The aria was first performed by the popular Victorian English soprano Florence Easton (premiere 14 December 1918). It has been sung subsequently by many sopranos such as Frances Alda, Victoria de los Ángeles, Kathleen Battle, Montserrat Caballé, Maria Callas, Renée Fleming, Angela Gheorghiu, Dame Joan Hammond (who won a Gold Record in 1969 for 1 million sold copies of this aria), Dame Malvina Major, Carmen Monarcha, Anna Netrebko, Leontyne Price, Patricia Racette, Dame Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, and Renata Tebaldi.
Sì, sì, ci voglio andare! e se l'amassi indarno, andrei sul Ponte Vecchio, ma per buttarmi in Arno!
Mi struggo e mi tormento! O Dio, vorrei morir! Babbo, pietà, pietà! Babbo, pietà, pietà!
Yes, yes, I want to go there! And if my love were in vain, I would go to the Ponte Vecchio And throw myself in the Arno!
I am anguished and tormented! Oh God, I'd like to die! Papa, have pity, have pity! Papa, have pity, have pity!
Oh yes, I really love him. And if you still say no, I’ll go to Ponte Vecchio, And throw myself below.
My love for which I suffer, At last, I want to die. Father I pray, I pray. Father I pray, I pray.
Malcolm McLaren's 1984 album Fans fuses opera with 1980s R&B; and includes the track "Lauretta" sung by soprano Betty Ann White. James Ivory's 1985 film A Room with a View uses the aria as the title theme. The 1999 Harmony Korine film Julien Donkey-Boy uses the aria as its main theme. Carlo Aonzo (mandolin) and Beppe Gambetta (guitar) produced a recording of the song on their 2001 album Traversata. Violinist Joshua Bell has produced a recording of it on his 2004 album Romance of the Violin. The rock group East Village Opera Company covered the aria and transformed it into an R&B-styled; arrangement on their 2005 self-titled album. Bárbara Padilla performed the aria during season 4 of the TV show America's Got Talent; 10 year old singer Jackie Evancho performed it during season 5.
Category:Opera excerpts Category:Arias by Giacomo Puccini Category:1918 compositions
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| Background | solo_singer |
|---|---|
| Name | Jackie Evancho |
| Birth name | Jacqueline Marie Evancho |
| Born | April 09, 2000 |
| Origin | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Voice type | Soprano |
| Occupation | Singer |
| Instrument | Vocals, violin, piano |
| Label | SYCO/Columbia Records (2010–present) |
| Years active | 2009–present |
| Genre | Classical crossover |
| Url |
Evancho sings in the "classical crossover" style of singers such as Sarah Brightman and Hayley Westenra. She studies singing with a voice coach, and also plays the violin and piano. She started singing when she was seven years old, after she watched the musical The Phantom of the Opera on DVD. Her mother heard Evancho singing songs from the musical and allowed her to enter the 2008 Kean Idol, a local talent contest. She sang "Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again", finishing, at seven years old, as first runner-up; the winner was 20 years old. Eventually she participated in other talent contests and started a YouTube channel. Jackie began taking vocal lessons when she was 8, in June 2008, after her success in the 2008 Kean Idol contest. She was also a member of the Children's Festival Chorus of Pittsburgh during its 2008–09 season. Evancho lives in Richland Township, a suburb of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
She competed in the 15th U.S.A. World Showcase Talent Competition in early 2009, which took place in Las Vegas in which the winner receives $100,000 and the opportunity to create a demo CD. Jackie was invited to perform at the U.S. Open Tennis Championships in New York City, but due to scheduling conflicts with America's Got Talent, had to cancel.
Jackie performed on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on September 23, 2010, after giving her first late night interview, with Jay Leno. In her appearance on the The Oprah Winfrey Show along with singers Susan Boyle and Debby Boone on October 19, 2010, she named Josh Groban, Charlotte Church, and Andrea Bocelli among the artists that she would like to collaborate with in the future. She sang "Pie Jesu" and said that writing is her favorite subject. The episode also showed tape that was shot by Oprah's crew at Evancho's home and school. Evancho performed in the My Macy's Holiday Parade presented by WPXI in Pittsburgh on November 27. Jackie performed on The Today Show on November 9, 2010 which also featured a brief interview. Jackie is also filming a spot on Wizards of Waverly Place'' and is currently shooting her first music video. She went on The View on November 15, 2010, and is currently ranked #1 on the British site Classical-Crossover.co.uk. On November 30, 2010, Evancho sang "Silent Night" with Katherine Jenkins on NBC's Christmas Tree Lighting Special, "Christmas in Rockefeller Center".
"She is just truly blessed with a voice that's phenomenal", says classical-crossover composer/conductor Tim Janis, who invited Evancho to perform in his American Christmas Carol show (Dec. 2, 2010) at Carnegie Hall in New York City. She is the youngest female vocal soloist ever to have performed there. Although Jackie describes herself as a Classical-Crossover singer, she currently holds the world record as the youngest Opera singer.
On January 1, 2011, Evancho performed the American national anthem at the NHL Winter Classic at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh, while Steven Page performed the Canadian national anthem. "I thought she was just lovely, sweetly compelling." "She is compelling," said Hahn. "It is quite unusual to hear a young girl with that level of warmth and roundness." Hahn called Jackie's performance of Pie Jesu strong, with seamless delivery. "Her phrasing was lovely, which she needed for that piece."
Composer Tim Janis said "[Jackie's] voice is so pure and natural, there's no flaw in it. People say 'I can hear her potential coming,' but no, it's here, it's now."
America's Got Talent judge, Piers Morgan said that Jackie has more talent than any act he has seen after witnessing her version of "Ave Maria": "I have never seen an act, on this show or the British show or any of the other talent shows in the world, with more potential than Jackie Evancho. That was perfection."
Claudia Benack, Assistant Professor of Musical Theater at Carnegie Mellon University said that "[Jackie] has an unusually adult feel for the repertoire...I think she's very good." Evancho performed O mio babbino caro by Giacomo Puccini. The aria is also on her debut album. She received a standing ovation after her performance, and was awarded a trip to Universal Studios Florida for receiving the most fan votes from the submissions to the show from YouTube. She was then voted into the semifinals by viewers. Her second performance was Andrea Bocelli and Sarah Brightman's "Time To Say Goodbye" and once again received great critical reaction. In the Top 10, Jackie performed Pie Jesu by Andrew Lloyd Webber and advanced through to the Final 4.
After Evancho's initial performance on America's Got Talent, there were online accusations that her performance had been lip-synched. These rumors were quickly denounced. One judge, Howie Mandel, had her sing a random voice exercise on the next evening's live show as proof that it was her voice that was heard.
Evancho performed a celebrity duet with Sarah Brightman of "Time To Say Goodbye" during the final episode of the season, aired on September 15, 2010. During this same episode, it was revealed that she came in second place in the final voting results of season 5. Evancho performed in 10 of the 25 cities scheduled for the "America's Got Talent" road show.
Category:2000 births Category:2000s singers Category:2010s singers Category:American child singers Category:American female singers Category:America's Got Talent contestants Category:American sopranos Category:Columbia Records artists Category:Living people Category:Musicians from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Category:Opera crossover singers Category:Participants in American reality television series Category:People from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
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Born in New York City and raised by an overbearing mother, she received her musical education in Greece and established her career in Italy. Forced to deal with the exigencies of wartime poverty and with myopia that left her nearly blind on stage, she endured struggles and scandal over the course of her career. She turned herself from a heavy woman into a svelte and glamorous one after a mid-career weight loss, which might have contributed to her vocal decline and the premature end of her career. The press exulted in publicizing Callas's allegedly temperamental behavior, her supposed rivalry with Renata Tebaldi, and her love affair with Aristotle Onassis. Her dramatic life and personal tragedy have often overshadowed Callas the artist in the popular press. However, her artistic achievements were such that Leonard Bernstein called her "The Bible of opera", and her influence so enduring that, in 2006, Opera News wrote of her: "Nearly thirty years after her death, she's still the definition of the diva as artist—and still one of classical music's best-selling vocalists."
In 1957, she told Norman Ross, "Children should have a wonderful childhood. I have not had it – I wish I had." On the other hand, biographer Pestalis-Diomidis asserts that it was actually Evangelia's hateful treatment of George in front of their young children which led to resentment and dislike on Callas's part. However, when interviewed by Pierre Desgraupes on the French program L'Invitee Du Dimanche, Callas attributed the development of her chest voice not to Trivella, but to her next teacher, the well-known Spanish coloratura soprano Elvira de Hidalgo.
Callas studied with Trivella for two years before her mother secured another audition at the Athens Conservatoire with de Hidalgo. Callas auditioned with "Ocean, Thou Mighty Monster." De Hidalgo recalled hearing "tempestuous, extravagant cascades of sounds, as yet uncontrolled but full of drama and emotion". Callas herself said that she would go to "the conservatoire at 10 in the morning and leave with the last pupil ... devouring music" for 10 hours a day. When asked by her teacher why she did this, her answer was that even "with the least talented pupil, he can teach you something that you, the most talented, might not be able to do."
After several appearances as a student, Callas began appearing in secondary roles at the Greek National Opera. De Hidalgo was instrumental in securing roles for her, allowing Callas to earn a small salary, which would help her and her family get through the difficult war years.
Callas made her American debut in Chicago in 1954, and "with the Callas Norma, Lyric Opera of Chicago was born." Her Metropolitan Opera debut, opening the Met's seventy-second season on October 29, 1956 was again with Norma, but was preceded with an unflattering cover story in Time magazine which rehashed all of the Callas clichés, including her temper, her supposed rivalry with Renata Tebaldi, and especially her difficult relationship with her mother. She further solidified this company's standing when, in 1958, she gave "a towering performance as Violetta in La Traviata and that same year, in her only American performances of Medea, gave an interpretation of the title role worthy of Euripides."
In 1958 a feud with Rudolf Bing led to Callas's Metropolitan Opera contract being cancelled. Impresario Allen Oxenburg realised that this situation provided him with an opportunity to hire Callas for his own company, the American Opera Society, and he accordingly approached Callas with a contract to perform Imogene in Il pirata. She accepted and sang the role in a January 1959 performance that according to opera critic Allan Kozinn "quickly became legendary in operatic circles". Bing and Callas later reconciled their differences and she returned to the house in 1965 to sing the title role in two performances as Tosca opposite Franco Corelli as Cavaradossi for one performance (March 19, 1965) and Richard Tucker (March 25, 1965) with Tito Gobbi as Scarpia for her final performances at the Met.
