A Glistening Record – The Conferences of JBS-USA

At the end of 1998, two years of preliminary organizational work finally had led to the existence of a USA chapter of the Jussi Björling Society. This new group of enthusiasts from North and South America, Europe – and the whole English-speaking world – felt ready to join forces with the British Appreciation Society and the Swedish Sällskap in studying and honoring the career of Jussi Björling. We were connected by the newsletters that our first leaders published, and also very much by a new feature of those times: the newly popular internet with individuals forming all sorts of specialty groups (like Opera-L, a big and prominent opera discussion group begun in the early 1990s). In fact, by February 1999 JBS-USA already had set up its own active internet group discussing Jussi and his art, and incidentally finding ways to engage and increase our membership.