- published: 31 Mar 2008
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Australian
Australian people, or simply Australians, are the citizens of Australia. Australia is a multi-ethnic nation, and therefore the term "Australian" is not a racial identifier. Aside from the Indigenous Australian population, nearly all Australians or their ancestors immigrated within the past 230 years. Colloquial names used to refer to Australians include Aussies, and Antipodeans.
The mainstream Australian culture (occasionally defined as the Anglo-Celtic culture), is a Western culture largely derived from the traditions of Western European migrants beginning with the early settlers from England, Scotland, and Ireland. The populations of Sydney, Melbourne and the other major cities are different from the demographics of rural Australia as a result of the differing migration patterns.
Australian people can refer to:
The earliest accepted timeline for the first arrivals of indigenous Australians to the continent of Australia places this human migration to at least 40,000 years ago most probably from the islands of Indonesia and Papua New Guinea.
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Bulawayo
Bulawayo is the second largest city in Zimbabwe after the capital Harare, with an estimated metropolitan population in 2007 of 731 003. It is located in Matabeleland, 439 km southwest of Harare, and is now treated as a separate provincial area from Matabeleland. The capital of Matabeleland North is now Lupane, as Bulawayo is a stand-alone province.
Bulawayo is also known as the 'City of Kings', 'Skies', 'Bluez', 'Bulliesberg' or 'KoNtuthu ziyathunqa' – a SiNdebele word for 'a place of smoky fires'.[citation needed] It is a multicultural city with most residents able to speak at least three languages (including English, Ndebele, Shona, Xhosa, Kalanga, Sotho, Nambya, Tonga and Venda). The majority of the Bulawayo's population belongs to the Ndebele ethnic and language group, who descend from a 19th century Zulu migration and are a minority in Zimbabwe.
Bulawayo has long been and is still regarded as the industrial and business capital of Zimbabwe and is home to the National Railways of Zimbabwe because of its strategic position near Botswana and South Africa. It is the nearest large city to Hwange National Park, Matopo National Park and Victoria Falls.
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Edinburgh
Edinburgh (
i/ˈɛdɪnbʌrə/ ED-in-burr-ə; Scottish Gaelic: Dùn Èideann) is the capital city of Scotland and the seat of the Scottish Parliament. It is the second largest city in Scotland and the seventh most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a 30 square miles (78 km2) rural area. Located in the south-east of Scotland, Edinburgh lies on the east coast of the Central Belt, along the Firth of Forth, near the North Sea.
The city was one of the historical major centres of the Enlightenment, led by the University of Edinburgh, helping to earn it the nickname Athens of the North. The Old Town and New Town districts of Edinburgh were listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1995 in recognition of the unique character of the Medieval Old Town and the planned Georgian New Town. It covers both the Old and New Towns together with the Dean Village and the Calton Hill areas. There are over 4,500 listed buildings within the city. In May 2010, it had a total of 40 conservation areas covering 23% of the building stock and 23% of the population, the highest such ratios of any major city in the UK. In the 2011 mid-year population estimates, Edinburgh had a total resident population of 495,360.
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Glasgow
Coordinates: 55°51′29″N 4°15′32″W / 55.858°N 4.259°W / 55.858; -4.259
Glasgow (i/ˈɡlɑːzɡəʊ/, locally /ˈɡlazɡo/, GLAZ-goh; Scots: Glesga 
listen (help·info); Scottish Gaelic: Glaschu ([ˈkɫ̪as̪əxu] listen (help·info))) is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's West Central Lowlands.
Glasgow grew from a small rural settlement on the River Clyde to become one of the largest seaports in Britain. Expanding from the medieval bishopric of Glasgow and the later establishment of the University of Glasgow in the 15th century, it became a major centre of the Scottish Enlightenment in the 18th century. From the 18th century the city also grew as one of Britain's main hubs of transatlantic trade with British North America and the British West Indies. With the Industrial Revolution, the city and surrounding region shifted to become one of the world's pre-eminent centres of heavy engineering, most notably in shipbuilding and marine engineering industry, which produced many innovative and famous vessels. Glasgow was known as the "Second City of the British Empire" for much of the Victorian era and Edwardian period. Today it is one of Europe's top ten financial centres and is home to many of Scotland's leading businesses. Glasgow is also ranked as the 57th most liveable city in the world.
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La Fenice
Teatro La Fenice ("The Phoenix") is an opera house in Venice, Italy. It is one of the most famous theatres in Europe, the site of many famous operatic premieres. Its name reflects its role in permitting an opera company to "rise from the ashes" despite losing the use of two theatres (to fire and legal problems respectively). Since opening and being named La Fenice, it has burned and been rebuilt twice more.
In 1774, the San Benedetto Theatre, which had been Venice's leading opera house for more than forty years, burned to the ground. No sooner had it been rebuilt than a legal dispute broke out between the company managing it and the owners, the Venier family. The issue was decided in favor of the Veniers.
The construction began in June 1790, and by May 1792 the theatre was completed. It was named "La Fenice", in reference to the company's survival, first of the fire, then of the loss of its former quarters. La Fenice was inaugurated on May 16, 1792 with an opera by Giovanni Paisiello entitled I Giuochi di Agrigento (libretto by count Alessandro Pepoli).
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La Scala
La Scala (Italian: Teatro alla Scala), is a world renowned opera house in Milan, Italy. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and was originally known as the New Royal-Ducal Theatre at La Scala (Italian: Nuovo Regio Ducale Teatro alla Scala). The premiere performance was Antonio Salieri's Europa riconosciuta.
Most of Italy's greatest operatic artists, and many of the finest singers from around the world, have appeared at La Scala during the past 200 years. Today, the theatre is still recognised as one of the leading opera and ballet theatres in the world and is home to the La Scala Theatre Chorus, La Scala Theatre Ballet and La Scala Theatre Orchestra. The theatre also has an associate school, known as the La Scala Theatre Academy (Italian: Accademia Teatro alla Scala), which offers professional training in music, dance, stage craft and stage management.
La Scala's season traditionally opens on 7 December, Saint Ambrose's Day, the feast day of Milan's patron saint. All performances must end before midnight, and long operas start earlier in the evening when necessary.
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Les Avants
Les Avants is a village in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland. It is located in the municipality of Montreux, in the east of the canton, in the district of Vevey. It lies 3.5 km (2.2 mi) north-east of the town of Montreux and 25 km (16 mi) east of Lausanne.
Les Avants is a winter resort in the Vaud Pre-alps. It hosted the first Ice Hockey European Championship, in 1910.
The village gives its name to the Chemin de fer Les Avants – Sonloup. Opened in 1901 as the first stage of the Montreux-Oberland Bernois, it connects Montreux to Les Avants and Sonloup, 0.5 km (0.31 mi) to the northwest.
Coordinates: 46°27′13″N 6°56′39″E / 46.45361°N 6.94417°E / 46.45361; 6.94417
Template:Portal:Switzerland/Stub
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Royal Opera House
The Royal Opera House is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply "Covent Garden", after a previous use of the site of the opera house's original construction in 1732. It is the home of The Royal Opera, The Royal Ballet, and the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House. Originally called the Theatre Royal, it served primarily as a playhouse for the first hundred years of its history. In 1734, the first ballet was presented. A year later, Handel's first season of operas began. Many of his operas and oratorios were specifically written for Covent Garden and had their premieres there.
The current building is the third theatre on the site following disastrous fires in 1808 and 1857. The façade, foyer, and auditorium date from 1858, but almost every other element of the present complex dates from an extensive reconstruction in the 1990s. The Royal Opera House seats 2,256 people and consists of four tiers of boxes and balconies and the amphitheatre gallery. The proscenium is 12.20 m wide and 14.80 m high. The main auditorium is a Grade 1 listed building.
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Sydney Opera House
The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue performing arts centre in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It was conceived and largely built by Danish architect Jørn Utzon, opening in 1973 after a long gestation that had begun with his competition-winning design in 1957.
Utzon received the Pritzker Prize, architecture's highest honour, in 2003. The Pritzker Prize citation stated:
The Sydney Opera House was made a UNESCO World Heritage Site on 28 June 2007. It is one of the 20th century's most distinctive buildings and one of the most famous performing arts centres in the world.[citation needed]
The Sydney Opera House is on Bennelong Point in Sydney Harbour, close to the Sydney Harbour Bridge. It sits at the northeastern tip of the Sydney central business district (the CBD), surrounded on three sides by the harbour (Sydney Cove and Farm Cove) and inland by the Royal Botanic Gardens.
Contrary to its name, the building houses multiple performance venues. The Sydney Opera House is among the busiest performing arts centres in the world, hosting over 1,500 performances each year attended by some 1.2 million people. It provides a venue for many performing-arts companies, including the four key resident companies Opera Australia, The Australian Ballet, the Sydney Theatre Company and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, and presents a wide range of productions on its own account. It is also one of the most popular visitor attractions in Australia, with more than seven million people visiting the site each year, 300,000 of whom take a guided tour.
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Sydney Town Hall
The Sydney Town Hall is a landmark sandstone building located in the heart of Sydney. It stands opposite the Queen Victoria Building and alongside St Andrew's Cathedral. Sitting above the busy Town Hall station and between the cinema strip on George Street and the Central Business District, the steps of the Town Hall are a popular meeting place.
The Town Hall was built in the 1880s -- on the site of an old cemetery -- from local Sydney sandstone in the grand Victorian Second Empire style, and has been described as having "lavishly ornamented composition with focal tower and fanciful roofs." It remains the only non-religious city building from the era to retain its original function and interior. The building houses the Sydney City Council Chamber, reception rooms, the Centennial Hall and offices for the Lord Mayor and elected councillors. The Centennial Hall (main hall) contains Sydney Town Hall Grand Organ, the world's largest pipe organ with tubular pneumatic action, built from 1886 to 1889 and installed in 1890 by the English firm of William Hill & Son. This organ possesses one of only two full-length 64′ organ stops in the world (the Contra-Trombone in the pedal). Before the opening of the Sydney Opera House and its Concert Hall, the Town Hall was Sydney's premier concert hall, and many notable performances took place there. The Town Hall steps are a popular meeting place.
wn.com/Sydney_Town_Hall -
Theater an der Wien
The Theater an der Wien (The Theatre on the Wien River) is a historic theatre on the Left Wienzeile in the Mariahilf district of Vienna. Completed in 1801, it has seen the premieres of many celebrated works of theatre, opera, and symphonic music. Since 2006, the theatre has served primarily as an opera house, hosting its own company.
The theatre was the brainchild of the Viennese theatrical impresario Emanuel Schikaneder, who is best known to history as Mozart's librettist and collaborator on the opera The Magic Flute (1791). Schikaneder's troupe had already been successfully performing for several years in Vienna in the smaller Theater auf der Wieden, where The Magic Flute had premiered. Schikaneder, whose performances often emphasized spectacle and scenery, felt ready to move to a larger and better equipped venue.
He had already been granted an imperial licence to build a new theatre in 1786, but it was only in 1798 that he felt ready to act on this authorization. The building was designed by the architect Franz Jäger in Empire style (it has since been remodeled). Construction was completed in 1801. The theatre has been described as "the most lavishly equipped and one of the largest theatres of its age.".
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Toronto
Toronto (/təˈrɒntoʊ/, colloquially /ˈtrɒnoʊ/) is the largest city in Canada and the provincial capital of Ontario. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from the Mississaugas of the New Credit. The settlement was later established as the Town of York and proclaimed as the new capital of Upper Canada by its lieutenant-governor, John Graves Simcoe. In 1834, York was incorporated as a city and renamed to its present name. The city was ransacked in the Battle of York during the War of 1812 and damaged in two great fires in 1849 and in 1904. Since its incorporation, Toronto has repeatedly expanded its borders through amalgamation with surrounding municipalities, most recently in 1998.
With over 2.6 million residents, it is the fifth most populous city in North America. Its metropolitan area has over 5.5 million residents. Toronto is at the heart of the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), and is part of a densely populated region in Southern Ontario known as the Golden Horseshoe, which has a population of nearly 9 million people as of 2011. The census metropolitan area (CMA) had a population of 5,583,064, and the Greater Toronto Area had a population of 6,054,191 in the 2011 Census. Its cosmopolitan and international population reflects its role as an important destination for immigrants to Canada. Toronto is one of the world's most diverse cities by percentage of non-native-born residents, with about 49% of the population born outside Canada. Toronto is also consistently rated as one of the world's most livable cities by the Economist Intelligence Unit and the Mercer Quality of Living Survey.
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Westminster Abbey
The Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, popularly known as Westminster Abbey, is a large, mainly Gothic church, in the City of Westminster, London, United Kingdom, located just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is the traditional place of coronation and burial site for English, later British and later still (and currently) monarchs of the Commonwealth realms. The abbey is a Royal Peculiar and briefly held the status of a cathedral from 1540 to 1550.
Westminster Abbey is a collegiate church governed by the Dean and Chapter of Westminster, as established by Royal charter of Queen Elizabeth I in 1560, which created it as the Collegiate Church of St Peter Westminster and a Royal Peculiar under the personal jurisdiction of the Sovereign. The members of the Chapter are the Dean and four residentiary canons, assisted by the Receiver General and Chapter Clerk. One of the canons is also Rector of St Margaret's Church, Westminster, and often holds also the post of Chaplain to the Speaker of the House of Commons. In addition to the Dean and canons, there are at present two full-time minor canons, one precentor, the other succentor. The office of Priest Vicar was created in the 1970s for those who assist the minor canons. Together with the clergy and Receiver General and Chapter Clerk, various lay officers constitute the college, including the Organist and Master of the Choristers, the Registrar, the Auditor, the Legal Secretary, the Surveyor of the Fabric, the Head Master of the Choir School, the Keeper of the Muniments and the Clerk of the Works, as well as 12 lay vicars, 10 choristers and the High Steward and High Bailiff. There are also 40 Queen's Scholars who are pupils at Westminster School (the School has its own Governing Body). Those who are most directly concerned with liturgical and ceremonial matters are the two minor canons and the organist and Master of the Choristers.
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Adrian Boult
Sir Adrian Cedric Boult CH (8 April 1889 – 22 February 1983) was an English conductor. Brought up in a prosperous mercantile family, he followed musical studies in England and at Leipzig, Germany, with early conducting work in London for the Royal Opera House and Sergei Diaghilev's ballet company. His first prominent post was conductor of the City of Birmingham Orchestra in 1924. When the British Broadcasting Corporation appointed him director of music in 1930, he established the BBC Symphony Orchestra and became its chief conductor. The orchestra set standards of excellence that were rivalled in Britain only by the London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO), founded two years later.
Forced to leave the BBC in 1950 on reaching retirement age, Boult took on the chief conductorship of the LPO. The orchestra had declined from its peak of the 1930s, but under his guidance its fortunes were revived. He retired as its chief conductor in 1957, and later accepted the post of president. Although in the latter part of his career he worked with other orchestras, including the London Symphony Orchestra, the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and his former orchestra, the BBC Symphony, it was the LPO with which he was primarily associated, conducting it in concerts and recordings until 1978, in what was widely called his "Indian Summer".
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Alain Vanzo
Alain Vanzo (April 2, 1928 - January 27, 2002) was a French opera singer and composer, one of few French tenors of international standing in the postwar era. He, along with such singers as Henri Legay and the Canadian Léopold Simoneau, represented a traditional French lyric style during a period when larger Italian and German vocal styles had become popular.
Vanzo was born in Monte Carlo, Monaco, the son of a Mexican father and a French mother. He started singing at a young age in the church choir. At 18, he started singing popular songs with a small band called "La Bastringue". He sang at the Théâtre du Châtelet, during the 1951-52 season, as a double for Luis Mariano in the operetta Le Chanteur de Mexico, while taking voice lessons with Rolande Darcoeur in Paris. His breakthrough came in 1954, when he participated in a singing contest at Cannes, and won the first prize.
Vanzo was then immediately invited to sing at the Opéra-Comique and at the Palais Garnier quickly establishing himself in the standard French lyric repertory, such as Nadir in Les pêcheurs de perles, Gérald in Lakmé, Faust, Roméo in Roméo et Juliette, Vincent in Mireille, des Grieux in Manon, etc. He also sang the Italian repertory, such as the Duke in Rigoletto, Alfredo in La Traviata, Rodolfo in La bohème. He won great acclaim at the Palais Garnier in 1960, as Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor, opposite Joan Sutherland who was making her debut there. This was the beginning of his international career, appearing at many of the major opera houses in Europe, the Royal Opera House in London, La Monnaie in Brussels, the Liceu in Barcelona, the Vienna State Opera, etc. Vanzo also appeared in North America, on tour with the Paris Opera, singing Faust, and in South America at the Teatro Colón in Les contes d'Hoffmann. He sang at Carnegie Hall in New York, as Gennaro, in the famous 1965 concert version of Lucrezia Borgia, opposite Montserrat Caballé.
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Alan Opie
Alan Opie (born 22 March 1945 in Redruth, Cornwall, UK) is a Cornish baritone, primarily known as an opera singer.
He attended Truro School and studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and the London Opera Centre before joining the Sadler's Wells Opera (now the English National Opera, ENO). He became a Principal Baritone there while still a student.
Opie has also sung with the other major UK opera companies Scottish Opera, Opera North, Glyndebourne Festival Opera and the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Internationally, he has performed in the opera houses of Paris, Amsterdam, Vienna, Brussels, Berlin, Chicago and Santa Fe and regularly appears at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich. He has also sung at the Bayreuth Festival. In 1996, Opie switched his status at the ENO from company member to regular guest, enabling him to make his début at La Scala, Milan. There he created the role of Outis in the opera of the same name by Luciano Berio.
He has recorded for CBS, EMI, Hyperion, Chandos and Decca, winning Grammy Awards in 1996 and 1998 for his involvement in, respectively, recordings of Britten's Peter Grimes and Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg. In 1997, his performance in the title role of Verdi's Falstaff earned Opie a nomination for the 1998 Laurence Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Opera.
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Alessandro Scarlatti
Alessandro Scarlatti (2 May 1660 – 24 October 1725) was an Italian Baroque composer especially famous for his operas and chamber cantatas. He is considered the founder of the Neapolitan school of opera. He was the father of two other composers, Domenico Scarlatti and Pietro Filippo Scarlatti.
Scarlatti was born in Palermo, then part of the Kingdom of Sicily. He is generally said to have been a pupil of Giacomo Carissimi in Rome, and some theorize that he had some connection with northern Italy because his early works seem to show the influence of Stradella and Legrenzi. The production at Rome of his opera Gli Equivoci nell sembiante (1679) gained him the support of Queen Christina of Sweden (who at the time was living in Rome), and he became her Maestro di Cappella. In February 1684 he became Maestro di Cappella to the viceroy of Naples, perhaps through the influence of his sister, an opera singer, who might have been the mistress of an influential Neapolitan noble. Here he produced a long series of operas, remarkable chiefly for their fluency and expressiveness, as well as other music for state occasions.
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Ambroise Thomas
Charles Louis Ambroise Thomas (5 August 1811, Metz – 12 February 1896, Paris) was a French composer, best known for his operas Mignon (1866) and Hamlet (1868, after Shakespeare) and as Director of the Conservatoire de Paris from 1871 till his death.
"There is good music, there is bad music, and then there is Ambroise Thomas." - Emmanuel Chabrier
Thomas's parents were music teachers. By the age of 10, he was already an experienced pianist and violinist. In 1828, he entered the Paris Conservatoire, where he studied with Jean-François Le Sueur (who also taught Berlioz) while at the same time taking piano lessons privately from the famous virtuoso Frédéric Kalkbrenner. In 1832, his cantata Hermann et Ketty won the Conservatory's prestigious composition prize, the Grand Prix de Rome, which allowed him to travel to and study in that city for three years. He took with him a love for Mozart and Beethoven; but once in Rome, he became an ardent admirer of the Italian cantilena and melodic tradition. It was during his Italian sojourn that he wrote all of his chamber music: namely, a piano trio, a string quintet and a string quartet.
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Andrew Lloyd Webber
Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber Kt. (born 22 March 1948) is an English composer and impresario of musical theatre.
Lloyd Webber has achieved great popular success in musical theatre. Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End and on Broadway. He has composed 13 musicals, a song cycle, a set of variations, two film scores, and a Latin Requiem Mass. He has also gained a number of honours, including a knighthood in 1992, followed by a peerage from the British Government for services to Music, seven Tony Awards, three Grammy Awards, an Academy Award, fourteen Ivor Novello Awards, seven Olivier Awards, a Golden Globe Award, and the Kennedy Center Honors in 2006.
Several of his songs have been widely recorded and were hits outside of their parent musicals, notably "The Music of the Night" from The Phantom of the Opera, "I Don't Know How to Love Him" from Jesus Christ Superstar, "Don't Cry for Me, Argentina" and "You Must Love Me" from Evita, "Any Dream Will Do" from Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and "Memory" from Cats.
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André Turp
André Turp (December 21, 1925, Montreal - February 25, 1991, Montreal) was a Canadian tenor, particularly associated with the French and Italian repertories.
André Turp took private voice lessons with Édouard Woolley and Frank H. Rowe, before entering the Montreal Music Conservatory, where he was a pupil of Ruzena Herlinger. He was then awarded a grant and went to Italy to study with Hélène Vita. He made his stage debut in 1950 in operettas with the "Variétés Lyriques", in Montreal. He also took part in several programs with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
His true operatic debut took place in 1956, at New Orleans, where he sang Roméo in Roméo et Juliette, Rodolfo in La Bohème, and Cavaradossi in Tosca. He then appeared with the Opera Guild of Montreal, in the late 1950s, as Macduff in Macbeth, and Fenton in Falstaff.
His major breakthrough came in London, at the Royal Opera House, where he made his debut on February 5, 1960, as Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor, opposite Joan Sutherland. He was to appear with that company for several seasons in numerous roles including; the Duke of Mantua, Alfredo, Turridu, Rodolfo, Cavaradossi, etc. He was invited to the Glyndebourne Festival in 1961, where he sang in Henze's Elegy for Young Lovers.
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Anne Midgette
Anne Midgette is an American journalist and classical music critic. Her father was the painter Willard Midgette.
Midgette is a 1986 graduate of Yale University. After university, she lived for 11 years in Munich, Germany, reviewing opera, music and art throughout Europe for The Wall Street Journal, Opera News, and other publications. In 1998, she returned to the United States, and after several other writing stints, she became the first woman to review classical music for The New York Times on a regular basis in 2001. She continued as a classical music critic, theater critic and arts writer for the newspaper from 2001 to 2007.
In January 2008, Midgette took over as temporary classical music critic for The Washington Post. She replaced Tim Page as the newspaper's chief classical music critic in July 2008.
In addition to her contributions to periodicals, Midgette has co-authored two biographies. With Herbert Breslin, she wrote the book The King and I, about Breslin's 36 years managing the tenor Luciano Pavarotti, which was published in 2004. She subsequently collaborated with the pianist Leon Fleisher on a book about his life, My Nine Lives, published in November 2010.
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Anthony Tommasini
Anthony Tommasini is chief music critic for The New York Times.
Tommasini was born in Brooklyn around 1948 and raised on Long Island. He was admitted to Oberlin College's Conservatory of Music, but chose to matriculate at Yale University in order to obtain a broader liberal arts education. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Yale University in 1970, a Master of Music degree from Yale School of Music, and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Boston University in 1982.
Tommasini taught music at Emerson College in Boston and led writing workshops at Wesleyan University and Brandeis University. He was denied tenure at Emerson College and turned to music criticism.
He became a staff writer for the New York Times in 1996 and was promoted to chief classical music critic in 2000.
His mentors include Virgil Thomson, a critic for the New York Herald Tribune, and Richard Dyer, who was the Boston Globe's classical music critic for 33 years.
Tommasini is the author of Virgil Thomson: Composer on the Aisle, which received the 1998 ASCAP-Deems Taylor Award, and Opera: A Critic's Guide to the 100 Most Important Works and the Best Recordings.
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Arleen Auger
Joyce Arleen Auger (or Augér) (September 13, 1939 – June 10, 1993) was an American soprano singer, admired for her coloratura voice and interpretations of works by Bach, Handel, Haydn, Monteverdi, Gluck, and Mozart.
Auger was born in South Gate, California and lived in Hartsdale, New York. She learned piano and violin as a child. She received a BA in Education from California State University at Long Beach in 1963, and her first job was as a kindergarten and first grade teacher.
Between 1965-67, she studied voice with tenor Ralph Errolle in Evanston, Illinois, and began her professional singing career after winning the I. Viktor Fuchs Vocal Competition in Los Angeles in 1967, which brought her some singing engagements and airfare to Vienna; she also appeared with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra at this time. She was signed by the Vienna Staatsoper soon after her arrival there despite her lack of knowledge of the German language, after impressing Josef Krips, remaining with the company for seven years. Her debut was in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte under Krips. She made her American debut with the same opera in 1969, with the New York City Opera. Her Metropolitan Opera debut was as Marzelline in Fidelio, under Karl Böhm.
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Barbra Streisand
Barbra Joan Streisand (/ˈstraɪsænd/; born April 24, 1942) is an American singer, actress, writer, film producer and director. She has won two Academy Awards, eight Grammy Awards, five Emmy Awards including one Daytime Emmy, a Special Tony Award, an American Film Institute award, a Peabody Award, and is one of the few entertainers who have won an Oscar, Emmy, Grammy, and Tony Award.
She is one of the most commercially and critically successful entertainers in modern entertainment history, with more than 71.5 million albums shipped in the United States and 140 million albums sold worldwide. She is the best-selling female artist on the Recording Industry Association of America's (RIAA) Top Selling Artists list, the only female recording artist in the top ten, and the only artist outside of the rock and roll genre. Along with Frank Sinatra, Cher, and Shirley Jones, she shares the distinction of being awarded an acting Oscar and also recording a number-one single on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart.
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Barry Humphries
John Barry Humphries, AO, CBE (born 17 February 1934) is an Australian comedian, satirist, dadaist, artist, author and character actor. He is best known for his on-stage and television alter egos Dame Edna Everage, a Melbourne housewife and "gigastar", and Sir Les Patterson, Australia's foul-mouthed cultural attaché to the Court of St. James's. He is a film producer and script writer, a star of London's West End musical theatre, an award-winning writer and an accomplished landscape painter. For his delivery of dadaist and absurdist humour to millions, biographer Anne Pender described Humphries in 2010 as not only the most significant theatrical figure of our time … [but] the most significant comedian to emerge since Charlie Chaplin.
Humphries' characters, especially Dame Edna Everage, have brought him international renown, and he has appeared in numerous films, stage productions and television shows. Originally conceived as a dowdy Moonee Ponds housewife who caricatured Australian suburban complacency and insularity, Edna has evolved over four decades to become a satire of stardom, the gaudily dressed, acid-tongued, egomaniacal, internationally feted Housewife Gigastar, Dame Edna Everage. Humphries' other major satirical character creation was the archetypal Australian bloke Barry McKenzie, who originated as the hero of a comic strip about Australians in London (with drawings by Nicholas Garland) which was first published in Private Eye magazine. The stories about "Bazza" (Humphries' nickname, as well as an Australian term of endearment for the name Barry) gave wide circulation to Australian slang, particularly jokes about drinking and its consequences (much of which was invented by Humphries), and the character went on to feature in two Australian films, in which he was portrayed by Barry Crocker.
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Barry Tuckwell
Barry Emmanuel Tuckwell AC, OBE (born 5 March 1931), is an Australian horn player who has spent most of his professional life in the United Kingdom and the United States.
Barry Tuckwell was born on 5 March 1931 in Melbourne, son of Charles Tuckwell and his wife, Elizabeth. He has a younger sister, Patricia, a violinist and fashion model widely known as Bambi. She married the photographer Athol Shmith and later George Lascelles, 7th Earl of Harewood, a cousin of Queen Elizabeth II.
