Isola Jones

[AZWAL...@aol.com]

I went to a church concert this evening in Phoenix where the featured
performer was the mezzo Isola Jones. She sang Ravel's Scherazade and
Poulenc's Gloria. She was in fine vocal form. She has apparently "retired"
here and is teaching at a small community college. She looks great, a bit
like Pam Grier in Jackie Brown only better.

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[Steven and Amy Leifer]

I remember her at the Met, years ago, in many lesser mezzo roles
(usually things like Lola in Cav.)
I think I once heard a Sat afternoon Carmen.
The voice was absolutely beautiful.
How come it never made star status a la D Graves (who is very good, but
no Rise Stevens).

[Ancona21]

She was a stunningly buxom Maddalena in a Met Rigoletto w/Pav some years back.

Ancona21
Nemo me impune lacessit

[JDavis6627]

>She was a stunningly buxom Maddalena in a Met Rigoletto w/Pav some years
>back.

Don't go there.

Jon Davis
For every action, there is an equal and opposite criticism.

[EMTGX]

I remember her doing the Strawberry woman bit perfectly the first season and
then not well at all the second (Porgy).
Also, she was Scotto's slithery maid in Rimini (was the Maid named Smaragdi?
and doesn't that mean emeralds?)
-------------------
General Tso
"Mr. Osato believes in a healthy chest" Helga Brandt

[stephen scovasso]

Isola was a house mezzo at the Met for many years. She should have made
star status because she was beautiful, buxom , and had a great voice.
She sang all the seconda donnas, such as Lola, Maddalena in Rigoletto,
the madrigal singer in Manon Lescaut which were all TV broadcast during
the hey day of the Live From the Met Series. Also during the Centennial
Gala in 1983 she sang the quintet from Carmen as Carmen with the House
stable of singers such as Darrenkamp, Love , Charlie Anthony etc. I
believe the met tried her in certain performances as Carmen but for
whatever reason, it did not last. Only the Met and Miss Jones know the
reason.
I also know that Miss Jones was very successful as Carmen in the mid and
far East tours with the late Joanne Grillo's ambassadors off Opera. I
hope she is happy and very successful in her current endeavor.

[Xise]

>I also know that Miss Jones was very successful as Carmen in the mid and
>far East tours with the late Joanne Grillo's ambassadors off Opera

Yes. She sang Carmen with us in Washington, D.C. and Richard Kness, Joann's
husband was Don Jose. She was a good Carmen but somewhat restrained in her
acting. She wouldn't let her hair down.

Any comments DonPaolo? We certainly had a lot of fun.

Regards,
Ximena

[Henson Keys]

Thanks for this thread--I've been wondering for some time "whatever
happened to Isola Jones". Like other posters, I never understood why
she wasn't moved up to leading roles. I thought she had a wonderful
voice, strong acting skills, and incredible good looks. I remember
her Lola, Maddalena, Preziosilla, that maid in FRANCESCA with the
weird name, and many other roles. I frequently wondered if she had
the vocal power for Carmen, Dalila, even Amneris or Azucena.

[David Shengold]

At the Met Isola Jones also sang Olga in ONEGIN (good), Mary in the 1979 NP
of FLYING DUTCHMAN (an odd casting for a pretty young woman), one of the
sightly whores in MAHAGONNY, Preziosilla in FORZA (pretty bad, but nowhere
near as bad as Barbara Conrad) and (I believe) Giulietta in HOFFMANN. There
was certainly a voice, somewhat overemphatically used especially at the
bottom, and some presence there, but I never felt she wasn't getting her due
at the Met. I am glad to hear she's still performing.

David Shengold

----------
In article <29390-373...@newsd-613.iap.bryant.webtv.net>,

[planet...@uswest.net]

a la D Graves (who is very good, but
> no Rise Stevens).
>

> I've never had the pleasure of hearing Graves' complete Carmen, but for at
least one line, in a MET broadcast she waxed the floor with her competition.
Her delivery of "Eh bien! frappe-moi donc, ou laisse-moi passe" would have
incited Ghandi to murder her.

That's, of course, not the whole opera, but a more electrifying moment than
offered in many entire performances.

[donpaolo]

Stephen -

I had the extreme pleasure of appearing in the chorus of a local company's
production that featured Ms. Jones as Carmen in the mid-80's. To make a
long review short, she was fabulous!

One of my fondest memories was of her flirting with me as one of the
soldiers (she caressed my face). Brava!

I, too, wonder whatever happened to her, since she had everything to become
a great Carmen & one could only drool over the idea of her Dalila.

Regards,

DonPaolo

stephen scovasso <opera...@webtv.net> wrote in article
<29390-373...@newsd-613.iap.bryant.webtv.net>...

> Isola was a house mezzo at the Met for many years. She should have made
> star status because she was beautiful, buxom , and had a great voice.
> She sang all the seconda donnas, such as Lola, Maddalena in Rigoletto,
> the madrigal singer in Manon Lescaut which were all TV broadcast during
> the hey day of the Live From the Met Series. Also during the Centennial
> Gala in 1983 she sang the quintet from Carmen as Carmen with the House
> stable of singers such as Darrenkamp, Love , Charlie Anthony etc. I
> believe the met tried her in certain performances as Carmen but for
> whatever reason, it did not last. Only the Met and Miss Jones know the
> reason.

> I also know that Miss Jones was very successful as Carmen in the mid and

[donpaolo]

Henson Keys <ac...@mindspring.com> wrote in article
<3730a5b1...@news.mindspring.com>...

>, that maid in FRANCESCA with the
> weird name,

Hi -

I think it is Smaragdi, or something close. Ms. Jones told me she is
supposedly Indian. Wasn't she simply gorgeous in the role?

