Glass Shatterers! Rita Shane - Thomas: HAMLET, Ophelia's Mad Scene, Live 1979, High F#

~The "Glass Shatterers!" series focuses on sopranos who sustain High F, or sing higher. THE SONGBIRD: Rita Shane (1936 - 2014) was an American dramatic coloratura from the Bronx. She sang primarily in the United States with many appearances at the New York City Opera (1965 debut as Donna Elvira) and eight seasons at The Met (1973 debut as Queen of the Night) and was Beverly Sills' cover for Rossini's "Siege of Corinth." She actually started there as a secretary with the Metropolitan National Council’s fundraising department in the 1960s. Shane made international guest appearances in many top classical opera cities and festivals. She studied with legendary teacher Beverley Peck Johnson. Shane’s singing offered pros and cons: her dramatic temperament and fearlessness could be tremendously exciting, but her technique was uneven and she lacked artistic nuance. Both sides of the coin can be heard here in the Richard Tucker Gala Marathon from January 1979 as she sings Ophelia's mad scene from "Hamlet" by Ambroise Thomas, with piano accompaniment with a climactic High F-sharp. [It should be noted this is a different performance from another private video posted on YouTube of this aria sung with piano. In that version she oddly ends the aria on a High E, not the F# heard here.]