Sorry Ralph, to hear about the passing of Jose van Dam, another of the really really good ones to go. When I came home from the service the very first opera that I heard at San Francisco Opera in 1970 was Carmen. And it was a pretty good cast: Brigitte Fassbaender as Carmen, Guy Chauvet as Don Jose and Jose van Dam as Escamillo. When he came out and sang the Toreador aria he stole the show. I don’t know what the conservatories are teaching these days but they are certainly not producing singers of his caliber.