Licia Albanese on Toscanini

Licia Albanese on Toscanini
Recorded March 26, 2007

LISTEN  (Running time: 16:59. 38.8 MB)

Soprano Licia Albanese shares her memories of the great conductor Arturo Toscanini, who died fifty years ago. Mme Albanese sang Mimi in “La Boheme” and Violetta in “La Traviata” on Toscanini’s broadcasts
with the NBC symphony in the 1940s. These recordings have never been out of print. She sang at the Metropolitan from 1940 to 1966 and continued her career for years afterward. Today, at 94, Albanese gives master classes for, and financial assistance to, young artists through the Licia Albanese Puccini Foundation. We spoke from her home in New York on March 26, 2007.

See also www.lapfny.org for the Albanese Puccini Foundation

Writers

            WOSU Public Media is responsible for the production of quality material, service to the community, and making it all look extremely simple. In order to achieve this, WOSU employs both full- and part-time team members that share such goals and treat their responsibilities with a great deal of care. Amy Deeds, who was brought on temporarily to increase the efficiency and organization of WOSU auctions, is a perfect example of such a person.

            Deeds is a writer by trade. Before coming to WOSU, she worked in the Public Affairs Department at Kenyon College, writing articles about interesting faculty members and alumni. The job also brought the opportunity to travel to New Orleans, where she worked in a Katrina relief effort and wrote about her experiences. Before Kenyon, Deeds spent a substantial amount of her career as a freelance writer and as editor for Gannett Newspapers. Even today at WOSU, she spends lunches editing young writers’ articles (ahem) and “…always travel(s) with a red pen or two.”

            Deeds’ primary objective at WOSU Public Media, however, is mastering the day-to-day tasks presented by WOSU auctions. Specifically, she works with Auction Manager Andy Falter to make sure transactions run smoothly. Serving as the “middleman” between the donors and bidders, she inputs paperwork, facilitates credit card transactions, and ensures quick and accurate processing. As she puts it, her job basically is to take care of “anything that (the auction) needs.”

            Deeds is a temporary employee, and after her work at WOSU is finished, she plans to keep writing at the center of her life. Her editing work will undoubtedly live on anonymously at WOSU; as she stated, her goal is “…making it seem to the reader, that her writers are really good.” Lord knows we need the help. Her husband, Scott Gowans (also of WOSU Public Media), also spends time revising articles written for the Web site and WOSU’s “Airfare” magazine. If you have any doubt as to where their priorities lie, you can catch them in the parking lot next to their car – license plate “Writers.”

- By Brett Renzenbrink