GRACIELA RIVERA - Felices Dias

La danza de Puerto Rico "Felices Dias" composed by Juan Morel Campos. Dr. Graciela Rivera (April 17, 1921-July 17, 2011), The first Puerto Rican to sing a lead role at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. Rivera, who was born in Ponce, Puerto Rico, enjoyed singing as a child. Her father was a church pastor who would often play in his record player the opera music of Caruso. He owned a piano and when he played she would sing church hymns with her mother. she was considered very talented by her family and teachers alike. Her family moved to Cataño and later to Santurce, a section of San Juan, where she finished her primary and secondary education. She was a student at Santurce Central High School when she auditioned and participated in school productions of "The Magic Flute", "Il trovatore", "Rigoletto", "Lucia di Lammermoor" and "Aida" (Ms. Rivera believes these were the only operas ever produced by a high school anywhere in the world). She delighted audiences in Puerto Rico with her soprano voice in concerts which she organized. She planned to use the money obtained from these concerts to pay for her studies at the Juilliard School of Music in New York City. Rivera moved to New York after she graduated from high school. She enrolled at Juilliard's and took voice classes, piano lessons, music theory, harmony and composition, graduating in 1943. Upon the outbreak of World War II, she sang for the American troops overseas as a member of the Red Cross. In 1945, she was given the role of Adele in the musical "Rosalinda", a Broadway version of Johann Strauss II's Die Fledermaus. Rivera traveled to France and Germany with the production. That very same year she made her operatic debut as Rosina in "The Barber of Seville" by Gioachino Rossini at the New Orleans Opera.n December 1951, she became the first Puerto Rican to sing a lead role at the New York Metropolitan Opera as Lucia in the production of Lucia di Lammermoor. She earned accolades for her performance from critics around the world. In 1953, Rivera was proclaimed "Citizen of the Year" by the City of New York. In 1954 Rivera was featured as a guest singer in Name That Tune. In 1956, she performed at the Theater of the University of Puerto Rico and one of her back-up singers was a young fellow Puerto Rican by the name of Justino Diaz, who would someday also become a renowned opera singer. That same year Rivera was presented with a special recognition by the Government of Puerto Rico. In 1959, Rivera returned to New York where she had a weekly radio show at WHOM. She traveled regularly between New York and Puerto Rico, in Puerto Rico she participated in the IV Pablo Casals Festival.In 1992, she was appointed Assistant Professor at the Hostos Community College. She taught Puerto Rican music, Italian and Spanish. She also held conferences at Hunter College, Rutgers College and Lehman College. In 1993, Rivera earned her Doctorate Degree in Humanities from the Catholic University of Ponce and in 1996 she was bestowed with a Honoris Causa from Lehman College.

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[marianjudith1]

esta cancion la tengo siempre en mi mente y eso que tengo 14 es por haber leido la novela de Felices Dias Tio Sergio de Magali Garcia Ramis gracias a quien bajo el video y quien la canto es buena la cancion

[miilaXDstar]

No volverán jamás felices días de amor, mi pobre corazón a consolar, a consolar. Quisiera en mis brazos repetirte, te quiero, te quiero. Vuelve otra vez junto a mi que sólo así mi bien me siento yo feliz Vuelve mi dulce encanto te quiero, te quiero tanto. No olvides alma mía que por ti la vida yo daría. ¿Por qué siente el alma este amor? Fatal ha de ser al corazón. ¡Ah! Mas si tan solo en ti cifro mi dicha yo, para vivir sin verte prefiero morir, mi bien, morir. Quiero morir, quiero morir.

[Luis Tanamario]

Esta mujer y su voz son un tesoro meritorios de nuestro orgullo puertorriqueño.

[Michael Rosado]

Porque no das la informacion en espanol somos latinos oh sera que si quiero saber algo de Elvis Presley lo van a poner en espanol no sean tan come miercoles y por si acaso I know English pero somos Latino gracias y perdona mi sinceridad.

[Myrna Torres]

esta cancion me tiene jukiaa! y si tengo 19 años y que pasaa me gustaaa :D

[Myrna Torres]

donde puedo conseguir la letra de la cancion ?

[holbicito]

Puerto Rico, dotada por Dios de un terrible poder, el del PRIMOGENITO, no sólo de España, de quien es casi gemela, sino terroríficamente de la Iglesia Católica, y encima de América toda, incluso de EEUU.

Dios te bendiga América toda, preciosa sin igual, amada de Dios, de Antártida al Polo Norte. Tu hermano mayor,

Puerto Rico

[ANTONIONOLLA77]

Unica !!!!!!

[kilo9161]

LAS VOCES DE LO PUEBLOS ANTILLANO Y MAS LA VOZ DE MI QUIRIDA BORINKE MI PUEBLO TAINO

[fiquitoyunque]

I believe she passed away back in April, just two months after the last post... if so, she'll be dearly missed.