In 1952, she made her London debut at the Royal Opera House in Norma with veteran mezzo soprano Ebe Stignani as Adalgisa, a performance which survives on record and also features the young Joan Sutherland in the small role of Clotilde. In 1968, Callas told Edward Downes that during her initial performances in Cherubini's Medea in May 1953, she realized that she needed a leaner face and figure to do dramatic justice to this as well as the other roles she was undertaking. She adds,
I was getting so heavy that even my vocalizing was getting heavy. I was tiring myself, I was perspiring too much, and I was really working too hard. And I wasn't really well, as in health; I couldn't move freely. And then I was tired of playing a game, for instance playing this beautiful young woman, and I was heavy and uncomfortable to move around. In any case, it was uncomfortable and I didn't like it. So I felt now if I'm going to do things right—I've studied all my life to put things right musically, so why don't I diet and put myself into a certain condition where I'm presentable. Various rumors spread regarding her weight loss method; one had her swallowing a tapeworm, while Rome's Pantanella Mills pasta company claimed she lost weight by eating their "physiologic pasta", prompting Callas to file a lawsuit. Walter Legge stated that Callas possessed that most essential ingredient for a great singer: an instantly recognizable voice. During "The Callas Debate", Italian critic Rodolfo Celletti stated, "The timbre of Callas's voice, considered purely as sound, was essentially ugly: it was a thin sound, which gave the impression of dryness, of aridity. It lacked those elements which, in a singer's jargon, are described as velvet and varnish... yet I really believe that part of her appeal was precisely due to this fact. Why? Because for all its natural lack of varnish, velvet and richness, this voice could acquire such distinctive colours and timbres as to be unforgettable." However, in his review of Callas's 1951 live recording of I vespri siciliani, Ira Siff writes, "Accepted wisdom tells us that Callas possessed, even early on, a flawed voice, unattractive by conventional standards — an instrument that signaled from the beginning vocal problems to come. Yet listen to her entrance in this performance and one encounters a rich, spinning sound, ravishing by any standard, capable of delicate dynamic nuance. High notes are free of wobble, chest tones unforced, and the middle register displays none of the "bottled" quality that became more and more pronounced as Callas matured."Nicola Rossi-Lemeni relates that Callas's mentor Tullio Serafin used to refer to her as "Una grande vociaccia"; he continues, "Vociaccia is a little bit pejorative—it means an ugly voice—but grande means a big voice, a great voice. A great ugly voice, in a way." Callas herself did not like the sound of her own voice; in one of her last interviews, answering whether or not she was able to listen to her own voice, she replies,
Yes, but I don't like it. I have to do it, but I don't like it at all because I don't like the kind of voice I have. I really hate listening to myself! The first time I listened to a recording of my singing was when we were recording San Giovanni Battista by Stradella in a church in Perugia in 1949. They made me listen to the tape and I cried my eyes out. I wanted to stop everything, to give up singing... Also now even though I don't like my voice, I've become able to accept it and to be detached and objective about it so I can say, "Oh, that was really well sung," or "It was nearly perfect."Maestro Carlo Maria Giulini has described the appeal of Callas's voice:
It is very difficult to speak of the voice of Callas. Her voice was a very special instrument. Something happens sometimes with string instruments—violin, viola, cello—where the first moment you listen to the sound of this instrument, the first feeling is a bit strange sometimes. But after just a few minutes, when you get used to, when you become friends with this kind of sound, then the sound becomes a magical quality. This was Callas. On the other hand, music critic John Ardoin has argued that Callas was the reincarnation of the nineteenth century soprano sfogato or "unlimited soprano", a throwback to Maria Malibran and Giuditta Pasta, for whom many of the famous bel canto operas were written. He avers that like Pasta and Malibran, Callas was a natural mezzo-soprano whose range was extended through training and willpower, resulting in a voice which "lacked the homogeneous color and evenness of scale once so prized in singing. There were unruly sections of their voices never fully under control. Many who heard Pasta, for example, remarked that her uppermost notes seemed produced by ventriloquism, a charge which would later be made against Callas".
Vocal size and range
Regarding the sheer size of Callas's instrument, Celletti says, "Her voice was penetrating. The volume as such was average: neither small nor powerful. But the penetration, allied to this incisive quality (which bordered on the ugly because it frequently contained an element of harshness) ensured that her voice could be clearly heard anywhere in the auditorium." In his book, Michael Scott makes the distinction that whereas Callas's pre-1954 voice was a "dramatic soprano with an exceptional top", after the weight loss, it became, as one Chicago critic described the voice in Lucia, however, this claim is refuted by John Ardoin's review of the live recording of the performance as well as by the review of the recording in Opera News, both of which refer to the note as a high E-natural. For Italian soprano Renata Tebaldi, "the most fantastic thing was the possibility for her to sing the soprano coloratura with this big voice! This was something really special. Fantastic absolutely!" she considered herself first and foremost "a musician, that is, the first instrument of the orchestra." Maestro Victor de Sabata confided to Walter Legge, "If the public could understand, as we do, how deeply and utterly musical Callas is, they would be stunned", Callas possessed an innate architectural sense of line-proportion
In addition to her musical skills, Callas had a particular gift for language and the use of language in music. Soprano Martina Arroyo states, "What interested me most was how she gave the runs and the cadenzas words. That always floored me. I always felt I heard her saying something – it was never just singing notes. That alone is an art." Callas was not, however, a realistic or verismo style actress: Mathew Gurewitsch adds,
In fact the essence of her art was refinement. The term seems odd for a performer whose imagination and means of expression were so prodigious. She was eminently capable of the grand gesture; still, judging strictly from the evidence of her recordings, we know (and her few existing film clips confirm) that her power flowed not from excess but from unbroken concentration, unfaltering truth in the moment. It flowed also from irreproachable musicianship. People say that Callas would not hesitate to distort a vocal line for dramatic effect. In the throes of operatic passion plenty of singers snarl, growl, whine, and shriek. Callas was not one of them. She found all she needed in the notes.Ewa Podles likewise stated that "It's enough to hear her, I’m positive! Because she could say everything only with her voice! I can imagine everything, I can see everything in front of my eye." Sandro Sequi recalls, "She was never in a hurry. Everything was very paced, proportioned, classical, precise... She was extremely powerful but extremely stylized. Her gestures were not many... I don't think she did more than 20 gestures in a performance. But she was capable of standing 10 minutes without moving a hand or finger, compelling everyone to look at her." However, witnesses to the interview stated that Callas only said "champagne with cognac", and it was a bystander who quipped, "No, with Coca-Cola", but the Time reporter attributed the latter comment to Callas.
Callas visited Tebaldi after a performance of Adriana Lecouvreur at the Met in the late 1960s, and the two were reunited. In 1978, Tebaldi spoke warmly of her late colleague and summarized this rivalry:
This rivality was really building from the people of the newspapers and the fans. But I think it was very good for both of us, because the publicity was so big and it created a very big interest about me and Maria and was very good in the end. But I don’t know why they put this kind of rivality, because the voice was very different. She was really something unusual. And I remember that I was very young artist too, and I stayed near the radio every time that I know that there was something on radio by Maria.Louise Caselotti, who worked with Callas in 1946 and 1947, prior to her Italian debut, felt that it was not the heavy roles that hurt Callas's voice, but the lighter ones.
In the same vein, Joan Sutherland, who heard Callas throughout the 1950s, said in a BBC interview,
[Hearing Callas in Norma in 1952] was a shock, a wonderful shock. You just got shivers up and down the spine. It was a bigger sound in those earlier performances, before she lost weight. I think she tried very hard to recreate the sort of “fatness” of the sound which she had when she was as fat as she was. But when she lost the weight, she couldn’t seem to sustain the great sound that she had made, and the body seemed to be too frail to support that sound that she was making. Oh, but it was oh so exciting. It was thrilling. I don’t think that anyone who heard Callas after 1955 really heard the Callas voice.
Michael Scott has proposed that Callas's loss of strength and breath support was directly caused by her rapid and progressive weight-loss, This continual change in posture has been cited as visual proof of a progressive loss of breath support. It is also at this time that unsteady top notes first begin to appear.
There were others, however, who felt that the voice had benefitted from the weight loss. Of her performance of Norma in Chicago in 1954, Claudia Cassidy would write, "there is a slight unsteadiness in some of the sustained upper notes. but to me her voice is more beautiful in color, more even through the range, than it used to be".
Callas herself attributed her problems to a loss of confidence brought about by a loss of breath support, even though she does not make the connection between her weight and her breath support. In an April 1977 interview with journalist Philippe Caloni, she stated,
"My best recordings were made when I was skinny. and I say skinny, not slim, because I worked a lot and couldn't gain weight back; I became even too skinny. . . I had my greatest successes--Lucia, Sonnambula, Medea, Anna Bolena--when I was skinny as a nail. Even for my first time here in Paris in 1958 when the show was broadcast through Eurovision, I was skinny. Really skinny."
And shortly before her death, Callas confided her own thoughts on her vocal problems to Peter Dragadze:
I never lost my voice, but I lost strength in my diaphragm. ... Because of those organic complaints, I lost my courage and boldness. My vocal cords were and still are in excellent condition, but my 'sound boxes' have not been working well even though I have been to all the doctors. The result was that I overstrained my voice, and that caused it to wobble. (Gente, October 1, 1977) The scandal became notorious as the "Rome Walkout". Callas brought a lawsuit against the Rome Opera House, but by the time the case was settled thirteen years later and the Rome Opera was found to be at fault for having refused to provide an understudy,Bing would later say that Callas was the most difficult artist he ever worked with, "because she was so much more intelligent. Other artists, you could get around. But Callas you could not get around. She knew exactly what she wanted, and why she wanted it." In his book about his wife, Meneghini states categorically that Maria Callas was unable to bear children. As well, various sources dismiss Gage's claim, as they note that the birth certificates Gage used to prove of this "secret child" were issued in 1998, twenty-one years after Callas's death. Still other sources claim that Callas had at least one abortion while involved with Onassis. The relationship ended nine years later in 1968, when Onassis left Callas in favour of Jacqueline Kennedy. However, the Onassis family's private secretary, Kiki, writes in her memoir that even while Aristotle was with Jackie, he frequently met up with Maria in Paris, where they resumed what had now become a clandestine affair.
In late 2004, opera and film director Franco Zeffirelli made what many consider a bizarre claim that Callas may have been murdered by her confidant, Greek pianist Vasso Devetzi, in order to gain control of Callas's United States $9,000,000 estate. A more likely explanation is that Callas's death was due to heart failure brought on by (possibly unintentional) overuse of Mandrax (methaqualone), a sleeping aid.
According to biographer Stelios Galatopoulos, Devetzi insinuated herself into Callas's trust and acted virtually as her agent. This claim is corroborated by Iakintha (Jackie) Callas in her book Sisters, wherein she asserts that Devetzi conned Maria out of control of half of her estate, while promising to establish the Maria Callas Foundation to provide scholarships for young singers. After hundreds of thousands of dollars had allegedly vanished, Devetzi finally did establish the foundation.
In 2002, filmmaker Zeffirelli produced and directed a film in Callas's memory. Callas Forever was a highly fictionalized motion picture in which Callas was played by Fanny Ardant. It depicted the last months of Callas's life, when she was seduced into the making of a movie of Carmen, lip-synching to her 1964 recording of that opera.
In 2007, Callas was posthumously awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. In the same year, she was voted the greatest soprano of all time by BBC Music Magazine.
The 30th anniversary of the death of Maria Callas was selected as main motif for a high value euro collectors' coins; the €10 Greek Maria Callas commemorative coin, minted in 2007. Her image is shown in the obverse of the coin, while on the reverse the National Emblem of Greece with her signature is depicted.
On December 2, 2008, on the 85th anniversary of Callas's birth, a group of Greek and Italian officials unveiled a plaque in her honor at Flower Hospital (now the Terence Cardinal Cooke Health Care Center) where she was born. Made of Carrara marble and engraved in Italy, the plaque reads, "Maria Callas was born in this hospital on December 2, 1923. These halls heard for the first time the musical notes of her voice, a voice which has conquered the world. To this great interpreter of universal language of music, with gratitude."
Gus Van Sant's 2008 movie Milk features selected recordings of Callas' rendition of Tosca, which, it is suggested, was an opera of which Harvey Milk was particularly fond. Similarly, Jonathan Demme's 1993 movie Philadelphia features a recording by Callas.
A number of musical artists including Linda Ronstadt, Patti Smith and Emmylou Harris have mentioned Callas as a great musical influence, and some have paid tribute to Callas in their own music:
Category:1923 births Category:1977 deaths Category:Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery Category:Cardiovascular disease deaths in France Category:Deaths from myocardial infarction Category:Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winners Category:Greek artists Category:Greek female singers Category:Greek opera singers Category:Greek sopranos Category:Operatic sopranos
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Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini (; 22 December 185829 November 1924) was an Italian composer whose operas, including La bohème, Tosca, Madama Butterfly, and Turandot, are among the most frequently performed in the standard repertoire. Some of his arias, such as "O mio babbino caro" from Gianni Schicchi, "Che gelida manina" from La bohème, and "Nessun dorma" from Turandot, have become part of popular culture.
Puccini was born in Lucca in Tuscany, into a family with five generations of musical history behind them, including composer Domenico Puccini. His father died when Giacomo was five years old, and he was sent to study with his uncle Fortunato Magi, who considered him to be a poor and undisciplined student. Magi may have been prejudiced against his nephew because his contract as choir master stipulated that he would hand over the position to Puccini "as soon as the said Signore Giacomo be old enough to discharge such duties." Puccini took the position of church organist and choir master in Lucca, but it was not until he saw a performance of Verdi's Aida that he became inspired to be an opera composer. He and his brother, Michele, walked 18.5 mi (30 km) to see the performance in Pisa.
In 1880, with the help of a relative and a grant, Puccini enrolled in the Milan Conservatory to study composition with Stefano Ronchetti-Monteviti, Amilcare Ponchielli, and Antonio Bazzini. In the same year, at the age of 21, he composed the Messa, which marks the culmination of his family's long association with church music in his native Lucca. Although Puccini himself correctly titled the work a Messa, referring to a setting of the Ordinary of the Catholic Mass, today the work is popularly known as his Messa di Gloria, a name that technically refers to a setting of only the first two prayers of the Ordinary, the Kyrie and the Gloria, while omitting the Credo, the Sanctus, and the Agnus Dei.
