I never heard Maria Callas sing. But I did see her once. In 1971, when I was a student on my first visit to the US, I managed to get a back stalls seat at the Metropolitan Opera in New York for a gala performance of Verdi’s Don Carlo, with a rising young tenor called Plácido Domingo in the title role.
In the interval I wandered into the Met’s glitzy foyer. Standing at the foot of the staircase which curved up to the grand tier, I heard applause from higher up. The crowd parted and, down the stairs came that completely unmistakable woman, instantly recognisable to any opera fan, and to millions of others too.
