�������t¶��

“In my time very few singers apart from Callas, Sutherland and �䲹��������é had such support behind them,” she said.

“The stage director decided to leave the whole stage empty. Me and Roberto Alagna, we were struggling the whole night to find the Punto Callas, Punto �䲹��������é, Punto Tebaldi, Punto I don’t know whom,” Yoncheva said, referring to the so-called preferred stage spots of Maria Callas, Montserrat �䲹��������é and Renata Tebaldi decades earlier.

For that reason, the work is most familiar as “Medea” — which is how the Met is presenting it, in the Italian translation — though it has remained on the outskirts of the repertory for its difficulty, taken on by a select group of singers including Leonie Rysanek, Gwyneth Jones and Montserrat �䲹��������é.

His influence went far beyond the rock world and crossed the borders into opera and musical theatre, where he eventually worked with the Spanish operatic soprano, Montserrat Caballe, to create the Olympic theme song "Barcelona".

Caballe and Mercury became very close friends during his last few years and he confided with her concerning his illness – as she explained.