The work anticipates Puccini's career as an operatic composer by offering glimpses of the dramatic power that he would soon bring forth onto the stage; the powerful "arias" for tenor and bass soloists are certainly more operatic than is usual in church music and, in its orchestration and dramatic power, the Messa compares interestingly with Verdi's Requiem.
While studying at the Conservatory, Puccini obtained a libretto from Ferdinando Fontana and entered a competition for a one-act opera in 1882. Although he did not win, Le Villi was later staged in 1884 at the Teatro Dal Verme and it caught the attention of Giulio Ricordi, head of G. Ricordi & Co. music publishers, who commissioned a second opera, Edgar, in 1889. Edgar failed: it was a bad story and Fontana's libretto was poor. This may have had an effect on Puccini's thinking because when he began his next opera, Manon Lescaut, he announced that he would write his own libretto so that "no fool of a librettist" could spoil it. Ricordi persuaded him to accept Leoncavallo as his librettist, but Puccini soon asked Ricordi to remove him from the project. Four other librettists were then involved with the opera, due mainly to Puccini constantly changing his mind about the structure of the piece. It was almost by accident that the final two, Illica and Giacosa, came together to complete the opera. They remained with Puccini for his next three operas and probably his greatest successes: La Boheme, Tosca and Madama Butterfly.
It may well have been the failure of Edgar that made Puccini so apt to change his mind. Edgar nearly cost him his career. Puccini had eloped with the married Elvira Gemignani and Ricordi's associates were willing to turn a blind eye to his life style as long as he was successful. When Edgar failed, they suggested to Ricordi that he should drop Puccini, but Ricordi said that he would stay with him and made him an allowance from his own pocket until his next opera. Manon Lescaut was a great success and Puccini went on to become the leading operatic composer of his day.
By 1900, he had acquired land and built a villa on the lake, now known as the "Villa Museo Puccini." He lived there until 1921, when pollution produced by peat works on the lake forced him to move to Viareggio, a few kilometres north. After his death, a mausoleum was created in the Villa Puccini and the composer is buried there in the chapel, along with his wife and son who died later.
The Villa Museo Puccini is presently owned by his granddaughter, Simonetta Puccini, and is open to the public.
After 1904, compositions were less frequent. Following his passion for driving fast cars, Puccini was nearly killed in a major accident in 1903. In 1906 Giacosa died and, in 1909, there was scandal after Puccini's wife, Elvira, falsely accused their maid Doria Manfredi of having an affair with Puccini. The maid then committed suicide. Elvira was successfully sued by the Manfredis, and Giacomo had to pay damages. Finally, in 1912, the death of Giulio Ricordi, Puccini's editor and publisher, ended a productive period of his career.
However, Puccini completed La fanciulla del West in 1910 and finished the score of La rondine in 1916.
In 1918, Il trittico premiered in New York. This work is composed of three one-act operas: a horrific episode (Il tabarro), in the style of the Parisian Grand Guignol, a sentimental tragedy (Suor Angelica), and a comedy (Gianni Schicchi). Of the three, Gianni Schicchi has remained the most popular, containing the popular aria "O mio babbino caro".
A habitual Toscano cigar and cigarette chain smoker, Puccini began to complain of chronic sore throats towards the end of 1923. A diagnosis of throat cancer led his doctors to recommend a new and experimental radiation therapy treatment, which was being offered in Brussels. Puccini and his wife never knew how serious the cancer was, as the news was only revealed to his son.
Puccini died there on 29 November 1924, from complications after the treatment; uncontrolled bleeding led to a heart attack the day after surgery. News of his death reached Rome during a performance of La bohème. The opera was immediately stopped, and the orchestra played Chopin's Funeral March for the stunned audience. He was buried in Milan, in Toscanini's family tomb, but that was always intended as a temporary measure. In 1926 his son arranged for the transfer of his father's remains to a specially created chapel inside the Puccini villa at Torre del Lago.
Turandot, his final opera, was left unfinished, and the last two scenes were completed by Franco Alfano based on the composer's sketches. Some dispute whether Alfano followed the sketches or not, since the sketches were said to be indecipherable, but he is believed to have done so, since, together with the autographs, he was given (still existing) transcriptions from Guido Zuccoli who was accustomed to interpreting Puccini's handiwork.
When Arturo Toscanini conducted the premiere performance in April 1926 (in front of a sold-out crowd, with every prominent Italian except for Benito Mussolini in attendance), he chose not to perform Alfano's portion of the score. The performance reached the point where Puccini had completed the score, at which time Toscanini stopped the orchestra. The conductor turned to the audience and said: "Here the opera finishes, because at this point the Maestro died." (Some record that he said, more poetically, "Here the Maestro laid down his pen.") (Some record that then Toscanini picked up the baton, turned to the audience, and announced, "But his disciples finished his work." At which time the opera closed to thunderous applause.)
Toscanini's laying down the baton has been misinterpreted by some journalists as a gesture of disapproval of Alfano's contribution. In 2009 William Hartson in the Daily Expess told his readers with great authority that "Toscanini never conducted Turandot again." In fact, he conducted it again on the two following nights - including Alfano's ending - a total of three performances.
Toscanini edited Alfano's suggested completion ('Alfano I'), to produce a version now known as 'Alfano II', and this is the version usually used in performance. However, some musicians consider Alfano I to be a more dramatically complete version.
In 2002, an official new ending was composed by Luciano Berio from original sketches, but this finale has, to date, been performed only infrequently.
This notwithstanding, Fascist propaganda appropriated Puccini's figure, and one of the most widely played marches during Fascist street parades and public ceremonies was the "Inno a Roma" (Hymn to Rome), composed in 1919 by Puccini to lyrics by Fausto Salvatori, based on these verses from Horace's Carmen saeculare:
Alme Sol, curru nitido diem qui / Promis et celas alius que et idem / Nasceris, possis nihil urbe Roma / Visere maius. (O Sun, that unchanged, yet ever new, / Lead'st out the day and bring'st it home, / May nothing be present to thy view / Greater than Rome!)
The structures of Puccini's works are also noteworthy. While it is to an extent possible to divide his operas into arias or numbers (like Verdi's), his scores generally present a very strong sense of continuous flow and connectivity, perhaps another sign of Wagner's influence. Like Wagner, Puccini used leitmotifs to connote characters and sentiments (or combinations thereof). This is most apparent in Tosca, where the three chords which signal the beginning of the opera are used throughout to announce Scarpia; the descending brass motive (Vivacissimo con violenza) is connected to the repressive regime which ruled Rome at the setting of the opera and most clearly to Angelotti, one of the regime's victims; the harp arpeggio figure which appears at Tosca's entrance and the aria Vissi d'arte symbolizing Tosca's religious fervor; the clarinet ascending-descending scale indicating Mario's suffering and his doomed love for Tosca. Several motifs are also linked to Mimi and the bohemians in La bohème and to Cio-Cio-San's eventual suicide in Butterfly. Unlike Wagner, though, Puccini's motifs are static: where Wagner's motifs develop into more complicated figures as the characters develop, Puccini's remain more or less identical throughout the opera (in this respect anticipating the themes of modern musical theatre).
Another distinctive quality in Puccini's works is the use of the voice in the style of speech i.e. canto parlando; characters sing short phrases one after another as if they were in conversation. Puccini is also celebrated for his melodic gift and many of his melodies are both memorable and enduringly popular. At their simplest these melodies are made of sequences from the scale, a very distinctive example being Quando me'n vo' (Musetta's Waltz) from La bohème and E lucevan le stelle from Act III of Tosca.
Unusual for operas written by Italian composers up until that time, many of Puccini’s operas are set outside Italy—in exotic places such as Japan (Madama Butterfly), gold-mining country in California (La fanciulla del West), Paris and the Riviera (La rondine), and China (Turandot).
Pulitzer Prize-winning music critic Lloyd Schwartz summarized Puccini thus: "Is it possible for a work of art to seem both completely sincere in its intentions and at the same time counterfeit and manipulative? Puccini built a major career on these contradictions. But people care about him, even admire him, because he did it both so shamelessly and so skillfully. How can you complain about a composer whose music is so relentlessly memorable, even — maybe especially — at its most saccharine?"
In the USA, the American Center for Puccini Studies specializes in the presentation of unusual performing editions of composer's works and introduces many neglected or unknown Puccini pieces to the music loving public. It was founded in 2004 by a leading Puccini artist and scholar, Dr. Harry Dunstan.
Detailed information about both organizations exists on their websites.
;Bibliography
Category:1858 births Category:1924 deaths Category:20th-century classical composers Category:Italian composers Category:Opera composers Category:People from Lucca Category:Romantic composers Category:Deaths from esophageal cancer Category:Cancer deaths in Belgium Category:Milan Conservatory alumni
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| Name | Anna Netrebko |
|---|---|
| Background | solo_singer |
| Birth name | Anna Yuryevna Netrebko |
| Birth date | September 18, 1971 |
| Birth place | Krasnodar, Soviet Union(now Krasnodar, Russia) |
| Instrument | Vocals |
| Genre | Opera |
| Occupation | Opera singer (soprano) |
| Years active | 1993–present |
| Url |
In 1994, she sang the Queen of the Night in Die Zauberflöte with the Riga Independent Opera Avangarda Akadēmija under conductor David Milnes.
In March 2006, Netrebko applied to become an Austrian citizen, receiving her citizenship in late July. According to an interview in the Austrian weekly news, she will live in Vienna and Salzburg. This has led to some backlash in Russia. Netrebko cites the cumbersome and humiliating process of obtaining visas (as a Russian citizen) for her many performances abroad as the main reason for obtaining Austrian citizenship.
In March 2007, Netrebko announced that she would be an ambassador for SOS Children's Village in Austria, and be a sponsor for the Tomilino village in Russia.
In April 2008, Netrebko announced that she and her fiancé, Uruguayan baritone Erwin Schrott, had married. Her son Tiago Aruã Schrott was born on 5 September 2008 in Vienna.
In 2002, Netrebko made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera as Natasha in the Met premiere of War and Peace. In the same year, she sang her first Donna Anna at the Salzburg Festival's production of Don Giovanni, conducted by Nikolaus Harnoncourt. She also performed at the Russian Children's Welfare Society's major fund raiser, the "Petroushka Ball". She returned to the Ball in 2003 and 2006 and is an honorary director of the charity.
In 2003, Netrebko performed as Violetta in Verdi's La traviata in Munich, the title role in Lucia di Lammermoor at the Los Angeles Opera, and Donna Anna at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Her second album, Sempre Libera, was released the following year. She later appeared as Violetta Valéry in La traviata at the Salzburg Festival, conducted by Carlo Rizzi and in 2008 she performed the same role at Covent Garden to triumphant acclaim on the opening night, opposite Jonas Kaufmann and Dmitri Hvorostovsky in performances conducted by Maurizio Benini. However, she cancelled three subsequent performances due to suffering a bronchial condition. This was the second time she had cancelled her performances at the Royal Opera House, having withdrawn from some performances of Don Giovanni the previous summer due to illness.
On 30 May 2007, Netrebko made her Carnegie Hall debut with Dmitri Hvorostovsky and the Orchestra of St. Luke's. Originally scheduled for 2 March 2006, Netrebko postponed the recital because she did not feel artistically ready.
Netrebko appeared at the Last Night of the Proms on 8 September 2007 where she performed "Ah! Se una volta … Ah! Non credea mirarti … Ah! Non giunge" from La sonnambula, "Meine Lippen, sie küssen so heiß" (Giuditta) and the song "Morgen!" by Richard Strauss (with violinist Joshua Bell). In the fall of 2007 she reprised her role as Juliette in Roméo et Juliette at the Metropolitan Opera. In December 2007, Netrebko performed for Martin Scorsese, a 2007 Honoree, at the Kennedy Center Honors, and in May 2008 she made a much-awaited debut at the Paris Opera in I Capuleti e i Montecchi, with Joyce DiDonato as her Romeo.
Netrebko was scheduled to sing Lucia in Lucia di Lammermoor in October 2008 at the Metropolitan Opera, but due to her pregnancy she decided to drop out of the role.