After studying the piano, organ, and violin as a chorister at St Andrew's Cathedral, Sydney, Barry Tuckwell was introduced to the horn at age 13 and was playing professionally within six months. He studied at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music under Alan Mann, one of Australia's most influential brass players. Tuckwell has said, "The horn chose me. Right from the beginning, it was something I knew I could do."[citation needed]
Tuckwell relates an anecdote regarding his choice of instrument: sitting in a cafe one day with his sister Patricia, Charles Mackerras and a horn player from the local symphony, Patricia speculated on what Tuckwell's future in music might be. The horn player suggested, "Why not try the horn?" Tuckwell did so and within two years was playing in the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. With characteristic humour, when recounting this at the British Horn Society's festival in 2005, he turned to the audience and said, "One note a time, piece of cake!" The horn is often reckoned to be one of the most difficult orchestral instruments to master.
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Benjamin Britten
Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten,OM CH (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976) was an English composer, conductor, and pianist; and one of the central figures of 20th century British classical music. He showed talent from an early age, and first came to public attention with the a cappella choral work A Boy Was Born in 1934. With the premiere of his opera Peter Grimes in 1945, he leapt to international fame. For the next fifteen years he devoted much of his compositional attention to writing operas, establishing him as one of the leading 20th century figures in this genre.
Britten's interests as a composer were wide-ranging; he produced important music in such varied genres as orchestral, choral, solo vocal (much of it written for his life partner, tenor Peter Pears), chamber and instrumental, as well as film music. He also took a great interest in writing music for children and amateur performers, and was an outstanding pianist and conductor.
Britten was born in Lowestoft, Suffolk, on 22 November 1913, the youngest of four children. His father, Robert, was a dentist, and his mother Edith, a talented amateur musician who gave Britten his first lessons in piano and notation. He showed musical gifts very early in life, making his first attempts at composition aged five, and thereafter composing prolifically as a child. He started piano lessons with a teacher from his pre-prep school when aged 7, and viola lessons with Audrey Alston when 10 years old.
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Berthold Goldschmidt
Berthold Goldschmidt (b. Hamburg, 18 January 1903; d. London, 17 October 1996) was a German Jewish composer who spent most of his life in England. The suppression of his work by Nazi Germany, as well as the disdain with which many Modernist critics elsewhere dismissed his "anachronistic" lyricism, stranded the composer in the wilderness for many years before he was given a revival in his final decade.
Goldschmidt's musical career began in earnest during the heyday of the Weimar Republic in Germany. While studying philosophy at the University of Hamburg, he was encouraged by the Italian composer Ferruccio Busoni to write music. In 1922, Goldschmidt entered the Berlin Hochschule für Musik and joined Franz Schreker's composition class, where his fellow pupils included Ernst Krenek, Alois Hába, Felix Petryek, and Jascha Horenstein. He also studied conducting, played freelance for the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, and in 1923, coached the choir for the Berlin premiere of Arnold Schoenberg's Gurre-Lieder. In 1925, Goldschmidt achieved his first major success with his Passacaglia, Op. 4, which earned him the prestigious Mendelssohn Prize. Hailed as one of the brightest hopes of a generation of young composers, Goldschmidt reached the premature climax of his career with the premiere of his opera Der gewaltige Hahnrei in Mannheim in 1932.
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Beverly Sills
Beverly Sills (May 25, 1929 – July 2, 2007) was an American operatic soprano whose peak career was between the 1950s and 1970s. In her prime she was the only real rival to Joan Sutherland as the leading bel canto stylist.
Although she sang a repertoire from Handel and Mozart to Puccini, Massenet and Verdi, she was known for her performances in coloratura soprano roles in live opera and recordings. Sills was largely associated with the operas of Donizetti, of which she performed and recorded many roles. Her signature roles include the title role in Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor, the title role in Massenet's Manon, Marie in Donizetti's La fille du régiment, the three heroines in Offenbach's Les contes d'Hoffmann, Rosina in Rossini's The Barber of Seville, Violetta in Verdi's La traviata, and most notably Elisabetta in Roberto Devereux.
After retiring from singing in 1980, she became the general manager of the New York City Opera. In 1994, she became the Chairman of Lincoln Center and then, in 2002, of the Metropolitan Opera, stepping down in 2005. Sills lent her celebrity to further her charity work for the prevention and treatment of birth defects.
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Brian Wilson
Brian Douglas Wilson (born June 20, 1942) is an American musician, best known as the leader and chief songwriter of the group The Beach Boys. On stage, Wilson provided many of the lead vocals, and often harmonized with the group in falsetto. Early during his on-stage career, Wilson primarily played bass on stage, but gradually transitioned to primarily playing piano/keyboards. Besides being the primary composer in The Beach Boys, he also functioned as the band's main producer and arranger. After signing with Capitol Records in mid-1962, Wilson wrote or co-wrote more than two dozen Top 40 hits including "Surfin' Safari", "Surfin' USA", "Shut Down", "Little Deuce Coupe", "Be True to Your School", "In My Room", "Fun, Fun, Fun", "I Get Around", "Dance Dance Dance", "Help Me Rhonda", "California Girls" and "Good Vibrations". These songs and their accompanying albums were internationally popular, making The Beach Boys one of the biggest acts of their time.
In the mid-60s Wilson used his increasingly creative ambitions to compose and produce Pet Sounds, considered one of the greatest albums of all time. At this point his music was considered to rival that of Lennon–McCartney. The intended follow up to Pet Sounds, Smile, was cancelled for various reasons, including Wilson's deteriorating mental health. Wilson's contributions to The Beach Boys diminished as the years went by, and his erratic behavior led to tensions with the band. After years of treatment and recuperation, he began a solo career in 1988 with Brian Wilson, the same year that he and The Beach Boys were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Since then he has toured for the first time in decades with a new band and released acclaimed albums such as a reworked version of Smile in 2004, for which Wilson won a Grammy Award for "Mrs. O'Leary's Cow (Fire)" as Best Rock Instrumental, That Lucky Old Sun, and Brian Wilson Reimagines Gershwin.
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Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949), nicknamed "The Boss," is an American singer-songwriter-performer who records and tours with the E Street Band. Springsteen is widely known for his brand of heartland rock, poetic lyrics, and Americana sentiments centered on his native New Jersey.
Springsteen's recordings have included both commercially accessible rock albums and more somber folk-oriented works. His most successful studio albums, Born in the U.S.A. and Born to Run, showcase a talent for finding grandeur in the struggles of daily American life; he has sold more than 65 million albums in the United States and more than 120 million worldwide and he has earned numerous awards for his work, including 21 Grammy Awards, two Golden Globes and an Academy Award. He is widely regarded by many as one of the most influential songwriters of the 20th century, and in 2004, Rolling Stone ranked him as the 23rd Greatest Artist of all time.
Springsteen was born in Long Branch, New Jersey, and spent his childhood and high school years in Freehold Borough. He lived on South Street in Freehold Borough and attended Freehold Borough High School. His father, Douglas Frederick Springsteen, was of Dutch and Irish ancestry and worked, among other vocations, as a bus driver, although he was frequently unemployed; his surname is Dutch for jump stone. His mother, Adele Ann (née Zerilli), was a legal secretary and was of Italian ancestry. His maternal grandfather was born in Vico Equense, a city near Naples. He has two younger sisters, Virginia and Pamela. Pamela had a brief film career, but left acting to pursue still photography full time; she took photos for the Human Touch and Lucky Town albums.
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Carl Maria von Weber
Carl Maria Friedrich Ernst von Weber (18 or 19 November 1786 – 4–5 June 1826) was a German composer, conductor, pianist, guitarist and critic, one of the first significant composers of the Romantic school.
Weber's operas Der Freischütz, Euryanthe and Oberon greatly influenced the development of the Romantic opera in Germany. Der Freischütz came to be regarded as the first German "nationalist" opera, Euryanthe developed the Leitmotiv technique to a hitherto-unprecedented degree, while Oberon anticipated Mendelssohn's music for A Midsummer Night's Dream and, at the same time, revealed Weber's lifelong interest in the music of non-Western cultures. This interest was first manifested in Weber's incidental music for Schiller's translation of Gozzi's Turandot, for which he used a Chinese melody, making him the first Western composer to use an Asian tune that was not of the pseudo-Turkish kind popularized by Mozart and others.
A brilliant pianist himself, Weber composed four sonatas, two concertos and the Konzertstück (Concert Piece) in F minor, which influenced composers such as Chopin, Liszt and Mendelssohn. The Konzertstück provided a new model for the one-movement concerto in several contrasting sections (such as Liszt's, who often played the work), and was acknowledged by Stravinsky as the model for his Capriccio for Piano and Orchestra. Weber's shorter piano pieces, such as the Invitation to the Dance, was later orchestrated by Berlioz, while his Polacca Brillante was later orchestrated by Liszt.
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Carlo Bergonzi
Carlo Bergonzi (born 13 July 1924) is an Italian operatic tenor. Although he performed and recorded some bel canto and verismo roles, he is above all associated with the operas of Giuseppe Verdi, including a large number of the composer's lesser-known works that he helped revive. Essentially a lyric tenor with spinto capabilities, Bergonzi was greatly admired during the peak of his career for his beautiful diction, smooth legato, warm timbre and elegant phrasing. Above all he was acclaimed for his attention to the style required in Verdi's operas.
Bergonzi was born in Vidalenzo, near Parma. He began his vocal studies as a baritone at Parma Conservatory with Maestro Ettore Campogalliani at the age of 14. During World War II, he was interned in a German prisoner-of-war camp. After the war, he returned to Italy and studied at the Boito Conservatory in Parma.
In a 1985 interview with Opera Fanatic's Stefan Zucker, Bergonzi cited 1948 as the date of his professional debut, as a baritone, in the role of Figaro in Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia. Other baritone roles that he undertook included: Arlesiana (Metifio), Don Pasquale (Dottor Malatesta), L'elisir d'amore (Belcore), Lucia di Lammermoor (Lord Enrico Ashton), Le astuzie di Bertoldo (Ghirlino), Pagliacci (Silvio), L'amico Fritz (Fritz Kobus), Cavalleria rusticana (Alfio), Werther (Albert), La bohème (Marcello), La fanciulla del West (Sonora), Madama Butterfly (Sharpless), Manon Lescaut (Lescaut), Mignon (Laerte), Rigoletto (Rigoletto) and La traviata (Giorgio Germont).
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Carlo Maria Giulini
Carlo Maria Giulini (Italian pronunciation: [ˈkarlo maˈriːa dʒuˈliːni]; May 9, 1914 – June 14, 2005) was an Italian conductor.
Giulini was born in Barletta, Italy, to a father born in Lombardy and a mother born in Naples; but he was raised in Bolzano, which at the time of his birth was part of Austria (it was given to Italy in the Treaty of London (1915)). Therefore, most of the neighbors spoke a dialect of German, and the local music he heard tended to be Austrian/ Tyrolean. He recalled being transfixed by the town band.
Giulini was given a violin for Christmas in 1919, when he was five, and progressed rapidly with local instructors, notably a Bohemian violinist (and local pharmacist) whom he called "Brahms." In 1928, the distinguished Italian violinist/composer Remy Principe (1889–1977) gave a recital in Bolzano, and auditioned Giulini; he invited Giulini to study with him at Italy's foremost conservatory, the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome. Giulini undertook his studies there two years later, at the age of 16. He studied viola with Principe, composition with Alessandro Bustini (1876–1970), and conducting with Bernardino Molinari.
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Carol Burnett
Carol Creighton Burnett (born April 26, 1933) is an American actress, comedian, singer, dancer and writer. Burnett started her career in New York. After becoming a hit on Broadway, she made her television debut. After successful appearances on The Garry Moore Show, Burnett moved to Los Angeles and began an eleven-year run on The Carol Burnett Show which was aired on CBS television from 1967 to 1978. With roots in vaudeville, The Carol Burnett Show was a variety show which combined comedy sketches, song, and dance. The comedy sketches included film parodies and character pieces. Burnett created many characters during the show's television run.
Burnett was born in San Antonio, Texas, the daughter of Ina Louise (née Creighton), a publicity writer for movie studios, and Joseph Thomas Burnett, a movie theater manager. Both of her parents suffered from alcoholism, and at a young age she was left with her grandmother, Mabel Eudora White. Her parents divorced in the late 1930s, and Burnett and her grandmother moved to an apartment near her mother’s in an impoverished area of Hollywood. There, they stayed in a boarding house with her younger half-sister Chrissy.
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Cesare Siepi
Cesare Siepi (February 10, 1923 – July 5, 2010) was an Italian opera singer, generally considered to have been one of the finest basses of the post-war period. His voice was characterised by a deep, warm timbre, a full, resonant, wide-ranging lower register with relaxed vibrato, and a ringing, vibrant upper register. On stage, his tall, striking presence and elegance of phrasing made him a natural Don Giovanni, while remaining a Verdi bass par excellence. He can be seen in that role on video from Salzburg, under the baton of Wilhelm Furtwängler, among his many other roles.
Born in Milan (his year of birth is debated between 1919 and 1923, though 1923 is given as official), he began singing as a member of a madrigal group. He often claimed to have been largely self-taught, having attended the music conservatory in his home city for just a short time. His operatic career was interrupted by World War II. After his debut in 1941 (in Schio, near Venice, as Sparafucile in Rigoletto), Siepi, an opponent of the fascist regime, fled to Switzerland.
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Charles Farncombe
Charles Frederick Farncombe (July 29, 1919 – June 30, 2006) was an English conductor.
For London audiences, the conductor Charles Farncombe was primarily associated with the productions of the Handel Opera Society, which he helped found and of which he was musical director for the whole of its 30-year existence, from 1955 onwards (in 1977 it was renamed Handel Opera). He was subsequently conductor of the fundraising concerts of the Malcolm Sargent Festival Choir. His work outside Britain covered a wider range of repertory, though still with an emphasis on vocal music, while near his home in Monmouthshire he founded and directed an annual festival of music and drama remarkable in its scope.
Farncombe was born in London and received his early musical training as a chorister at Canterbury Cathedral. He continued his education at Dulwich College and at Imperial College, London, where in 1940 he took a degree in civil engineering. After two years of work in that field with John Mowlem and Co. (involved in the laying of cats' eyes), he saw service in the second world war as captain of a tank recovery unit (21st Army Group) with the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers. A severe wound received at Caen ended his active involvement and left him with a slight limp, though it never inhibited his subsequent enjoyment of walking and swimming.
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Charles Gounod
Charles-François Gounod (French pronunciation: [ʃaʁl fʁɑ̃swa ɡuno]; 17 June 1818 – 17 October or 18 October 1893) was a French composer, known for his Ave Maria as well as his operas Faust and Roméo et Juliette.
Gounod was born in Paris, the son of a pianist mother and an artist father. His mother was his first piano teacher. Under her tutelage, Gounod first showed his musical talents. He entered the Paris Conservatoire, where he studied under Fromental Halévy and Pierre Zimmermann (he later married Zimmermann's daughter). In 1839, he won the Prix de Rome for his cantata Fernand. He was following his father; François-Louis Gounod (d. 1823) had won the second Prix de Rome in painting in 1783. During his stay of four years in Italy, Gounod studied the music of Palestrina and other sacred works of the sixteenth century; these he never ceased to cherish. Around 1846-47 he gave serious consideration to joining the priesthood, but he changed his mind before actually taking holy orders, and went back to composition. During that period, he was attached to the Church of Foreign Missions in Paris.
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Charles Mackerras
Sir Alan Charles Maclaurin Mackerras, AC, CH, CBE (/məˈkɛrəs/; 17 November 1925 – 14 July 2010) was an Australian conductor. He was an authority on the operas of Janáček and Mozart, and the comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan. He was long associated with the English National Opera (and its predecessor) and Welsh National Opera and was the first Australian chief conductor of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.
Charles was born in Schenectady, New York, to Australian parents, Alan Mackerras and Catherine MacLaurin. His father was an electrical engineer and a Quaker. In 1928, when Charles was aged three, the family moved to Sydney, Australia. They initially lived in the suburb of Vaucluse, and in 1933, moved to the then semi-rural suburb of Turramurra. Mackerras was the eldest of their seven children, including five brothers, the others being Malcolm, Colin, Alastair and Neil and two sisters, Joan and Elisabeth. They are descendants of the pioneer Australian musician Isaac Nathan. Mackerras studied violin at the age of seven and later the flute and was setting poems to music at eight, and wrote a piano concerto when he was 12.
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Chinese people
The term Chinese people may refer to any of the following:
Race (hereditary reasons), nationality, citizenship, place of residence (geographical factors), and ancestry (historical and genealogical factors) can be used to define someone as Chinese.
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Chita Rivera
Chita Rivera (born January 23, 1933) is an American actress, dancer, and singer best known for her roles in musical theater. She is the first Hispanic woman to receive a Kennedy Center Honors award (December 2002). She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009.
Rivera (birth name: Dolores Conchita Figueroa del Rivero) was born in Washington, D.C., the daughter of Katherine, a government clerk, and Pedro Julio Figueroa del Rivero, a clarinetist and saxophonist for the United States Navy Band. Her father was Puerto Rican and her mother was of Scottish and Italian descent. Rivera was seven years old when her mother was widowed and went to work for The Pentagon.
In 1944, Rivera's mother enrolled her in the Jones-Haywood School of Ballet (now the Jones Haywood School of Dance). Later, when she was 15, a teacher from George Balanchine's School of American Ballet visited their studio and Rivera was one of two students picked to audition in New York City; she was accompanied to the audition by Doris Jones, one of the people who ran the Jones-Haywood School. Rivera's audition was successful and she was accepted into the school and given a scholarship
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Christa Ludwig
Christa Ludwig (born 16 March 1928) is a retired German mezzo-soprano, distinguished for her performances of opera, Lieder, oratorio and other major religious works like masses and passions, and solos contained in symphonic literature. Her career spanned from the late 1940s until the early 1990s.
Ludwig was born in Berlin to a musical family; her father, Anton Ludwig, was a tenor and an operatic administrator, her mother, the mezzo-soprano Eugenie Besalla-Ludwig who sang at the Aachen Opera during Herbert von Karajan's period as conductor. Ludwig's first voice teacher was her mother.
Ludwig made her debut in 1946 at the age of 18 as Orlovsky in Die Fledermaus at Frankfurt, where she sang until 1952. She was a member of the Darmstadt Opera from 1952 to 1954, then sang the 1954–1955 season at the Staatsoper Hannover. She joined the Vienna State Opera in 1955, where she became one of its principal artists and was appointed Kammersängerin in 1962 and performed with the company for more than thirty years. In 1954, Ludwig made her debut at the Salzburg Festival as Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro, and appeared there regularly until 1981. Ludwig made her debut as Brangäne in Tristan und Isolde at the Bayreuth Festival in 1966. In 1960, she performed as Adalgisa alongside Maria Callas as Norma, in Bellini's opera by the same title.
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Christopher Hogwood
Christopher Jarvis Haley Hogwood CBE, MA (Cantab), HonMusD (Cantab), born 10 September 1941, Nottingham, is an English conductor, harpsichordist, writer and musicologist, well known as the founder of the Academy of Ancient Music.
Hogwood studied music and classical literature at Pembroke College, Cambridge. He went on to study performance and conducting under Raymond Leppard and Thurston Dart; and later with Rafael Puyana and Gustav Leonhardt. He also studied in Prague with Zuzana Ruzickova for a year, under a British Council scholarship.
In 1967, Hogwood founded the Early Music Consort with David Munrow, and in 1973 he founded the Academy of Ancient Music, specializing in performances of baroque and early classical music with period instruments. The Early Music Consort was disbanded following Munrow's death in 1976, but Hogwood continued to perform and record with the Academy of Ancient Music.
Since 1981, Hogwood has conducted regularly in the United States. He served as Artistic Director of Boston's Handel and Haydn Society from 1986 to 2001, and since then has held the title of Conductor Laureate. From 1983 to 1985 Hogwood was artistic director of the Mostly Mozart Festival in the Barbican Centre in London. From 1988 to 1992, he was musical director of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra in Minnesota.
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Chuck Berry
Charles Edward Anderson "Chuck" Berry (born October 18, 1926) is an American guitarist, singer and songwriter, and one of the pioneers of rock and roll music. With songs such as "Maybellene" (1955), "Roll Over Beethoven" (1956), "Rock and Roll Music" (1957) and "Johnny B. Goode" (1958), Chuck Berry refined and developed rhythm and blues into the major elements that made rock and roll distinctive, with lyrics focusing on teen life and consumerism and utilizing guitar solos and showmanship that would be a major influence on subsequent rock music.
Born into a middle class family in St. Louis, Missouri, Berry had an interest in music from an early age and gave his first public performance at Sumner High School. While still a high school student he served a prison sentence for armed robbery between 1944 and 1947. On his release, Berry settled into married life and worked at an automobile assembly plant. By early 1953, influenced by the guitar riffs and showmanship techniques of blues player T-Bone Walker, he was performing in the evenings with the Johnnie Johnson Trio. His break came when he traveled to Chicago in May 1955, and met Muddy Waters, who suggested he contact Leonard Chess of Chess Records. With Chess he recorded "Maybellene"—Berry's adaptation of the country song "Ida Red"—which sold over a million copies, reaching No. 1 on Billboard's Rhythm and Blues chart. By the end of the 1950s, Berry was an established star with several hit records and film appearances to his name as well as a lucrative touring career. He had also established his own St. Louis-based nightclub, called Berry's Club Bandstand. But in January 1962, Berry was sentenced to three years in prison for offenses under the Mann Act—he had transported a 14-year-old girl across state lines.
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Clint Eastwood
Clinton "Clint" Eastwood, Jr. (born May 31, 1930) is an American film actor, director, producer, composer and politician. Eastwood first came to prominence as a supporting cast member in the TV series Rawhide (1959–1965). He rose to fame for playing the Man with No Name in Sergio Leone's Dollars trilogy of spaghetti westerns (A Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More, and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly) during the late 1960s, and as Harry Callahan in the Dirty Harry films (Dirty Harry, Magnum Force, The Enforcer, Sudden Impact, and The Dead Pool) throughout the 1970s and 1980s. These roles, among others, have made him an enduring cultural icon of masculinity.
For his work in the films Unforgiven (1992) and Million Dollar Baby (2004), Eastwood won Academy Awards for Best Director and Producer of the Best Picture, as well as receiving nominations for Best Actor. These films in particular, as well as others including Play Misty for Me (1971), Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (1974), The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976), Escape from Alcatraz (1979), Tightrope (1984), Pale Rider (1985), Heartbreak Ridge (1986), In the Line of Fire (1993), The Bridges of Madison County (1995), and Gran Torino (2008), have all received commercial success and critical acclaim. Eastwood's only comedies have been Every Which Way but Loose (1978) and its sequel Any Which Way You Can (1980), which are his two most commercially successful films after adjustment for inflation.
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Clive Carey
Francis Clive Savill Carey CBE (30 May 1883 – 30 April 1968), known as Clive Carey, was a British baritone, singing teacher, composer, opera producer and folk song collector.
Clive Carey was born at Sible Hedingham, Essex in 1883. He went to Sherborne School, and was a chorister in the Choir of King's College, Cambridge, before becoming an Organ Scholar at Clare College in 1901. He then entered the Royal College of Music (RCM) under the auspices of the Grove Scholarship in Composition, studying under Sir Charles Villiers Stanford (composition) and James H. Ley (singing). He had further study with Jean de Reszke in Paris and Nice.
He made his London debut in a song recital in 1907, making an immediate impression. The Times commented that he had "a baritone voice of wide compass and attractive quality, which he produces in very easy manner and with an assurance that is by no means common in a young singer. His songs lay well off the beaten track ... the singer showed himself thoroughly at home in them all." On 11 December 1907 he played Papageno in Mozart's The Magic Flute at Cambridge, in a performance he himself produced, in which the English translation by Edward J. Dent was used for the first time. He then sang in a considerable number of other operas.
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Cornell MacNeil
Cornell MacNeil (September 24, 1922 – July 15, 2011) was an American operatic baritone known for his exceptional voice and long career with the Metropolitan Opera, which spanned 642 performances in twenty-six roles. F. Paul Driscoll wrote in Opera News that he "was a great baritone in era of great baritones — Warren, Gobbi, Merrill, Milnes — and in the contemporary press, comparisons to his colleagues were frequent. But MacNeil's performances had singular musical richness, and moral and intellectual complexity that were his alone. MacNeil may have had rivals, but he had no equals."
MacNeil was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Among his teachers were Friedrich Schorr and Richard Marzollo. He debuted with various companies in the United States from 1953 (including the New York City Opera) and at La Scala and the Metropolitan in 1959. In 1969 he became president of the American Guild of Musical Artists.
MacNeil's voice was notable for its huge size and volcanic top notes. Despite some vocal decline in the late 1970s, he maintained a high standard throughout his long career. Two of his most notable roles were the title role in Rigoletto, and Iago in Otello. MacNeil was a regular at the Metropolitan Opera. His debut was on March 21, 1959, as Rigoletto. Rigoletto was also the role he sang the most at the Met, 104 times, including the Met's first telecast of that opera in 1977, in the production by John Dexter.
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Dave Brubeck
David Warren "Dave" Brubeck (born December 6, 1920) is an American jazz pianist. He has written a number of jazz standards, including "In Your Own Sweet Way" and "The Duke". Brubeck's style ranges from refined to bombastic, reflecting his mother's attempts at classical training and his improvisational skills. His music is known for employing unusual time signatures, and superimposing contrasting rhythms, meters, and tonalities.
His long-time musical partner, alto saxophonist Paul Desmond, wrote the Dave Brubeck Quartet's best remembered piece, "Take Five", which is in 5/4 time and has endured as a jazz classic on the top-selling jazz album, Time Out. Brubeck experimented with time signatures throughout his career, recording "Pick Up Sticks" in 6/4, "Unsquare Dance" in 7/4, and "Blue Rondo à la Turk" in 9/8. He is also a respected composer of orchestral and sacred music, and wrote soundtracks for television such as Mr. Broadway and the animated mini-series This Is America, Charlie Brown.
Brubeck was born in Concord, California and grew up in Ione. He is of English (maternal), Swiss and possibly Native American Modoc Tribe multi-ethnic (paternal) ancestry His father, Howard "Pete" Brubeck, was a cattle rancher, and his mother, Elizabeth (née Ivey), who had studied piano in England under Myra Hess and intended to become a concert pianist, taught piano for extra money. Brubeck originally did not intend to become a musician (his two older brothers, Henry and Howard, were already on that track), but took lessons from his mother. He could not read sheet music during these early lessons, attributing this difficulty to poor eyesight, but "faked" his way through, well enough that this deficiency went mostly unnoticed.
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David Williamson
David Keith Williamson AO (born 19 February 1942) is one of Australia's best-known playwrights. He has also written screenplays and teleplays.
David Williamson was born in Melbourne and brought up in Bairnsdale, Victoria. He initially studied mechanical engineering at the University of Melbourne from 1960.[citation needed] His early forays into the theatre were as an actor and writer of skits for the Engineers' Revue at Melbourne University's Union Theatre at lunchtime during the early 1960s.
After a stint as a lecturer for Swinburne University, he turned to writing plays in 1967.
Williamson rose to prominence in the early 1970s, with works such as Don's Party (later turned into a 1976 film), a comic drama set during the 1969 federal election; and The Removalists (1971). He also collaborated on the screenplays for Gallipoli (1981) and The Year of Living Dangerously (1982). Williamson's work as a playwright focuses on themes of politics, loyalty and family in contemporary urban Australia, particularly in two of its major cities, Melbourne and Sydney.
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Diana Ross
Diana Ernestine Earle Ross (born March 26, 1944) is an American singer, record producer, and actress.
Diana Ross was lead singer of the Motown group The Supremes during the 1960s. After leaving the group in 1970, Ross began a solo career that has included successful ventures into film and Broadway. She received a Best Actress Academy Award nomination for her role as Billie Holiday in Lady Sings the Blues (1972), for which she won a Golden Globe award. She has won seven American Music Awards, was honored with a 2012 Lifetime Achievement Grammy Award, and won a Tony Award for her one-woman show, An Evening with Diana Ross, in 1977.
In 1976, Billboard magazine named her the "Female Entertainer of the Century." In 1993, the Guinness Book of World Records declared Diana Ross the most successful female music artist in history due to her success in the United States and United Kingdom for having more hits than any female artist in the charts with a career total of 18 number one records in the United States. Diana Ross has sold more than 100 million records worldwide.
