility…

Anyway…

Many great, great singers are “women of a certain age” and that has stirred a hornet’s nest in Rome where 52-year-old Italian soprano Daniela Dessi walked off a production of “La traviata” after noted stage director (and Dallas Opera alum) Franco Zeffirelli supposedly told her she was too old and plump to be credible in the role of the consumptive courtesan: Violetta.

Gianluigi Gelmetti, the chief conductor for Rome Opera who probably hired her for the role, disagreed with Zeffirelli’s harsh assessment, saying Dessi’s voice was in “excellent form – and I have to say that her appearance pleases me as a man.”

Yes, well.  We can only hope that something got lost in the translation.

Dessi, meanwhile, is considering possible legal action against her 86-year-old former director.

Suzanne Calvin, Manager/Director Media & PR