IRENE DALIS - PROGRAM SIGNED 01/20/1968 CO-SIGNED BY: SHERRILL MILNES, JAMES EUGENE McCRACKEN, GABRIELA TUCCI - HFSID 67624

IRENE DALIS, CO-SIGNED BY: SHERRILL MILNES, GABRIELLA TUCCI, JAMES EUGENE McCRACKEN
1968 New York Metropolitan Opera program for Verdi's Aïda at Lincoln Center Plaza, signed by Dalis, Milnes, Tucci and McCracken. Dalis was Amneris, Tucci was Aïda, McCracken was Radames and Milnes was Amonasro
Program signed "Irene Dalis" in black ink, "Gabrielle Tucci" in blue ink, "James McCracken" in blue ink and "Sherrill/Milnes" in blue ink on cast page. Color and b/w, 52 pages, 8x11. Metropolitan Opera 1967-68 program for the Jan. 20, 1968 subscription performance of Verdi's Aïda at Lincoln Center Plaza. Dalis was Amneris, Tucci was Aïda, McCracken was Radames and Milnes was Amonasro. DALIS (1925-2014) was an American mezzo-soprano. She performed as Princess Eboli in her 1953 debut in Verdi's Don Carlo in Oldenburg, West Germany and again at her New York Metropolitan Opera House debut four years later. She performed at the Met for the next 20 consecutive seasons as a principal artist before retiring in 1977. MILNES, born in Downers Grove, Illinois in1935, is an American baritone who has been associated with the New York Metropolitan Opera for three decades. Milnes showed great musical promise, but no operatic leanings, early in life, learning to play at least six instruments. He joined the Boston Opera Company in 1960, deuting there as Masetto in Mozart's Don Giovanni. Milnes's big break came in 1964, when he performed Valentine in Gounod's Faust at the New York Opera, the role he played for his 1965 Met debut. He made his European debut in 1964 as Figaro in Rossini's The Barber of Seville at the Teatro Nuovo in Milan. Milnes became an international star after singing Miller in Verdi's Luisa Miller in 1968. TUCCI (1929-2020) born in Rome, Italy, is an Italian soprano who made her debut as Leonora in Verdi's La Forza del destino in 1951. Two years later, she played Glauce in the 1953 revival of Luigi Cherubini's Medea in Florence. She debuted at the Teatro alla Scala in 1959 as Mimi in Puccini's La Bohème and her New York Metropolitan Opera debut in 1960 as Cio-Cio-San in another Puccini opera, Madame Butterfly. She performed at the Met until 1972. MCCRACKEN (1926-1988) was an American tenor who performed at the New York City Metropolitan Opera for 25 years. McCracken began studying opera seriously after serving in the U. S. Navy during World War II. He debuted at the Central City Opera in Denver, Colorado as Rodolfo in Puccini's La Bohème in 1952. McCracken's Met debut was in the same opera a year later as Parpignol and debuted in Europe at the Vienna State Opera in 1957. He became a star in the early 1960's, when the Washington, DC Opera Society gave him the title role in Verdi's Otello. After touring Europe in this role, he returned to the Met in 1963. McCracken left the Met in 1978, but returned for its centennial in 1983. He remained at the Met until his health forced him to retire during the 1987-1988 season, shortly before his death. Lightly toned and creased. Covers are lightly soiled. Transference from signatures on some pages. Otherwise, fine condition.