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Dolly Parton
Dolly Rebecca Parton (born January 19, 1946) is an American singer-songwriter, author, multi-instrumentalist, actress and philanthropist, best known for her work in country music. As a songwriter, she has composed over 3,000 songs, the best known of which include "I Will Always Love You" (a two-time U.S. country chart-topper for Parton, as well an international pop hit for Whitney Houston), "Jolene", "Coat of Many Colors", "9 to 5" and "My Tennessee Mountain Home". As an actress, she starred in the movies 9 to 5, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Steel Magnolias, Straight Talk, Unlikely Angel and Joyful Noise. She is one of the most successful female country artists of all time; with an estimated 100 million in album sales, Dolly Parton is also one of the best selling artists of all time. She is known as "The Queen of Country Music".
She was born in Sevierville, Tennessee, the fourth of twelve children of Avie Lee Parton (née Owens; October 5, 1923 – December 5, 2003) and Robert Lee Parton (March 22, 1921 – November 12, 2000), a tobacco farmer. Her siblings are: Willadeene Parton (born March 24, 1940), David Wilburn Parton (born March 30, 1942), Coy Denver "Denver" Parton (born August 16, 1943), Bobby Lee Parton (born February 18, 1948), Stella Mae Parton (born May 4, 1949), Cassie Nan Parton (February 12, 1951), Randel Huston "Randy" Parton (born December 15, 1953), Larry Gerald Parton (born and died July 6, 1955), Floyd and Frieda Estelle Parton (born June 1, 1957), and Rachel Ann Parton (born August 31, 1959). Her family was, as she has described them, "dirt poor". She outlined her family's lack of money in a number of her early songs, notably "Coat of Many Colors" and "In the Good Old Days (When Times Were Bad)". They lived in a rustic, dilapidated one-room cabin in Locust Ridge, Tennessee, a hamlet just north of the Greenbrier Valley, in the Locust Ridge area of the Great Smoky Mountains in Sevier County, a predominantly Pentecostal area.
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Edith Coates
Edith Coates OBE (31 May 1908 – 7 January 1983) was an English operatic mezzo-soprano. A highly gifted actress with a striking stage presence, Coates initially found success in larger dramatic roles before transitioning into portraying mainly character parts in the 1950s. She began her career with Lilian Baylis's opera company at the Old Vic in 1924. She stayed with the company when it moved to the Sadler's Wells Theatre and remained with them up through 1946. Coates career was put on hold while the London stages were closed during World War II. There is no doubt that the war limited her career as it occurred during her prime singing years; though she was also said not to have been excessively ambitious. In 1947 Coates joined the Royal Opera, London where she remained until her retirement from the stage in 1967.
Coates studied singing with Ethel Henry Bird at the Trinity College of Music in London and later with Clive Carey, Dawson Freer and Dino Borgioli. She began her career in 1924 with the Vic Wells Opera, first as a member of the chorus and then in smaller roles. When the company moved to the Sadler's Wells Theatre in 1931 she became the company's leading mezzo-soprano, notably singing in the UK premieres of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's The Snow Maiden (as Lel) and Rimsky-Korsakov's The Tale of Tsar Saltan (as Tkachikha) in 1933. She also had a tremendous success with the company as Princess Eboli in Giuseppe Verdi's Don Carlos in 1937. On June 7, 1945 she portrayed Auntie in the world premiere of Benjamin Britten's Peter Grimes at the Sadler's Wells Theatre.
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Edward Downes
Sir Edward Thomas "Ted" Downes, CBE (17 June 1924 – 10 July 2009) was an English conductor, specialising in opera.
He was associated with the Royal Opera House from 1952, and with Opera Australia from 1970. He was also well known for his long working relationship with the BBC Philharmonic and for working with the Netherlands Radio Orchestra. Within the field of opera, he was particularly known as a conductor of Verdi.
He and his wife, Lady (Joan) Downes, committed assisted suicide at the Dignitas clinic in Switzerland on 10 July 2009, an event that received significant media coverage.
Downes was born in Birmingham, England on 17 June 1924, son of a bank teller. He left school at the age of 14, sent out by his father to earn his living in a local gas store for 16s 10d (84p) a week.
Having taken up the piano and violin aged five he won a scholarship at the age of 16 to the University of Birmingham where he studied English literature and music, and began playing the cor anglais. Downes' pursuit of conducting was aided by a two-year Carnegie scholarship from the University of Aberdeen, which allowed him to study with Hermann Scherchen after postgraduate studies at the Royal College of Music.
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Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; born 21 April 1926) is the constitutional monarch of 16 sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms, and head of the 54-member Commonwealth of Nations. She is also head of state of the Crown Dependencies.
Elizabeth was born in London, and educated privately at home. Her father acceded to the throne as George VI in 1936 on the abdication of his brother Edward VIII. She began to undertake public duties during the Second World War, in which she served in the Auxiliary Territorial Service. On the death of her father in 1952, she became Head of the Commonwealth and queen regnant of seven independent Commonwealth countries: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Pakistan, and Ceylon. Her coronation service in 1953 was the first to be televised. Between 1956 and 1992, the number of her realms varied as territories gained independence and some realms became republics. Today, in addition to the first four aforementioned countries, Elizabeth is Queen of Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize, Antigua and Barbuda, and Saint Kitts and Nevis.
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Elizabeth Taylor
Dame Elizabeth Rosemond "Liz" Taylor, DBE (February 27, 1932 – March 23, 2011) was a British-American actress. From her early years as a child star with MGM, she became one of the great screen actresses of Hollywood's Golden Age. As one of the world's most famous film stars, Taylor was recognized for her acting ability and for her glamorous lifestyle, beauty and distinctive violet eyes.
National Velvet (1944) was Taylor's first success, and she starred in Father of the Bride (1950), A Place in the Sun (1951), Giant (1956), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958), and Suddenly, Last Summer (1959). She won the Academy Award for Best Actress for BUtterfield 8 (1960), played the title role in Cleopatra (1963), and married her co-star Richard Burton. They appeared together in 11 films, including Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966), for which Taylor won a second Academy Award. From the mid-1970s, she appeared less frequently in film, and made occasional appearances in television and theatre.
Her much publicized personal life included eight marriages and several life-threatening illnesses. From the mid-1980s, Taylor championed HIV and AIDS programs; she co-founded the American Foundation for AIDS Research in 1985, and the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation in 1993. She received the Presidential Citizens Medal, the Legion of Honour, the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award and a Life Achievement Award from the American Film Institute, who named her seventh on their list of the "Greatest American Screen Legends". Taylor died of congestive heart failure in March 2011 at the age of 79, having suffered many years of ill health.
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Elton John
Sir Elton Hercules John, CBE (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight on 25 March 1947) is an English rock singer-songwriter, composer, pianist and occasional actor. He has worked with lyricist Bernie Taupin as his songwriter partner since 1967; they have collaborated on more than 30 albums to date.
In his four-decade career John has sold more than 250 million records, making him one of the most successful artists of all time. His single "Candle in the Wind 1997" has sold over 33 million copies worldwide, and is the best selling single in Billboard history. He has more than 50 Top 40 hits, including seven consecutive No. 1 US albums, 56 Top 40 singles, 16 Top 10, four No. 2 hits, and nine No. 1 hits. He has won six Grammy Awards, four Brit Awards, an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award and a Tony Award. In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked him Number 49 on its list of the 100 greatest artists of all time.
John was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994. Having been named a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1996, John received a knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II for "services to music and charitable services" in 1998.
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Eric Garrett
Eric Garrett (10 June 1931 — Majorca, Spain, 7 May 2009) was an English operatic bass.
Born in Skelton[disambiguation needed
], Yorkshire, Garrett was a member of the roster of singers at the Royal Opera, London at Covent Garden for forty years. He joined the opera company's chorus in 1956 and was promoted to principal in 1962. He sang more than fifty roles with the Royal Opera during his lengthy career, particularly excelling in comprimario roles. His deft characterization of the Sacristan in the 1964 Franco Zeffirelli staging of Giacomo Puccini's Tosca was particularly admired. He died in Majorca, Spain at the age of 77.
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Eric Tappy
Eric Tappy (born May 19, 1931) is a Swiss operatic tenor.
Tappy studied with Fernando Carpi at the Geneva Conservatory and Ernst Reichert in Salzburg. He made his concert debut in Strasbourg in 1959 as the Evangelist in the St. Matthew Passion. He made his American debut as Don Ottavio at the San Francisco Opera in 1974. That same year, the tenor first appeared at Covent Garden, in the name part of La clemenza di Tito.
Among his recordings are L'Orfeo (1968), Pelléas et Mélisande (conducted by Armin Jordan, 1979), and Die Zauberflöte (opposite Ileana Cotrubaş as Pamina with Zdzisława Donat as the Queen of Night, conducted by James Levine, 1980). Tappy was also featured in two films by Jean-Pierre Ponnelle: L'incoronazione di Poppea (conducted by Nikolaus Harnoncourt, 1979) and La clemenza di Tito (with Tatiana Troyanos and Carol Neblett, 1979).
Tappy was known for his wide range of concert and opera repertoire. He retired in 1982.
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Ezio Flagello
Ezio Flagello (January 28, 1931 – March 19, 2009) was an Italian-American bass, particularly associated with the Italian repertory. He sang at the Metropolitan Opera from 1957 to 1984.
Flagello was born in New York City, and studied at the Manhattan School of Music, where he was a pupil of Friedrich Schorr and John Brownlee. He also studied at the Santa Cecilia Conservatory, in Rome, Italy, with Luigi Ricci.
Flagello made his professional debut at the Empire State Festival, in Ellenville, New York in 1955, as Dulcamara in L'elisir d'amore. He made his Metropolitan Opera debut on November 9, 1957, as the Jailer in Tosca. Four days later, as a last minute replacement, he sang Leporello in Don Giovanni. He quickly became a favorite with the audience in comic roles, such as Bartolo in The Barber of Seville and Dulcamara in Elisir d'amore, though he also excelled in more lyrical and dramatic repertory. In his 27 seasons with the company, he sang, notably, Rodolfo in La sonnambula, Giorgio in I puritani, Raimondo in Lucia di Lammermoor, Silva in Ernani, Wurm in Luisa Miller, Sparafucile in Rigoletto, Fra Melitone in La forza del destino, Philippe II in Don Carlos, Pogner in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Timur in Turandot, and other roles. He created the role of Enobarbus in Samuel Barber's opera Antony and Cleopatra for the opening of the new Metropolitan Opera at Lincoln Centre on September 16, 1966.
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Fernando Corena
Fernando Corena (December 22, 1916 – November 26, 1984) was a Turkish Swiss bass who had a major international opera career from the late 1940s through the early 1980s. He enjoyed a long and successful career at the Metropolitan Opera between 1954 and 1978, and was a regular presence at the Vienna State Opera between 1963 and 1981. His repertoire encompassed both dramatic and comic roles in leading and secondary parts, mainly within Italian opera. He was highly regarded for his performances of opera buffa characters and is generally considered one of the greatest basso buffos of the post-war era. He was heralded as the true successor to comic Italian bass Salvatore Baccaloni, and in 1966 Harold C. Schonberg wrote in The New York Times that he was "the outstanding buffo in action today and the greatest scene stealer in the history of opera".
Fernando Corena was born in Geneva, Switzerland, to a Turkish father (the name was Korena) and an Italian mother. He studied theology at the Fribourg University, hoping to become a priest. After winning a vocal contest, he turned his attention to music. He first studied in his native Geneva, 1937-38. He was then noticed by Italian conductor Vittorio Gui, who encouraged him to complete his vocal studies in Milan, with Enrico Romani.
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Fiorenza Cossotto
Fiorenza Cossotto (born on April 22, 1935) is an Italian mezzo soprano. She is considered by many to be one of the great mezzo-sopranos of the 20th century.
Born on April 22, 1935 in Crescentino,Province of Vercelli, Italy, Cossotto attended the Turin Academy of Music and graduated top of her class. After her studies with Mercedes Llopart, she made her operatic debut as Sister Matilde in the world premiere of Poulenc's Dialogues of the Carmelites in 1957 at La Scala in Milan. Her international debut was at the 1958 Wexford Festival as Giovanna Seymour in Donizetti's Anna Bolena. Her Covent Garden debut was in 1959 as Neris in Cherubini's Médée, with Maria Callas in the title role. A 1962 performance of the lead in La favorita at La Scala led to wider fame and she made her American debut in the same role in 1964 at the Lyric Opera of Chicago and as Amneris at the Metropolitan Opera in 1968.
Altogether between the seasons of 1967–68 and 1988–89 she gave 148 performances at the Met (exclusively leading roles). She was considered an expert in portrayals of heavy Italian roles of the middle 19th century e.g. Favorita, Amneris, Azucena, Eboli, Preziosilla, Maddalena, Ulrica, and Laura. She also essayed Carmen, Mozart's Cherubino, Urbain in Meyerbeer's Les Huguenots, Bellini's Romeo and Marfa in Khovantschina.
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Francesco Cilea
Francesco Cilea (also Cilèa) (July 23, 1866 – November 20, 1950) was an Italian composer. Today he is particularly known for his operas L'arlesiana and Adriana Lecouvreur.
Born in Palmi near Reggio Calabria, Cilea gave early indication of an aptitude for music when at the age of four he heard a performance of Vincenzo Bellini's Norma and was greatly affected by it. He was sent to study music at the Conservatorio San Pietro a Maiella in Naples, where he quickly demonstrated his diligence and precocious talent, earning a gold medal from the Ministero della Pubblica Istruzione (Department of Education).
In 1889, for his final examination at the end of his course of study, he submitted his opera Gina, with a libretto by Enrico Golisciani which was adapted from the old French play Catherine, ou La Croix d'or by Baron Anne-Honoré-Joseph Duveyrier de Mélésville (1787—1865). This melodramma idilico was performed in the college theatre, and it attracted the attention of the publishers Sonzogno, who arranged for a second production, in Florence, in 1892.
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Francis Poulenc
Francis Jean Marcel Poulenc (French pronunciation: [fʁɑ̃sis ʒɑ̃ maʁsɛl pulɛ̃k]) (7 January 1899 – 30 January 1963) was a French composer and a member of the French group Les Six. He composed solo piano music, chamber music, oratorio, choral music, opera, ballet music, and orchestral music. Critic Claude Rostand, in a July 1950 Paris-Presse article, coined the term "half monk, half thug" (translated by Ivry from "le moine et le voyou"), a phrase that would often be used to describe Poulenc.
Poulenc was born in Paris in 1899. His father Emile Poulenc was a second generation director of the Poulenc, and later Rhône-Poulenc, chemical corporation. His mother, an amateur pianist, taught him to play. He was introduced to Ricardo Viñes in 1914, a champion of the music of Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel, and became his pupil shortly afterwards. He was a capable pianist, and the keyboard dominated his early compositions.
In 1916 a childhood friend, Raymonde Linossier (1897-1930), introduced Poulenc to Adrienne Monnier's bookshop, the Maison des Amis des Livres. There he met avant-garde poets such as Guillaume Apollinaire, Max Jacob, Paul Eluard and Louis Aragon. He was to set many of their poems to music.
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Franco Bonisolli
Franco Bonisolli (May 25, 1938 - October 30, 2003) was an Italian operatic tenor, particularly associated with the Italian repertory, notably as Manrico and Calaf.
Bonisolli was born in Rovereto, Italy. He studied with Alfredo Lattaro, and, after winning an international voice contest, he made his debut in Spoleto, as Ruggero, in 1962. He quickly established himself throughout Italy, appearing first in lyric roles such as, Nemorino, Duca di Mantua, Alfredo, Rodolfo, des Grieux, Hoffmann, etc.
He took part in revivals of neglected opera such as La donna del lago, opposite Montserrat Caballé, and Le siège de Corinthe, opposite Beverly Sills, and took part in the creation of new works, such as La lampada di Alidino by Rota, and Luisilla by Mannino.
He began an international career in the early 1970s, with debut at the Vienna State Opera, the Salzburg Festival, the Paris Opéra, the Metropolitan Opera, etc., and began expanding his repertory to include more dramatic roles, notably Arnold, Don Jose, Manrico, Radames, Otello, Cavaradossi, Calaf, etc.
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Franco Corelli
Franco Corelli (8 April 1921 – 29 October 2003) was a famous Italian tenor who had a major international opera career between 1951 and 1976. Associated in particular with the spinto and dramatic tenor roles of the Italian repertory, he was celebrated universally for his powerhouse voice, electrifying top notes, clear timbre, a very elegant and passionate singing and remarkable performances. Dubbed the "Prince of tenors", Corelli possessed handsome features and a charismatic stage presence which endeared him to audiences. He had a long and fruitful partnership with the Metropolitan Opera in New York City between 1961 and 1975. He also appeared on the stages of most of the major opera houses in Europe and with opera companies throughout North America.
Corelli was born Dario Franco Corelli in Ancona into a family many have thought to have little or no musical background. While his parents were not particularly musical, his paternal grandfather Augusto had actually quit working at 35 to establish a successful career as an operatic tenor. His older brother Aldo subsequently quit school to become an operatic baritone, and two of his uncles sang in the Teatro delle Muse chorus in Ancona. His father was a shipbuilder for the Italian navy and the family lived along the Adriatic Sea. Corelli loved the sea and initially decided to follow in the footsteps of his father by pursuing a degree in naval engineering at the University of Bologna. While studying there he entered a music competition under the dare of a friend who was an amateur singer. While he did not win the competition, he was encouraged by the judges to pursue a singing career and Corelli entered the Pesaro Conservatory of Music to study opera.
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Franco Zeffirelli
Franco Zeffirelli, KBE (born 12 February 1923) is an Italian director and producer of films and television. He is also a director and designer of operas and a former senator (1994–2001) for the Italian centre-right Forza Italia party.
He is principally known for his 1968 version of Romeo and Juliet, for which he was nominated for an Academy Award, although his 1967 version of The Taming of the Shrew (with Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton) remains the most popular production of that play as well. His mini-series Jesus of Nazareth won acclaim and is still shown on Easter weekend in many countries.
He was the first Italian national to receive an honorary knighthood from the British government when he was created a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire.
He was awarded the Premio Colosseo in 2009 by the city of Rome.
Zeffirelli was born in Florence as Gianfranco Corsi, the illegitimate son of a mercer, Ottorino Corsi, and his mistress, Adelaide Garosi, a dressmaker. When he was six years old, his mother died and he subsequently grew up under the auspices of the British expatriate community and was particularly involved with the so-called Scorpioni, who inspired his semi-autobiographical 1999 film Tea With Mussolini.
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Frank Guarrera
Frank Guarrera (December 3, 1923 - November 23, 2007) was an Italian-American lyric baritone who enjoyed a long and distinguished career at the Metropolitan Opera, singing with the company for a total of 680 performances. He performed 35 different roles at the Met, mostly from the Italian and French repertories, from 1948 through 1976. His most frequent assignments at the house were as Escamillo in Georges Bizet's Carmen, Marcello in Giacomo Puccini's La Bohème, Valentin in Charles Gounod's Faust, and Ping in Puccini's Turandot. He was also an admired interpreter of Mozart roles, establishing himself in the parts of both Guglielmo and Don Alfonso in Così fan tutte and Count Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro. Most of the roles he portrayed were from the lyric repertoire, such as the title role in Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin, but he also sang some heavier roles at the Met like Amonasro in Aïda, Jack Rance in La fanciulla del West and Il conte di Luna in Il trovatore.
Although Guarrera did not possess as large of a voice as some of his fellow Met baritones, such as Leonard Warren and Robert Merrill, he managed to carve out a highly successful career for himself at the house through his charismatic stage presence, good looks, and well-focused lyrical tone. He sang at the Met during a "golden age of baritones" whose members also included Robert Weede, Tito Gobbi, Cornell MacNeil, Sherrill Milnes and Anselmo Colzani.The Times said that, "Frank Guarrera was a rare all-rounder, a singer whose competence, versatility, intelligence, good stage presence and the absence of inflated ideas of his own importance made him a valued colleague and the kind of stalwart company member that opera managers dream about."
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Franz Lehár
Franz Lehár (30 April 1870 – 24 October 1948) was an Austro-Hungarian composer. He is mainly known for his operettas of which the most successful and best known is The Merry Widow (Die lustige Witwe).
Lehár was born in the northern part of Komárom, Kingdom of Hungary, Austria-Hungary (now Komárno, Slovakia), the eldest son of an Austrian bandmaster in the Infantry Regiment No. 50 of the Austro-Hungarian Army and a Hungarian woman from a family of German descent. He grew up speaking only Hungarian until the age of 12. Later he put a diacritic above the "a" of his father's name "Lehar" to indicate the long vowel in Hungarian phonology.
While his younger brother Anton entered cadet school in Vienna to become a professional officer, Franz studied violin and composition at the Prague Conservatory, where his violin teacher was Antonín Bennewitz, but was advised by Antonín Dvořák to focus on composing music. After graduation in 1899 he joined his father's band in Vienna, as assistant bandmaster. In 1902 he became conductor at the historic Vienna Theater an der Wien, where his first opera Wiener Frauen was performed in November of that year.
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Fritz Stiedry
Fritz Stiedry (born 11 October 1883, Vienna - died 8 August 1968, Zurich) was an Austrian conductor and composer.
While studying law at the University of Vienna, Stiedry's musical abilities were noticed by Gustav Mahler, who appointed him his assistant at the Vienna Court Opera in 1907. This was followed by other assistant posts, leading to chief conductorships at the operas of Kassel and Berlin.
In 1933 Stiedry left Germany when Adolf Hitler came to power. From 193 to 1937 Stiedry was principal conductor of the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra. He was involved in rehearsals for the premiere of Shostakovich's Fourth Symphony; however the premiere was canceled for reasons that remain controversial. Some claim that Shostakovich felt Stiedry was unable to deal with the symphony's complexities; however, others maintain that the real reason was that Communist Party officials pressured the composer to withdraw the work.
In 1937 Stiedry left Leningrad for the United States. He worked with the New Friends of Music Orchestra in New York, where he performed long-neglected works by Bach, Haydn and Mozart and premiered Schoenberg's Second Chamber Symphony. From 1945 onwards, Stiedry returned to opera, conducting the Lyric Opera of Chicago and the Metropolitan Opera of New York. He was co-founder of the Hunter College Opera Workshop.
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Gabriel Bacquier
Gabriel Bacquier (born May 17, 1924) is a French operatic baritone. One of the leading baritones of the 20th century and particularly associated with the French and Italian repertories, he is considered a fine singing-actor equally at home in dramatic or comic roles.
Gabriel Bacquier was born in Béziers, France and as a child was fascinated by everything to do with singing - records, broadcasts and photos of singers. After beginning studies in Montpellier as a commercial artist, and doing national service on the railways during the Occupation, he found a singing teacher, took classes at the Music School and in 1945 entered the Paris Conservatoire, graduating in 1950. He joined the opera company of José Beckmans from 1950 to 1952, and then became a member of La Monnaie in Brussels from 1953 until 1956. There he sang both the French repertory, opera (Faust, Lakmé, Manon, Werther) and operetta (Angélique, La belle Hélène, Les Cloches de Corneville, Miss Heylett, Monsieur Beaucaire); as well as Puccini (La Boheme, Madame Butterfly), the Barber of Seville and the Bartered Bride.
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Gabriele Santini
Gabriele Santini (January 20, 1886, Perugia - November 13, 1964, Rome) was an Italian conductor, particularly associated with the Italian opera repertory.
He studied in Perugia and Bologna, and made his debut in 1906, as assistant conductor to Gino Marinuzzi and Arturo Toscanini, appearing with them throughout Italy.
He was particularly associated with La Scala in Milan, the San Carlo in Naples, and the Rome Opera, where he was artistic director from 1945 to 1962. He also made guest appearances at the Paris Opéra and the Royal Opera House in London.
He conducted several creations of Italian contemporary works notably by composers such as Umberto Giordano and Franco Alfano, but was especially admired as a rock-solid maestro of the old school in the standard Italian repertory. Considered one of great Verdi conductors of his generation, he left notable recordings of Simon Boccanegra and Don Carlo, both with Tito Gobbi and Boris Christoff.
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Gaetano Donizetti
Domenico Gaetano Maria Donizetti (Italian pronunciation: [doˈmeːniko ɡaeˈtaːno maˈɾia doniˈdzetti]; 29 November 1797 – 8 April 1848) was an Italian composer from Bergamo, Lombardy. His best-known works are the operas L'elisir d'amore (1832), Lucia di Lammermoor (1835), and Don Pasquale (1843), all in Italian, and the French operas La favorite and La fille du régiment (both from 1840). Along with Vincenzo Bellini and Gioachino Rossini, he was a leading composer of bel canto opera.
The youngest of three sons, Donizetti was born in 1797 in Bergamo's Borgo Canale quarter located just outside the city walls. His family was very poor with no tradition of music, his father being the caretaker of the town pawnshop. Nevertheless, Donizetti received some musical instruction from Simon Mayr, a German composer of internationally successful operas who had become maestro di cappella at Bergamo's principal church in 1802.
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George Jones
George Glenn Jones (born September 12, 1931) is an American country music singer known for his long list of hit records, his distinctive voice and phrasing, and his marriage to Tammy Wynette.
Over the past 20 years, Jones has frequently been referred to as the greatest living country singer. Country music scholar Bill C. Malone writes, "For the two or three minutes consumed by a song, Jones immerses himself so completely in its lyrics, and in the mood it conveys, that the listener can scarcely avoid becoming similarly involved."
Throughout his long career, Jones made headlines often as much for tales of his drinking, stormy relationships with women, and violent rages as for his prolific career of making records and touring. His wild lifestyle led to Jones missing many performances, earning him the nickname "No Show Jones." With the help of his fourth wife, Nancy, he has been sober for over 10 years. Jones has had more than 150 hits during his career, both as a solo artist and in duets with other artists. The shape of his nose and facial features have given Jones the nickname "The Possum." Jones said in an interview that he has chosen to tour only about 60 dates a year.
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Georges Bizet
Georges Bizet (French pronunciation: [ʒɔʁʒ bizɛ]) formally Alexandre César Léopold Bizet, (25 October 1838 – 3 June 1875) was a French composer, mainly of operas. In a career cut short by his early death, he achieved few successes before his final work, Carmen, became one of the most popular and frequently performed works in the entire opera repertory.
During a brilliant student career at the Conservatoire de Paris, Bizet won many prizes, including the prestigious Prix de Rome in 1857. He was recognised as an outstanding pianist, though he chose not to capitalise on this skill and rarely performed in public. Returning to Paris after almost three years in Italy, he found that the main Parisian opera theatres preferred the established classical repertoire to the works of newcomers. His keyboard and orchestral compositions were likewise largely ignored; as a result, his career stalled, and he earned his living mainly by arranging and transcribing the music of others. Restless for success, he began many theatrical projects during the 1860s, most of which were abandoned. Neither of the two operas that reached the stage—Les pêcheurs de perles and La jolie fille de Perth—was immediately successful.
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Georges Wakhévitch
Georges Wakhévitch (August 18, 1907, Odessa, Russian Empire – February 11, 1984, Paris, France) was an art director .
He was raised in Paris, where he studied painting. He was an assistant to film director Lazare Meerson in the 1920s.
Wakhévitch also designed sets and costumes for the theatre, the ballet, and the opera. His designs usually used vivid colours and successful sets for Covent Garden included Boris Godunov, Otello, Die Meistersinger and London's first ever staging of Verdi's Macbeth in 1960. He also provided Paris in 1956 with new sets for Gounod's Faust, replacing some in use for over half a century.
He was the father of avant-garde composer Igor Wakhévitch.
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Giacomo Aragall
Jaume Aragall i Garriga (Catalan pronunciation: [ˈʒawmə əɾəˈɣaʎ]), better known as Giacomo Aragall, is a Catalan Spanish tenor, born in Barcelona, Spain on 6 June 1939.
After his initial studies in Barcelona under Jaime Francisco Puig, Giacomo Aragall travelled to Milan on a scholarship from the Liceu to study with Maestro Vladimir Badiali. He soon won the Voci Verdi competition in Busseto and, in the same year (1963), made his Italian stage debut at Teatro La Fenice in Verdi's Gerusalemme and his debut at La Scala in the title role of Mascagni's L'amico Fritz. He also sang Il Cavaliere in Paul Hindemith's Cardillac in January 1964 and Rodolfo in La bohème.