In her first performance after her maternity leave, Netrebko sang Lucia in Lucia di Lammermoor when it opened at the Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg on 14 January 2009, in a production from the Scottish Opera led by John Doyle. She then sang the same role in January and February 2009 at the Metropolitan Opera. Netrebko appeared as Giulietta in I Capuleti e i Montecchi at the Royal Opera House in Spring 2009, and as Violetta in La Traviata in June 2009 at the San Francisco Opera. On November 13, 2010 in a matinee performance broadcast nationally by PBS, she sang the role of Norina in Don Pasquale at New York's Metropolitan Opera House under conductor James Levine.
She was awarded the State Prize of the Russian Federation (2004) and was made a People's Artist of Russia by President Putin in 2008.
Playboy magazine placed her in their "sexiest babes of classical music" list.
Netrebko has also won two prestigious Classical BRIT Awards: the 2007 Singer of the Year Award and the 2008 Female of the Year.
Category:1971 births Category:Living people Category:1990s singers Category:2000s singers Category:2010s singers Category:Operatic sopranos Category:People from Krasnodar Category:People's Artists of Russia Category:Russian expatriates in Austria Category:Russian female singers Category:Russian opera singers Category:Russian people of Ukrainian descent Category:Russian sopranos Category:Saint Petersburg Conservatory alumni Category:State Prize of the Russian Federation laureates
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Gheorghiu made her international debut in 1992 at the Royal Opera House as Zerlina in Don Giovanni. She debuted at the Vienna State Opera as Adina in L'elisir d'amore and at the Metropolitan Opera as Mimi in La bohème. In 1994, she was auditioned by the conductor Sir Georg Solti for a new production of La traviata at the Royal Opera House. Her debut as Violetta led her to international stardom.
Gheorghiu has concentrated her repertoire on several different roles: Violetta, Mimì, Magda, Adina, and Juliette. In 2003, she debuted as Nedda in Pagliacci and as Marguerite in Faust. A soprano with a large range and a dark coloured voice, Gheorghiu is also able to sing spinto roles. She has recorded Tosca (also made into a film directed by the French Benoît Jacquot) and Leonora in Il trovatore for EMI and sang in her first Tosca at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, in 2006. Her performance was an overall success, although because the famous Zeffirelli production of 1964 was replaced by a new production (which premiered with her), there was comparison between the Toscas of Gheorghiu and Maria Callas, for whom the Zeffirelli production was designed.
She has recorded many recital albums and complete opera recordings and often appears on television and in concerts. The EMI recording of Massenet's Manon with Angela Georghiu in the title role won the 2001 Gramophone Award for "Best Opera Recording", was nominated for "Best Opera Recording" in the 2002 Grammy Awards.
"Because I grew up in a country where there was no possibility of having an opinion, it makes me stronger now. Lots of singers are frightened about not getting invited back to an opera house if they speak out. But I have the courage to be, in a way, revolutionary. I want to fight for opera, for it to be taken seriously. Pop music is for the body, but opera is for the soul.".
Gheorghiu had a problematic relationship with former Metropolitan Opera General Manager Joseph Volpe after her debut there as Mimi in 1993. In 1996, Gheorghiu was cast as Micaela in a new production of Carmen, opposite Waltraud Meier and Plácido Domingo. The production by Franco Zeffirelli called for Micaela to wear a blonde wig, a nuance to which the soprano refused to wear it. Volpe famously declared, "The wig is going on, with you or without you". Gheorghiu eventually accepted and appeared in ten performances of Carmen that season, including the Met's tour to Japan, although she kept the hood of her cloak up to cover the wig as much as possible. She appeared at the Met again in 1998 for six performances of Roméo et Juliette with her husband, tenor Roberto Alagna as Roméo. Volpe had planned to engage Gheorghiu in Violetta Valery for a new production of La traviata, to premiere in November 1998 and directed by Zeffirelli. Alagna was to sing the role of Violetta's lover, Alfredo Germont. According to Volpe, Gheorghiu and Alagna argued with the staff and the director over production details and continually delayed signing the contract. They eventually signed their contracts, and faxed them to the Met one day past their deadline. Volpe refused to accept them. The production opened with Patricia Racette and Marcelo Álvarez as the lovers.
In September 2007, Gheorghiu was dismissed from Lyric Opera of Chicago's production of La bohème by General Manager William Mason, for missing rehearsals and costume fittings, and generally "unprofessional" behavior. Gheorghiu said in a statement that she had missed some rehearsals to spend time with her husband, who was singing at the Met in Roméo et Juliette and rehearsing for Puccini's Madama Butterfly and added "I have sung 'Boheme' hundreds of times, and thought missing a few rehearsals wouldn't be a tragedy. It was impossible to do the costume fitting at the same time I was in New York.
Six weeks later, Gheorghiu made her debut at San Francisco Opera receiving favorable reviews for her Magda in that company's new production of La rondine. The San Francisco Opera production originated with London's Royal Opera House, where it premiered on May 7, 2002 with Gheorghiu and Alagna as Magda and her lover Ruggero. It is one which she particularly admires:
"When the curtain opened on La rondine at Covent Garden, the audience gasped and applauded. People want to dream. If directors want to do something new with operas, why not do something beautiful?"
Despite these issues, Gheorghiu and Alagna returned to the Metropolitan Opera for five performances of L'elisir d'amore in 1999 and for four performances of Faust in 2003. Gheorghiu also performed at the Met as Liù in Turandot in 2000; as Violetta in La traviata opposite Jonas Kaufmann in 2006 and 2007; as Amelia in Simon Boccanegra in 2007; as Mimì in La bohème in 2008; as Magda in the 2008-09 season in the ROH/SFO production of La rondine, the Met's first performance of the opera since 1936; and for the 2009-10 season she appeared as Violetta, replacing her previous engagement as Marie Antoinette in a rare revival of John Corigliano's The Ghosts of Versailles which was replaced due to the recession.
In August, 2009, Gheorghiu canceled all her scheduled 2010 Met performances of Carmen, for "personal reasons". It was to be her first public performance of the title role (normally sung by mezzo-sopranos). She also cancelled other Met performances scheduled near the end of 2010.
Category:1965 births Category:Living people Category:People from Adjud Category:Romanian female singers Category:Romanian opera singers Category:Romanian sopranos Category:Operatic sopranos
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| Name | Sarah Brightman |
|---|---|
| Background | solo_singer |
| Born | August 14, 1960 |
| Origin | Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, England |
| Genre | Classical crossover, operatic pop, symphonic rock, pop, New Age, rock, dance, electronica, techno, folk, traditional |
| Voice type | Lyric-coloratura soprano |
| Instrument | Vocals, piano, keyboards |
| Occupation | Singer, actress, songwriter, dancer |
| Years active | 1976–present |
| Label | A&M; (1993)East West (1995–2001)Angel/EMI (1997–2007)Manhattan/EMI (2008–present) |
| Url | http://www.sarah-brightman.com |
Sarah Brightman (born 14 August 1960) is an English classical crossover soprano, actress, songwriter and dancer. She began her career as a member of the dance troupes Pan's People and Hot Gossip and released several disco singles as a solo performer. In 1981, she made her musical theatre debut in Cats and met composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, whom she married. She went on to star in several Broadway musicals, including The Phantom of the Opera, where she played the role of Christine Daaé.The Original London Cast Album of the musical was released in CD format in 1987 and sold over 40 million copies worldwide, making it the biggest-selling cast album of all time.
After retiring from the stage and divorcing Lloyd Webber, Brightman resumed her music career with former Enigma producer Frank Peterson, this time as a classical crossover artist. She is among the most prominent performers in the genre, with worldwide sales of more than 26 million albums, with over 5 million (Platinum x 1, Gold x 8) in album sales in the United States. and over 2 million DVDs. The Recording Industry Association of America has named her the best-selling female classical artist of the twenty-first century in the United States.
Her duet with the Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli, "Time To Say Goodbye" became the highest and fastest selling single of all times in Germany with over 3 million copies sold in this country. and subsequently became an international success with over 5 million copies worldwide. She has now collected over 180 gold and platinum sales awards in 38 different countries,
Apart from music, Brightman has begun a film career, making her major debut in Repo! The Genetic Opera (2008), a rock opera-musical film directed by Darren Lynn Bousman, And in summer 2009, she completed filming Stephen Evans' "Cosi" or "First Night" in which she plays the role of a conductor, opposite Richard E. Grant. In addition, she recently formed her own production company, Instinct Films, where her first film is in pre-production.
In 1976, she joined the dance group Pan's People and appeared on the BBC series Top of the Pops. She left a year later to lead Phillips' troupe Hot Gossip. More provocative than Pan's People, the group had a disco hit in 1978 with "I Lost My Heart to a Starship Trooper", which sold half a million and reached number six on the UK charts. Hot Gossip released a follow-up single, "The Adventures of the Love Crusader", six months later, but it failed to chart. Brightman, now solo, released more disco singles under Whisper Records, such as "Not Having That!" and a cover of the song "My Boyfriend's Back".
Brightman starred as Christine Daaé in Lloyd Webber's adaptation of The Phantom of the Opera. The role of Christine was written specifically for her.
After leaving Phantom, she performed in a tour of Lloyd Webber's music throughout England, Canada, and the United States, and performed Requiem in the Soviet Union. Studio recordings from this time include the single "Anything But Lonely" from Aspects of Love and two solo albums: the 1988 album The Trees They Grow So High, a compilation of folk songs accompanied by piano, and the 1989 album The Songs That Got Away, a musical theatre compilation of songs cut from shows by composers such as Irving Berlin and Stephen Sondheim.
By 1990, Brightman and Lloyd Webber separated. After their divorce, Brightman played the lead in Lloyd Webber's Aspects in London opposite Michael Praed, before transferring to Broadway.
Fly (1995), a pop rock album and her second collaboration with Peterson, propelled Brightman to fame in Europe with the hit "A Question of Honour". The song, introduced at the World Boxing Championship match between Germany's Henry Maske and Graciano Rocchigiani, combined electronic dance music, rock elements, classical strings, and excerpts from the aria "Ebben? ... Ne andrò lontana" from Alfredo Catalani's opera La Wally.
"Time to Say Goodbye" ("Con te partirò") was the second Brightman song debuted for Maske, this time at his retirement match. This duet with tenor Andrea Bocelli became an international hit and sold more than 3 million copies in Germany alone,
Brightman's mainstream exposure in the United States also began around this time, starting with an appearance on Bocelli's December 1997 PBS television special, duetting "Time to Say Goodbye"; later, in March 1998, her own PBS special, Sarah Brightman in Concert at the Royal Albert Hall, marked the point when she crossed from Billboard's Top Heatseekers chart to the Billboard 200 chart, with Time to Say Goodbye. In 1999, she appeared on the album I Won't Forget You by Princessa, another artist with whom Peterson had worked.
Eden reached #65 on the Billboard 200 charts (certified Gold for selling over 500,000 copies), and La Luna peaked at #17 (La Luna has scanned 873.000 copies sold in the U.S.).
In 2001, Brightman released Classics (certified Gold for selling over 500,000 copies In United States), an album of operatic arias and other classical pieces including a solo version of "Time to Say Goodbye". Entertainment Weekly, although calling Brightman a "stronger song stylist than a singer", gave the album a grade of B-.
In 2002, Brightman released "The secret" on SASH!'s fourth studio album S4!Sash!. This song was re-released in 2007 as "The secret 2007 (Unreleased)" on SASH!'s sixth album 10th Anniversary.
Her 2003 album Harem represented another departure: a Middle Eastern-themed album influenced by dance music. On Harem, Brightman collaborated with artists such as Ofra Haza and Iraqi singer Kazem al-Saher. Nigel Kennedy contributed violin tracks to the songs "Free" and "The War is Over", and Jaz Coleman contributed arrangements. #1 on the Billboard Classical Crossover chart, and yielded a #1 dance/club single with the remix of the title track. Some time later, another single from the album (the ballad "Free", cowritten with Sophie B. Hawkins) became a second Top-10 hit on this chart.
The albums Eden, La Luna and Harem were accompanied by live world tours which incorporated the theatricality of her stage origins. Brightman acknowledged this in an interview, saying, "They're incredibly complicated...[but also] natural. I know what works, what doesn't work, all the old tricks." In both 2000 and 2001, Brightman was among the top 10 most popular British performers in the U.S., with concert sales grossing $7.2 million from 34 shows in 2000 and over $5 million from 21 shows in 2001. In contrast, a reviewer from the Boston Globe deemed the Harem tour "unique, compelling" and "charmingly effective."