Regards,

DonP.

[donpaolo]

She was a tad restrained - I think it was a "test run" & her very first
Carmen.

Oh, yes! God, did we ever have f-u-n!

Luv,

DonP.

Xise <xi...@aol.com> wrote in article
<19990505165717...@ng-ci1.aol.com>...

[donpaolo]

David -

Why didn't you like her Preziosilla? I thought that it was the best I've
ever heard/seen of this usually thankless role - she sounded great, looked
as sexy as they come, etc..

Regards,

DonP.
David Shengold <shen...@pobox.upenn.edu> wrote in article
<7gqc86$s5b$1...@netnews.upenn.edu>...

>
, Preziosilla in FORZA (pretty bad,

> David Shengold
>
>
> ----------
> In article <29390-373...@newsd-613.iap.bryant.webtv.net>,
> opera...@webtv.net (stephen scovasso) wrote:
>
>

[David Shengold]

Don P- Sexy, yes. Maybe I caught her on a bad night, but she missed the C
and had major problems with the coloratura. Kind of one note dramatically,
too, which the tricky role *isn't*. By far the best I ever heard was Judith
Forst at SFO.
Her C was better than any of Leona Mitchell's B flats that night, and it was
all
dead-on vocally and dramatically. The other two I've heard in the role live,
Cynthia Buchan at ENO and Conrad at the Met, were out and out disasters.
It's a tough part to pull off. Oralia Dominguez is delightful in the film
w/Tebaldi & Corelli.

Best-

David Shengold

----------
In article <01be974b$5e656fc0$7b35accf@default>, "donpaolo"

[stephen scovasso]

I am so glad to see all the opera gang who remeber Isola jones.
But whatever happened to Leona Mitchell.
This had the potential to be a great voice and then what......????
Can anyone shed light on this one?

Thanks alot
steve

[David Shengold]

She seems to perform regularly only in Australia, maybe occasionally in
Germany or Japan. Turandot this fall in Sydney.

Here's what Operabase has listed for the last three years:

Mitchell, Leona soprano
21 Mar 96 31 Mar 96 Don Carlo Buenos Aires
22 Sep 96 22 Sep 96 Aida Aida Yokohama
27 Sep 96 29 Sep 96 Aida Aida Tokyo(NHK)
07 Jan 97 04 Feb 97 Ariadne Ariadne auf Naxos Sydney
25 Oct 97 05 Nov 97 Aida Aida Santiago
02 Nov 97 26 Jun 98 Cio Cio San Madame Butterfly Bonn
02 Oct 98 17 Oct 98 Aida Madrid(Real)
17 Sep 99 06 Nov 99 Turandot Sydney

Operabase is at : http://operabase.com/do.cgi?index=&id=none&lang=en

...should you want to search for other singers' engagements!!!

David Shengold

----------
In article <911-3731...@newsd-612.iap.bryant.webtv.net>,

[drak...@aol.com]

I don't know why Isola Jones didn't have a major career in leading parts but
must conjecture that she must have been held back by some deficiency, such as
lack of endurance, weak high notes, inadequate musicianship, or something
else. I am sure that opera companies would have been happy to cast her in
leading parts if she could carry them off.

Howard Hood

In article <01be974a$234a5280$7b35accf@default>,

"donpaolo" <donp...@erols.com> wrote:
> Stephen -
>
> I had the extreme pleasure of appearing in the chorus of a local company's
> production that featured Ms. Jones as Carmen in the mid-80's. To make a
> long review short, she was fabulous!
>
> One of my fondest memories was of her flirting with me as one of the
> soldiers (she caressed my face). Brava!
>
> I, too, wonder whatever happened to her, since she had everything to become
> a great Carmen & one could only drool over the idea of her Dalila.
>
> Regards,
>
> DonPaolo
>
> stephen scovasso <opera...@webtv.net> wrote in article
> <29390-373...@newsd-613.iap.bryant.webtv.net>...

> > Isola was a house mezzo at the Met for many years. She should have made
> > star status because she was beautiful, buxom , and had a great voice.
> > She sang all the seconda donnas, such as Lola, Maddalena in Rigoletto,
> > the madrigal singer in Manon Lescaut which were all TV broadcast during
> > the hey day of the Live From the Met Series. Also during the Centennial
> > Gala in 1983 she sang the quintet from Carmen as Carmen with the House
> > stable of singers such as Darrenkamp, Love , Charlie Anthony etc. I
> > believe the met tried her in certain performances as Carmen but for
> > whatever reason, it did not last. Only the Met and Miss Jones know the
> > reason.

> > I also know that Miss Jones was very successful as Carmen in the mid and
> > far East tours with the late Joanne Grillo's ambassadors off Opera. I
> > hope she is happy and very successful in her current endeavor.
> >
> >
>

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[planet...@uswest.net]

> I also know that Miss Jones was very successful as Carmen in the mid and
> far East tours with the late Joanne Grillo's ambassadors off Opera. I
> hope she is happy and very successful in her current endeavor.
>

> She sang Carmen in Seattle opposite Shicoff in '87 or '88, and unfortunately

for me, someone bought the tickets, decided to go cheap, and I'd barely be
lying if I said I didn't SEE that performance. I remember a good voice,
though not a lot of vocal personality on her part, but from what little I
could see, she had the right Carmen attitude, sexy, confident and oblivious.

[Steven and Amy Leifer]

I found the answer to the Whatever happened to types of questions while
rummaging through old Theatre Worlds.
Missing people are frequently on tour around the country or world in
theatres or opera houses that you and I never hear about.