The following seasons saw him back at the Liceu as Rodolfo and, in quick succession, at opera houses in Budapest, Venice, Genoa, Palermo, Parma, Modena, Naples, Rome and Turin.
In 1966 he sang Romeo in a memorable performance of Bellini's I Capuleti e i Montecchi at La Scala, opposite Renata Scotto and the young Luciano Pavarotti. He reprised the role two years later in his debut with the Philadelphia Lyric Opera Company. The Romeo part is more often performed by a mezzo-soprano.
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Giacomo Meyerbeer
Giacomo Meyerbeer (5 September 1791 – 2 May 1864) was a noted German opera composer, and the first great exponent of "grand opera." At his peak in the 1830s and 1840s, he was the most famous and successful composer of opera in Europe, yet he is rarely performed today.
He was born to a Jewish family in Tasdorf (now a part of Rüdersdorf), near Berlin with the name Jacob Liebmann Beer. His father was the enormously wealthy financier Jacob Judah Herz Beer (1769-1825) and his much-beloved mother, Amalia Liebmann Meyer Wulff (1767-1854) also came from the wealthy elite. Their other children included the astronomer Wilhelm Beer and the poet Michael Beer.
Beer's first keyboard instructor was Franz Lauska, a pupil of Johann Georg Albrechtsberger and a favoured teacher at the Berlin court. Beer also became one of Muzio Clementi's pupils while Clementi was in Berlin, and old Clementi himself, although he had long given up teaching, was so much struck, during a visit to Berlin, with the promise displayed in the boy's performance as to consent to give Beer lessons. Beer made his public debut in 1801 playing Mozart's D minor Piano Concerto in Berlin. The Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung reported: 'The amazing keyboard playing of young Bär (a Jewish lad of 9), who carried off the difficult passages and other solo parts with aplomb, and has fine powers of rendition even more rarely found in one of his age, made the concert even more interesting'.
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Giacomo Puccini
Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini (Italian pronunciation: [ˈdʒaːkomo putˈtʃiːni]; 22 December 1858 – 29 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.
Described by Encyclopædia Britannica Online as "one of the greatest exponents of operatic realism", he is regarded as one of the last major Italian opera composers. His repertoire is essentially rooted in verismo, or a post-Romantic operatic tradition and literary style. Whilst his work is essentially based on traditional late-19th century Italian opera, his music shows some influences from then-contemporary composers and movements such as Igor Stravinsky and Impressionism. Common themes within his operas include the important role, yet usually tragic end, of his heroines, as well as love; furthermore, there is a strong presence of exoticism in his operas, with several being set in faraway locations.
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Gianandrea Gavazzeni
Gianandrea Gavazzeni (25 July 1909 – 5 February 1996) was an Italian pianist, conductor (especially of opera), composer and musicologist.
Gavazzeni was born in Bergamo. For almost 50 years, starting from 1948, he was principal conductor at La Scala, Milan, in 1966-68 being its music and artistic director.
He had his Metropolitan Opera debut on 11 October 1976. He conducted eight performances of Giuseppe Verdi's Il trovatore that year at the Met.
His compositions include: concertos such as 'Concerto bergamasco'; 'The Song of St Alexander'; and sonatas.
His last wife was the soprano Denia Mazzola-Gavazzeni. In January 1993, at age 83, he conducted Jules Massenet's Esclarmonde at Teatro Massimo di Palermo, with his wife singing the title role. It was the first time he had conducted this opera.
Gianandrea Gavazzeni died on 5 February 1996.
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Gioachino Rossini
Gioachino Antonio Rossini (Italian pronunciation: [dʒoaˈkiːno anˈtɔːnjo rosˈsiːni] (Giovacchino Antonio Rossini in the baptismal certificate) (29 February 1792 – 13 November 1868) was an Italian composer who wrote 39 operas as well as sacred music, chamber music, songs, and some instrumental and piano pieces. His best-known operas include the Italian comedies Il barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville) and La Cenerentola and the French-language epics Moïse et Pharaon and Guillaume Tell (William Tell). A tendency for inspired, song-like melodies is evident throughout his scores, which led to the nickname "The Italian Mozart". Until his retirement in 1829, Rossini had been the most popular opera composer in history.
Gioachino Antonio Rossini was born into a family of musicians in Pesaro, a town on the Adriatic coast of Italy which was then part of the Papal States. His father, Giuseppe, was a horn player and inspector of slaughterhouses. His mother, Anna, was a singer and a baker's daughter. Rossini's parents began his musical training early, and by the age of six he was playing the triangle in his father's musical group.
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Giulietta Simionato
Giulietta Simionato (12 May 1910 – 5 May 2010) was an Italian mezzo-soprano. Her career spanned the period from the 1930s until her retirement in 1966.
Born at Forlì, Romagna, she studied in Rovigo and Padua, and made her operatic debut at Montagnana in 1928. In 1928, she sang in Verdi's "Rigoletto." The first fifteen years of her career were frustrating, she was only given small parts, but she attracted growing attention in the late 1940s, and by the end of her career was recognised as one of the most respected singers of her generation. In 1936, she made her debut at La Scala and appeared there regularly between 1936 and 1966. She made her debut at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in 1953, where she likewise appeared regularly between 1963 and 1965.
Simionato made her United States opera debut in 1953 as Charlotte in Jules Massenet's Werther at the San Francisco Opera with Cesare Valletti in the title role. In 1959 she made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera, as Azucena in Il Trovatore, with Carlo Bergonzi, Antonietta Stella, and Leonard Warren. Simionato also appeared at the Edinburgh Festival (1947), the San Francisco Opera (1953), the Teatro Nacional de São Carlos (1954), the Lyric Opera of Chicago (1954–1961), the Vienna State Opera (from 1956), and the Salzburg Festival. In 1957, she sang in Anna Bolena with Maria Callas. In 1961, she withdrew from three performances at the Metropolitan Opera, with Trigeminal Neuralgia.
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Giuseppe Taddei
Giuseppe Taddei (26 June 1916 – 2 June 2010) was an Italian baritone, who performed mostly the operas of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Giuseppe Verdi.
Taddei was born in Genoa, Italy, and studied in Rome, where he made his professional debut in 1936 as the Herald in Wagner's Lohengrin. He sang at the Rome Opera until he was conscripted into the army in 1942. After the war, he resumed his opera career and appeared for two seasons at the Vienna State Opera. He made his debut in London in 1947, at the Cambridge Theatre. The following year, 1948, saw his debut at the Salzburg Festival, La Scala in Milan, and the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples.
His American debut took place at the San Francisco Opera in 1957, followed by his appearance with Lyric Opera of Chicago in 1959. He sang regularly at the Royal Opera House in London from 1960 to 1967.
Taddei was equally effective in comedy and drama. His acting repertoire included the two Figaros, from The Marriage of Figaro and The Barber of Seville, both Leporello and Don Giovanni in Don Giovanni, both Belcore and Dulcamara in L'elisir d'amore, as well as Ernani, Macbeth, Rigoletto, Amonasro in Aida, Iago in Otello, Falstaff, Barnaba in La Gioconda, Gérard in Andrea Chénier, and Scarpia in Tosca, among others.
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Giuseppe Verdi
Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi (Italian pronunciation: [dʒuˈzɛppe ˈverdi]; 10 October 1813 – 27 January 1901) was an Italian Romantic composer, mainly of opera. He was one of the most influential composers of the 19th century. His works are frequently performed in opera houses throughout the world and, transcending the boundaries of the genre, some of his themes have long since taken root in popular culture – such as "La donna è mobile" from Rigoletto, "Va, pensiero" (The Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves) from Nabucco, "Libiamo ne' lieti calici" (The Drinking Song) from La traviata and the "Grand March" from Aida.
Verdi’s masterworks dominate the standard opera repertoire a century and a half after their composition.
Verdi was born the son of Carlo Giuseppe Verdi and Luigia Uttini in Le Roncole, a village near Busseto, then in the Département Taro which was a part of the First French Empire after the annexation of the Duchy of Parma and Piacenza. The baptismal register, on 11 October lists him as being "born yesterday", but since days were often considered to begin at sunset, this could have meant either 9 or 10 October. The next day, he was baptized in the Roman Catholic Church in Latin as Joseph Fortuninus Franciscus. The day after that (Tuesday), Verdi's father took his newborn the three miles to Busseto, where the baby was recorded as Joseph Fortunin François; the clerk wrote in French. "So it happened that for the civil and temporal world Verdi was born a Frenchman."
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Googie Withers
Georgette Lizette "Googie" Withers CBE, AO (12 March 1917 – 15 July 2011) was an English theatre, film and television actress. She was a longtime resident of Australia with her husband, the actor John McCallum, with whom she often appeared. She was a well-known actress during the war and post-war years.
An Anglo-Indian, Withers was born in Karachi, then part of British India, to Edgar Withers, a captain in the Royal Navy, and a Dutch-German mother named Zitette. She acquired the name "Googie" (Little Pigeon) at a young age from her ayah (nanny). As a child, she learned Urdu.[citation needed] Her father left the Royal Navy to manage a foundry in Birmingham, England, and Googie was sent to a boarding school near Dover, Kent. She began acting at the age of twelve. A student at the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts, she was a dancer in a West End production when she was offered work as a film extra in Michael Powell's The Girl in the Crowd (1935). She arrived on the set to find one of the major players in the production had been dismissed, and she was immediately asked to step into the role in her place.
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Gottlob Frick
Gottlob Frick (born Ölbronn, Germany, 28 July 1906 - died Muhlacker, Germany, 18 August 1994) was a German bass who sang in opera. He was known for his wide repertory including Wagner and Mozart roles, as well as those of Nicolai and Lortzing.
Frick's teachers included Fritz Windgassen (father and teacher of Frick’s contemporary, the tenor Wolfgang Windgassen).
He was a member of the chorus at the state opera in Stuttgart 1927-1934. His first solo role was in Coburg in 1934-5, followed by Freiburg (1936-40) and Königsberg (1938) where he was spotted by Karl Böhm and engaged for the Dresden State Opera in 1941, which was his base for the following decade. In 1950 he moved to the Deutsche Oper Berlin and his international career took him to all the leading houses in Europe.
His voice, instantly recognisable by its dark, evil-sounding, almost reptilian timbre, was aptly described by Wilhelm Furtwängler as 'the blackest bass in Germany' (der schwärzeste Bass in Deutschland). This made up for the fact that it was somewhat smaller than others such as Josef Greindl's, Ludwig Weber's, and Kurt Boehme's.
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Grace Bumbry
Grace Bumbry (born January 4, 1937), an American opera singer, is considered one of the leading mezzo-sopranos of her generation, as well as a major soprano for many years. She was a member of a pioneering generation of singers who followed Marian Anderson (including Leontyne Price, Martina Arroyo, Shirley Verrett and Reri Grist) in the world of classical music and paved the way for future African American opera and classical singers. Bumbry's voice was rich and sizable, possessing a wide range, and was capable of producing a very distinctive plangent tone. In her prime, she also possessed good agility and bel canto technique (see for example her renditions of the 'Veil Song' from Verdi's Don Carlo in the 1970s and 1980s, as well as her Ernani from the Chicago Lyric Opera in 1984). She was particularly noted for her fiery temperament and dramatic intensity on stage. More recently, she has also become known as a recitalist and interpreter of lieder, and as a teacher. From the late 1980s on, she seemed to concentrate her career in Europe, rather than in the US. A long time resident of Switzerland, she now makes her home in Salzburg, Austria.
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Graeme Bell
Graeme Emerson Bell AO MBE (born 7 September 1914 in Richmond, Victoria, Australia) is an Australian Dixieland and classical jazz pianist, composer and band leader. According to The Age, his "band's music was hailed for its distinctive Australian edge, which he describes as 'nice larrikinism' and 'a happy Aussie outdoor feel'".
Aside from playing, Bell was one of the leading promoters of jazz in Australia, bringing American performers such as Rex Stewart to Australia.
Bell wrote his autobiography in 1988, Graeme Bell, Australian jazzman : his autobiography, which included a discography compiled by Jack Mitchell. Bell was inducted into the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) Hall of Fame in 1997 alongside The Bee Gees and Paul Kelly. By 1999, Bell had made over 1500 recordings and performed in thousands of gigs in Australia and internationally. The Australian Jazz Awards, or "The Bells", which commenced in 2003, are named in his honour.
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Graeme Murphy
Graeme Murphy (born 2 November 1950) is an Australian dance choreographer. Together with his fellow dancer (and wife since 2004) Janet Vernon, he has guided Sydney Dance Company to become one of Australia's most successful and well-known dance companies.
Murphy was born in Melbourne, and grew up in Tasmania, where he took dance classes with Kenneth Gillespie in Launceston. He began his career as a student at the Australian Ballet School at the age of fourteen. In 1968 he became a dancer with the Australian Ballet where he had opportunities to choreograph. He toured America with the Australian Ballet in 1970–1971 and created his first ballet, Ecco le Diavole (Ecco), to music by Nino Rota, presented at Melbourne's Princess Theatre in July 1971, featuring Roslyn Anderson, Roma Egan, Janet Vernon, and Wendy Walker.
The work was presented by the Australian Ballet Society at the Princess Theatre, Melbourne in July of that year. He later danced with the Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet (now Birmingham Royal Ballet), and Les Ballets Félix Blaska in France. In 1975 he worked as a freelance choreographer. He rejoined the Australian Ballet in the early months of 1976 as both a dancer and as a resident choreographer. He was appointed as Artistic Director of the Dance Company of New South Wales in November 1976 (in 1979 this company became the Sydney Dance Company).
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Graziella Sciutti
Graziella Sciutti (17 April 1927 – 9 April 2001) was an Italian soprano opera singer and later vocal teacher and opera producer.
Sciutti was born in Turin, Italy. Her parents were musical, her father being an organist; her mother was French. She studied privately with Ginevra Marinuzzi, then in Rome at the Accademia di Santa Cecilia under Rachele Margliano-Mori with the intention of making a career on the concert platform. From 1948 she participated in broadcasts on Italian Radio, her first being L'oca del Cairo.
Sciutti's concert debut was in 1949 in Venice, with 18th-century Italian songs. Her stage debut at Aix-en-Provence in 1951 singing Elisetta in Il matrimonio segreto and the woman in The Telephone and realized that she "was a person who could do opera". She appeared as Rosina in Rossini's The Barber of Seville in 1954. Later she appeared in London at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden (debut 1956 as Oscar in Un ballo in maschera), at Salzburg, Vienna and in San Francisco.
Referred to as "The Callas of the Piccola Scala" Sciutti was renowned for her interpretation of Mozart's "soubrette" characters, Susanna, Despina, and perhaps especially for her singing in the role of Zerlina in the 1959 recording of Mozart's Don Giovanni, with the Philharmonia Orchestra under the direction of Carlo Maria Giulini. She created the title role in Sauguet’s Les caprices de Marianne in 1954.
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Gösta Winbergh
Gösta Winbergh (December 30, 1943 – March 18, 2002) was a Swedish tenor and Mozart admirer.
Winbergh was born in Stockholm. He is often mentioned as among Sweden's and, indeed, the world's finest tenors, included with Jussi Björling and Nicolai Gedda.
There was no musical tradition in Winbergh's family. He himself was a building engineer when he watched his first opera performance in 1967; the experience so moved him that he decided on an operatic career. Accordingly he applied for the opera class at Sweden's prestigious Royal Academy of Music, and was admitted on his first attempt. He trained at the school between 1969-71. He began singing at the Royal Opera in Stockholm, and gradually began to receive international attention in the 1980s when he guest performed on stages abroad. Copenhagen, Aix-en-Provence, San Francisco and, in 1980, Glyndebourne, where he sang Belmonte, scoring a great success for his honeyed voice and elegant singing. He later worked several times at the opera house in Zürich and at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. His leading performances in Mozart's Don Giovanni, Wagner's Lohengrin, Verdi's Rigoletto and Puccini's Turandot were particularly well received and celebrated.
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Henry Purcell
Henry Purcell (
/ˈpɜrsəl/; 10 September 1659 (?)– 21 November 1695), was an English composer. Although incorporating Italian and French stylistic elements into his compositions, Purcell's legacy was a uniquely English form of Baroque music. He is generally considered to be one of the greatest English composers; no other native-born English composer approached his fame until Edward Elgar.
Purcell was born in St Ann's Lane Old Pye Street, Westminster. Henry Purcell Senior, whose older brother Thomas Purcell (d. 1682) was also a musician, was a gentleman of the Chapel Royal and sang at the coronation of King Charles II of England. Henry the elder had three sons: Edward, Henry and Daniel. Daniel Purcell (d. 1717), the youngest of the brothers, was also a prolific composer who wrote the music for much of the final act of The Indian Queen after Henry Purcell's death. Henry Purcell's family lived just a few hundred yards west of Westminster Abbey from the year 1659 and onward.
After his father's death in 1664, Purcell was placed under the guardianship of his uncle who showed him great affection and kindness. Thomas was himself a gentleman of His Majesty's chapel, and arranged for Henry to be admitted as a chorister. Henry studied first under Captain Henry Cooke (d. 1672),Master of the Children, and afterwards under Pelham Humfrey (d. 1674), Cooke's successor. Henry was a chorister in the Chapel Royal until his voice broke in 1673, when he became assistant to the organ-builder John Hingston, who held the post of keeper of wind instruments to the King.
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Huguette Tourangeau
Huguette Tourangeau, CM (born August 12, 1938) is a French-Canadian operatic mezzo-soprano, particularly associated with the French and Italian repertories.
Huguette Tourangeau was born in Montréal, Quebec, and graduated in pedagogy and piano from the Montreal Marguerite-Bourgeoys College, before entering the Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Montréal in 1958, where she was a pupil of Ruzena Herlinger (voice), Otto-Werner Mueller (repertory) and Roy Royal (declamation). In 1962, she was a soloist in Monteverdi's Vespro della Beata Vergine, in Montreal. She made her operatic debut as Mercédès in Carmen, under Zubin Mehta, in 1964, also in Montreal.
In 1964 Tourangeau won the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. The same year, she sang Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro at the Stratford Festival under Richard Bonynge. During the 1965-66 season, she appeared as Carmen in fifty-six cities throughout North America with the Metropolitan National Company. Around that time, she began a partnership with Dame Joan Sutherland and Bonynge, both on stage and on record. She was heard in Seattle as Malika in Lakmé; London as Urbain in Les Huguenots; and San Francisco as Elisabetta in Maria Stuarda, Adalgisa in Norma, and Prince Orlofsky in Die Fledermaus.
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Indian people
Indian people or Indians are people who are citizens of India, which forms a major part of south of Asia, containing 17.31% of the world's population. The Indian nationality is in essence made up of regional ethno-linguistic groups, reflecting the rich and complex history of India. India, in its current boundaries, was formed out of a number of predecessors.
Substantial populations with Indian ancestry, as a result of emigration, exist in many different parts of the world, most notably in Southeast Asia, South Africa, Australia, England, Middle East and North America. Population estimates vary from a conservative 12 million to 20 million diaspora.
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Ingvar Wixell
Ingvar Wixell (May 7, 1931 – October 8, 2011) was a Swedish baritone who had an active international career in operas and concerts from 1955 to 2003. He mostly sang roles from the Italian repertory, and, according to The New York Times, "was best known for his steady-toned, riveting portrayals of the major baritone roles of Giuseppe Verdi — among them Rigoletto, Simon Boccanegra, Amonasro in Aida and Germont in La Traviata.
Ingvar Wixell was born in Luleå in 1931. He made his debut in 1955 as Papageno in Mozart's The Magic Flute at the Royal Swedish Opera in Stockholm where he was member of the company until 1967.
He made his British debut during the Royal Swedish Opera's visit to Covent Garden in 1960, and sang Guglielmo at Glyndebourne and at the Proms in 1962. For the Royal Opera, London he sang Boccanegra in 1972. In America he appeared at San Francisco Opera (Belcore, 1972) and the Metropolitan Opera (Rigoletto, 1973).
He was engaged at the Deutsche Oper Berlin 1967 where he was a member for more than 30 years. At Bayreuth he sang the Herald in Lohengrin (1971).
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Jack Nicholson
Not to be confused with Nicholas Jackson
John Joseph "Jack" Nicholson (born April 22, 1937) is an American actor, film director, producer and writer. He is renowned for his often dark portrayals of neurotic characters. His twelve Oscar nominations make him the second most nominated actor of all time, behind only Meryl Streep, and tied with Katharine Hepburn.
Nicholson has been nominated for an Academy Award twelve times and has won the Academy Award for Best Actor twice: for One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and for As Good as It Gets. He also won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for the 1983 film Terms of Endearment. He is tied with Walter Brennan for most acting wins by a male actor (three). Nicholson is well known for playing villainous roles such as Jack Torrance in The Shining, Frank Costello in The Departed, and the Joker in 1989's Batman, among many other roles.
Nicholson is one of only two actors who have been nominated for an Academy Award for acting in every decade from the 1960s to 2000s; the other is Michael Caine. He has won seven Golden Globe Awards, and received a Kennedy Center Honor in 2001. In 1994, he became one of the youngest actors to be awarded the American Film Institute's Life Achievement Award. Notable films in which he has starred include Easy Rider, Five Easy Pieces, Chinatown, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, The Passenger, The Shining, Reds, Terms of Endearment, Batman, A Few Good Men, As Good as It Gets, About Schmidt, The Departed and Anger Management .
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Jacques Offenbach
Jacques Offenbach (20 June 1819 – 5 October 1880) was a German-born French composer, cellist and impresario of the romantic period. He is remembered for his nearly 100 operettas of the 1850s–1870s and his uncompleted opera The Tales of Hoffmann. He was a powerful influence on later composers of the operetta genre, particularly Johann Strauss, Jr. and Arthur Sullivan. His best-known works were continually revived during the 20th century, and many of his operettas continue to be staged in the 21st. The Tales of Hoffman remains part of the standard opera repertory.
Born in Cologne, the son of a synagogue cantor, Offenbach showed early musical talent. At the age of 14, he was accepted as a student at the Paris Conservatoire but found academic study unfulfilling and left after a year. From 1835 to 1855 he earned his living as a cellist, achieving international fame, and as a conductor. His ambition, however, was to compose comic pieces for the musical theatre. Finding the management of Paris's Opéra-Comique company uninterested in staging his works, in 1855 he leased a small theatre in the Champs-Élysées. There he presented a series of his own small-scale pieces, many of which became popular.
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James Brown
James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and recording artist. He is the originator of funk music and is a major figure of 20th century popular music and dance.
In a career that spanned decades, Brown profoundly influenced the development of many different musical genres. Brown moved on a continuum of blues and gospel-based forms and styles to a profoundly "Africanized" approach to music making. Brown performed in concerts, first making his rounds across the Chitlin' Circuit, and then across the country and later around the world, along with appearing in shows on television and in movies. Although he contributed much to the music world through his hitmaking, Brown holds the record as the artist who charted the most singles on the Billboard Hot 100 without ever hitting number one on that chart.
For many years, Brown's touring show was one of the most extravagant productions in American popular music. At the time of Brown's death, his band included three guitarists, two bass guitar players, two drummers, three horns and a percussionist. The bands that he maintained during the late 1960s and 1970s were of comparable size, and the bands also included a three-piece amplified string section that played during ballads. Brown employed between 40 and 50 people for the James Brown Revue, and members of the revue traveled with him in a bus to cities and towns all over the country, performing upwards of 330 shows a year with almost all of the shows as one-nighters. In 1986, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and in 1990 into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
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James Earl Jones
James Earl Jones (born January 17, 1931) is an American actor. Since his Broadway debut in 1957, Jones has spent more than five decades as "one of America's most distinguished and versatile actors" and has been termed "one of the greatest actors in American history." On November 12, 2011, Jones received an Honorary Academy Award.
He is well known for his distinctive bass voice and for his portrayal of characters of substance, gravitas and leadership.
James Earl Jones was born in Arkabutla, Mississippi, son of Robert Earl Jones (1910–2006), an actor, boxer, butler, and chauffeur who left the family shortly after James Earl's birth, and his wife Ruth (Connolly) Jones, a teacher and maid. Jones and his father reconciled many years later. Jones was raised by his maternal grandparents, farmers John Henry and Maggie Connolly. He is multiracial, with African, Irish, and Native American ancestry.
Jones describes his grandmother, Maggie, as "the most racist person I have ever known", thus forcing him to develop his own independent thinking. His grandmother was of Cherokee, Choctaw, and black ancestry.
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James Levine
James Lawrence Levine ( /lɨˈvaɪn/; born June 23, 1943) is an American conductor and pianist. He is currently on hiatus from his work as Music Director of the Metropolitan Opera, a situation necessitated by health problems and not due to end before the fall of 2013; the hiatus began in May 2011.
Levine's first performance conducting the Metropolitan Opera was on June 5, 1971, and, as of June 2011, he had conducted 2,442 Met performances, a record. The conductor has held music director positions with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Munich Philharmonic. In 1997, he was awarded the National Medal of Arts.
Levine was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, to a musical family: his maternal grandfather was a cantor in a synagogue, his father was a violinist who led a dance band, and his mother was an actress. He began to play the piano as a small child. At the age of 10, he made his concert debut as soloist in Felix Mendelssohn's Piano Concerto No. 2 at a youth concert of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.
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Jane Berbié
Jane Berbié (born May 6, 1931) is a French mezzo-soprano particularly associated with Mozart and Rossini roles.
Berbié was born Jeanne Bergougne, in Villefranche-de-Lauragais, Haute-Garonne, France, and studied piano and voice at the Music Conservatory in nearby Toulouse. She made her professional operatic debut at the Capitole de Toulouse in 1954, as Nicklause in Les contes d'Hoffmann. She sang throughout France in the standard mezzo roles of the French repertory, such as Siebel in Faust, Urbain in Les Huguenots, the title role in Mignon and Carmen, etc. She made her debut at the Paris Opéra in 1959, as Concepcion in L'Heure espagnole, and the same year at the Aix-en-Provence Festival, as the sorceress in Dido and Aeneas.
Berbié also enjoyed a successful career abroad, appearing at La Scala in Milan, The Royal Opera House in London, the festivals of Glyndebourne and Salzburg, the Liceu in Barcelona, etc. She sang Maffio Orsini at Carnegie Hall in New York, in the famous 1965 concert version of Lucrezia Borgia, opposite Montserrat Caballé as Lucrezia, and countryman Alain Vanzo as Gennaro.
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Janet Baker
Dame Janet Abbott Baker, CH, DBE, FRSA (born 21 August 1933) is an English mezzo-soprano best known as an opera, concert, and lieder singer.
She was particularly closely associated with baroque and early Italian opera and the works of Benjamin Britten. During her career, which spanned the 1950s to the 1980s, she was considered an outstanding singing actress and widely admired for her dramatic intensity, perhaps best represented in her famous portrayal as Dido, the tragic heroine of Berlioz's magnum opus Les Troyens. As a concert performer, Baker was noted for her interpretations of the music of Gustav Mahler and Edward Elgar. David Gutman, writing in the Gramophone, described her performance of Mahler's Kindertotenlieder as "intimate, almost self-communing."
Baker was born in Hatfield, South Yorkshire, northern England. Her father was an engineer who sang in a male voice choir. Members of her family worked at Bentley pit, in Doncaster, South Yorkshire.[citation needed] She attended York College for Girls and then Wintringham Girls' Grammar School in Grimsby. The death of her elder brother, Peter, when she was 10 years old, from a heart condition, was a formative moment that made her take responsibility for the rest of her life, she revealed in a BBC Radio 3 Lebrecht Interview in September 2011.
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Janet Coster
Janet Coster is an English operatic mezzo-soprano.
Born in London, the daughter of a London Transport employee, Coster studied at the Guildhall School of Music and privately with Eva Turner. In the 1960s she undertook a number of roles at Covent Garden including the boy in the 1966 production of Modest Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov with Boris Christoff in the title role.
In 1969 Coster joined the roster of principal artists at the Cologne Opera, making her debut there as Vitellia in a new production of Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito. At that time this particular Mozart opera was rarely performed and the production, directed by Jean Pierre Ponnelle, received high acclaim from music critics internationally.
