This masterful biography provides the most authentic and revealing portrait to date of this major operatic composer

The life of Rosa Ponselle, "one of the greatest American opera singers of the twentieth century."--Jacket.

Based on more than 30-years of research and drawing on both public and private archives, this biography of the great Italian composer is unprecedented in its unraveling of the facts and legends of his life and in portraying the man and his times. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

This is a biography of Gloria Estefan, singer/songwriter who rules the music world as the Queen of Latin Pop.

Beverly Jane Phillips grew up in a Christian family, married a minister, and served with him in four separate parishes. She was one of the first women in the Presbyterian Church to earn a master of divinity degree. But even during this amazing life, Beverly had trials and days when she did not feel her Lord by her side. She had days when she felt doubtsometimes even despair. To combat these days of darkness and bring her closer to God, Beverly began a daily prayer journal. For over thirty years, she wrote her morning prayers in spiral notebooks; these became the basis for From Heaven to My Heart, a collection of prayers from an ordinary Christian woman who lived an extraordinary life. Beverlys transparency about her own spiritual journey not only enlightens but also encourages, sharing the message that even the devout encounter moments of difficulty in their faith. Through those difficulties difficulty arise inspiration, insight, wisdomand faith in an everlasting, benevolent creator. Whether you are interested in beginning a journey with God, or seeking encouragement to continue, From Heaven to My Heart will become a valued companion.

"Nothing we can ever say about God, no words, will ever be adequate to describe the burning mystery which is the Divine, but opening up the vocabulary to include feminine names and pronouns will bring a dimension to our understanding of God that has been tragically neglected. The idea of SHE WHO IS brings to bear all the loving, care-giving, wisdom-supplying richness of the female created in God's image. The reality of the feminine in God is an idea we must consider and wrestle with if justice for all is to be a reality in the world. We must learn a new language." (from Learning a New Language)

(Amadeus). The great baritone Leonard Warren was history's most notable interpreter of Verdi, making his mark in the title roles of Rigoletto , Macbeth and Simon Boccanegra . Warren's dramatic death over 40 years ago is famous: he collapsed and died onstage at the Met on March 4, 1960 in a performance as Carlo in La forza del destino . In this definitive biography, Mary Jane Phillips-Matz, author of an acclaimed biography of Giuseppe Verdi, offers an intimate portrait of a beloved opera star, based on hundreds of interviews. More than 100 rare photographs capture Warren in his great roles as well as in private moments. HARDCOVER.

Here was a man who was both equipped and disposed to be the most considerable Maecenas in the history of our theater, wrote Alexander Woollcott. It is the man behind that legend whom Mary Jane Matz brings. to life in this spirited biography. Otto Kahn, The King of New York in the twenties, had virtually created the city's new Metropolitan Opera with his enormous energy and financial backing. He was responsible for introducing Stanislavski, Nijinski, the Abbey Players, the Moscow Art Theater, and practically every other important personage and event in the most vigorous era of American theatrical history. He subsidized, sponsored, and had close relationships with Toscanini, Caruso, Chaliapin, Pavlova, Pirandello, Eugene O'Neill, Paul Robeson, Grace Moore, and hundreds of other artists whose names are now part of that history. This was the Otto Kahn whose fame lives on today-the man who was an activating force in American opera and theater for more than two decades. But there was another Otto Kahn, now less well known, who was more than a theatrical patron. The other Otto Kahn had amassed a banking fortune through his perspicuity and integrity in the era of unbridled Big Business, and had gone on to win the respect of the nation with his political, economic, and humanitarian activities in the First World War and its boom-and-bust aftermath. That Otto Kahn, a partner in the banking firm of Kuhn, Loeb, was often accused of being a socialist.