Television specials on PBS were produced for nearly every Brightman album in the U.S.; a director of marketing has credited these as her number-one source of exposure in the country.
Brightman was one of the artists featured on the January 2007 series of the prime time BBC One show Just the Two of Us, partnered with English cricketer Mark Butcher. The pair finished the competition in third place.
Subsequent appearances include the Concert for Diana in July 2007, where she sang "All I Ask of You" from The Phantom of the Opera with Josh Groban, Around 15 million people from across the UK watched Concert for Diana at home, and it was broadcast to over 500 million homes in 140 countries; 7 July 2007 Chinese leg of Live Earth in Shanghai, where she performed four songs ("Nessun Dorma", "La Luna", "Nella Fantasia" and "Time to Say Goodbye") and debuted her single "Running" at the 2007 IAAF Championships in Osaka, Japan on 25 August. She also participated at the 2007 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, where she performed "The Journey Home" on the Jolly Polly Pirate Ship. She recorded a duet with Anne Murray singing "Snowbird" on Murray's 2007 album .
On 29 January 2008, Brightman released her first album in five years: Symphony, influenced by gothic music. The Title track of the album "Symphony" is a cover of "Symphonie" by the German band Silbermond. In the United States it became Brightman's most successful chart entry and also her highest ranked album on Billboard's "Top 200 Albums". It was also a #1 album on two other Billboard's charts: "Top Internet Albums" and "Top Classical Crossover Albums". The album moved there 31,463 copies in first week, according to Nielsen Soundscan. Nevertheless, the album flopped in the american album charts lasting only 11 weeks in the Billboard top 200 list. In contrast, in Canada the album debuted and peaked at #4 and in Mexico it entered at #9, where it peaked at #5; In both places, the median success that the album experienced was awarded with Gold Disc certifications.
Featured on the album are artists Andrea Bocelli, Fernando Lima, and KISS vocalist Paul Stanley, who duets with Brightman on "I Will Be with You", the album version of the theme song to the 10th Pocket Monsters motion picture, (Pokémon: The Rise of Darkrai). On 16 January 2008, she also appeared in concert at Vienna’s Stephansdom Cathedral performing songs from her new album. Special guests that sang duets with Sarah include Italian tenor Alessandro Safina, Argentinean countertenor Fernando Lima, and British singer Chris Thompson. Brightman made several appearances on television in the United States to promote Symphony, including Fashion on Ice on NBC on 12 January, The View on 30 January, Martha on 31 January and Fox and Friends on the Fox News Channel.
She performed two songs, "Pie Jesu" and "There You'll Be", at the United States Memorial Day concert on 25 May 2008 held on the west lawn of the United States Capitol in Washington D.C.. The top-rated show was broadcast live on PBS before a concert audience of 300,000 and millions more at home, as well as to American troops serving around the world on the American Forces Radio and Television Network. Brightman made her feature film debut as Blind Mag in the rock musical film Repo! The Genetic Opera which was released on 7 November 2008. Brightman was cast in the film at the last minute after the original actress who was cast for the role was dropped.
On 4 November 2008, Brightman released her first holiday album, entitled A Winter Symphony. To accompany Symphony and A Winter Symphony, Brightman embarked on a tour in Autumn 2008; "The Symphony World Tour" featured new and groundbreaking technology, with virtual and holographic stage sets that had never been seen before in any touring concert production. It grossed over $13 million in the first North American leg with 32 shows overall, cited as one of the top-grossing tours of the 2008 holiday season in North America. In addition to the tour, there were other appearances to promote the Christmas album such as the Walt Disney World Very Merry Christmas parade where Sarah sang "Silent Night" airing on ABC in the Christmas Morning. Sarah also performed in the Japanese TV show Happy Xmas Show (Nippon Television Network) which was aired on NTV(Japan) on December 23. Filmed at St. Brendan Catholic Church in Los Angeles, the songs performed included Lennon's "Happy Christmas (War is Over)" and "Symphony". Finally, the "I Believe in Father Christmas" music video was premiered on Amazon as part of their Twelve Days of Christmas program. The video was featured on the Music Homepage.
According to an article posted on Billboard, Brightman and EMI parted ways shortly after her Symphony: Live in Vienna was released. The album Symphony sold only 145,000 copies in the United States and over 700,000 worldwide, compared to her 1997' debut album in America, Timeless which sold 1,4 million in the United States and 3,5 million worldwide. Stated in the cited article, "The buzz about Brightman's exit was fueled earlier this week when her picture disappeared online and Billboard, citing unnamed sources, reported Friday that Brightman, 49, dropped the label.
The music of Brightman was featured in the movie Amarufi: Megami no hôshû (international title: ), which was a special production to mark Fuji Television's 50th anniversary. The first Japanese movie to be shot entirely on location in Italy. In conjunction with the release of the movie Amalfi, Sarah released only in Japan an album titled Amalfi – Sarah Brightman Love Songs which reached Gold status in the aforementioned country.
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Autumn 2009 saw Brightman starting a new concert tour called "Sarah Brightman In Concert" covering Latin America with 13 sold-out performances in Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, Chile, Argentina, and Brazil. The last venue of the tour was at the archaeological site of Chichen Itza. Called "The Concert of the Pyramid", the event meant Brightman becoming the first woman to give a concert at this new wonder of the world.
On November 2009, Brightman was in charge of the main theme song for the historical drama series Saka no Ue no Kumo. The song's lyrics are entirely in Japanese. Titled "Stand Alone," the song was composed by Joe Hisaishi and written by Kundo Koyama. It was included on the drama's soundtrack album, released on 18 November 2009.
On January 2010, Panasonic Corporation launched the song "Shall Be Done" performed by Brightman at Panasonic's Olympic Pavilion at LiveCity Yaletown, official celebration site of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games.
Brightman's career is now expanding into other disciplines. In summer 2009, she completed filming Stephen Evans' "Cosi," in which she plays the role of a conductor, opposite Richard E. Grant.
On 15 September 2010, Brightman appeared on America's Got Talent's finale episode before that season's winner was revealed. The soprano was the celebrity guest duetting with ten year old favorite contestant Jackie Evancho.
Given the increasing popularity of Brightman in Japan, the artist's record company prepared a tour to the Nippon country with 5 gigs in Tokyo alone, followed by presentations on Kanazawa, Nagoya, Osaka. Subsequentely the singer headed to perform in Canada, Macau, South Korea and Ukraine as well.
On November 3, 2010, just days before the onset of the Asian tour, Sarah was invited to sing at the Tōdai-ji Buddhist temple complex located in the city of Nara, Japan. The temple is a listed UNESCO World Heritage Site as "Historic Monuments of Ancient Nara".
David Caddick, a conductor of Phantom, has stated:
"What is amazing about Sarah is that she has two voices, really. She can produce a pop, contemporary sound, but she can also blossom out into a light soprano. The soprano part of her voice can go up to an E natural above high C. She doesn’t sing it full out, but it is there. Of course, she has to dance while she is singing some of the time, so it’s all the more extraordinary." Her personal influences include '60s and '70s musicians and artists such as David Bowie and Pink Floyd, The material on her albums ranges from versions of opera arias from composers such as Puccini (on Harem, Eden, and Timeless), to pop songs by artists such as Kansas ("Dust in the Wind" on Eden), Dido ("Here with Me" on La Luna), and Procol Harum ("A Whiter Shade of Pale" on La Luna). She sings in many languages which are English, Spanish, French, Latin, German, Italian, Russian, Hindi, Mandarin Chinese and Japanese.
Personal life
At age 18, in 1979, Brightman married Andrew Graham-Stewart, who then managed the German band Tangerine Dream. In 1980 they moved into The Manor House in Little Gaddesden. In 1983, she divorced Graham-Stewart. She met Andrew Lloyd Webber when she performed in Cats, and Lloyd Webber later divorced his first wife, Sarah Hugill, to marry her on 22 March 1984. in Hampshire. Their marriage saw intense media and tabloid scrutiny. Brightman acknowledged the marriage in a 1999 interview as a "difficult time" but also one of much creative output. in Hertfordshire after divorce and financial issues. Later, she experienced an ectopic pregnancy and two miscarriages with Peterson.Her personal assets have been estimated to be around £30m (about US$49m).
Awards
1986 Grammy Nomination, Best Classical Artist, USA
2009 The 23th Japan Gold Disc Award 2009: Classic Album of the Year A Winter Symphony
2010 The 24th Japan Gold Disc Award 2010: Classic Album of the Year Amalfi - Sarah Brightman Love Songs
Golden Key to the city of Chicago
Golden Key to the city of Istanbul
Stage credits
Musicals
I and Albert (as Vicky and street waif), 1973 Picadilly Theatre, London Cats (as Jemima), 1981 New London Theatre The Pirates of Penzance (as Kate), 1982 Masquerade (as Tara Treetops), 1982 Nightingale (as Nightingale), 1982 Buxton Festival and the Lyric, Hammersmith Song and Dance (as the girl, named: Emma), Palace Theatre in London on 28 April 1984 The Merry Widow (as Valencienne), 1985 The Phantom of the Opera (as Christine Daaé), 1986 Her Majesty's Theatre London, 1988 Broadway Aspects of Love (as Rose Vibert), 1990
Plays
Trelawny of the Wells (as Rose Trelawney), 1992 Relative Values (as Miranda Frayle), 1993 Chichester Festival and Savoy Theatre Dangerous Obsession (as Sally Driscoll), 1994 Haymarket Theatre, Basingstoke The Innocents (as Miss Giddens), 1995 Haymarket Theatre, Basingstoke
Filmography
Granpa, 1989 animated children's film, singing "Make Believe" over the end credits Zeit der Erkenntnis, 2000 feature film (Germany), as herself Repo! The Genetic Opera, 2008 feature film, as Blind Mag (Amalfi: Rewards of the Goddess), 2009 feature film (Japan), as herself First Night (aka Cosi), 2010 feature film, as Celia
Selected discography
Selected albums
Dive (1993) Fly (1995) Time to Say Goodbye (1997) Eden (1998) La Luna (2000) Classics (2001) Harem (2003) Symphony (2008) A Winter Symphony (2008)
Cast recordings
Cats – Original London Cast (1981) Nightingale – Original London Cast (1983) Song and Dance – Sarah Brightman & Wayne Sleep (1984. Re-released 2007) Andrew Lloyd Webber's Requiem – Domingo, Brightman, ECO, Maazel (1985) The Phantom of the Opera – Original London Cast (1986) Carousel – Studio Cast (1987) Repo! The Genetic Opera (2008)
Tours
"A Timeless Evening With Sarah Brightman" (UK and Germany) 1997 "One Night In Eden Tour" 1999 "La Luna World Tour" 2000–2001 "Harem World Tour" 2004–2005 (2004: Worldwide, 2005: Mini-Tour in Japan) "The Symphony World Tour" 2008–2009 "Sarah Brightman In Concert" October 2009 (Latin America) "Sarah Brightman In Concert With Orchestra" October 2010 (Japan, Korea and Macau)
Duets