She also sang with Welsh National Opera to great acclaim in roles such as Azucena in Trovatore.
Over the next decade she sang a wide number of roles at this theatre and other German houses. Returning to Britain she was Amneris in Aida for the English National Opera and undertook a considerable amount of Broadcasting for the BBC.
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Jill Perryman
Jill Perryman AM MBE (born 1933) is an Australian stage actress and singer, born in Melbourne. Her parents and her sister (Diana Perryman) were all prominent in Australian theatre. At the age of 19, she joined J.C. Williamson Theatres Ltd as a member of the chorus and in 1953 was understudying leading roles in stage musicals, including Evie Hayes in the Australian production of Call Me Madam.
Perryman was strong in voice and personality and a long series of understudy and small roles eventually led her, through the recommendation of John McCallum, who was then joint managing director of J. C. Williamson Theatres Ltd, to take the lead in the key Australian production of Funny Girl, a performance that won her an Erik Award for Best Actress and led to major roles in other productions. These included I Do! I Do! in 1969; The Two of Us in 1971. No, No, Nanette in 1972 won her another Erik Award for Best Actress for her role as Lucille Early, then in 1973 she starred in A Little Night Music. In 1976 she played Gladys Zilch in Leading Lady, a musical production created especially for her. She also toured during 1977 in Side by Side by Sondheim. She played Miss Hannigan in Annie in 1978.
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Joan Sutherland
Dame Joan Alston Sutherland, OM, AC, DBE (7 November 1926 – 10 October 2010) was an Australian dramatic coloratura soprano noted for her contribution to the renaissance of the bel canto repertoire from the late 1950s through to the 1980s.
One of the most remarkable female opera singers of the 20th century, she was dubbed La Stupenda by a La Fenice audience in 1960 after a performance of the title role in Handel's Alcina. She possessed a voice of beauty and power, combining extraordinary agility, accurate intonation, "supremely" pinpoint staccatos, a splendid trill and a tremendous upper register, although music critics often complained about the imprecision of her diction. Her friend Luciano Pavarotti once called Sutherland the "Voice of the Century"; Montserrat Caballé described the Australian's voice as being like "heaven".
Joan Sutherland was born to Scottish parents in Sydney, and attended St Catherine's School in the suburb of Waverley, New South Wales. As a child, she listened to and imitated her mother's singing exercises. Her mother, a mezzo-soprano, had taken voice lessons but never considered making a career as a professional singer. Sutherland was 18 years old when she began seriously studying voice with John and Aida Dickens. She made her concert debut in Sydney, as Dido in Purcell's Dido and Aeneas, in 1947. In 1951, she made her stage debut in Eugene Goossens's Judith. In 1951, after winning Australia's most important competition, the Sun Aria, now known as the Sydney Eisteddfod McDonald's Operatic Aria in 1949. She then went to London to further her studies at the Opera School of the Royal College of Music with Clive Carey. She was engaged by the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, as a utility soprano, and made her debut there on 28 October 1952, as the First Lady in The Magic Flute, followed in November by a few performances as Clotilde in Vincenzo Bellini's Norma, with Maria Callas as Norma.
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John Amis
John Preston Amis (born 17 June 1922), is a British broadcaster, classical music critic, music administrator, and writer. He has been a frequent contributor for The Guardian and to BBC radio and television music programming.
Born in Dulwich, London in 1922, he is the cousin of the novelist Kingsley Amis. He was educated at Dulwich College, where he began a lifelong friendship with his contemporary, Donald Swann. A serious bout of mastoiditis as a child left him deaf in his left ear. He began his career working in a bank for five and a half weeks before leaving to earn a living in music. Amis had a number of roles, including gramophone record salesman, and orchestra manager (at one point turning pages for Dame Myra Hess), before becoming a music critic, initially with The Scotsman in 1946. He was for several years manager for Sir Thomas Beecham.
In 1948 Sir William Glock invited him to run a summer school for musicians at Bryanston School, Dorset. The summer school moved to Dartington in 1953. Amis remained administrative director until 1981, during which time he brought to the school a long line of international musicians, amongst them Hindemith, Stravinsky, and Tippett.
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John Barbirolli
Sir John Barbirolli, CH (2 December 1899 – 29 July 1970), né Giovanni Battista Barbirolli, was an English conductor and cellist. He is remembered above all as conductor of the Hallé Orchestra in Manchester, which he helped save from dissolution in 1943 and conducted for the rest of his life. Earlier in his career he was Arturo Toscanini's successor as music director of the New York Philharmonic, serving from 1936 to 1943. He was also chief conductor of the Houston Symphony from 1961 to 1967, and was a guest conductor of many other orchestras, including the BBC Symphony Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, the Philharmonia, the Berlin Philharmonic and the Vienna Philharmonic, with all of which he made recordings.
Born in London of Italian and French parentage, Barbirolli grew up in a family of professional musicians. After starting out as a cellist, he was given the chance to conduct, from 1926 with the British National Opera Company, and then with Covent Garden's touring company. On taking up the conductorship of the Hallé he had less opportunity to work in the opera house, but in the 1950s he conducted productions of works by Verdi, Wagner, Gluck, and Puccini at Covent Garden with such success that he was invited to become the company's permanent musical director, an invitation he declined. Late in his career he made several recordings of operas, of which his 1967 set of Puccini's Madama Butterfly for EMI is probably the best known.
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John Farnham
John Peter Farnham, AO, formerly billed as Johnny Farnham (born 1 July 1949), is an English-born Australian pop singer. As Johnny Farnham he was a teen pop idol from 1964 to 1979, and has since forged a career as an adult contemporary singer. His career has mostly been as a solo artist although he briefly replaced Glenn Shorrock as lead singer of Little River Band during 1982–1985. In September 1986 his solo single, "You're the Voice" peaked at No. 1 on the Australian singles charts. The associated album, Whispering Jack, held the No. 1 position for a total of 25 weeks, and is the highest-selling album in Australian history. Both the single and the album had Top Ten success internationally including No. 1 in Sweden.
Domestically he has remained one of Australia's best-known performers with a career spanning over 40 years, and he is the only Australian artist to have a number one record in five consecutive decades (echoing Sir Cliff Richard in the UK) with singles: "Sadie (The Cleaning Lady)" in 1967, "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head" in 1969/1970, and "Age of Reason" in 1988; and albums: Age of Reason, Chain Reaction in 1990, Then Again... in 1993, Anthology 1: Greatest Hits 1986-1997 in 1997, 33⅓ in 2000 and The Last Time in 2002.
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John Major
Sir John Major, KG, CH, PC, ACIB (born 29 March 1943) is a British Conservative politician, who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990 to 1997. He held the posts of Foreign Secretary and Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Cabinet of Margaret Thatcher and was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Huntingdon from 1979 to 2001.
Despite Thatcher's "notorious" assertion that "she expected to continue in control as a backseat driver," Major's mild and consensual style was seen as complete contrast to Thatcher's forceful and confrontational manner. Early in his term, he presided over British participation in the First Gulf War (March 1991) and negotiated "Game, Set and Match for Britain" at the Maastricht Treaty (December 1991). Despite the British economy then being in recession he led the Conservatives to a fourth consecutive election victory, winning the most votes in British electoral history in the 1992 general election, albeit with a much reduced majority in the House of Commons. He is to date, the last Conservative leader to win an outright majority in a general election.
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John Williams
John Towner Williams (born February 8, 1932) is an American composer, conductor, and pianist. In a career spanning almost six decades, he has composed some of the most recognizable film scores in the history of motion pictures, including the Star Wars saga, Jaws, Superman, the Indiana Jones films, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Hook, Jurassic Park, Schindler's List, War Horse, Home Alone and the first three Harry Potter films. He has had a long association with director Steven Spielberg, composing the music for all but two (Duel and The Color Purple) of Spielberg's major feature films.
Other notable works by Williams include theme music for four Olympic Games, NBC Sunday Night Football, the NBC Nightly News, the rededication of the Statue of Liberty, and the television series Lost in Space. Williams has also composed numerous classical concerti, and he served as the principal conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra from 1980 to 1993; he is now the orchestra's conductor laureate.
Williams has won five Academy Awards, four Golden Globe Awards, seven BAFTA Awards, and 21 Grammy Awards. With 47 Academy Award nominations, Williams is the second most nominated person, after Walt Disney. John Williams was honored with the prestigious Richard Kirk award at the 1999 BMI Film and TV Awards. The award is given annually to a composer who has made significant contributions to film and television music. Williams was inducted into the Hollywood Bowl Hall of Fame in 2000, and was a recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors in 2004.
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Joseph Haydn
Franz Joseph Haydn ( /ˈdʒoʊzəf ˈhaɪdən/; German pronunciation: [ˈjoːzɛf ˈhaɪdən] (
listen); 31 March 1732 – 31 May 1809), known as Joseph Haydn, was an Austrian composer, one of the most prolific and prominent composers of the Classical period. He is often called the "Father of the Symphony" and "Father of the String Quartet" because of his important contributions to these forms. He was also instrumental in the development of the piano trio and in the evolution of sonata form.
A lifelong resident of Austria, Haydn spent much of his career as a court musician for the wealthy Esterházy family on their remote estate. Isolated from other composers and trends in music until the later part of his long life, he was, as he put it, "forced to become original". At the time of his death, he was one of the most celebrated composers in Europe.
Joseph Haydn was the brother of Michael Haydn, himself a highly regarded composer, and Johann Evangelist Haydn, a tenor. He was also a close friend of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and a teacher of Ludwig van Beethoven.
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Joseph Rouleau
Joseph A. Rouleau, CC GOQ (born February 28, 1929) is a French-Canadian bass opera singer, particularly associated with the Italian and French repertories.
Born in Matane, Quebec, he studied privately with Édouard Woolley and Albert Cornellier in Montreal, and at the Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Montréal with Martial Singher. He went to Milan, Italy, for complementary studies with Mario Basiola and Antonio Narducci. He sang small roles with the Opéra national du Québec, but his real debut was as Colline in La bohème, in New Orleans Opera, in 1955. He made his Opera Guild of Montreal debut as Philip II in Don Carlos (one of his greatest roles) in 1956. He also appeared in concert and on Canadian radio and television.
Engaged by the Royal Opera House in London, Rouleau sang with the company in Cardiff, Manchester, and Southampton prior to his London debut as Colline on 23 Apr 1957. Leading roles followed in over 40 productions there during the next 20 years. His Count Rodolfo in Bellini's La Sonnambula in 1960 with Joan Sutherland, led to a collaboration with the soprano which included his debut at the Paris Opéra that year as Raimondo in Lucia di Lammermoor and a 1965-6 Australian tour during which he won high praise particularly for his Assur in Rossini's Semiramide.
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Josephine Veasey
Josephine Veasey (born on July 10, 1930) is a British mezzo-soprano, particularly associated with Wagner and Berlioz roles.
Born in Peckham, she studied with Audrey Langford, and became a member of the Royal Opera House chorus in 1949, she made her debut as a soloist in 1955, as the Shepherd Boy in Tannhäuser, followed by Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro, later roles included: Dorabella, Marina, Preziosilla, Eboli, Amneris, Carmen, etc. Beginning in 1957, she became a regular guest at the Glyndebourne Festival, notably as Charlotte and Octavian.
Noticed and encouraged by Georg Solti, she began adding Wagner roles to her repertoire, notably: Waltraute, Fricka (which she recorded for DG under Herbert von Karajan), Brangäne, Venus, Kundry. Under Colin Davis' guidance, she also became an illustrious interpreter of Berlioz 's works, singing both Didon and Cassandre in Les Troyens, and Marguerite in La damnation de Faust, which she also recorded for him.
On the international scene, she appeared at the Paris Opéra, the Aix-en-Provence Festival, at La Scala in Milan, the Vienna State Opera, the Salzburg Festival, the Metropolitan Opera, and the San Francisco Opera.
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Jules Massenet
Jules Émile Frédéric Massenet (French pronunciation: [ʒyl emil fʁedeʁik masnɛ]) (May 12, 1842 – August 13, 1912) was a French composer best known for his operas. His compositions were very popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and he ranks as one of the greatest melodists of his era. Soon after his death, Massenet's style went out of fashion, and many of his operas fell into almost total oblivion. Apart from Manon and Werther, his works were rarely performed. However, since the mid-1970s, many operas of his such as Thaïs and Esclarmonde have undergone periodic revivals.
Massenet was born in Montaud, then an outlying hamlet and now a part of the city of Saint-Étienne, in the Loire. When he was six, his family moved to Paris due to his father's ill-health. There his mother (Adélaïde Massenet, née Royer; her husband's second wife) started taking piano pupils. She also taught Jules so well that at the age of 11 he was able to enter the Paris Conservatoire. He was still a student when his family moved from Paris to Chambéry, but Jules returned to Paris after a few months, living with a married member of his father's family by his first wife. To support himself during his studies, he worked as timpanist for six years at the Théâtre Lyrique, playing also other percussion instruments in other theatres, and working as a pianist in the Café de Belleville.
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Julia Gillard
Julia Eileen Gillard (born 29 September 1961) is the 27th and current Prime Minister of Australia, in office since 24 June 2010.
Gillard was born in Barry, Wales and migrated with her family to Adelaide, Australia in 1966, attending Mitcham Demonstration School and Unley High School. In 1982 Gillard moved to Melbourne. She graduated from the University of Melbourne with Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws degrees in 1986. In 1987, Gillard joined the law firm Slater & Gordon working in industrial law, before entering politics.
Gillard was elected at the 1998 federal election to the House of Representatives seat of Lalor, Victoria, for the Australian Labor Party. Following the 2001 federal election, Gillard was elected to the shadow cabinet with the portfolios of Population and Immigration. The Reconciliation and Indigenous Affairs and the Health portfolios were added in 2003. In December 2006, Kevin Rudd was elected Labor leader and Leader of the Opposition, with Gillard as deputy leader.
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Julie Andrews
Dame Julia Elizabeth Andrews, DBE (née Wells; born 1 October 1935) is an English film and stage actress, singer, and author. She is the recipient of Golden Globe, Emmy, Grammy, BAFTA, People's Choice Award, Theatre World Award, Screen Actors Guild and Academy Award honours.
Andrews is a former child actress and singer who made her Broadway debut in a 1954 production of The Boy Friend, and rose to prominence starring in musicals such as My Fair Lady and Camelot, both of which earned her Tony Award nominations. In 1957, she made her television debut with the title role in Cinderella, which was seen by over 100 million viewers.
Andrews made her feature film debut in Mary Poppins (1964), for which she won the Academy Award for Best Actress. She received her second Academy Award nomination for The Sound of Music (1965). Adjusted for inflation, these two films are the 25th and 3rd highest grossing films of all time, respectively. From 1964 to 1967, Andrews was the biggest film star in the world, with the additional box office successes of her films The Americanization of Emily, Hawaii, Torn Curtain, and Thoroughly Modern Millie.
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Julie Harris
Julia Ann "Julie" Harris (born December 2, 1925) is an American stage, screen, and television actress. She has won five Tony Awards, three Emmy Awards and a Grammy Award, and was nominated for an Academy Award. In 1994, she was awarded the National Medal of Arts. She is a member of the American Theatre Hall of Fame. She also received the 2002 Special Lifetime Achievement Tony Award.
Harris's screen debut was in 1952, repeating her Broadway success as the monumentally lonely teenage girl Frankie in Carson McCullers' The Member of the Wedding, for which she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress. That film also preserves the original Broadway cast performances of Ethel Waters and Brandon DeWilde. That same year, she won her first Best Actress Tony for originating the role of insouciant Sally Bowles in I Am a Camera, the stage version of Christopher Isherwood's Goodbye to Berlin (later musicalized as Cabaret on Broadway in 1966 and, in the 1972 film, with Liza Minnelli as Sally Bowles.) Harris repeated her stage role in the 1955 film version of I Am a Camera. She also appeared in such films as East of Eden (1955), with James Dean (with whom she became close friends), Requiem for a Heavyweight (1962), with Paul Newman in the private-detective film Harper in 1966, and Reflections in a Golden Eye (1967).
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Kevin Jacobsen
Kevin George Jacobsen OAM (born 29 July 1937 in Sydney) is a well-known Australian entertainment entrepreneur.
Along with his brothers Colin (Col Joye) and Keith, he was a member of prominent Australian 1960s band, The Joy Boys.
In 1965, together with Col and Tony Brady, he formed ATA Allstar Artists, initially managing acts and promoting tours by Joye, The Joy Boys, Little Pattie, Sandy Shaw and Cathy Wayne; and later recording artists for their label ATA Records distributed by Festival Records.
His company in Australia, Jacobsen Venue Management, has presented many acts including Barbra Streisand, Bruce Springsteen, the Bee Gees, The Three Tenors, Slim Whitman, Kiss, Simon and Garfunkel,Bob Marley, Shania Twain, Billy Joel, John Denver, Pearl Jam, Cyndi Lauper, Julio Iglesias, Barry Manilow, Meat Loaf, Olivia Newton-John, Peter Allen, Sammy Davis Jr, and many more, in addition to shows like Disney's Beauty and the Beast, Fame, and Dirty Dancing – The Classic Story on Stage. He was also the Executive Producer of the musical theatre production The Man from Snowy River: Arena Spectacular.
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Kiri Te Kanawa
Dame Kiri Jeanette Te Kanawa, ONZ, DBE, AC (pronounced /ˌkɪri tɨ ˈkɑːnəwə/; born 6 March 1944, Gisborne, New Zealand) is a New Zealand / Māori soprano who has had a highly successful international opera career since 1968. Acclaimed as one of the most beloved sopranos in both the United States and Britain she possesses a warm full lyric soprano voice, singing a wide array of works in multiple languages from the 17th to the 20th centuries. She is particularly associated with the works of Mozart, Strauss, Verdi, Handel and Puccini.
Te Kanawa's voice has been described as having "a vibrant but mellow quality that is ample in size without being overly heavy or forced"[citation needed]. Music critics have consistently praised the freshness and warmth of her voice[citation needed]. The sheer beauty of Te Kanawa's voice made her one of the leading operatic sopranos internationally of the 1970s and 1980s. She found particular success in portraying princesses, noble countesses and other similar characters on stage, as her naturally dignified stage presence and physical beauty complemented these roles well.
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Kirsten Flagstad
Kirsten Målfrid Flagstad (12 July 1895 – 7 December 1962) was a Norwegian opera singer and a highly regarded Wagnerian (dramatic) soprano. She ranks among the greatest singers of the 20th century; indeed, many opera critics called hers "the voice of the century." To quote Desmond Shawe-Taylor in New Grove Dictionary of Opera: "No one within living memory surpassed her in sheer beauty and consistency of line and tone."
Flagstad was born in Hamar in her grandparents' home. Though she never actually lived in Hamar, she always considered it her home town. She was raised in Oslo within a musical family; her father was a conductor and her mother a pianist. She received her early musical training in Oslo and made her stage debut at the National Theatre in Oslo as Nuri in Eugen d'Albert's Tiefland in 1913. Her first recordings were made between 1913 and 1915.
After further study in Stockholm with Dr. Gillis Bratt, she pursued a career in opera and operetta in Norway. In 1919, she married her first husband Sigurd Hall and a year later gave birth to her only child, a daughter, Else Marie Hall. Later that year she signed up with the newly created Opera Comique in Oslo, under the direction of Alexander Varnay and Benno Singer. Varnay was the father of the famous soprano Astrid Varnay. Her ability to learn roles quickly was noted, as it often took her only a few days to do so. She sang Desdemona opposite Leo Slezak, Minnie, Amelia and other lesser roles at the Opera Comique.
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Leo McKern
Reginald "Leo" McKern, AO (16 March 1920 – 23 July 2002) was an Australian-born English actor who appeared in numerous British and Australian television programmes and movies, and more than 200 stage roles.
McKern was born Reginald McKern in Sydney, New South Wales, the son of Vera (née Martin) and Norman Walton McKern and attended Sydney Technical High School. After an accident at age 15 he lost his left eye. He first worked as an engineering apprentice, then as an artist, followed by serving in the Australian Army during World War II. During the war, he made his first stage appearance in Sydney in 1944.
Having fallen in love with actress Jane Holland, McKern moved to England to be with her and they married in 1946. He soon became a regular performer at London's Old Vic theatre and the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre (now called the Royal Shakespeare Theatre) in Stratford-upon-Avon, despite the difficulties posed by his glass eye and Australian accent.
In 1949, he played Forester in Love's Labour's Lost at the Old Vic. His most notable Shakespearean role was as Iago to Anthony Quayle's Othello in 1952. On the West End in London, McKern originated the role of the Common Man for Robert Bolt's A Man for All Seasons in 1960, but for the show's Broadway production, he was shifted to the role of Thomas Cromwell, 1st Earl of Essex, the prosecutor of Sir Thomas More, which he would reprise in the film version. He also memorably played Subtle in Ben Jonson's The Alchemist in 1962.
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Leo Nucci
Leo Nucci (born April 16, 1942) is an Italian operatic baritone, particularly suited to Verdi roles.
Born at Castiglione dei Pepoli, near Bologna, he studied with Giuseppe Marchese and made his stage debut in Spoleto, as Figaro in Il barbiere di Siviglia, in 1967, he then joined the chorus of La Scala in Milan, and made his solo debut there in 1975, again as Figaro.
His career quickly took an international turn with debut at the Royal Opera House in London, as Miller in Luisa Miller, in 1978, and at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, as Renato/Ancharstrom in Un ballo in maschera, in 1980. Renato was also his debut role at the Paris Opéra in 1981, and the Salzburg Festival in 1989, under Herbert Von Karajan. His career is remembered for famous performances in the opera world, including works with Luciano Pavarotti, Joan Sutherland, Placido Domingo and others.
His repertoire encompasses the entire Italian repertory from bel canto to verismo, but his sonorous voice, secure technique and dramatic abilities are best displayed in Verdi - notably as Rigoletto, Macbeth, Count di Luna, Giorgo Germont, Rodrigo, Amonasro, Iago, and Falstaff. He has sung the role of Rigoletto alone more than 400 times.
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Leon Fleisher
Leon Fleisher (born July 23, 1928) is an American pianist and conductor.
Fleisher was born in San Francisco, where he started studying the piano at age four. He made his public debut at age eight and played with the New York Philharmonic under Pierre Monteux at 16; Monteux famously called him "the pianistic find of the century." He became one of the few child prodigies to be accepted for study with Artur Schnabel and also studied with Maria Curcio. Fleisher was linked via Schnabel to a tradition that descended directly from Beethoven himself, handed down through Carl Czerny and Theodor Leschetizky.
In the 1950s, Fleisher signed an exclusive recording contract with Columbia Masterworks. He is particularly well known for his interpretations of the piano concerti of Brahms and Beethoven, which he recorded with George Szell and the Cleveland Orchestra. They also recorded Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 25, the Grieg and Schumann piano concertos, Franck's Symphonic Variations, and Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini.
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Luciano Pavarotti
Luciano Pavarotti, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI (12 October 1935 – 6 September 2007) was an Italian operatic tenor, who also crossed over into popular music, eventually becoming one of the most commercially successful tenors of all time. He made numerous recordings of complete operas and individual arias, and established himself as one of the finest tenors of the 20th century. He was one of The Three Tenors and became well known for his televised concerts and media appearances. Pavarotti was also noted for his charity work on behalf of refugees and the Red Cross, amongst others.
Pavarotti began his professional career as a tenor in 1961 in Italy. That same year, he made his first international appearance in La traviata in Belgrade, Yugoslavia. He sang in opera houses in addition to Italy, in the Netherlands, Vienna, London, Ankara, Budapest and Barcelona. The young tenor earned valuable experience and recognition while touring Australia at the invitation of soprano Joan Sutherland in 1965. He made his United States debut in Miami soon afterwards, also on Sutherland's recommendation. His position as a leading lyric tenor was consolidated in the years between 1966 and 1972, during which time he first appeared at Milan's La Scala and other major European houses. In 1968, he debuted at New York City's Metropolitan Opera as Rodolfo in Puccini's La bohème. At the Met in 1972, in the role of Tonio in Donizetti's La fille du régiment he earned the title "King of the high Cs" when he sang the aria "Ah mes amis ... pour mon âme". He gained worldwide fame for the brilliance and beauty of his tone, especially into the upper register. He was at his best in bel canto operas, pre-Aida Verdi roles and Puccini works such as La bohème, Tosca and Madama Butterfly. The late 1970s and 1980s saw Pavarotti continue to make significant appearances in the world's foremost opera houses.
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Luigi Alva
Luis Ernesto Alva y Talledo, better known as Luigi Alva (born 10 April 1927) is a Peruvian operatic tenor, active in the third quarter of the 20th century. He was admired for his purity of tone, the elegance of his phrasing and the clarity of his diction. A Mozart and Rossini specialist, Alva excelled in roles such as Don Ottavio (in Don Giovanni), Count Almaviva (in The Barber of Seville) and Fenton (in Verdi's Falstaff).
Born in Lima, Peru, where he studied under Rosa Mercedes Ayarza de Morales, he made his debut in Federico Moreno Torroba's zarzuela Luisa Fernanda. He went to Milan in 1953 and studied under Emilio Ghirardini. Later he would be called by Giulio Comfallonieri to became a "cadet" at the Scuola di Canto (Voice Academy) at La Scala. He made his European debut at the Teatro Nuovo in Milan as Alfredo in Verdi's La traviata, following that as Paolino in Cimarosa's Il matrimonio segreto. His debut at the Teatro alla Scala was in 1956 as Count Almaviva in Rossini's The Barber of Seville. He was soon invited to sing at the most important European festivals and opera houses. At Glyndebourne he made his debut as Nemorino in Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore. In 1962 Alva made his debut with the Philadelphia Lyric Opera Company as Count Almaviva and in 1964 he made his first appearance at the Metropolitan Opera as Fenton in Verdi's Falstaff. Subsequently he sang with most of the leading companies in the US and Europe.
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Lyndon Terracini
Lyndon Terracini is an operatic baritone and current Artistic Director of Opera Australia.
Terracini's professional operatic debut was in 1976, as "Sid' in The Australian Opera's Albert Herring at the Sydney Opera House.
Before taking up his post at Opera Australia, he was artistic director of 2000 Queensland Music Festival, and the 2006, 2008, and 2009Brisbane Festivals.
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Margreta Elkins
Margreta Elkins AM (16 October 1930 – 1 April 2009) was an Australian mezzo-soprano of great renown. She sang at Covent Garden and with Opera Australia and other companies, but turned down offers to sing at the Metropolitan Opera, Bayreuth and Glyndebourne. She made a number of recordings, including singing alongside sopranos such as Maria Callas and Joan Sutherland.
Margaret Ann Enid Geater was born in Brisbane, Queensland. She began her vocal studies at a convent school before winning an Australian state scholarship in 1949. That same year she married Henry Elkins and adopted Margreta Elkins as her stage name. Also that year she competed in the Mobil Quest against Joan Sutherland. In 1950 she toured Queensland and appeared in Faust as Siébel; Il trovatore as Azucena; and Madama Butterfly as Suzuki. In 1952 she joined and toured with the National Opera Company of Australia, making her first appearances in Brisbane as Carmen in 1953 and as Azucena in 1954. She entered the Mobil Quest again in 1956, winning second prize.
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Maria Callas
Maria Callas, Commendatore OMRI (Greek: Μαρία Κάλλας) (December 2, 1923 – September 16, 1977) was an American-born Greek soprano and one of the most renowned opera singers of the 20th century. She combined an impressive bel canto technique, a wide-ranging voice and great dramatic gifts. An extremely versatile singer, her repertoire ranged from classical opera seria to the bel canto operas of Donizetti, Bellini and Rossini; further, to the works of Verdi and Puccini; and, in her early career, to the music dramas of Wagner. Her remarkable musical and dramatic talents led to her being hailed as La Divina.
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 onstage, 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 behaviour, 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 was 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."
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Marie Bashir
Marie Roslyn Bashir AC, CVO (born 1 December 1930) is the present Governor of New South Wales since 2001 and also the Chancellor of the University of Sydney since 2007. Born in Narrandera, New South Wales, Bashir graduated from the University of Sydney in 1956 and held various medical positions, with a particular emphasis in psychiatry. In 1993 Bashir was appointed as the Clinical Director of Mental Health Services for the Central Sydney Area, which she held until she was appointed as Governor in March 2001. She was further appointed in June 2007 as Chancellor of the University of Sydney.
