Women Who Made History: Maria Callas

Maria Anna Sophie Kalogeropoulos, more commonly known as Maria Callas, was born in 1923 on Long Island, New York. Although she was technically American, Maria’s parents hailed from Greece, and she spent most of her career performing in Italy.

Women Who Made History: Maria Callas

Maria was an opera singer characterized by some critics as a soprano, and by others as a mezzo-soprano later in her career. She studied at the National Conservatoire in Athens beginning in 1938 and quickly made her operatic debut in 1941 as Beatrice in “Boccaccio”. While in Athens, the singer performed such operas as “Tosca”, “Tiefland”, “Cavalleria Rusticana”, “Fidelio”, and “Der Bettelstudent” at the Palas Cinema before returning to the U.S. in 1944 to reunite with her father. After trying out for the Metropolitan Opera and failing to secure a role there or any other place in New York, Callas went into true hustler mode: When she heard Tullio Serafin was looking for a dramatic  for “Tristan und Isolde”, Callas told him that she already knew the score, even though she had only briefly looked through the part. She sight-read the opera’s second act for Serafin, and he was so impressed with her “knowledge of the role” that he gave her the part. Callas went to Italy, where she started to perform less classical roles and focused more on Italy’s bel canto roles. Soon after, she was coined La Divina because of her amazing vocal ability and her particular gift for the use of other languages in her music.

More on this incredible woman, after the jump!

Read the full story

I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again. I love Wonder Woman. I had the underoos as a kid and on any summer day you’d find me spinning around my backyard warding off evil with my imaginary wrist cuffs. Wonder Woman has had many reincarnations and her latest is for an animated DVD movie called, not surprisingly, Wonder Woman. The animated movie is set to release in February 2009 and Keri Russell is providing the super heroine’s voice. Explaining the plot of the film, Russell stated: “The movie tells the Amazon princess’ origin story. ‘She’s a true, strong warrior, but she’s also right at the break of being a young woman standing on her own and fighting out in the world,’ Russell says.”

We’ve seen a resurgence of Superhero movies lately including Iron Man, The Hulk and now The Dark Knight. There have been rumors for years about a film version of Wonder Woman but it seems the project keeps stalling. So, I’m taking some time out to say: Please get that project up and running! Girls can be super too! In this time when girls are bombarded with poor role models, from The Bratz to Britney, we need Wonder Woman to come back to show young girls that ladies can be beautiful, strong, powerful and independent. Please start making less movies about cheerleaders and drama queens, and focus on empowering young women. If you make it, they will come.

Source