Andrea Bocelli - "Time to say Goodbye", "Canto Della Terra" Plácido Domingo - Requiem (Lloyd Webber), "The Closing of the year", "La ci darem la mano", "Love Unspoken", "Time to say goodbye", "La Traviata: Libiamo ne' lieti calici... Brindisi", "Die Lustige Witwe - Lippen Schweigen","The Phantom Of The Opera: All I Ask Of You", "West Side Story: Maria & Tonight" José Carreras - "Amigos para Siempre ", "Love Unspoken", "La Traviata: Libiamo ne' lieti calici... Brindisi"", "Subaru" Michael Crawford - The Phantom of the Opera (Andrew Lloyd Webber) José Cura - "Just Show Me How to Love You", "There for Me" Josh Groban - "There for Me", "All I Ask of You" Andrew Lloyd Webber - "Whistle Down the Wind" Tom Jones - "Something in the Air" Antonio Banderas - "The Phantom of the Opera" Cliff Richard - "All I Ask of You", "Only You" Gregorian - "Moment of Peace", "Join Me", "Héroes", "When A Child is Born", "Send Me An Angel", "Voyage Voyage", "Eden", "Don’t Give Up" Riccardo Cocciante - "Frohlice Weihnacht", "Cantemos Rapaces", "Santa Claus is Coming to Town", "Silent Night" Kazem Al Sahir - "The War is Over" Nigel Kennedy - "Free" Ofra Haza - "Mysterious Days" Chris Thompson - "How Can Heaven Love Me", "I Will Be With You (Where The Lost Ones Go)", "The Phantom of the Opera" Fernando Lima - "Pasión", "Ave Maria" Alessandro Safina - "Sarai Qui", "Canto Della Terra", "The Phantom of the Opera" (Symphony World Tour - México, Asia) Mario Frangoulis - "Carpe Diem", "Sarai Qui", "Canto Della Terra", "The Phantom of the Opera" (Symphony World Tour - EE.UU., Canadá) Paul Stanley - "I Will Be With You (Where The Lost Ones Go)" Liu Huan - "You And Me" Dj Schiller - "The Smile", "I've Seen it All" Sash! - "The Secret Still Remains" Michael Ball - "All I Ask of You" Richard Armitage - "Desert Fantasy" Andrzej Lampert - "I Will Be With You (Where The Lost Ones Go)" Sergey Penkin - "I Will Be With You (Where The Lost Ones Go)" I Muvrini - "Tu Quieres Volver" Eric Adams - "Where The Eagles Fly" Jacky Cheung - "There For Me" Steve Harley - "The Phantom of the Opera" Erkan Akin - "Just Show Me How To Love You","The Phantom of the Opera", "Canto della Terra" and "Sarai Qui" in "Sarah Brightman In Concert 2009" a Tour in South America "Latin American Tour". Paul Miles-Kingston - "Pie Jesu" Connar Burrowes: "Pie Jesu" (This Is Your Life: Andrew Lloyd Webber, 1994) Adam Clack: "Pie Jesu" (In Concert "At The Royal Albert Hall" - 1997) Ben De'Ath: "Pie Jesu" (The Andrew Lloyd Webber Celebration, 1998) Andrew Swait: "Pie Jesu" (The Classical Brit Awards - May 8, 2008) Eric Scott Kincaid - "The Phantom of the Opera" David Malek - "The Phantom of the Opera: All I Ask Of You" Mark Butcher - "Take The Weather With You", "Heroes", "Leaving On A Jet Plane", "Let's Face The Music And Dance", "Music Of The Night", " Ain't No Sunshine", "The Rose", "Moon River" Anne Murray - "Snowbird" Lesley Garrett - "Abide with me" (FA Cup Final May 19, 2007) Betty Buckley - "Memory" (Kennedy Center Honor - 3 December 2006) This Duets was announced but were never made:
Florent Pagny - "Just Show Me How To Love You" Biondo - "I Will Be With You (Where The Lost Ones Go)"
See also
List of artists who reached number one on the U.S. dance chart List of number-one dance hits (United States) List of Operatic Pop artists
References
External links
Category:1960 births Category:1980s singers Category:1990s singers Category:2000s singers Category:2010s singers Category:Living people Category:Alumni of the Arts Educational Schools Category:English dancers Category:English female singers Category:English-language singers Category:English musical theatre actors Category:English rock singers Category:English singer-songwriters Category:English sopranos Category:English stage actors Category:Female rock singers Category:French-language singers Category:German-language singers Category:Italian-language singers Category:Opera crossover singers Category:People from Berkhamsted Category:Spanish-language singers
This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
Fleming has performed coloratura, lyric, and lighter spinto soprano repertoires. She has sung roles in Italian, German, French, Czech, and Russian, aside from her native English. She also speaks fluent German and French, along with limited Italian. Her signature roles include Countess Almaviva in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro, Desdemona in Verdi's Otello, Violetta in Verdi's La traviata, the title role in Dvořák's Rusalka, the title role in Massenet's Manon, the title role in Massenet's Thaïs, the Marschallin in Richard Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier, and the title role in Arabella.
A Richard Tucker Award winner, she regularly performs in opera houses and concert halls worldwide. In 2008 she was awarded the Swedish Polar Music Prize for her services in music. On December 9, 2010, the Lyric Opera of Chicago announced that she had been appointed to the newly created position of Creative Consultant for a period of five years, effective immediately.Renowned conductor Sir Georg Solti said of Fleming, "In my long life, I have met maybe two sopranos with this quality of singing, the other was Renata Tebaldi." While at Juilliard she sang in roles with the Juilliard Opera Center, appearing as Musetta in Puccini's La bohème and the Wife in Menotti's Tamu-Tamu, among others.
Fleming's first major break came in 1988 when she won the Metropolitan Opera Auditions at age 29. That same year she sang the Countess in The Marriage of Figaro in her debut with Houston Grand Opera. She reprised the role the following year in her debut at the Spoleto Festival. Also in 1989, Fleming made her debut with the New York City Opera as Mimi in La Bohème and her debut with the Royal Opera at Covent Garden as Dirce in Cherubini's Médée. She also was awarded a Richard Tucker Career Grant and won the George London Competition.
In 1990 she was once again honored by the Richard Tucker Music Foundation but this time with the highly coveted Richard Tucker Award. That same year she made her debut with Seattle Opera in her first portrayal of the title role in Rusalka, a role that she has since recorded and reprised at many of the world's great opera houses. She also sang for the 50th anniversary of the American Ballet Theatre in their production of Eliot Feld's Les Noces and returned to the New York City Opera to sing both the Countess in Le nozze di Figaro and Micaela in Bizet's Carmen. In addition, she sang the title role in Donizetti's Lucrezia Borgia with the Opera Orchestra of New York.
In 1991, Fleming made her Metropolitan Opera and San Francisco Opera debut portraying Countess Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro. Fleming was originally not scheduled to make her Met debut until the next season, but ended up making it earlier than expected by stepping into replace Felicity Lott who had become ill. She returned to the Met later that year to sing Rosina in the world premiere of John Corigliano's The Ghosts of Versailles. That same year she made her Carnegie Hall debut performing music by Ravel with the New York City Opera Orchestra, sang Rusalka with Houston Grand Opera, and made her debut at the Tanglewood Music Festival as Ilia in Mozart's Idomeneo with Seiji Ozawa and the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
In 1992, Fleming made her debut with Grand Théâtre de Genève as Fiordiligi in Mozart's Così fan tutte. She also sang the role of Anna in Boieldieu's La dame blanche at Carnegie Hall with the Opera Orchestra of New York and the role of Fortuna in Mozart's Il sogno di Scipione at Alice Tully Hall, as part of Lincoln Center's Festival of Mozart Operas in Concert.
In 1993, Fleming sang the role of Alaide in Bellini's La straniera with the Opera Orchestra of New York, made her debut at the Rossini Opera Festival in the title role of Rossini's Armida, and her debut with the Lyric Opera of Chicago in the title role of Carlisle Floyd's Susannah. She also gave her New York City solo recital debut at Alice Tully Hall to great acclaim. She also sang her first Pamina in Mozart's The Magic Flute at the Metropolitan Opera and performed Berg's Lulu with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and James Levine. She also sang the world premiere of Joan Tower's Fanfare with Pinchas Zukerman and the Aspen Chamber Symphony and the world premiere of John Kander's Letter From Sullivan Ballou at the Richard Tucker Awards ceremony.In 1994, Fleming sang her first Desdemona in Verdi's Otello and her first Ellen Orford in Britten's Peter Grimes with the Metropolitan Opera. She also made her debut at the Glyndebourne Festival as the Countess in Le nozze di Figaro. She also performed the role of Madame de Tourvel in the world premiere of Conrad Susa's The Dangerous Liaisons and sang the role of Salome in Massenet's Hérodiade with the San Francisco Opera.
In 1995 Fleming portrayed the role of the Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier with Houston Grand Opera, sang Hérodiade with the Opera Orchestra of New York at Carnegie Hall, and sang Rusalka with the San Francisco Opera. She also sang Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte with Solti at Royal Festival Hall and gave a lauded recital at the Morgan Library. She further signed an exclusive recording contract with the London/Decca label, making her the first American singer in 31 years to do so (Marilyn Horne was the last).
In 1996, Fleming sang the title role in Rossini's Armida and the role of Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte at the Met and performed the soprano solos in the Verdi Requiem with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra at Carnegie Hall. She also sang her first Marguerite in Gounod's Faust with Chicago Lyric Opera and sang the role of Donna Anna in Mozart's Don Giovanni with the Paris Opera at the reopening of the Palais Garnier with Sir Georg Solti. She was also chosen by Solti to be the first recipient of the Solti Prize, to be given to an outstanding younger singer. The award is given by the Académie du disque lyrique in a ceremony equivalent to the Grammy Awards. Fleming also made debut at the Bayreuth Festival as Eva in Wagner's Meistersinger. Her other performances that year included recitals at the Edinburgh International Festival and at Alice Tully Hall.
In 1997, Fleming portrayed the Marschallin in Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier and her first Manon at the Opéra Bastille, receiving glowing reviews. She reprised the role at the Metropolitan Opera along with singing Marguerite in Faust and Rusalka. She also performed in concert twice with the New York Philharmonic, first under the baton of Zubin Mehta performing a selection of opera arias, and second singing Mozart's Exsultate Jubilate and three songs of Richard Strauss with Kurt Masur. She also performed at the Ravinia Festival with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and performed Samuel Barber's with the Orchestra of St. Luke's under André Previn. She gave several recitals as well at such notable places as the Salzburg Festival.
In 1998, Fleming sang the title role in Richard Strauss' Arabella with Houston Grand Opera and the Countess with Lyric Opera of Chicago. She sang the title role in Carlisle Floyd's Susannah and Countess Almaviva in a landmark production of Le nozze di Figaro at the Met; the Mozart production also starred Cecilia Bartoli, Susanne Mentzer, Dwayne Croft, Danielle de Niese, and Bryn Terfel and was broadcast on PBS' Great Performances. She made her Carnegie Hall recital debut. She sang Richard Strauss's Death and Transfiguration and Four Last Songs with Claudio Abbado and the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra at the Salzburg Festival. She originated the roles of Blanche DuBois in the world première André Previn's A Streetcar Named Desire with the San Francisco Opera. Fleming also performed Strauss' Four Last Songs with the Berlin Philharmonic. In what Fleming has described as "the worst night of her operatic life" she was roundly booed on the opening night of Lucretia Borgia by Donizetti in July, 1998 at La Scala.
In 1999, Fleming appeared at the Bavarian State Opera as the Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier. She returned to Carnegie Hall to great success with a concert of German lieder. She also performed in recital with André Previn and made her debut at the Schleswig-Holstein Festival. She also won a Grammy Award for her CD ''The Beautiful Voice. She also performed the title role in Handel's Alcina with Les Arts Florissants and conductor William Christie and with the Lyric Opera of Chicago. She also sang the title role in Charpentier's Louise with San Francisco Opera and Théâtre du Capitole. Fleming closed out the year by performing for President Bill Clinton at the White House for a Christmas celebration.
In 2001, Fleming sang Desdemona in Otello with the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Manon with the Paris Opera, the Marschallin with both the San Francisco Opera and the Met, and Arabella at both the Bavarian State Opera and the Met. She also sang Verdi's Requiem twice, once with the London Symphony Orchestra and once with the New York Philharmonic. Flemming also sang at World Trade Center site shortly after the September 11 attacks.
In 2007, Fleming sang Violetta with the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Tatyana in Eugene Onegin at the Metropolitan Opera, Arabella with Zurich Opera, and Thaïs at the Théâtre du Châtelet, Royal Opera, Vienna State Opera, and the Liceu. She also performed with over a dozen orchestras including the Monte-Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra,the National Symphony Orchestra, the Vancouver Symphony, the Boston Symphony, the San Francisco Symphony, the China Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic among others, and performed at numerous music festivals including the Salzburg Festival and the Lincoln Center Festival. She also gave recitals throughout Southeast Asia, Germany, and Switzerland.
In 2008, Fleming sang Violetta and Desdemona at the Metropolitan Opera, the Gräfin in Capriccio at the Vienna State Opera, Tatyana at the Tanglewood Music Festival, and Lucrezia Borgia at the Washington National Opera.
In 2009, Fleming created the complete version of Le temps L'horloge, the latest work of famous French composer Henri Dutilleux. She sang Violetta at Covent Garden and Thaïs and Rusalka at the Metropolitan Opera, the Marschallin at the Baden-Baden Festival, the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées and the Metropolitan Opera. She sang a variety of short pieces at Napa Valley's Festival del Sole in California.