Marie Roslyn Bashir was born in 1930 in Narrandera, New South Wales, to Lebanese-born parents Michael Bashir and Victoria Melick. Her father and her paternal uncle were both medical graduates from the American University of Beirut while her maternal family had come to Australia in the 19th century.
Bashir attended Narrandera Public School and enrolled in 1943 in Sydney Girls High School, where her mother had also attended. Bashir then moved to Sydney to live with her grandmother in order to attend. Upon graduating, Bashir studied at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, becoming a proficient violinist.
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Marilyn Horne
Marilyn Horne (born January 16, 1934, Bradford, Pennsylvania) is an American mezzo-soprano opera singer. She specialized in roles requiring a large sound, beauty of tone, excellent breath support, and the ability to execute difficult coloratura passages.
Horne was born in Bradford, Pennsylvania, but moved with her parents to Long Beach, California, when she was 11. At the age of 13, she became part of the newly formed Los Angeles Concert Youth Chorus. She attended the University of Southern California where she was a member of Pi Beta Phi sorority. She is an alumna of Long Beach Polytechnic High School and returned in 1989 in a performance to benefit its music program. As a high school student, Marilyn was part of the St. Luke's Choir of Long Beach under the direction of William Ripley Dorr. This prestigious choir often worked for the movie studios and recorded on Capitol Records. Marilyn and her sister Gloria were part of St. Luke's Quartet along with tenor, Bob James and baritone, Philip D. Haynes.
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Mario Del Monaco
Mario Del Monaco (July 27, 1915 – October 16, 1982) was an Italian tenor who is regarded as one of the greatest dramatic tenors of the 20th century.
Del Monaco was born in Florence to a musical upper-class family. As a young boy he studied the violin but had a passion for singing. He graduated from the Rossini Conservatory at Pesaro, where he first met and sang with Renata Tebaldi, with whom he would form something of an operatic dream team of the 1950s. His early mentors as a singer included Arturo Melocchi, his teacher at Pesaro, and Maestro Raffaelli, who recognized his talent and helped launch his career.
That career began in earnest with Del Monaco's debut on December 31, 1940, as Pinkerton at the Puccini Theater in Milan. (His initial appearance in an opera had occurred the previous year, however, in Mascagni's Cavalleria rusticana in Pesaro.) He sang in Italy during the Second World War and married, in 1941, Rina Filipini. In 1946, he appeared at London's Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, for the first time. During the ensuing years he became famous not only in London but also across the operatic world for his powerful, metallic voice. It was almost heldentenor-like in scope but Del Monaco was no Wagnerian, confining his activities overwhelmingly to the Italian repertoire.
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Martin Scorsese
Martin Charles Scorsese ( /skɔrˈsɛsɛ/; born November 17, 1942) is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and film historian. In 1990 he founded The Film Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to film preservation, and in 2007 he founded the World Cinema Foundation. He is a recipient of the AFI Life Achievement Award for his contributions to the cinema, and has won Academy Award, Palme d'Or, Emmys, Golden Globes, BAFTAs, and DGA Awards.
Scorsese's body of work addresses such themes as Italian American identity, Roman Catholic concepts of guilt and redemption,machismo, modern crime, and violence. Scorsese is hailed as one of the most significant and influential filmmakers of all time, directing landmark films such as Mean Streets (1973), Taxi Driver (1976), Raging Bull (1980), and Goodfellas (1990) – all of which he collaborated on with actor and close friend Robert De Niro. He won the Academy Award for Best Director for The Departed (2006), having been nominated a previous five times.
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Martina Arroyo
Martina Arroyo (born February 2, 1937) is an operatic soprano of Puerto Rican and African-American descent who had a major international opera career during the 1960s through the 1980s. She was part of the first generation of black opera singers to achieve wide success and is viewed as part of an instrumental group of performers who helped break down the barriers of racial prejudice in the opera world.
Arroyo first rose to prominence at the Zurich Opera between 1963–1965, after which she was one of the Metropolitan Opera's leading sopranos between 1965 and 1978. During her years at the Metropolitan Opera she was also a regular presence at the world's best opera houses, performing on the stages of La Scala, Covent Garden, the Opéra National de Paris, the Teatro Colón, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Vienna State Opera, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, and the San Francisco Opera to name just a few. She is best known for her performances of the Italian spinto repertoire and in particular her portrayals of Verdi and Puccini heroines. Her last opera performance was in 1991, after which she has devoted her time to teaching singing on the faculties of various universities in the United States and Europe.
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Martti Talvela
Martti Olavi Talvela (February 4, 1935 – July 22, 1989) was a Finnish operatic bass.
Born in Hiitola, Finland (now in the Republic of Karelia), he studied in Lahti and Stockholm, and made his operatic debut in Helsinki in 1960 as Sparafucile. At 203 centimetres (6 ft 8 in), he was the tallest singer of his century. He trained as a boxer in his youth and developed the stamina necessary for the biggest roles. Originally Talvela was educated as a primary school teacher in Savonlinna, Eastern Finland (1952–1956), and he worked in that occupation at three schools (1957–1960). He sang at the Stockholm Royal Opera in Sweden from 1961 to 1962, before becoming a regularly employed singer at the Deutsche Oper (German Opera) of Berlin in 1962.
In 1970, the Senate (government) of West Berlin formally granted him the rank of chamber singer. He worked as the artistic leader of the Savonlinna Opera Festival from 1972 to 1979. At New York's Metropolitan Opera, he performed the role of Boris Godunov 39 times between 1974 and 1987. He was especially acclaimed as the title character in Boris Godunov and as Pimen from the same work, as Paavo Ruotsalainen in The Last Temptations, as a Wagner singer (King Marke, Hunding, Fasolt, Fafner, Hagen (one critic described his Hagen as an "elemental force") and Titurel), as Sarastro, Dosefei, and Prince Gremin, as King Phillip II, the Grand Inquisitor and, in the later part of his career, the title character in Glinka's Ivan Susanin. As his final record he left, terribly thinned out by illness, a warm and heartfelt version of Schubert's Winterreise. He also left at least two recorded performances of Mussorgsky's Songs and Dances of Death – one with full orchestra and one with piano accompaniment.
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Matteo Manuguerra
Matteo Manuguerra (October 5, 1924 – July 25, 1998) was a Tunisian-born French baritone, one of the leading Verdi baritones of the 1970s.
Manuguerra was born in Tunis, Tunisia, to Italian parents, who later moved to Argentina. He came late to music, starting his vocal study at the age of 35, at the Buenos Aires Music Conservatory, with Umberto Landi. He made his debut as a tenor, in Mozart's Requiem. He settled in France in 1961, and after new studies, made his debut the following year as a baritone in the role of Valentin in Faust, at the Opéra de Lyon where he was to remain for three years.
Manuguerra made his Paris Opéra debut in 1966, as Rigoletto. He appeared throughout France, and sang on French radio particularly in Verdi operas such as, Nabucco, Ernani, I masnadieri, Luisa Miller, as well as in I vespri siciliani and Don Carlo, both in their original French versions.
After singing widely in Europe, Manuguerra made his American debut in 1968, as Gérard in Andrea Chénier, in Seattle. He made his Metropolitan Opera debut on January 11, 1971, as Enrico in Lucia di Lammermoor, other roles included Barnaba in La Gioconda, Carlo in La forza del destino, Amonasro in Aida, Alfio in Cavalleria rusticana, Tonio in I Pagliacci, and others. He also appeared at the San Francisco Opera and the Dallas Opera.
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Mel Brooks
Mel Brooks (born Melvin Kaminsky; June 28, 1926) is an American film director, screenwriter, composer, lyricist, comedian, actor and producer. He is best known as a creator of broad film farces and comic parodies. He began his career as a stand-up comic and as a writer for the early TV variety show Your Show of Shows. He became well known as part of the comedy duo with Carl Reiner, The 2000 Year Old Man. In middle age he became one of the most successful film directors of the 1970s, with many of his films being among the top ten money makers of the year that they were released. His most well known films include The Producers, Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein, History of the World, Part I and Spaceballs. More recently he has had a smash hit on Broadway with the musical adaptation of his first film, The Producers. He was married to the actress Anne Bancroft from 1964 until her death in 2005.
Brooks is a member of the short list of entertainers with the distinction of having won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony award. Three of his films ranked in the American Film Institute's list of the top 100 comedy films of all-time: Blazing Saddles at number 6, The Producers at number 11, and Young Frankenstein at number 13.
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Michael Tippett
Sir Michael Kemp Tippett OM CH CBE (2 January 1905 – 8 January 1998) was an English composer.
In his long career he produced a large body of work, including five operas, three large-scale choral works, four symphonies, five string quartets, four piano sonatas, concertos and concertante works, song cycles and incidental music. The works for which he is best known are the Concerto for Double String Orchestra, the oratorio A Child of Our Time and the Fantasia Concertante on a Theme of Corelli.
His deeply held humanitarian and pacifist beliefs shaped both his life and his music: he served a prison sentence as a conscientious objector in the Second World War. An interest in many aspects of contemporary culture is reflected in his music and writings. Tippett was one of the first openly gay composers to explore issues of sexuality in his work. The libretti of his operas, which he wrote himself, attracted criticism for their apparent naivety and sometimes awkward and not quite idiomatic use of contemporary slang, as well as for their sometimes obscure extra-musical references. He had a keen interest in musical education and in later life was active as a broadcaster and lecturer. As a conductor he recorded many of his own works. He is generally acknowledged to be one of the most important British composers of the 20th century.
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Mike Nichols
Mike Nichols (born Michael Igor Peschkowsky; November 6, 1931) is a German-born American television, stage and film director, writer, producer and comedian. He began his career in the 1950s as one half of the comedy duo Nichols and May, along with Elaine May. In 1968 he won the Academy Award for Best Director for the film The Graduate. His other noteworthy films include Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Carnal Knowledge, Working Girl, Closer and the TV mini-series Angels in America. He also staged the original theatrical productions of Barefoot in the Park, Luv, The Odd Couple and Spamalot.
Nichols is one of a small group of people who have won an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony Award. His other honors include the Lincoln Center Gala Tribute in 1999, the National Medal of Arts in 2001, the Kennedy Center Honors in 2003 and the AFI Life Achievement Award in 2010.
Mike Nichols was born Michael Igor Peschkowsky in Berlin, Germany, the son of Brigitte (née Landauer) and Paul Peschkowsky, a physician. His father was born in Vienna, Austria, to a Russian Jewish immigrant family that had been wealthy and lived in Siberia, leaving after the Russian Revolution and settling in Germany around 1920. His mother's family were German Jews. His maternal grandparents were anarchist Gustav Landauer and author Hedwig Lachmann. Nichols is a third cousin twice removed of scientist Albert Einstein, through Nichols' mother. He moved to the United States to flee the Nazis on April 28, 1939. His father, who had changed his name to Paul Nichols, had successfully set up a medical practice in Manhattan and the family lived near Central Park. He became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1944 and attended public elementary school in Manhattan (PS 87). After graduating from Walden High School, Nichols briefly attended New York University before dropping out. In 1950, he enrolled in the pre-med program at the University of Chicago.
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Mikhail Baryshnikov
Mikhail Nikolaevich Baryshnikov (Russian: Михаи́л Никола́евич Бары́шников, Latvian: Mihails Barišņikovs) (born January 27, 1948), nicknamed "Misha", is a Russian American dancer, choreographer, and actor, often cited alongside Vaslav Nijinsky and Rudolf Nureyev as one of the greatest ballet dancers in history. After a promising start in the Kirov Ballet in Leningrad, he defected to Canada in 1974 for more opportunities in western dance. After freelancing with many companies, he joined the New York City Ballet as a principal dancer to learn George Balanchine's style of movement. He then danced with the American Ballet Theatre, where he later became artistic director.
Baryshnikov has spearheaded many of his own artistic projects and has been associated in particular with promoting modern dance, premiering dozens of new works, including many of his own. His success as a dramatic actor on stage, cinema and television has helped him become probably the most widely recognized contemporary ballet dancer. In 1977, he received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and a Golden Globe nomination for his work as "Yuri Kopeikine" in the film The Turning Point.
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Moffatt Oxenbould
Moffatt Benjamin Oxenbould AM (born 18 November 1943, Sydney) is an Australian opera director.
He was Artistic Director of Opera Australia from 1984 until his retirement in 1999. He had been part of the company since he graduated from the National Institute of Dramatic Art in 1962. Since his retirement he still directs with Opera Australia and Houston Grand Opera, and is a presenter with the classical music radio station ABC Classic FM.
He was made a Member of the Order of Australia in 1985 for his services to Opera. In 2005 he released his memoirs Timing is Everything (ISBN 0733317138), describing his 37 years in opera in Australia.
"Presenters A-Z". ABC Classic FM. Archived from the original on 2007-10-11. http://web.archive.org/web/20071011083751/http://abc.net.au/classic/presenters/s1121904.htm. Retrieved 2007-11-04.
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Morgan Freeman
Morgan Freeman (born June 1, 1937) is an American actor, film director, aviator and narrator. Freeman has received Academy Award nominations for his performances in Street Smart, Driving Miss Daisy, The Shawshank Redemption and Invictus and won in 2005 for Million Dollar Baby. He has also won a Golden Globe Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award. Freeman has appeared in many other box office hits, including Unforgiven, Glory, Seven, Deep Impact, The Sum of All Fears, Bruce Almighty, Batman Begins, March of the Penguins, The Bucket List, Wanted, The Dark Knight, and RED.
Morgan Freeman was born in Memphis, Tennessee, the son of Mayme Edna (née Revere), a teacher, and Morgan Porterfield Freeman, a barber who died April 27, 1961, from cirrhosis. He has three older siblings. Freeman was sent as an infant to his paternal grandmother in Charleston, Mississippi. His family moved frequently during his childhood, living in Greenwood, Mississippi; Gary, Indiana; and finally Chicago, Illinois. Freeman made his acting debut at age 9, playing the lead role in a school play. He then attended Broad Street High School, later named Threadgill Elementary School, in Mississippi. At age 12, he won a statewide drama competition, and while still at Broad Street High School, he performed in a radio show based in Nashville, Tennessee. In 1955, he graduated from Broad Street, but turned down a partial drama scholarship from Jackson State University, opting instead to work as a mechanic in the United States Air Force.
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Natalie Dessay
Natalie Dessay (French pronunciation: [na.ta.li də.sɛ]) (born Nathalie Dessaix, 19 April 1965, in Lyon) is a French coloratura soprano. She dropped the silent "h" in her first name in honor of Natalie Wood when she was in grade school and subsequently simplified the spelling of her surname outside France. Famous in her earlier career for a very high upper extension, limpid intonation and superb coloratura, Dessay became more recognized in recent years for her dramatic and comedic flair as a singing actress.
In her youth, Dessay had intended to be a ballet dancer, and then an actress. She discovered her talent for singing while taking acting classes, and shifted her artistic focus to music. Dessay was encouraged to study voice at the Conservatoire de Bordeaux and gained experience as a chorister in Toulouse. At the competition Les Voix Nouvelles, run by France Télécom, she was awarded First Prize (Premier Prix de Concours) followed by a year's study at Paris Opera's Ecole d'Art Lyrique, where she sang "Elisa" in Mozart's Il re pastore. Also, she entered the International Mozart Competition at the Vienna State Opera, winning First Prize.
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Nello Santi
Nello Santi (born September 22, 1931) is an Italian conductor. He is often called "Papa Santi" by his fellow musicians to show their high respect for his work.
Santi was born in Adria (Veneto), Italy. He studied composition at the Liceo musicale of Padua. In 1951, he made his debut as a conductor in Padua conducting Verdi's Rigoletto at the Teatro Verdi. He was appointed as the music director of the Zurich Opera House from 1958 to 1969. He has conducted at the Zurich Opera from 1958, Metropolitan Opera from 1962 when he made his debut with Verdi's Un ballo in maschera, Royal Opera House with La traviata and many more opera houses all over the world including Verona Arena.
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Niccolò Piccinni
Niccolò Piccinni (January 16, 1728 – May 7, 1800) was an Italian composer of symphonies, sacred music, chamber music, and opera. Although he is somewhat obscure, even to music lovers today, Piccinni was one of the most popular composers of opera—particularly the Neapolitan opera buffa—of his day. Historically, he had the misfortune of falling between the generations of his great predecessors such as Pergolesi and the greats who came after him, including Domenico Cimarosa and Mozart.
Piccinni was born in Bari, and educated under Leonardo Leo and Francesco Durante, at the S. Onofrio Conservatory. For this, he had to thank the intervention of the Bishop of Bari, since his father, although himself a musician, was opposed to his son's following the same career. Piccinni's first opera, Le donne dispettose, was produced in 1755, and in 1760 he composed, at Rome, the chef d'œuvre of his early life, La Cecchina, ossia la buona Figliuola, an opera buffa with a libretto by Goldoni, which "enjoyed a two-year run in Rome and was played in all the important European capitals. It can probably be called the most popular opera buffa of the 18th century...[even more than]... Pergolesi's La serva padrona...[and]... The first of the new era, culminating in the masterworks of Mozart."
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Nicola Ghiuselev
Nicola Ghiuselev (Pavlikeni, August 17, 1936) is a Bulgarian operatic bass, particularly associated with the Italian and Russian repertories.
He studied first painting at the Academy of Arts in Sofia, and later voice at the school of the National Opera of Sofia, with Christo Brambarov. He made his stage debut with that company, as Timur in Turandot, in 1960.
In 1965, with the Sofia Opera, he toured Germany, the Netherlands and France, and made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera of New York, as Ramfis in Aida, quickly followed by King Philip II in Don Carlo, and the title role in Boris Godunov. In two seasons with the Met, he also sang as Raimondo in Lucia di Lammermoor, the Commendatore in Don Giovanni, Colline in La boheme.
Important debuts followed at the Berlin State Opera, La Scala in Milan, the Vienna State Opera, the Monte Carlo Opera, the Palais Garnier in Paris, the Liceo in Barcelona, the San Carlo in Naples, the Royal Opera House in London, the Verona Arena, the Salzburg Festival, the Holland Festival, he also appeared in Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Prague, Budapest, Warsaw, Marseille, Toulouse, Chicago, Houston, etc.
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Nicola Monti
Nicola Monti (November 21, 1920 – March 1, 1993) is an Italian opera singer, one of the leading tenori di grazia of the 1950s.
Born in Milan, Italy, Monti studied voice from an early age, and made his debut in concert in Florence in 1941, and that same year sang his first major role, the Duke of Mantua, in Cagliari. His career was interrupted by the war, but he resumed his studies in 1950 by entering the "Scuola di Canta" of the Teatro alla Scala. In 1951, he made his official operatic debut at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples as Elvino in La sonnambula, a role he will remain closely associated with throughout his career.
He sang widely in Italy, appearing in Le comte Ory at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in Florence in 1952. In 1954, he appeared in an Italian television production of Il barbiere di Siviglia, opposite Rolando Panerai and Antonietta Pastori.
His career quickly took an international turn. He appeared as Elvino at the Wexford Festival in 1952, returning the following year as Nemorino in L'elisir d'amore. He also made guest appearances in Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam, and made his debut as Elvino opposite Anna Moffo at the San Francisco Opera in 1960.
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Nicola Rescigno
Nicola Rescigno (May 28, 1916 - August 4, 2008) was an Italian-American conductor, particularly associated with the Italian opera repertory. Opera News said that "Rescigno was a seminal figure in the history of opera in America, a maestro and mentor who shaped the destiny and reputation of two major U.S. companies — Lyric Opera of Chicago and Dallas Opera — as well as countless singing and conducting careers. Vigorous musical integrity, idiomatic style and unfailing support of his singers were the hallmarks of his performances throughout his distinguished career, which lasted more than fifty years."
Born into a musical family in New York City, he studied with Pizzetti, Giannini and Polacco. He made his debut in 1943, conducting La traviata, at the Brooklyn Academy of Music for Alfredo Salmaggi's opera company. He then toured the United States with the San Carlo Opera Company and served as music director for the Connecticut Opera and Havana Opera. He made his conducting debut with the San Francisco Opera in 1950 conducting Lily Pons in Il Barbiere di Siviglia and Dorothy Kirsten in Madama Butterfly.
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Nicolai Ghiaurov
Nicolai Ghiaurov (or Nikolai Gjaurov, Nikolay Gyaurov, Bulgarian: Николай Гяуров) (September 13, 1929 – June 2, 2004) was a Bulgarian opera singer and one of the most famous basses of the postwar period. He was admired for his powerful, sumptuous voice, and was particularly associated with roles of Verdi. Ghiaurov married the Italian soprano Mirella Freni in 1978, and the two singers frequently performed together. They lived in Modena up until Ghiaurov's death in 2004 of a heart attack.
Ghiaurov was born in the small mountain town of Velingrad in southern Bulgaria. As a child, he learned to play the violin, piano and clarinet. He began his musical studies at the Bulgarian State Conservatory in 1949 under Prof. Hristo Brambarov. From 1950 until 1955, he studied at the Moscow Conservatory.
Ghiaurov's career was launched in 1955, when he won the Grand Prix at the International Vocal Competition in Paris and the First Prize and a gold medal at the Fifth World Youth Festival in Prague. Ghiaurov made his operatic debut in 1955 as Don Basilio in Rossini's The Barber of Seville in Sofia. He made his Italian operatic debut in 1957 in Teatro Comunale Bologna, before starting an international career with his rendition of Varlaam in the opera Boris Godunov at La Scala in 1959. 1962 marked Ghiaurov's Covent Garden debut as Padre Guardiano in Verdi's "Forza del Destino" as well as his first appearance in Salzburg in Verdi's "Requiem," conducted by Herbert von Karajan.
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Nino Sanzogno
Nino Sanzogno (13 April 1911, Venice - 4 May 1983, Milan) was an Italian conductor and composer.
He studied the violin with Guarneri and composition with Agostini at the Venice Liceo Musicale, and later conducting in Vienna with Hermann Scherchen. He conducted the Gruppo Strumentale in concerts in Italy and abroad before becoming resident conductor at La Fenice in Venice in 1937, and the RAI Milan Symphony Orchestra soon afterwards. He first conducted at La Scala in Milan in 1939.
A specialist of contemporary works, he conducted at La Scala the premieres of Milhaud's David, Poulenc's Dialogues des Carmélites, Walton's Troilus and Cressida, Shostakovich's Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, Berg's Lulu, Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream, Prokofiev's The Fiery Angel, while abroad, notably in Britain, he introduced several works by Italian composers such as Malipiero, Dallapiccola and Pizzetti. He conducted the premiere of the final revised version of Karl Amadeus Hartmann's First Symphony in 1957.
In 1955, he inaugurated the Piccola Scala, where he conducted several revivals of 18th century works by composers such as Piccinni, Paisiello, Cimarosa, etc. He appeared with this company at the Edinburgh Festival in 1957.
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Norman Ayrton
Norman Ayrton is an actor, director, and theatre instructor. He was born in London, England on 25 September 1924. As a young man, Ayrton's home was bombed during the London Blitz, forcing him to relocate to the countryside. He later described this experience as having given him the courage to pursue a career in theatre. He trained for the stage at the Old Vic School under the tutelage of Michel Saint-Denis before joining the company in 1948. After spending several years acting in repertory theatre in Farnham and Oxford, Ayrton returned to the Old Vic Theatre in 1951 to teach movement. The following year he opened his own teaching studio in London, though he also taught at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford.
In 1954, Ayrton was appointed the Assistant Principal of the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, a position he held until 1966, whenceforth he served as the Academy's Principal until 1972. Ayrton served as the CHQ Drama Adviser to the Girl Guide Movement from 1960 through 1975. In 1973, Ayrton served as a guest theatre consultant to the Australian Council for the Arts. In 1963, he directed his first London opera production with Artaxerxes at the Handel Society. He went on to direct his first production in the United States in 1967 with Twelfth Night in Dallas, Texas. Ayrton joined the faculty at the Juilliard School in 1974. Two years later, he directed his first production at the Sydney Opera House with Lakmé. Ayrton has also directed operas at the Covent Garden.
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Ossie Davis
Ossie Davis (born Raiford Chatman Davis, December 18, 1917 – February 4, 2005) was an Emmy Award winning and Grammy nominated, African- American film, television and Broadway actor, director, poet, playwright, author, and social activist.
Davis was born Raiford Chatman Davis in Cogdell, Clinch County, Georgia, a son of Kince Charles Davis, a railway construction engineer, and his wife Laura (née Cooper). The name Ossie came from a county clerk who misheard his mother's pronunciation of his initials "R.C." when he was born. So he inadvertently became "Ossie" when his mother told the courthouse clerk in Clinch River, Ga., who was filing his birth certificate that his name was R.C. Davis. Davis experienced racism from an early age as the KKK threatened to shoot his father, whose job they felt was too advanced for a black man to have. Following the wishes of his parents, he attended Howard University but dropped out in 1939 to fulfill his acting career in New York; he later attended Columbia University School of General Studies. His acting career, which spanned seven decades, began in 1939 with the Rose McClendon Players in Harlem. He made his film debut in 1950 in the Sidney Poitier film No Way Out. He voiced Anansi the spider on the PBS children's television series Sesame Street in its animation segments.
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Paul Simon
Paul Frederic Simon (born October 13, 1941) is a grammy award winning American singer-songwriter, poet and guitarist.
Simon's international fame and success began as part of the duo Simon & Garfunkel, launched in 1964 with musical partner Art Garfunkel. Simon wrote most of the pair's songs, including three that reached No. 1 on the U.S. singles charts: "The Sound of Silence", "Mrs. Robinson", and "Bridge Over Troubled Water". The duo split up in 1970 at the height of their popularity, and Simon began a successful solo career, recording three highly acclaimed albums over the next five years. In 1986, he released Graceland, an album inspired by South African township music. Simon also wrote and starred in the film One-Trick Pony in 1980 and co-wrote the Broadway musical The Capeman in 1998.
Simon has earned 12 Grammys for his solo and collaborative work, including the Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2001, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and in 2006 was selected as one of the "100 People Who Shaped the World" by Time magazine. Among many other honors, Simon was the first recipient of the Library of Congress' Gershwin Prize for Popular Song in 2007. In 1986 Simon was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Music degree from Berklee College of Music where he currently serves on the Board of Trustees.
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Pete Townshend
Peter Dennis Blandford "Pete" Townshend (born 19 May 1945) is an English rock guitarist, vocalist, songwriter and author, known principally as the guitarist and songwriter for the rock group The Who, as well as for his own solo career. His career with The Who spans more than 40 years, during which time the band grew to be considered one of the most influential bands of the 1960s and 1970s, and, according to Eddie Vedder, "possibly the greatest live band ever."
Townshend is the primary songwriter for The Who, having written well over 100 songs for the band's 11 studio albums, including concept albums and the rock operas Tommy and Quadrophenia, plus popular rock and roll radio staples like Who's Next, and dozens more that appeared as non-album singles, bonus tracks on reissues, and tracks on rarities compilations like Odds & Sods. He has also written over 100 songs that have appeared on his solo albums, as well as radio jingles and television theme songs. Although known primarily as a guitarist, he also plays other instruments such as keyboards, banjo, accordion, synthesiser, bass guitar and drums, on his own solo albums, several Who albums, and as a guest contributor to a wide array of other artists' recordings. Townshend has never had formal lessons in any of the instruments he plays.
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Peter Pears
Sir Peter Neville Luard Pears CBE ( /ˈpɪərz/ PEERZ; 22 June 1910 – 3 April 1986) was an English tenor who was knighted in 1978. His career was closely associated with the composer Edward Benjamin Britten.
He was born at Newark House, Searle Road, Farnham, Surrey, and educated at Lancing. He went on to study music at Keble College, Oxford, serving as organist at Hertford College, but left without taking his degree. He later studied voice for two terms at the Royal College of Music. He claimed that it was hearing the tenor Steuart Wilson singing the Evangelist in J.S. Bach's St Matthew Passion that "started me off".
