My background is a mother born in Kiev, Ukraine. and a father born in Lithuania.
My roots are Slavic. My mother, Celia, was born in Kiev, Ukraine and graduated from Brooklyn Law School in 1926 and practiced law in New Jersey. My father, Dr. Morris J. Lane, born in Lithuania, was an optometrist and a published poet. My cousin Michael Blankfort was the original book writer and, for the films, the screenwriter of "The Juggler" starring Kirk Douglas and "Broken Arrow" starring Jeff Chandler as Cochise.
For two years I was the leading tenor of the General Platoff Don Cossacks. They recorded exclusively for RCA Victor. I sang 6 selections at each concert in about one hundred cities, touring the USA, Canada and Mexico.
We were enthusiastically greeted with wild cheers and applause by knowing audiences, singing the chestnuts of the Slavic literature, folk songs, spirituals, novelty pieces., love songs and songs of sadness. Most heart-felt was the reception to my singing "Sad Snows Over the Steppes" a commentary on the sad state of the country. I sang ''Two Guitars," "Evening Bells," "Ballad of General Platoff," "Dark Eyes," and "Sieny." I have sung the Rimsky-Korsakoff opera "The Snow Maiden." The tenor's aria is as beautiful as the aria from "Sadko," :"The Song of India."

I am a JUILLIARD alumnus. How thrilled we fellow alumni were to hear his, a fellow JUILLIARD alumnus, triumph against all odds at the Moscow competition. I was alongside the PARADE ROUTE in New York City when Americans welcomed home our hero. We had precious little to celebrate in those COLD WAR days. In a sense, the economies of the world today appear equally dismal. Single handedly musicians with spectacular talent can close the gap between opposing political forces. The Beattles conquered the hearts and souls of Russian youth. Maestri BARENBOIM and MEHTA have conducted performances, with Middle East instrumentalists of religious backgrounds in conflict, within the HOLY LAND and demonstrated that one can live and work peacefully and productively, although their religions and/or creeds may be aggressively partisan. I am a Wagnerian romantischer heldentenor, the director of the Richard Wagner Music Drama Institute, where all the roles of Wagner and Shakespeare are coached, and an opera composer of “Shakespeare” and “The Political Shakespeare." I have sung, and commercially recorded LIVE for Valhalla Records CDs four main hall, Isaac Stern Auditorium, solo concerts, three of them three hours long.

This is the fourth or fifth time WQXR has dragged out that picture of Van Cliburn with Krushchev, the butcher of Budapest who murdered thousands of Hungarian citizens in the streets. I am of Russian descent and object strenuously to any thought of Krushchev as representative of that spirit or heritage. He should have been hanged.

Yes, there's a Russian spirit and it reveals in the grooming of musicians from early childhood. The singing tone is nurtured. Mood, affect, primordial FEELING is explored. So many playing examples of Richter, Gilels, and Pletnev are testimonies to the spirit. And now teachers working with a new generation of young pianists, include Irina Gorin and Irina Morozova. Not to forget the great Russian mentors, Dimitri Bashkirov and Boris Berman.

Well Midge, as SOUSA is to the American spirit, TCHAIKOVSKY delivers that same Russian spirit! And part of that ''feeling'' or ''spirit'' is a total devotion to passion / power musical writing. Melodies that seduce you while the percussion parts blast you out of your seat. The spirit is POWER. And both countries embrace that intoxicating nationalism in their musical heritage. And without further comment, one only needs sample the Tchaikovsky 6th symphony, 3rd march movement. Its Russian spirit at its bombastic best and it delivers that true ''knockout'' symphonic punch!

Hello,

Please excuse me for writing about this here, but I have looked through the blogs and cannot seem to find the one(s) you wrote about your wedding. I do remember that you commented that you met your husband through and internet agency and I was wondering if you could tell me the name of the agency. Please accept my apologies if the question is out of line-
Thank you

Right, forgot to mention its the sixth movement.

Oh, and my first great love (I was in high school!) was a cellist w Miami Phil ..... and such sad, bittersweet, fatalism inn the Brasiliaris well. Too early in the day for that nonsense, but please play it.

Did anyone notice on Monday the opening strains of Mussorgsky Cinderella are identical to the opening of the Russian Easter Overture? Also, maybe it should be noted that the sound of 19th century Russian draws heavily upon Russia's folk music. Written with a pentatonic scale, it is this which gives it its oriental lilt.

Long, lonely nights, Vodka, tears, untrammeled (when pure) by European notions of form and counterpoint. But of course we never get it pure, in classical music. Echoes only, transcribed and made real in the minds of geniuses.