During the 2009/2010 Metropolitan Opera season Fleming sang the Marschallin and in Mary Zimmerman's new production, the first at the Met, of Rossini's Armida, a role and production she will return to during the Met's 2010/2011 Season along with the Gräfin in Richard Strauss's Capriccio.
In an April 15, 2010, Wall Street Journal article, Fleming talked about her view of the battle between opera traditionalists and those who want to reinterpret the standards, siding – with some reservations – with the latter. "I'm not a reactionary. I've loved some of [these productions] when they've been well thought out", she said. "I have no problem with edgy, as long as it's not vulgar or disrespectful of the piece." Still, she said her "classic" image meant that she was unlikely to be asked to perform in such productions.
In the same Wall Street Journal interview, Fleming explained her increasing preference for performing in concerts, rather than opera productions, and said, having learned more than 50 operas, that she is unlikely to learn many more.
Fleming appeared on Good Morning America on June 8, 2010, performing a cover of Muse's "Endlessly" from their album Absolution.
On December 9, 2010, the Board of Directors of Lyric Opera of Chicago announced that Fleming has been named Creative Consultant, a first in the company’s history.
She has performed several times on Garrison Keillor's popular public radio program A Prairie Home Companion.
Fleming appeared as a "Special Guest Vocalist" on Joe Jackson's 1994 album Night Music on the song "Lullaby."
Fleming performed "I'll Be Home For Christmas" on ABC's The View on December 18, 2008.
She performed on January 18, 2009 at , singing the Rodgers and Hammerstein classic "You'll Never Walk Alone" with the combined choirs of the United States Naval Academy.
Category:1959 births Category:Living people Category:American female singers Category:American opera singers Category:American sopranos Category:Eastman School of Music alumni Category:Fulbright Scholars Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Honorary Members of the Royal Academy of Music Category:Juilliard School of Music alumni Category:Musicians from Pennsylvania Category:Operatic sopranos Category:People from Rochester, New York
This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
Stricken with polio at the age of three, Tebaldi was unable to take part in strenuous activities and instead became interested in music. She was a member of the church choir in Langhirano and her mother sent her to piano lessons with Signorina Passani in Parma at the age of thirteen; she worked with boundless diligence, practising four or five hours a day and dreaming of a career as a concert pianist. She also sang everything she heard. Her main source of inspiration was listening to the radio. It was not until her piano teacher took the initiative that Renata was sent to Italo Brancucci, a singing teacher at the conservatory of Parma. She began studying a short time later at the conservatory, taking lessons with Ettore Campogalliani for three years. Renata had to concentrate on scales and voice training for two years before she was allowed to learn the first songs towards the end of her second year of training.
Melis was to become Tebaldi's most important teacher: the next day, and for the remainder of her holiday, Tebaldi worked with Melis; when she returned to Parma, the improvement was so drastic that no one believed it was the same voice. It was then that she determined to move to Pesaro permanently, where she lived with her father's family and took classes with Melis both at the conservatory and privately. Melis organised a scholarship for her and Tebaldi made her first public appearance singing "Ebben? Ne andrò lontana" from Catalani's La Wally at the theatre in Urbino. At the age of 22, Tebaldi made her debut as Elena in Boito's Mefistofele in Rovigo. She performed several more times in Parma - in La Bohème, L'amico Fritz and Andrea Chénier and started working, again through Melis, with the conductor and singing teacher Giuseppe Pais in Milan 1944. An audition for Giulio Gatti-Casazza, the Scala's director, came to nothing as there were hardly any performances anymore during the war years. She made her debut as Desdemona in Trieste alongside Francesco Merli and caused a stir.
Her voice was used for Sophia Loren's singing in the film version of Aida (1953).
Although she had a very powerful voice, Tebaldi always considered herself a lyric soprano. Even though the young Tebaldi successfully performed roles in operas and works by (among others) Rossini, Spontini, Mozart, Handel and Wagner she eventually centered her career on verismo and late Verdi roles, roles not as well suited to Callas' voice. Callas, in contrast, considered herself a dramatic coloratura soprano and started her career in the heaviest roles, but soon after, concentrated on the bel canto repertoire, which were not a good fit for Tebaldi's vocal range and technique. How much of the rivalry was real, and how much whipped up by fans and the press, is open to question. Some also believe that the entire rivalry was instigated by their respective recording companies in order to boost sales, and that they were instructed to play along. According to Time magazine, when Callas quit La Scala, "Tebaldi made a surprising maneuver: she announced that she would not sing at La Scala without Callas. 'I sing only for artistic reasons; it is not my custom to sing against anybody', she said." Nevertheless, Tebaldi apparently felt that the public perception of a rivalry was ultimately good for both their careers, since it aroused so much interest in the two of them.
In the end, however, there was a reconciliation. After Tebaldi had inaugurated the 1968 Met season with Cilea's Adriana Lecouvreur, Callas, who by that time had given her last opera performance, went backstage to congratulate Tebaldi. It was the last time the two sopranos were to meet.
She sang more at the Met and far less elsewhere. She had developed a special rapport with the Met audiences and became known as "Miss Sold Out". She sang there some 270 times in La bohème, Madama Butterfly, Tosca, Manon Lescaut, La Fanciulla del West, Otello, La forza del destino, Simon Boccanegra, Falstaff, Andrea Chénier, La Gioconda and Violetta in a production of La traviata created specially for her. She made her last appearance there as Desdemona on 8 January, 1973 in the same role in which she had made her debut eighteen years earlier.
Tebaldi retired from the stage in 1973 and from the concert hall in 1976. She spent the majority of her last days in Milan. She died at age 82 at her home, in San Marino. She is buried in the family chapel at Mattaleto cemetery (Langhirano).
Category:1922 births Category:2004 deaths Category:People from Pesaro Category:Italian female singers Category:Italian opera singers Category:Italian sopranos Category:Italian Roman Catholics Category:Operatic sopranos Category:Grammy Award winners
This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
Montserrat Concepción Bibiana Caballé i Folch (Barcelona, Spain, 12 April 1933) is a Spanish operatic soprano. Although she sang a wide variety of roles, she is best known as an exponent of the bel canto repertoire, notably the works of Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti and Verdi.
Having lost some of her earlier brilliance and purity of voice, Caballé made up for it finding a more dramatic utterance and expressive singing in roles that demanded it. Thus, in 1978, she sang Tosca in San Francisco with Pavarotti, Norma in Madrid, and Adriana Lecouvreur at the Met opposite José Carreras.
Caballé married the tenor Bernabé Martí in 1964. Her daughter, Montserrat Martí (Montsita), is also a soprano. The two occasionally perform together.
Caballé has recorded extensively throughout her long career and has made many notable recordings of complete operas as well as recital albums, most notably on the RCA Red Seal label.
Caballé is known affectionately in the opera world as La Superba, a sign that she has reached the status of diva.
Category:1933 births Category:Living people Category:Catalan opera singers Category:Spanish female singers Category:Spanish opera singers Category:Spanish sopranos Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Latin Grammy Award winners Category:Operatic sopranos Category:Alumni of the Conservatori Superior de Música del Liceu Category:Singers from Barcelona
This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
| Name | Hayley Westenra |
|---|---|
| Background | solo_singer |
| Birth name | Hayley Dee Westenra |
| Born | April 10, 1987 |
| Origin | Christchurch, New Zealand |
| Instrument | Piano, guitar, violin, recorder |
| Voice type | Soprano |
| Genre | Classical, pop, celtic, operatic pop |
| Occupation | Singer |
| Years active | 2001–present |
| Label | Universal Records New ZealandDecca Records |
| Associated acts | Celtic Woman, Jackie Evancho |
| Url | http://www.hayleywestenra.com/ |
Hayley Dee Westenra (born 10 April 1987) is a New Zealand soprano, songwriter and UNICEF Ambassador. Her first internationally released album, Pure, reached #1 on the UK classical charts in 2003 and has sold more than two million copies worldwide. Pure is the fastest-selling international début classical album to date, having made Westenra an international star at age 16. In August 2006, she joined the Irish group Celtic Woman, was featured on their Celtic Woman: A New Journey CD and DVD, toured with them on their 2007 Spring Tour, and also was featured on their latest DVD, The Greatest Journey: Essential Collection, released in 2008. She sings songs in a number of languages, including English, Māori, Chinese, Italian, Irish, German, Japanese, Welsh, and Latin.
Her pursuit of a musical career began at the age of six, when she was cast in the lead singing role of "Little Star" in the Christmas play After the show, a teacher who had watched the performance approached her parents to tell them that their daughter was "pitch perfect".
At 12, Westenra entered a professional recording studio to record Walking in the Air, a demo album originally created for friends and family. At first, her parents paid for 70 copies; soon after, 1000 more were cut for sale, handout, and publicity. After finishing her album, Westenra and her sister Sophie busked in Christchurch, giving away a few of the original 70 albums (at the behest of passers-by) and selling some of the latter 1000. The pair drew large crowds, and one woman asked the girls if they had ever recorded anything. The woman, a journalist with Canterbury Television, asked Westenra to appear on air. Gray Bartlett, the director of a concert promotion company, saw the show and became interested in working with Westenra. On that label, Westenra released a self-titled album of show tunes and light classical songs, as well as My Gift to You, a CD of Christmas music. Following the success of her albums, she was offered and later received lessons from Dame Malvina Major. Pure enjoyed record success: it became the fastest-selling international debut album in the history of the UK classical chart, with 19,068 copies purchased in its first week alone, quickly reached #1 on the UK charts, and entered the UK Pop Chart at #8. Over two million copies of Pure have been sold to date. In New Zealand, Pure has been certified 12x platinum, making her the best-selling artist, regardless of genre, in the country's history.
Pure
Decca has also promoted Westenra on television. She took her first acting role on the US programme American Dreams ("Charade"), where she played guitar and sang "Who Painted the Moon Black?". While she was being promoted in Los Angeles, Marc Johnston, senior VP/GM for the Universal Classics Group, said, "When she was out there, people were giving her scripts to read, and she had a few rather impromptu auditions. So some film and TV roles are currently in the works." In 2006, she was featured on the motion picture soundtrack for The New World with the song "Listen to the Wind".
Westenra was the 2004 Vodafone New Zealand Music Awards winner of "Highest Selling New Zealand Album" and "International Achievement Award". On 20 February 2004, Prime Minister Helen Clark awarded her for being the first New Zealand artist to receive the tenfold platinum status in the New Zealand market, where she held the number one artist position for 18 weeks. In her autobiography, she remembered feeling more nervous in an audition where she sight read to Andrew Lloyd Webber an unreleased piece that he had written. She concluded 2004 with a successful Christmas tour of the east coast of the United States as guest soloist with the Boston Pops Orchestra.
In 2005, she released a new album, Odyssey. A mix of classical, pop, Celtic, and New Age music, she co-wrote and arranged some of the tracks on the album, which was released in the United States on 18 October 2005. A more recent version of Odyssey containing several recordings not on the original album was released in the United Kingdom on 10 April 2006, her 19th birthday. On 18 December 2005, she made an appearance on Kurt Browning's programme Gotta Skate, in which she performed with Andrea Bocelli.
Westenra spent the first half of 2006 performing as a supporting act for the pop-opera quartet Il Divo on a worldwide tour, though in March she performed solo concerts in the U.S. as well. That tour officially ended in June, but was then extended by six performances. She then held several concerts in the UK and Germany through the end of the northern summer. On 5 September 2006, Westenra was named as one of the ten outstanding young people in the world by the Junior Chamber International, becoming the first New Zealander so honoured. On 13 November 2006 she participated in the dedication of the New Zealand War Memorial in London. Three of Westenra's great-uncles served in World War II; one was killed.
Among 2006 Canterbury Festival(27th Oct), Westenra successfully staged Cathedral concert with tenor Alfie Boe in the Canterbury Cathedral.