In 1936, while a member of the BBC Singers, he met Benjamin Britten, who was to become his life partner. Pears and Britten gave their first recital together in 1937 at Balliol College, Oxford University. In April 1939, Britten and Pears left for America together as pacifists, a few months before the outbreak of war between the British Empire and Germany. There, in 1940, Britten composed Seven Sonnets of Michelangelo, the first of many song cycles for Pears. Upon their return to England in April 1942, when they both registered as conscientious objectors, they performed the song cycle at Wigmore Hall on 23 September, and then recorded them for EMI, their first recording together.
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Piero Cappuccilli
Piero Cappuccilli (November 9, 1926 – July 11, 2005) was an Italian operatic baritone. Best known for his interpretations of Verdi roles, he was widely regarded as one of the finest Italian baritones of the second half of the 20th century. He was enormously admired within the field of opera for his rich and abundant voice, fine vocal technique and exceptional breath control. In the great Italian tradition he fused words and music into elegant phrases. He focused on Italian repertory, particularly the operas of Verdi, singing 17 major roles.
Born in Trieste, Cappuccilli originally intended to become an architect. He auditioned at a local opera house in 1949, where Luciano Donnaggio (a retired singer beginning a second career as a teacher) heard him and urged him to study. Cappuccilli was still reluctant, believing he had a better potential career as an architect, and even briefly discontinued his lessons, until Donnaggio's urging and the offer of free lessons persuaded him to resume studies in 1950. He studied with Luciano Donaggio in his native city. After encouragement from relatives decided to pursue a career in opera and made his stage debut there in 1951, singing small parts.
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Pierre Duval
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Pilar Lorengar
Lorenza Pilar García Seta (January 16, 1928 – June 2, 1996) was a Spanish (Aragonese) soprano who used the professional name Pilar Lorengar. She was best known for her interpretations of opera and the Spanish genre Zarzuela, and as a soprano she was known for her full register, a youthful timbre as well as a distinctive vibrato.
Pilar was born in the El Gancho district of Zaragoza. At a very young age she participated in a radio program called Ondas Infantiles, organized by Radio Zaragoza; she began formal music lessons at the age of fourteen under Margarita Martínez. She moved to Barcelona to study at the Barcelona Music Conservatory and began performing incognito under the name Loren Arce in various halls in order to pay for her lessons. She studied in Madrid under Spanish lyric soprano Ángeles Otein, and she also studied in West Berlin with Carl Ebert and mezzo-soprano Hertha Klust, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau's teacher.
Pilar became a member of the chorus of the Teatro de la Zarzuela around 1949. She made her professional debut in 1950 in Oran, Algeria, playing the role of Maruxa. In 1951 she made her Spanish debut in the principal role in the Zarzuela El canastillo de fresas (The Strawberry Basket). In 1952, she performed as a soloist in Barcelona in Beethoven's Ninth Symphony and also in Brahms' Requiem.
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Plácido Domingo
Plácido Domingo (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈplaθiðo ðoˈmiŋɡo]; born 21 January 1941), born José Plácido Domingo Embil, is a Spanish tenor and conductor known for his versatile and strong voice, possessing a ringing and dramatic tone throughout its range. In March 2008, he debuted in his 128th opera role, and as of July 2011, his 136 roles give Domingo more roles than any other tenor.
One of The Three Tenors, he has also taken on conducting opera and concert performances, and he is the General Director of the Los Angeles Opera in California.
Plácido Domingo was born on January 21, 1941, in the distrito de Retiro section of Madrid, Spain, and in 1949 moved to Mexico with his family, who ran a zarzuela company. He studied piano at first privately and later at the National Conservatory of Music in Mexico City.
In 1957, Domingo made his first professional appearance, performing with his mother in a concert at Mérida, Yucatán. He made his opera debut performing in Manuel Fernández Caballero's zarzuela, Gigantes y cabezudos, singing a baritone role. At that time, he was working with his parents' zarzuela company, taking baritone roles and as an accompanist for other singers. Among his first performances was a minor role in the first Mexican production of My Fair Lady where he was also the assistant conductor and assistant coach. The company gave 185 performances, which included a production of Lehár's The Merry Widow in which he performed alternately as either Camille or Danilo.
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Quincy Jones
Quincy Delight Jones, Jr. (born March 14, 1933) is an American record producer, conductor, arranger, film composer, television producer, and trumpeter. His career spans five decades in the entertainment industry and a record 79 Grammy Award nominations, 27 Grammys, including a Grammy Legend Award in 1991. He is particularly recognized as the producer of the album Thriller, by pop icon Michael Jackson, which has sold more than 110 million copies worldwide, and as the producer and conductor of the charity song “We Are the World”.
In 1968, Jones and his songwriting partner Bob Russell became the first African Americans to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song "The Eyes of Love" from the Universal Pictures film Banning. That same year, he became the first African American to be nominated twice within the same year when he was nominated for Best Original Score for his work on the music of the 1967 film In Cold Blood. In 1971, Jones would receive the honor of becoming the first African American to be named musical director/conductor of the Academy Awards ceremony. He was the first African American to win the Academy's Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, in 1995. He is tied with sound designer Willie D. Burton as the most Oscar-nominated African American, each of them having seven nominations. At the 2008 BET Awards, Quincy Jones was presented with the Humanitarian Award. He was played by Larenz Tate in the 2004 biopic about Ray Charles, Ray.
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Rafael Kubelík
Rafael Jeroným Kubelík (29 June 1914 – 11 August 1996) was a Czech conductor and composer.
Kubelík was born in Býchory, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary, today's Czech Republic. He was the sixth child of the Bohemian violinist Jan Kubelík, whom the younger Kubelík described as "a kind of god to me". His mother was a Hungarian countess, Anna Julie Marie Széll von Bessenyö. Kubelík studied violin with his father, and later violin, composition, and conducting at the Prague Conservatory. He graduated from the conservatory in 1933, at the age of 19; at his graduation concert he played a Paganini concerto and a composition of his own for violin and orchestra. Kubelík was also an accomplished pianist, and served as his father's piano accompanist on a tour of the United States in 1935.
In 1939, Kubelík became music director of the Brno Opera, a position he held until the Nazis shut the company down on 12 November 1941. The Nazis allowed the Czech Philharmonic to continue operating, and Kubelík became its principal conductor. (He had first conducted the Czech Philharmonic in 1934 when he was 20 years old.) In 1944, after various incidents, including one in which he declined to greet the Nazi Reichsprotektor Karl Hermann Frank with a Hitler salute — along with his refusal to conduct Wagner during the War — Kubelík "deemed it advisable to disappear from Prague and to spend a few months undercover in the countryside so as not to fall into the clutches of the SS or Gestapo".
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Regina Resnick
Regina Resnik (born August 30, 1922) is an American operatic singer.
Regina Resnik, the American mezzo-soprano, started a dramatic career ten months after earning her B.A. in Music at Hunter College. The role was Lady Macbeth under Fritz Busch in December, 1942 with the New Opera Company. A few months later, she sang Fidelio and Micaela under Erich Kleiber in Mexico City. In between she sang Santuzza with the fledgling New York City Opera and, performing "Ernani, Involami", won the Metropolitan Opera Auditions of the Air and her contract with that company for the 1944-45 season.
Miss Resnik's debut at the great theater was doubly dramatic - on one day's notice she substituted for Zinka Milanov as Leonora in Il trovatore eliciting acclaim from the public, the critics noting that all the vocal "virtuosity" and her stage presence as an actress were very impressive. During the next decade, she offered twenty heroines: Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni), Donna Anna (Don Giovanni), Fidelio, Sieglinde (Die Walküre), Gutrune (Götterdämmerung), Chrysothemis (Elektra), Rosalinda, Eboli (Don Carlo), Aida, Alice Ford (Falstaff), Tosca, Madama Butterfly and Musetta (La bohème). She was the Met's first Ellen Orford in Peter Grimes and created Delilah in Bernard Roger's world premiere of The Warrior. She then also began a long association with the San Francisco Opera. As for the voice, it was a dramatic soprano, rich and vibrant, it invited comparison with the legendary Rosa Ponselle. During these years, her teacher was Rosalie Miller and her life began with the legendary conductors; Otto Klemperer, Bruno Walter, George Szell, Fritz Reiner, William Steinberg and Erich Leinsdorf.
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Regina Resnik
Regina Resnik (born August 30, 1922) is an American operatic singer.
Regina Resnik, the American mezzo-soprano, started a dramatic career ten months after earning her B.A. in Music at Hunter College. The role was Lady Macbeth under Fritz Busch in December, 1942 with the New Opera Company. A few months later, she sang Fidelio and Micaela under Erich Kleiber in Mexico City. In between she sang Santuzza with the fledgling New York City Opera and, performing "Ernani, Involami", won the Metropolitan Opera Auditions of the Air and her contract with that company for the 1944-45 season.
Miss Resnik's debut at the great theater was doubly dramatic - on one day's notice she substituted for Zinka Milanov as Leonora in Il trovatore eliciting acclaim from the public, the critics noting that all the vocal "virtuosity" and her stage presence as an actress were very impressive. During the next decade, she offered twenty heroines: Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni), Donna Anna (Don Giovanni), Fidelio, Sieglinde (Die Walküre), Gutrune (Götterdämmerung), Chrysothemis (Elektra), Rosalinda, Eboli (Don Carlo), Aida, Alice Ford (Falstaff), Tosca, Madama Butterfly and Musetta (La bohème). She was the Met's first Ellen Orford in Peter Grimes and created Delilah in Bernard Roger's world premiere of The Warrior. She then also began a long association with the San Francisco Opera. As for the voice, it was a dramatic soprano, rich and vibrant, it invited comparison with the legendary Rosa Ponselle. During these years, her teacher was Rosalie Miller and her life began with the legendary conductors; Otto Klemperer, Bruno Walter, George Szell, Fritz Reiner, William Steinberg and Erich Leinsdorf.
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Renato Capecchi
Renato Capecchi (born Cairo, November 6, 1923; died Milan, June 30, 1998) was an Italian baritone, actor, and opera director.
He sang in the Italian premiere of Shostakovich's The Nose and Prokofiev's War and Peace, and in the world premieres of Gian Francesco Malipiero's La donna è mobile, Giorgio Federico Ghedini's Billy Budd and Lord Inferno, and Sylvano Bussotti's L'ispirazione.
In 1951, Capecchi made his New York Metropolitan Opera debut as Germont in La traviata and sang regularly in leading roles there until 1954. After a period of singing primarily in European opera houses, he returned to the Metropolitan Opera in 1975 where he specialized in smaller comic roles in otherwise tragic operas such the Sacristan in Tosca and Benoit and Alcindoro in La bohème.
Amongst the productions Capecchi directed were The Daughter of the Regiment at New York City Opera (1985),Così fan tutte in Susa, Italy (1978), and the US premiere of Giuseppe Gazzaniga's Don Giovanni Tenorio, ossia Il convitato di pietra with the San Francisco Opera Merola Opera Program, in Saratoga, California (1977).
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Renato Cioni
Renato Cioni (April 15, 1929) is an Italian operatic tenor, particularly associated with the Italian repertory.
Born on the Isle of Elba, the son of a fisherman, Cioni received his main musical education at the Cherubini Conservatory in Florence. In 1956, as a result of winning an international voice contest organized by the Rome Opera, he made his stage debut at Spoleto, as Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor. Earlier that same year he had appeared as Pinkerton, in a television production of Madama Butterfly, opposite another debutante, Anna Moffo.
He quickly was in great demand as a leading tenor throughout Italy, making debut in Rome, Naples, Palermo, Venice, Genoa, Trieste, Bologna, and Catania, etc. He made his La Scala debut on March 4, 1961, as Pinkerton, under Gianandrea Gavazzeni. Soon he was also singing outside Italy, appearing in Spain, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium, and France.
In 1959, Cioni made his American debut at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia, followed by a concert performance of Il duca d'Alba at Carnegie Hall in New York, which he had also sung earlier that year at the Spoleto Festival. He made his debut at the San Francisco Opera in 1961, as Edgardo, and at the Metropolitan Opera in 1970, as Pollione, opposite Joan Sutherland and Marilyn Horne.
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Richard Bonynge
Richard Alan Bonynge, AC, CBECommandeur de l'Ordre National des Arts et des Lettres, ( /ˈbɒnɪŋ/ BON-ing) (born 29 September 1930 in Sydney) is an Australian conductor and pianist. The husband of Australian dramatic coloratura soprano, Dame Joan Sutherland OM, AC, DBE, Bonynge conducted virtually all his wife's operatic performances from 1962, until her retirement in 1990.
Bonynge was educated at Sydney Boys High School before studying piano at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and gaining a scholarship to the Royal College of Music in London. He gave up his music scholarship, continuing his private piano studies, and became a coach for singers. One of these was Joan Sutherland, whom he had accompanied in Australia. They soon married and became a duo, performing operatic recitals until 1962. When the scheduled conductor for a recital of operatic arias became ill and the replacement conductor hit by a car, Bonynge stepped in and, from that time on, he conducted virtually all of his wife's performances.
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Richard Strauss
Richard Georg Strauss (11 June 1864 – 8 September 1949) was a leading German composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras. He is known for his operas, which include Der Rosenkavalier and Salome; his Lieder, especially his Four Last Songs; and his tone poems and other orchestral works, such as Death and Transfiguration, Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks, Also sprach Zarathustra, An Alpine Symphony, and Metamorphosen. Strauss was also a prominent conductor throughout Germany and Austria.
Strauss, along with Gustav Mahler, represents the late flowering of German Romanticism after Richard Wagner, in which pioneering subtleties of orchestration are combined with an advanced harmonic style.
Strauss was born on 11 June 1864, in Munich, the son of Franz Strauss, who was the principal horn player at the Court Opera in Munich. In his youth, he received a thorough musical education from his father. He wrote his first composition at the age of six, and continued to write music almost until his death.
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Richard Tucker
Richard Tucker (August 28, 1913 – January 8, 1975) was an American operatic tenor.
Tucker was born Rivn (Rubin) Ticker in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Romanian Jewish parents from Bessarabia. His father, Shmul (Sam) Ticker, and mother Fanya-Tsipa (Fanny) Ticker had already adopted the surname "Tucker" by the time their son entered first grade. His musical aptitude was discovered early, and was nurtured under the tutelage of Samuel Weisser at the Tifereth Israel synagogue in lower Manhattan. As a teenager, Tucker's interests alternated between athletics, at which he excelled during his high-school years, and singing for weddings and bar mitzvahs as a cantorial student. Eventually, he progressed from a part-time cantor at Temple Emanuel in Passaic, New Jersey, to full-time cantorships at Temple Adath Israel in the Bronx and, in June 1943, at the large and prestigious Brooklyn Jewish Center. Until then, Tucker's income derived mainly from his weekly commissions as a salesman for the Reliable Silk Company, in Manhattan's garment district.
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Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( /ˈvɑːɡnər/; German pronunciation: [ˈʁiçaʁt ˈvaːɡnɐ]; 22 May 1813 – 13 February 1883) was a German composer, conductor, theatre director and polemicist primarily known for his operas (or "music dramas", as he later called them). Wagner's compositions, particularly those of his later period, are notable for their complex texture, rich harmonies and orchestration, and the elaborate use of leitmotifs: musical themes associated with individual characters, places, ideas or plot elements. Unlike most other opera composers, Wagner wrote both the music and libretto for every one of his stage works. Perhaps the two best-known extracts from his works are the Ride of the Valkyries from the opera Die Walküre, and the Wedding March (Bridal Chorus) from the opera Lohengrin.
Initially establishing his reputation as a composer of works such as The Flying Dutchman and Tannhäuser which were broadly in the romantic vein of Weber and Meyerbeer, Wagner transformed operatic thought through his concept of the Gesamtkunstwerk ("total work of art"). This would achieve the synthesis of all the poetic, visual, musical and dramatic arts and was announced in a series of essays between 1849 and 1852. Wagner realized this concept most fully in the first half of the monumental four-opera cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen. However, his thoughts on the relative importance of music and drama were to change again, and he reintroduced some traditional operatic forms into his last few stage works, including Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg.
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Robert Massard
Robert Massard (born August 15, 1925) is a French baritone, primarily associated with the French repertory, one of the few outstanding French opera singers of the postwar era.
Massard was born in Pau, France, and was mainly self-taught. After singing in his native province, Massard made his professional debut at the Paris Opera in 1952, as the High Priest in Samson et Dalila, shorthly followed by Valentin in Faust. The same year, he also made his debut at the Aix-en-Provence Festival, as Thoas in Iphigénie en Tauride. His career rapidly took an international dimension with debuts in 1955, at La Scala and the Glyndebourne Festival, both as Ramiro in L'Heure espagnole. Oreste in Iphigénie en Tauride was his debut role at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, the Royal Opera House in London, and the Edinburgh Festival. Massard also appeared in North and South America, notably at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, at Carnegie Hall in New York, the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires. Henceforth considered one of the best French baritone of his generation, he was internationally acclaimed as Valentin in Faust, Escamillo in Carmen, Fieramosca in Benvenuto Cellini, and Golaud in Pelléas et Mélisande.
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Robert Merrill
Robert Merrill (June 4, 1917 – October 23, 2004) was an American operatic baritone, who was also active in the musical theatre circuit.
Merrill was born Moishe Miller, later known as Morris Miller, in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, New York, to tailor Abraham Miller, originally Milstein, and his wife Lillian, née Balaban, immigrants from Warsaw, Poland.
His mother claimed to have had an operatic and concert career in Poland (a fact denied by her son in his biographies) and encouraged her son to have early voice training: he had a tendency to stutter, which disappeared when singing. Merrill was inspired to pursue professional singing lessons when he saw the baritone Richard Bonelli singing Count Di Luna in a performance of Il Trovatore at the Metropolitan Opera, and paid for them with money earned as a semi-professional pitcher.[citation needed]
In his early radio appearances as a crooner he was sometimes billed as Merrill Miller. While singing at bar mitzvahs and weddings and Borscht Belt resorts, he met an agent, Moe Gale, who found him work at Radio City Music Hall and with the NBC Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Arturo Toscanini. With Toscanini conducting, he eventually sang in two of the maestro's NBC broadcasts of famous operas, La traviata (with Licia Albanese, in 1946), and Un ballo in maschera (with Herva Nelli, in 1954). Both of those broadcasts were eventually released on both LP and CD. His ranking as an important NBC performer is evidenced by his inclusion in NBC's 1947 promotional book, NBC Parade of Stars: As Heard Over Your Favorite NBC Station, displaying Sam Berman's caricatures of leading NBC personalities.
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Robert Redford
Charles Robert Redford, Jr. (born August 18, 1936), better known as Robert Redford, is an American actor, film director, producer, businessman, environmentalist, philanthropist, and founder of the Sundance Film Festival. He has received two Oscars: one in 1981 for directing Ordinary People, and one for Lifetime Achievement in 2002. In 2010 he was awarded French Knighthood in the Legion d'Honneur. At the height of his fame in the 1970s and 1980s, he was often described as one of the world's most attractive men and remains one of the most popular movie stars. His popular films include Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), Downhill Racer (1969), Jeremiah Johnson (1972), The Candidate (1972), The Sting (1973), The Way We Were (1973), The Great Gatsby (1974), Three Days of the Condor (1975), The Great Waldo Pepper (1975), All the President's Men (1976), A Bridge Too Far (1977), The Natural (1984), Out of Africa (1985), Sneakers (1992), Indecent Proposal (1993),The Last Castle and Spy Game (2001). As a filmmaker, his notable films include Ordinary People (1980), The Milagro Beanfield War (1988), A River Runs Through It (1992), Quiz Show (1994), The Horse Whisperer (1998) and The Legend of Bagger Vance (2000).
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Roger Daltrey
Roger Harry Daltrey, CBE (born 1 March 1944), is an English singer, musician, songwriter and actor, best known as the founder and lead singer of English rock band The Who. He has maintained a musical career as a solo artist and has also worked in the film industry, acting in a large number of films, theatre and television roles and also producing films. In 2008 he was ranked number 61 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 100 greatest singers of all time.
Roger Harry Daltrey was born in the Hammersmith area of London, but was brought up in Acton, the same working class suburban district that produced fellow Who members Pete Townshend and John Entwistle. He was one of three children born to parents Irene and Harry Daltrey, and grew up with two sisters, Gillian and Carol. Harry Daltrey worked for a water closet manufacturer, and Irene Daltrey was told she would be unable to have children because of losing a kidney in 1937. Nevertheless, she went into labour during a World War II air raid and gave birth to her son at the nearby Hammersmith Hospital, West London. At the age of three, the young Roger swallowed a rusty nail which had to be surgically removed, leaving a visible scar. At the age of five, the rust from the nail caused an ulcer in his stomach which required him to be hospitalised.
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Roger Soyer
Roger Soyer (born 1 September 1939) is a French operatic bass-baritone, particularly associated with the French repertory and with Mozart.
Soyer was born in Paris, and first studied privately with G. Daum, before entering the Paris Conservatoire at the age of 19. There he was a pupil of Georges Jouatte and Louis Musy. He made his professional debut at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in 1962, creating the role of Mac Creag in Gilbert Bécaud's opera L'opéra d'Aran.
He sang on French Radio in 1964, in Rameau's Hippolyte et Aricie, and made his debut at the Aix-en-Provence Festival in 1965, as Pluton in Monteverdi's L'Orfeo. The same year he made his debut at the Opéra-Comique, as Colline, in La Bohème, and at the Palais Garnier, as Mephisto in Gounod's Faust.
On the international scene, he appeared at the Wexford Festival in La jolie fille de Perth, and at the Edinburgh Festival as Don Giovanni, a role he became closely associated with, singing it at Aix-en-Provence, Munich, Vienna, Florence, Chicago, New York.
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Ruby Dee
Ruby Dee (born October 27, 1924) is an American actress, poet, playwright, screenwriter, journalist, and activist. She is perhaps best known for co-starring in the film A Raisin in the Sun (1961) and the film American Gangster (2007) for which she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. She has won a Grammy, Emmy, Obie, Drama Desk, Screen Actors Guild Award, Screen Actors Guild Lifetime Achievement Award, and is a recipient of the National Medal of Arts and the Kennedy Center Honors, among scores of others awards.
Dee was born Ruby Ann Wallace in Cleveland, Ohio, the daughter of Gladys Hightower and Marshall Edward Nathaniel Wallace, a cook, waiter, and porter. After her mother left the family, Dee's father married Emma Amelia Benson, a schoolteacher. Dee grew up in Harlem, New York. She attended Hunter College High School and went on to graduate from Hunter College with degrees in French and Spanish in 1944. Dee is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.
Dee made several appearances on Broadway before receiving national recognition for her role in the 1950 film The Jackie Robinson Story. Her career in acting has crossed all major forms of media over a span of eight decades, including the films A Raisin in the Sun, in which she recreated her stage role as a suffering housewife in the projects, and Edge of the City. She played both roles opposite Sidney Poitier. During the 1960s, Dee appeared in such politically charged films as Gone Are the Days and The Incident, which is recognized as helping pave the way for young African-American actors and filmmakers.
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Russell Braddon
Russell Reading Braddon (25 January 1921 – 20 March 1995) was an Australian writer of novels, biographies and TV scripts. His chronicle of his four years as a prisoner of war, The Naked Island, sold more than a million copies.
Braddon was born in Sydney, Australia, the son of a barrister. He served in the Malayan campaign during World War II. He was held as a prisoner of war by the Japanese in Changi between 1942 and 1945. During this time he met Ronald Searle, who went on to illustrate The Naked Island.
In 1949, Braddon moved to England. He described his writing career as "beginning by chance". The Naked Island, published in 1952, was one of the first accounts of a Japanese prisoner of war's experience.
Braddon went on to produce a wide range of works, including novels, biographies, histories, TV scripts and newspaper articles. He was also a broadcaster on radio and television.
Novels
Non-fiction
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Samuel Ramey
Samuel Edward Ramey (born March 28, 1942 in Colby, Kansas) is an American operatic bass with a long, distinguished career. At the height of his career, he was greatly admired for his range and versatility, having possessed a sufficiently accomplished bel canto technique to enable him to sing the music of Handel, Mozart, Rossini, yet power enough to handle the more overtly dramatic roles written by Verdi and Puccini.
He married his third wife, soprano Lindsey Larsen, on June 29, 2002.
Samuel Ramey is a 1960 graduate of Colby High School in the town of Colby, Kansas. He studied music in high school and in college at Kansas State University, as well as at Wichita State with Arthur Newman. In college at Kansas State, Ramey was a member of the Kappa Sigma Fraternity. After further study in Central City (where he was in the chorus of Don Giovanni in 1963, with Norman Treigle in the title role) and as an apprentice with the Santa Fe Opera, he went to New York where he worked for an academic publisher before he had his first breakthrough at the New York City Opera, debuting on March 11, 1973 singing the role of Zuniga in the 1875 Bizet opera Carmen, after which, among other roles, he took over the Faustian devils in Gounod's Faust and Boito's Mefistofele left empty by the early death of Treigle.
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Scottish people
The Scottish people (Scots Gaelic: Albannaich), or Scots, are a nation and ethnic group native to Scotland. Historically they emerged from an amalgamation of the Picts and Gaels, incorporating neighbouring Britons to the south as well as invading Germanic peoples such as the Anglo-Saxons and the Norse. Later the Normans also had some influence.
In modern use, "Scottish people" or "Scots" is used to refer to anyone whose linguistic, cultural, family ancestral or genetic origins are from within Scotland. The Latin word Scotti originally applied to a particular, 5th century, Goidelic tribe that inhabited Ireland. Though sometimes considered archaic or pejorative, the term Scotch has also been used for the Scottish people, though this usage is current primarily outside Scotland.
There are people of Scottish descent in many countries other than Scotland. Emigration, influenced by factors such as the Highland and Lowland Clearances, Scottish participation in the British Empire, and latterly industrial decline and unemployment, resulted in Scottish people being found throughout the world. Large populations of Scottish people settled the new-world lands of North and South America, Australia and New Zealand. There is a Scottish presence at a particularly high rate in Canada, which has the second largest population of descended Scots ancestry, after the United States. They took with them their Scottish languages and culture.
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Sherrill Milnes
Sherrill Milnes (born January 10, 1935) is an American operatic baritone most famous for his Verdi roles. From 1965 until 1997 he was associated with the Metropolitan Opera.
His voice is a high dramatic baritone, combining good legato with an incisive rhythmic style; furthermore, he has a commanding and handsome stage presence. By 1965 he had made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera. His international debuts followed soon thereafter, and Milnes became one of the world's prominent Verdi baritones of the 1970s and 1980s.
He has been a prolific recording artist, often in partnership with Plácido Domingo and Luciano Pavarotti.
Milnes was born in Downers Grove, Illinois to a dairy farmer and his wife. As a child, he exhibited strong and varied musical talents. In addition to singing, he also played piano, violin, viola, double bass, clarinet, and tuba. Although his interests did not always lean toward opera, he spent many hours singing to his father's cows and was once found on a tractor practicing an operatic laugh.
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Smokey Robinson
William "Smokey" Robinson, Jr. (born February 19, 1940) is an American R&B singer-songwriter, record producer, and former record executive. Robinson is most notable for being the founder and front man of the popular Motown vocal group, The Miracles, for which he also served as the group's chief songwriter and producer. Robinson led the group from its 1955 origins as The Five Chimes until 1972 when he announced a retirement from the stage to focus on his role as Motown's vice president.
However, Robinson returned to the music industry as a solo artist the following year, later having solo hits such as "Baby That's Backatcha", "Quiet Storm", "The Agony and the Ecstasy", "Cruisin'", "Being With You" and "Just to See Her". Following the sale of Motown Records in 1988, Robinson left Motown in 1990. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987.
Robinson was born in Detroit and raised in the city's North End section. At one point, he and Diana Ross were next-door neighbors; he said he has known Ross since she was eight. Robinson later told reporters when he was a child, his uncle christened him "Smokey Joe", which Robinson assumed was a "cowboy name for me" until he was later told that smokey was a pejorative term for dark-skinned Blacks. Robinson, who is mainly of African American descent and is light-skinned, remembers his uncle saying to him, "I'm doing this so you won't ever forget that you're black." Robinson grew up as a fan of Western films.
