Claudine Carlson is one of the great mezzos of the last fifty years. She has performed all over the world with many of the great conductors of all time. She is a native of France. She has retired from performing but still teaches voice and has created a series of CDs to help voice students master the intricacies of French pronunciation in song. Bruce Duffie wrote this about Ms. Carlson in an article he published about her (see http://www.bruceduffie.com/carlson.html) for the complete article. "Despite the fact that OPERA SCENE is involved exclusively with operatic subjects and ideas, we have a fine singer returning to Chicago this month who is primarily a concert artist. She does some opera, but as you will find out, her main concentration is with concerts and recitals. So in our final edition we present Claudine Carlson, a charming woman who was born in France and now makes her home in Los Angeles. She was first interested in ballet, but soon the voice was discovered and trained at the Manhattan School of Music. Her operatic debut was at the New York City Opera as Cornelia in Giulio Cesare by Handel. Menotti chose her for performances and the recording of Mrs. Nolen in The Medium, and she has appeared in two French operas at the Met. [See my Interviews with Gian Carlo Menotti.] She has appeared with many symphony orchestras under the batons of some of the greatest conductors. Recently she sang the World Premiere of the Symphony #2 by Alberto Ginastera. Specifically in Chicago, Claudine Carlson has appeared at Grant Park, Ravinia, and with the Chicago Symphony, where she returns this month for Quatre Chansons Françaises of Benjamin Britten." The "French Vocal Diction" CDs contain the mellifluous voice of Ms. Carlson demonstrating the pronunciation of a variety of great French vocal works.