Westenra's third international album, Treasure, was released on 26 February 2007 in the UK. All the songs on this CD were chosen by Westenra, who gave her record company "no say in the matter. I basically didn't let them in on what I was recording until the last minute so they had no choice. I didn't give them much room to disagree." Tracks on this album include "E Pari Ra", "One Fine Day", "Let Me Lie", "Danny Boy", and "Abide with Me". Westenra co-wrote four of the fifteen tracks, and the album also features singer Humphrey Berney. The US/Australia/NZ edition followed in March under the name Celtic Treasure. Westenra dedicated the album to her grandmother, Shirley Ireland. Inside the sleeve of the UK edition, she wrote "I come from a musical family, and one with a real sense of history. My forefathers were on the maiden voyage from Ireland to Christchurch, New Zealand in 1850 – there's even a commemoration plaque in Cathedral Square, Christchurch, which bears the name Westenra. My grandmother used to sit me on her knee and sing songs like Danny Boy from as early as I can remember. A singer herself in her earlier years, she has always been a never-ending source of songs. It's this legacy of music that she's been passing down to me since my childhood, and it's many of these beautiful old songs that I've explored here on my album."
On the day before St. Patrick's Day 2007, she performed as part of Celtic Woman for President George W. Bush at the White House. She had plans to present the president with a petition to place a mandatory carbon cap on the United States. The goal of the petition was compliance with the commitment made by President Bill Clinton in previous years to follow the Kyoto Protocol. However, she was not able to present the petition because the president was rushed away after the concert, due to security concerns.
On 6th May 2007, Westenra was invited to the Crystal Cathedral as a guest performing "Abide with Me" on the Hour of Power American Christian television program, She performed there several times before including "Amazing Grace","I Say Grace".
Westenra starred as Maria in the 2007 recording of West Side Story, which was released on 30 July.
In Nov 2007, Hayley Westenra successfully staged Japan "treasure" concert tour in Fukuoka, Sapporo, Tokyo, Sendai, Nagoya, Osaka, Yokohama, Hiroshima.
On 17 August 2008 Westenra participated in the tribute concert Lyrics by Don Black which was held at the London Palladium and featured performances of Black's songs by a selection of guest artists. She sang the duet Amigos Para Siempre, the score of which was written by Andrew Lloyd Webber, with Jonathan Ansell. The evening, hosted by Michael Parkinson was recorded by BBC Radio 2 Friday Night is Music Night and broadcast on 22 August 2008.
The song "Prayer", composed by Secret Garden and performed by Westenra, is featured in the trailers for the Nintendo Wii video game, Endless Ocean, as well as in the game itself. Westenra also contributed several other songs, including her rendition of the Māori folk song "Pokarekare Ana".
On 8 November 2008, Westenra performed at the Festival of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall, singing Today Won't Come Again, written by Geoff Stevens and Don Black, with English tenor Jonathan Ansell, and accompanied Ansell on Here's to the Heroes, by Black and John Barry, when returning soldiers proceeded into the auditorium. On July 16, 2009, she performed at the Opening Ceremony of the World Games 2009 in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, singing several songs including Pokarekare Ana, The Moon Represents My Heart (月亮代表我的心) in Mandarin, Tears For You (涙そうそう) and Amazing Grace.
On 16 Jul 2009, Westenra performed "Amazing Grace" in English, "We Are The Champions" in English with other stars, "The Pray" in English&Italian with Russell Watson, "Pokarekare Ana" in Maori with Russell Watson, "Nada Sousou" in Japanese, "The Moon Reflects My Love" in Mandarin Chinese with SuJianXin on the World Games's opening ceremony in Kaohsiung TaiWan before 45,000 stadium audiences and numerous worldwide TV audiences.
On 29 August 2009, Westenra led the traditional singing of "Abide with Me" at the Rugby League Challenge Cup final at Wembley Stadium.
On 05 Feb 2010, Nativity Wins 2 'Film of the Year' Awards, Hayley Westenra was delighted to sing Silent Night on the soundtrack of Nativity! When she was later interviewed about her charity work in Ghana she had this to say, "I met girls who had been given bikes and I could see how much it meant to them. We wanted to borrow one just for a photo and they wouldn't let them go; they were really reluctant".
In 2006, Sensational new Hybrid Tea named in honour of New Zealand singing star Hayley Westenra to raise funds for UNICEFNZ. Hayley Westenra Rose is a frilly, sweet-cheeked little miss who won Best Hybrid Tea, Best Overall Rose and the biggie – New Zealand Rose of the Year – at the Pacific Rose Bowl Festival awards in 2010.
In June 2006 she appeared at a fundraiser for UK charity Act Against Bullying. On 8 June 2007, Westenra performed in a fundraising concert for Bikes for Ghana at the Victoria Hall in Stoke-on-Trent. In September 2008 she visited Ghana again on behalf of UNICEF. She is currently working on raising funds for one of her favourite projects in Ghana, to install playgrounds for children, with rides which harness "kid power" to drive pumps used for providing clean drinking water from wells in that country. Hundreds of thousands of children have been victimized by contaminated drinking water in Ghana, and this project is a focus of Hayley's.
On 24th February 2007 Hayley Westenra took part in the HemiHelp “Children helping Children” concert at the Cadogan Hall, Sloan Square London in front of 900 people, including HRH Princess Alexandra the charity’s patron.
In 2008, Westenra was selected by the New Zealand Society to receive the Global Kiwis Young Achiever Award for remarkable achievement in her field of endeavor on a global scale. She has also received numerous awards for her contributions to music, both in New Zealand and elsewhere. In November 2008 she was named "classical performer of the year" at the Variety Club's annual awards in London.
On 25 Jun 2008, Hayley Westenra is the ambassador for Classic FM's charity Music Makers. Hayley says of the partnership " I am thrilled to be the first official charity Ambassador for Classic FM Music Makers. I have seen first hand the power which music can have in changing people's lives, and I can't wait to help all I can." Over the next few months Hayley will be visiting some of the music therapy and education projects across the UK which Music Makers funds...
In Oct 2008, Forces songbird Hayley Westenra help launch the Poppy Appeal with British Armed Forces in Iraq.
In Oct 2008, Forces songbird Hayley Westenra and tenor Jonathan Ansell took to the streets to sell poppies at Waterloo Station to support the Royal British Legion.
On 12 Nov 2008, Westenra performed "River of Dreams" , duet "Today Won't Come Again" with tenor Jonathan Ansell in the Royal Albert Hall for the Annual Festival of Remembrance and was broadcast by the BBC.
She has also been the ambassador for Save the Children in Hong Kong. More recently, she took part in a breast cancer awareness campaign in New Zealand. Another major charity she supports is the Nordoff-Robbins Center for Music Therapy, which provides help for children who are disabled.
On 7th Sep 2009, She joined the Dame Vera Lynn Trust as a Vice-President for this Children with Cerebral Palsy charity.
On 22 Oct 2009, Forces sweethearts from the original Second World War Forces sweetheart-Dame Vera Lynn joined by one of today's Forces sweetheart Kiwi songbird Hayley Westenra in launching the Poppy Appeal with a fundraising goal of £31 million.
In Dec 2009, New forces sweetheart Hayley Westenra performed with Faryl Smith and Camilla Kerslake in a special service for British troops serving in Afghanistan from St Clements Church, London.
On 7th March 2010, Classical singing star Hayley Westenra lended her support with some other most successful female role models in FMWF
On 20 Jun 2010, Hayley Westenra took her role as Forces Sweetheart to the Cotswold Air Show, visiting Kemble to support the work of the Royal Air Force Benevolent Fund.
In March 2011, Westenra will speak at FMWF’s next Breaking the Mould conference at the Royal Institution in London’s Mayfair.
On 2nd April 2011, Westenra as a Vice-President of the Dame Vera Lynn Trust will be performing for this Children with Cerebral Palsy charity at the Lancaster London Hotel.
In 2010, Hayley has acknowledged that she has a boyfriend. However, she has declined to name him publicly.
Category:1987 births Category:Celtic Woman members Category:Living people Category:Opera crossover singers Category:New Zealand buskers Category:New Zealand classical musicians Category:New Zealand female singers Category:New Zealand sopranos Category:New Zealand people of Dutch descent Category:New Zealand people of Irish descent Category:People from Christchurch Category:UNICEF people
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She received critical acclaim as a winner at the Bidu Sayão Vocal Competition, a major international singing competition held annually in Brazil that is named in honor of that country's most famous opera singer, Bidu Sayão.
When her studies in the Netherlands were complete, Monarcha returned to her native Brazil but was lured back to Europe to perform as a soloist for Rieu's 2003 tour and has remained with the orchestra since. A soprano, she has sung on several of Rieu's albums and has appeared in his PBS television broadcasts in the United States, receiving particular praise for her interpretation of "O mio babbino caro" from Puccini's Gianni Schicchi. She has sung the "Habanera" from Carmen, also for PBS.
Category:1979 births Category:Living people Category:Brazilian female singers Category:Operatic sopranos Category:Brazilian opera singers
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| Name | André Rieu |
|---|---|
| Background | non_vocal_instrumentalist |
| Birth name | André Léon Marie Nicolas Rieu |
| Born | October 01, 1949 |
| Origin | Maastricht, Netherlands |
| Instrument | Violin |
| Genre | Waltz |
| Occupation | Conductor, violinist |
| Years active | 1978–present |
| Label | Denon Records , Philips |
| Url | www.andrerieu.com |
| Notable instruments | Stradivarius violin (1667) |
André Léon Marie Nicolas Rieu (born 1 October 1949) is a Dutch violinist, conductor, and composer best known for creating the waltz-playing Johann Strauss Orchestra.
Rieu and his orchestra have performed throughout Europe, in North America, and Japan. Winning a number of awards including two World Music Awards, their recordings have gone gold and platinum in many countries, including 8-times Platinum in the Netherlands. In September 2007 Rieu performed in Australia for the first time solo, without his Orchestra at the Eastland shopping centre in the Melbourne suburb of Ringwood playing "My Way" and "Waltzing Matilda"—and the next day appeared at Sydney's Arena Cove, Warringah Mall shopping with the same set. Rieu and orchestra returned to Australia in November as part of his world tour. Rieu and his orchestra played 3 concerts at Melbourne's Telstra Dome from 13–15 November and continued their tour throughout Perth, Sydney, Brisbane and Adelaide, through to December 2008. The concert theme is 'A Romantic Vienna Night' and the set comprises a life-size reproduction of the Viennese imperial Schönbrunn Palace, complete with 2 ice-skating rinks 2 Fountains, and a ballroom dance floor situated above and behind the Orchestra. Rieu's largest concert attendance to date in Australia was 38,000 on Saturday 15 November in Melbourne. The Perth concert did not feature the replica of the Viennese Palace as it was stated in the press because it would not fit into the front doors of Subiaco Oval.
He records both DVD and CD repertoire at his own recording studios in Maastricht in a wide range of classical music as well as popular and folk music plus music from well-known soundtracks and musical theatre. His lively orchestral presentations, in tandem with incessant marketing, have attracted worldwide audiences to this subgenre of classical music.
Some of his orchestra's performances have been broadcast in the United Kingdom and the United States on the PBS television network such as the 2003 airing of Andre Rieu Live in Dublin, filmed in Dublin, Ireland, and 2005's André Rieu Live in Tuscany filmed in the Piazza Della Repubblica in the village of Cortona in Tuscany.
Eamon Kelly writing in The Australian newspaper, in an article that discusses the controversy that Rieu engenders, said: "He depicts his critics as members of a stuffy musical elite with narrow aesthetic tastes, yet regularly demeans in interviews music that is not to his taste and classical musicians who choose not to perform in his manner."
Of Rieu's popularity and the debate in the media over criticism of him, Eamon Kelly says:
It is disappointing to see professional journalists indulging in cheap, inaccurate stereotypes to dismiss criticism of Rieu.
Chris Boyd, a critic writing for Melbourne's Herald Sun newspaper, finds that he could not give a general criticism of the playing of Rieu, as, except for "a clean and lyrical solo in Waltzing Matilda", his main stage function was apparently "blarney and delegation". However, Boyd also comments that the quality of the artists that Rieu works with is "extraordinary". Boyd assesses the low points of the concert as the "Three Tenors-style" rendition of "Nessun dorma" which he finds was an "abomination", while saying the concert's highlights included "a sugar-shock sweet rendition" of "O mio babbino caro" as well as Strauss's Emperor Waltz and Blue Danube, Purcell's Trumpet Voluntary and the Boléro.
== Selected discography ==
Category:1949 births Category:Living people Category:Dutch classical violinists Category:Dutch conductors (music) Category:People from Maastricht Category:People from Limburg (Netherlands) Category:People of Huguenot descent Category:Chevaliers of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres Category:Dutch people of French descent
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