O patria mia - Wilhelmenia Fernandez. Luxor. 1994. (from Verdi's Aida)

Giuseppe Verdi. "AIDA". Atto 3.
Luxor. 1994. Queen Hatshepsut's temple.
Recitativo. Qui Radamès verrà... Che vorrà dirmi?
Romanza. O cieli azzurri... o dolci aure native
Aida - Wilhelmenia Fernandez
Musical Director - Enrico de Mori
Cairo Opera Symphony Orchestra
Orchestra Citta de Verona
Stage Director - Vittorio Rossi
Qui Radames verra!... Che vorra dirmi?
Io tremo... Ah! se tu vieni
A recarmi, o crudel, l'ultimo addio,
Del Nilo i cupi vortici
Mi daran tomba... e pace forse, e oblio.
O patria mia, mai piu ti revedro!
O cieli azzurri, o dolci aure native,
Dove sereno il nio mattin brillo,
O verdi colli, o profumate rive,
O patria mia, mai piu ti revedro!
O fresche valli, o queto asil beato,
Che un di promesso dall'amor mi fu;
Or che d'amore il sogno e dileguato,
O patria mia, non ti vedro mai piu!

[@tantalavita6015]

R.I.P.,Diva!!!

[@qskitchen-qianahall5830]

Listening to you all night. My heart is sad. 😢

[@ciociosan]

Rest in power.

[@vocalfan2397]

Jaw-Dropping beauty- I cannot believe I'm hearing this for the first time. What a discovery....this is a fabulous artist! Overwhelming voice.

[@aetion]

If I hadn't seen the film "Diva", I wouldn't have known her. What a pity!

[@charlesdotson4766]

Beautifully sung by the lovely Wilhelmenia Fernandez! Her lyric voice sounds free, open and she does not push to sound more dramatic.

[@glgree1]

Hard to believe that I heard her sing this role back in 1977 at the Kansas City Lyric Opera!

[@MargaretThornhill]

One of the great voices of her generation!

[@corellicorelli]

Had never heard her before. Extremely beautiful and unique timbre.

[@SilfredoSerrano]

Wow! She saved that high C and held it forever!

[@giuseppedimarco8358]

Brava! She Merits more fame! Dramatic beautiful ! Voice !

[@HayaRubin]

She is my favorite opera singer ever. It is hard to believe racsm is not at the root of her not having more exposure, although I read an interview with her where she says that she was invited to do many things after she was in Diva, but found it overwhelming as her repertoire was not that great and expectations were too high. I learned about her from her aria on Diva from La Wally and always keep looking for performances of hers that are recorded and available but there are so few.

[@aetion]

_"I learned about her from her aria on Diva from La Wally"_ So did I. As in the film, she didn't wanted (?) to make any recordings, her repertoire was poor, so she remained rather unknown and now she is forgotten. It's a pity, but...

[@Shahrdad]

She was a beautiful lady, but as a singer, she had a rather ordinary voice, a limited repertoire, and was not a terribly illuminating interpreter. I'm not sure the exposure she got in Diva did her much good, as it set the expectations too high, before she had matured to the level of those expectations.

[@Markinsky]

What is not mentioned is that she perhaps had a difficult marital dynamic which held her back. I met both her and her husband when I worked with her on the Oakland Opera production of Tosca. She was a great Tosca and just lovely as a person. Her husband was Scarpia with a very good voice. Even though I only knew her slightly she was in a very high class musically and we were amazed that we got her. I'm sorry she's gone.

[@CaffeineNightOwl]

for me ( not an opera expert) she has the most beautiful operatic voice. love her.

[@wordsworks7084]

Das ist ganz hervorragend! Dieses Timbre, diese Ruhe in der Ausstrahlung, und dann dieses unglaubliche hohe C im piano, ewig lang. And therefore she must breath before, and this is not a trick!

[@bauchmann9971]

Da sie lyrisch ist, ist das natürlich ihre Stärke-man müsste die ganze Partie hören, die typisch für Verdi bestimmt noch dramatisch ist!

[@ILikeOpera]

WOW I am happy To see this up. She sounds just beautiful. All need to hear this great voice.

[@r.h.7486]

Have no idea about musical technique.. What counts for me is whether it touches me.❤‍🩹🌹

[@Fiumita]

Hermosa voz!!!

[@necessarydiva]

lyric and beautiful

[@jamesvandel2910]

Muito bonito! Ela é a melhor Aida, depois de Leontyne Price!

[@nathnwil]

Very beautiful voice and woman. She uses a lot of tricks though. Listen to Price, Verrett, Milanov, Gwenyth Jones, Arroyo and Caballe to name a few who carry those long phrases on a single breath. All that said, an impressive voice!

[@unclealand]

Using tricks? So did Callas.

[@jefferycampbell247]

Every great singer (actor, dancer, painter, etc) has and uses their tricks.

[@cliffgaither]

_Her voice is more beautiful than ..._

[@ewqaSopran]

Lucky You! Where?

[@pump066]

Brilliant Hernandez! Hate the echo though, must've been the Verona tech dep!

[@SilfredoSerrano]

This was in Luxor. That's Egypt.

[@pump066]

@@SilfredoSerrano Yes Luxor, I was trying to be funny! The audio reminded me of the Tech Dept of Arena di Verona, Italy.

[@ewqaSopran]

Lucky You! Where?