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Spiro Malas
Spiro Malas (born 28 January 1933 in Baltimore, Maryland) is an American bass-baritone opera singer.
Malas made his operatic debut in 1959 in his native Baltimore and in 1960 he won the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. He made his New York debut at the New York City Opera where he came to the attention of Joan Sutherland and her husband, the conductor Richard Bonynge. He was subsequently asked to tour Australia with the Sutherland/Williamson International Opera Company. This led to appearances at London's Covent Garden, the New York Metropolitan Opera (1983–84) and Chicago Lyric Opera.
Malas first performed at the Metropolitan Opera as Sgt. Sulpice in La fille du régiment opposite Dame Joan and Alfredo Kraus. Since then, he has sung there in Il barbiere di Siviglia, La bohème, Les contes d'Hoffmann, Die Fledermaus, Eugene Onegin, L'elisir d'amore, Lulu, Manon Lescaut, Der Rosenkavalier, Salome, Tosca, and Werther. He has also appeared there in two new productions by Sir Peter Hall; as Zuniga in Carmen, and as Dr. Bartolo in Le nozze di Figaro. Mr. Malas has also been seen on the Metropolitan Opera stage as Haly in L'italiana in Algeri opposite Marilyn Horne, and Capulet in Roméo et Juliette.
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Steve Martin
Stephen Glenn "Steve" Martin (born August 14, 1945) is an American actor, comedian, author, playwright, producer, musician and composer. Martin came to public notice as a writer for the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, and later became a frequent guest on The Tonight Show. In the 1970s, Martin performed his offbeat, absurdist comedy routines before packed houses on national tours. In 2004, Comedy Central ranked Martin at sixth place in a list of the 100 greatest stand-up comics.
Since the 1980s, having branched away from stand-up comedy, Martin has become a successful actor in both comedic and dramatic roles, as well as an author, playwright, pianist, and banjo player, eventually earning Emmy, Grammy, and American Comedy awards, among other honors.
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Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg (born December 18, 1946) is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, video game designer, and studio entrepreneur. In a career of more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as archetypes of modern Hollywood blockbuster filmmaking. In later years, his films began addressing such issues as the Holocaust, slavery, war and terrorism. He is considered one of the most popular and influential filmmakers in the history of cinema. He is also one of the co-founders of DreamWorks movie studio.
Spielberg won the Academy Award for Best Director for Schindler's List (1993) and Saving Private Ryan (1998). Three of Spielberg's films—Jaws (1975), E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), and Jurassic Park (1993)—achieved box office records, each becoming the highest-grossing film made at the time. To date, the unadjusted gross of all Spielberg-directed films exceeds $8.5 billion worldwide. Forbes puts Spielberg's wealth at $3.0 billion.
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Suzanne Farrell
Suzanne Farrell (born August 16, 1945) is an eminent 20th century ballerina (often referred to as the greatest American lyric ballerina) and the founder of the Suzanne Farrell Ballet at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.
She was born as Roberta Sue Ficker in Cincinnati, and received her early training at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. In 1960 she was selected to study at George Balanchine's School of American Ballet with a Ford Foundation scholarship; she started there in 1960, and joined the New York City Ballet (NYCB) in 1961.
Initially part of the corps de ballet at NYCB, Farrell soon moved on to dancing featured roles. The first ballet choreographed for her was Passage, now Arcade, by John Taras in 1963. Balanchine first paired her with Jacques d' Amboise to choreograph his Meditation, which debuted in Winter 1963. One of her most notable roles was Dulcinea in Balanchine's Don Quixote, which premiered in May 1965. Balanchine performed in the of Don Quixote on opening night. She re-scaled many ballets and expanded them to a new level of technique. In 1965 she was promoted to principal dancer. Her first role in her new title was Agon with Arthur Mitchell at the Paris Opera. George Balanchine quickly fell in love with his "alabaster princess", and created many roles for her. Farrell described learning choreography from Balanchine as a collaborative process, saying, "When Mr. B was working on a ballet, something would just spill out of his body; he could rarely duplicate it, so I tried to see precisely what he wanted the first time." In 1965 he created Don Quixote, thought to be a valentine to his newest "muse." In 1968 he cast her as the lead in the "Diamonds" section of his three-act plotless ballet "Jewels".
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Sylvia Stahlman
Sylvia Stahlman (March 5, 1929 - August 19, 1998) was an American soprano, particularly associated with light, coloratura roles.
Stahlman was born in Nashville, Tennessee, and studied at The Juilliard School in New York City. She began her career on Broadway, in 1948-49, in Kurt Weill's Love Life, opposite Nanette Fabray, directed by Elia Kazan.
She left for Europe to begin a career in opera, performing first under the name Giulia Bardi. She made her debut at La Monnaie in Brussels, as Elvira in I puritani, in 1951, and remained with that theatre until 1954. She also sang in Amsterdam, Frankfurt, and Vienna, and appeared at the Glyndebourne Festival in 1959, as Ilia in Idomeneo.
In America, she appeared at the New York City Opera in the Fall Season of 1956, as Eurydice in Orphée aux enfers, conducted by Erich Leinsdorf, and Gilda in Rigoletto, with Julius Rudel conducting. The soprano also appeared at the San Francisco Opera and the Lyric Opera of Chicago. In San Francisco, she sang Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier, Sister Constance of St Dénis in Dialogues des Carmélites (the United States premiere), Oscar in Un ballo in maschera (to the Amelia of Herva Nelli), Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi, and Dircé in Médée (the Italian version), from 1957 to 1960. She took part, in 1964, in the American premiere of Daphne, at the Santa Fe Opera.
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Tina Turner
Tina Turner (born Anna Mae Bullock; November 26, 1939) is an American singer and actress whose career has spanned more than 50 years. She has won numerous awards. Turner started out her music career with husband Ike Turner as a member of the Ike & Tina Turner Revue. Success followed with a string of hits including "River Deep, Mountain High" and the 1971 hit "Proud Mary". With the publication of her autobiography I, Tina (1986), Turner revealed severe instances of spousal abuse against her by Ike Turner prior to their 1976 split and subsequent 1978 divorce. After virtually disappearing from the music scene for several years following her divorce from Ike Turner, she rebuilt her career, launching a string of hits beginning in 1983 with the single "Let's Stay Together" and the 1984 release of her fifth solo album Private Dancer.
Her musical career led to film roles, beginning with a prominent role as The Acid Queen in the 1975 film Tommy, and an appearance in Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. She starred opposite Mel Gibson as Aunty Entity in Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome for which she received the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture, and her version of the film's theme, "We Don't Need Another Hero", was a hit single. She appeared in the 1993 film Last Action Hero.
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Tom Krause
Tom Krause (born July 5, 1934) is a Finnish operatic baritone particularly associated with Mozart roles.
Born in Helsinki, he first studied medicine, while singing and playing the guitar in a jazz band. His vocal talent led him to leave his medical studies for serious voice studies at the Vienna Music Academy where he was a pupil of Margot Skoda, Sergio Nazor, and Rudolf Bautz. He made his operatic debut in Berlin, as Escamillo, in 1959, and quickly gained a reputation in opera and concert throughout Germany and Scandinavia.
He joined the Hamburg State Opera, where he sang mostly Mozart, Verdi, and Wagner roles, but also such rarities as Rossini's La pietra del paragone and Handel's Jephtha. He began making guest appearances in Munich, Amsterdam, Brussels, and made his debut in Bayreuth, as the Herald in Lohengrin, in 1962.
His English debut took place in 1963, at the Glyndebourne Festival as the Count in Capriccio. His American debut in 1967, at the Metropolitan Opera as the Count in Le nozze di Figaro, received an ovation. From 1968 on, he appeared regularly at the Salzburg Festival, notably as Don Giovanni and Guglielmo.
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Toni Lamond
Toni Lamond AM (born 29 March 1932) is an Australian cabaret singer, stage and television actor, dancer and comedienne. She was given the nickname of "Lolly-Legs Lamond" by fellow veteran performer Noel Ferrier after being voted as having the second-best pair of legs in television while doing In Melbourne Tonight.
Lamond was born in Sydney in 1932, as Patricia Lamond Lawman. She began her professional career at the age of ten when she sang on the radio while touring with her vaudevillian parents in variety shows. Her first stage performances were at the Tivoli Theatre in Sydney. Her first performances as a leading lady were with English comedian Tommy Trinder in The Tommy Trinder Show in 1952. She has starred in Australian productions of Oliver!, Annie Get Your Gun, The Pajama Game and Gypsy: A Musical Fable and was a regular in a number of 1970s television shows such as Number 96 and Graham Kennedy's In Melbourne Tonight. She later compered her own IMT, becoming the first woman in the world to compere a variety television show.
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Tony Bennett
Anthony Dominick Benedetto, better known as Tony Bennett (born August 3, 1926), is an American singer of popular music, standards, show tunes, and jazz. Bennett is also a serious and accomplished painter, having created works — under the name Benedetto — that are on permanent public display in several institutions. He is the founder of Frank Sinatra School of the Arts in New York City.
Raised in New York City, Bennett began singing at an early age. He fought in the final stages of World War II as an infantryman with the U.S. Army in the European Theatre. Afterwards, he developed his singing technique, signed with Columbia Records, and had his first number one popular song with "Because of You" in 1951. Several top hits such as "Rags to Riches" followed in the early 1950s. Bennett then further refined his approach to encompass jazz singing. He reached an artistic peak in the late 1950s with albums such as The Beat of My Heart and Basie Swings, Bennett Sings. In 1962, Bennett recorded his signature song, "I Left My Heart in San Francisco". His career and his personal life then suffered an extended downturn during the height of the rock music era.
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Tullio Serafin
Tullio Serafin (1 September 1878 - 2 February 1968) was an Italian conductor.
Tullio Serafin was a leading Italian opera conductor with a long career and a very broad repertoire who revived many 19th century bel canto operas by Bellini, Rossini and Donizetti to become staples of 20th century repertoire. He had an unparalleled reputation as a coach of young opera singers and famously harnessed and developed Maria Callas's extraordinary talents.
Born in Rottanova (Cavarzere), near Venice, and trained in Milan, he played viola in the Orchestra of La Scala, Milan under Toscanini, later being appointed Assistant Conductor. He took over as Musical Director at La Scala when Toscanini left to go to New York and served 1909-1914, 1917–1918 and returned briefly after the second World War, 1946 -1947.
He joined the conducting staff of the Metropolitan Opera in 1924 and remained for a decade, after which he became the artistic director of the Teatro Reale in Rome. During his long career he helped further the careers of many important singers, including Rosa Ponselle and Joan Sutherland, and morespecially Maria Callas with whom he made numerous recordings.
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Twyla Tharp
Twyla Tharp (born July 1, 1941) is an American dancer and choreographer, who lives and works in New York City.
Tharp was born in 1941 on a farm in Portland, Indiana, and was named after Twila Thornburg, the "Pig Princess" of the 89th Annual Muncie Fair in Indiana.
When Tharp was a young child she spent a few months each year living with her Quaker grandparents on their farm in Indiana. In 1950 Tharp's family—younger sister Twanette, twin brothers Stanley and Stanford, mother Lecile and father William—moved to Rialto, California. Her parents opened a drive-in movie theater, where Tharp worked from the time she was 8 years old. The drive-in was on the corner of Acacia and Foothill, the major east–west artery in Rialto and the path of Route 66. She attended Pacific High School in San Bernardino and studied at the Vera Lynn School of Dance. Tharp, a "devoted bookworm," admits that this schedule left little time for a social life. Tharp attended Pomona College in California but later transferred to Barnard College in New York City, where she graduated with a degree in Art History in 1963. It was in New York that she studied with Martha Graham and Merce Cunningham. In 1963 Tharp joined the Paul Taylor Dance Company.
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Van Cliburn
Harvey Lavan "Van" Cliburn, Jr. (born July 12, 1934), is an American pianist who achieved worldwide recognition in 1958 at the age of twenty-three, when he won the first quadrennial International Tchaikovsky Piano Competition in Moscow, at the height of the Cold War.
Van Cliburn was born in Shreveport, Louisiana, and began taking piano lessons at the age of three from his mother, the former Rildia Bee O'Bryan, who herself had been instructed by Arthur Friedheim, a pupil of Franz Liszt. At six years old, Cliburn moved with his family to Kilgore, Texas, and at twelve he won a statewide piano competition which enabled him to debut with the Houston Symphony Orchestra. He entered the Juilliard School at the age of seventeen, and studied under Rosina Lhévinne, who trained him in the tradition of the great Russian romantics. At twenty, Cliburn won the Leventritt Award, and made his Carnegie Hall debut.
It was his recognition in Moscow that propelled Cliburn to international fame. The first International Tchaikovsky Competition in 1958 was an event designed to demonstrate Soviet cultural superiority during the Cold War, on the heels of their technological victory with the Sputnik launch in October 1957. Cliburn's performance at the competition finale of Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 and Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 3 earned him a standing ovation lasting eight minutes. When it was time to announce a winner, the judges were obliged to ask permission of the Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev to give first prize to an American. "Is he the best?" Khrushchev asked. "Then give him the prize!" Cliburn returned home to a ticker-tape parade in New York City, the only time the honor has been accorded a classical musician. His cover story in Time proclaimed him "The Texan Who Conquered Russia."
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Vincenzo Bellini
Vincenzo Salvatore Carmelo Francesco Bellini (3 November 1801 – 23 September 1835) was a Italian opera composer. A native of Catania in Sicily, his greatest works are I Capuleti ed i Montecchi (1830), La sonnambula (1831), Norma (1831), Beatrice di Tenda (1833), and I puritani (1835). Known for his long-flowing melodic lines, for which he was named "the Swan of Catania", Bellini was the quintessential composer of bel canto opera. He died in Puteaux, France at the age of 33, nine months after the premiere of his last opera, I puritani.
Born in Catania, Sicily, Bellini was a child prodigy from a highly musical family and legend has it he could sing an aria of Valentino Fioravanti at eighteen months. He began studying music theory at two, the piano at three, and by the age of five could apparently play well. Bellini's first five pieces were composed when he was just six years old. Regardless of the veracity of these claims, it is certain that Bellini grew up in a musical household and that a career as a musician was never in doubt.
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Vittorio Gui
Vittorio Gui (14 September 1885 – 16 October 1975) was an Italian conductor, composer, musicologist and critic.
Gui was born in Rome in 1885. He graduated in humanities at University of Rome Tor Vergata and also studied composition at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia; his principal composition teacher were the noted composers Giacomo Setaccioli and Stanislao Falchi. The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians entry on Gui says his style was "impressionistic with characteristic Italian traits." Gui's opera David premiered in Rome in 1907; later that year, Gui made his professional conducting debut at the Teatro Adriano in Rome, leading Amilcare Ponchielli's La Gioconda (opera) as a substitute. This led to invitations to conduct in Naples and Turin (he met Claude Debussy in Turin in 1911). In 1923, Arturo Toscanini invited him to conduct Salome (opera) by Richard Strauss as the season opener at La Scala in Milan. He conducted the Teatro Regio in Turin from 1925 to 1927; in his last year in Turin, he premiered his fairy-tale opera Fata Malerba there. (Other notable compositions included the cantata Cantico dei cantici (Song of Songs) from 1921, and the symphonic poem Giulietta e Romeo (with voices, from 1902).)
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Warren Beatty
Warren Beatty ( /ˈbeɪti/ BAY-tee; born March 30, 1937) is an American actor, producer, screenwriter and director. He has been nominated for 15 Academy Awards, including winning the Best Director Award and its highest honor, the Irving G. Thalberg Award. He has been nominated for 16 Golden Globe Awards and won six, including the Cecil B. DeMille Award, which he received in 2007. Only Beatty and Orson Welles have been nominated for producer, director, writer and actor in the same film. Welles did it once (for Citizen Kane), Beatty did it twice (for Heaven Can Wait and Reds).
Beatty was born Henry Warren Beaty in Richmond, Virginia. His mother, Kathlyn Corinne (née MacLean), was a Nova Scotia-born teacher, and his father, Ira Owens Beaty, was a Ph.D. of educational psychology, a public school administrator, and dealt in real estate. Beatty's grandparents were also educators. The family was Baptist. In 1945, the family moved from Richmond to Arlington, Virginia. Beatty's sister is the multi-award winning actress and writer Shirley MacLaine.
wn.com/Warren_Beatty -
Wendy Blacklock
Wendy Blacklock (born 1932, Sydney, Australia) was an Australia-based theatre and television actor best known for her long-running role of Edith "Mummy" MacDonald in the 1970s television soap opera Number 96.
Blacklock's acting career began on the stage and she spent two years in England acting in repertory theatre. She returned to Australia and had a solid career in the theatre which included stage tours of Australia and New Zealand; she was also a regular cast member of the satirical revues staged at Sydney's Phillip Street Theatre in the 1960s. Prior to the role in Number 96 she had played in theatrical productions of Don's Party and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, and made a few guest appearances in Australian television drama series.
The role in Number 96 began in January 1974. At that time the show was Australia's highest-rated television program and Blacklock's character, dizzy housewife Edie – otherwise known as "Mummy" – along with Edie's regimented husband Reg (Mike Dorsey) and their adopted daughter Marilyn (Frances Hargreaves), became popular and enduring comedy characters in the series. In late 1976 there were plans to spin off the characters of Mummy and Daddy into a new situation comedy series titled Mummy and Me and starring Blacklock and Dorsey, but the proposed series was not picked up by the network and the characters remained in Number 96. Blacklock played in the series continuously until it ended in August 1977 and was in fact the final person shown in the closing scene of the last episode.
wn.com/Wendy_Blacklock -
Wendy Lewis (writer)
Wendy Lewis is a contemporary Australian writer. She works in Sydney. She has written a number of non-fiction books about Australian people, history and events. She has also written plays (working under the nom de plume Julia Lewis).
Wendy Lewis was commissioned by the National Australia Day Council to write Australians of the Year, which commemorates 50 years of the Australian of the Year. It is the officially endorsed history of the Australian of the Year Award.
Her book See Australia and Die describes many notorious incidents where people came to harm while travelling in Australia. It includes crocodile attacks, irukandji jellyfish and death by hypothermia.
Her book Events That Shaped Australia describes the details, the people, the images and the after-effects of the most important turning points in Australia's history.
Her book Caught Out! Scandals, Lies, Cover-ups is a collection of the juiciest Australian scandals from the last two decades including David Hicks, Mohamed Haneef, Children Overboard, Cheryl Kernot's big secret, The Mufti and the Uncovered Meat.
wn.com/Wendy_Lewis_(writer) -
Yvonne Minton
Yvonne Fay Minton CBE (C) (born 4 December 1938) is an Australian opera singer. She is variously billed as a soprano, mezzo-soprano or contralto.
Yvonne Minton was born in Sydney, New South Wales. She studied voice on a scholarship at the New South Wales Conservatorium of Music. She won the National Eisteddfod in Canberra, as well as number of other singing competitions. She became one of the country's leading contraltos, often appearing on radio and television and with the Sydney and Queensland orchestras.
Minton left Australia in 1961 to pursue her studies in London. The same year, she won the Kathleen Ferrier Prize for the best contralto at the International Vocalist Competition at 's-Hertogenbosch in the Netherlands. Her first major part in England was as Maggie Dempster in the premiere of Nicholas Maw's One Man Show. She sang the role of Clotilde on the 1965 Decca recording of Bellini's Norma.
Shortly thereafter, she became a regular member of the company of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, appearing in such roles as Lola in Cavalleria rusticana. She created the role of Thea in Tippett's The Knot Garden (1970). At the Cologne Opera from 1969 (début as Sesto in La clemenza di Tito). She has since appeared with most of the major English orchestras and in opera houses throughout Europe and the United States. She has also appeared at Bayreuth (Brangäne in Tristan und Isolde) and the Salzburg Festival 1978 (Octavian). In 1973, she made her Metropolitan Opera debut as Octavian in Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier. She sang the role of Countess Geschwitz in Lulu in Paris in 1979. She has also made many concert appearances, notably with Sir George Solti and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
wn.com/Yvonne_Minton -
Zubin Mehta
Zubin Mehta (ज़ुबिन मेहता); pronounced [ˈzuːbɪn ˈmeːɦt̪aː] (born 29 April 1936) is an Indian conductor of western classical music. He is the Music Director for Life of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.
Zubin Mehta was born into a Parsi family in Bombay, British India, the son of Mehli and Tehmina Mehta. His father Mehli Mehta was a violinist and founding conductor of the Bombay Symphony Orchestra. Mehta is an alumnus of St. Mary's School, Mumbai, and St. Xavier's College, Mumbai. Mehta initially intended to study medicine, but eventually became a music student in Vienna at the age of 18, under Hans Swarowsky. Also at the same academy along with Mehta were conductor Claudio Abbado and conductor–pianist Daniel Barenboim.
Mehta's first marriage was to Canadian soprano Carmen Lasky in 1958. They have a son, Mervon and a daughter, Zarina. In 1964, they divorced. Two years after the divorce, Carmen married Zubin's brother, Zarin Mehta, now the Executive Director of the New York Philharmonic. In July 1969, Mehta married Nancy Kovack, a former American film and television actress. Mehta is a permanent resident of the United States, but retains his Indian citizenship.
wn.com/Zubin_Mehta
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Joan Sutherland "Casta diva" from "Norma"
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 6:08
- Updated: 19 Nov 2012
Joan Sutherland sings "Casta diva" from "Norma" composed by Vincenzo Bellini Joan Sutherland - soprano The Elizabethan Symphony Orchestra conducted by Richard Bonynge from Sydney Opera House
http://wn.com/Joan_Sutherland_Casta_diva_from_Norma
Joan Sutherland: A Life On The Move (1979)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 80:01
- Updated: 20 Nov 2012
A profile of the busy lives of Dame Joan Sutherland and her husband Richard Bonynge. Shows the two artists at home in Sydney and Switzerland, rehearsing, relaxing with friends and enjoying their hobbies. Produced by Brian Adams in 1979.
http://wn.com/Joan_Sutherland_A_Life_On_The_Move_1979
The Great Joan Sutherland
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:26
- Updated: 09 Nov 2012
Coloratura, Joan Sutherland sings an aria from Bellini's "I Puritani." This is Young Sutherland at her best.
http://wn.com/The_Great_Joan_Sutherland
Joan Sutherland - La Traviata - Sempre libera (1966)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:09
- Updated: 21 Nov 2012
Joan Sutherland performing Sempre libera from Verd's La Traviata - monumental E flat - and 13 top Cs!!
http://wn.com/Joan_Sutherland_La_Traviata_Sempre_libera_1966
Joan Sutherland, Marilyn Horne and Luciano Pavarotti in Recital (23 March 1981)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 147:23
- Updated: 20 Nov 2012
Live from Lincoln Center - The Concert of the Century Great duets, trios and arias from Ernani, Norma, La Gioconda, I Masnadieri, Il Trovatore, Otello, La Boheme, La donna del Lago and Beatrice di Tenda. Includes interval documentary: "How to Sing Bel Canto" Review from the New York Times: These three voices must surely be numbered among the best to be heard in the operatic world today. The singers themselves are well aware of that fact, and such knowledge only served to inspire healthy vocal competition and to provide the impetus to give of their very best. Having sung together many times over the years, they also are sensitized to one another's strengths and weaknesses, which means that the ensembles in particular had a special buoyant lift and galvanizing electricity. In its essentials, the concert could be heard as an old-fashioned glorification of the human voice...these three singers did after all give us the concert of the century.
http://wn.com/Joan_Sutherland,_Marilyn_Horne_and_Luciano_Pavarotti_in_Recital_23_March_1981
New York Opera Centennial Gala (James Levine, 22.10.1983) excerpts
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 86:34
- Updated: 21 Nov 2012
Joan Sutherland, Kathleen Battle, Marilyn Horne, Grace Bumbry, Renato Bruson, Birgit Nilsson, Leontyne Price, Luciano Pavarotti
http://wn.com/New_York_Opera_Centennial_Gala_James_Levine,_22101983_excerpts
Dame Joan Sutherland - A Tribute Video: How Audiences Loved Her
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 30:08
- Updated: 14 Nov 2012
Many of today's current YouTube viewers are learning about the singers of the past in a vicarious way through videos. These, of course, can help to convey what a singer sounded like and looked like, as well as how they interpreted the works they sang. However, to really understand the phenomenon that was Joan Sutherland "you had to be there" as the saying goes. The audience reaction says it all in this selection of excerpts. I had the privilege of hearing Joan on a number of occasions in Melbourne, Sydney and London. She had an amazing presence on stage which, unfortunately, often made her colleagues seem much less interesting than she herself. And then there was the voice that filled the theatre with an incredibly ambient sound, and then almost shattered it when she reached into the stratosphere. No wonder the ovations were so regularly like those in this video!
http://wn.com/Dame_Joan_Sutherland_A_Tribute_Video_How_Audiences_Loved_Her
Joan Sutherland & Marilyn Horne - Norma - Mira, o Norma (1970) - remastered
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 6:05
- Updated: 20 Nov 2012
In this duet from Norma, Dame Joan and Marilyn bring the house down! The costumes magnificently reflect the times. Recorded in 1970. Audio/Video remastered.
http://wn.com/Joan_Sutherland_Marilyn_Horne_Norma_Mira,_o_Norma_1970_remastered
Dame Joan Sutherland Complete Perth Concert (1982)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 47:00
- Updated: 15 Nov 2012
Tornami a vagheggiar Addio del passato A mezzanotte Chanson de Zora O beau pays Aimant la rose Bonnie Mary Songs my mother taught me Serenata Bel raggio Home sweet home Pianist - Richard Bonynge
http://wn.com/Dame_Joan_Sutherland_Complete_Perth_Concert_1982
Joan Sutherland - Lucia Mad Scene (1962)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 13:41
- Updated: 21 Nov 2012
In the early 1960s, the Australian soprano Joan Sutherland emerged as an opera star of the first magnitude, setting new standards of vocal excellence in the bel canto repertoire that have yet to be matched. Fortunately, Miss Sutherland's American career included numerous television appearances. The earliest of these telecasts marked Miss Sutherland's American television debut, less than a month after her New York debut (in a concertperformance of Bellini's Beatrice di Tenda) and well before her Metropolitan Opera debut (as Lucia, on November 26, 1961). Here Dame Joan sings the Mad Scene from Lucia di Lammermoor.
http://wn.com/Joan_Sutherland_Lucia_Mad_Scene_1962
Joan Sutherland & Huguette Tourangeau - Lakme - Flower Duet (1976)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 6:35
- Updated: 20 Nov 2012
The luscious Flower Duet (Viens, Mallika) from Léo Delibes' Lakme - sung ravishingly by Joan Sutherland and Huguette Tourangeau. The piece has been used in many movies and TV programs to great effect - lush, lyrical and exotic. Of Dame Joan's performance one reviewer wrote: "The superlatives are extended when describing Sutherland's performance; a great talent at its height, enthralling by the sheer beauty of that stupendous voice." - The Sydney Sun
http://wn.com/Joan_Sutherland_Huguette_Tourangeau_Lakme_Flower_Duet_1976
[HD] Joan Sutherland Vocal Range - G3-F6
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 6:04
- Updated: 21 Nov 2012
http://wn.com/_HD_Joan_Sutherland_Vocal_Range_G3-F6
Dame Joan Sutherland - Qui la voce, 1976
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 9:18
- Updated: 11 Nov 2012
Dame Joan Sutherland concludes this concert broadcast from Wellington, New Zealand with the mad scene from Vincenzo Bellini's "I Puritani." Her husband Richard Bonynge conducts the local orchestra.
http://wn.com/Dame_Joan_Sutherland_Qui_la_voce,_1976
Dame Joan Sutherland's Final Farewell 1990
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 42:03
- Updated: 21 Nov 2012
Dame Joan's farewell at ROH Covent Garden with Pavarotti and Horne some 20 years ago. It's impossible to believe the world lost this exceptional artist and woman a year ago today. Rest in peace La Stupenda, aka the Voice of the Century (or in my opinion, the greatest voice of all time)!!!!
http://wn.com/Dame_Joan_Sutherland's_Final_Farewell_1990
Joan Sutherland - Maria Stuarda - Oh Nube! Nella Pace Del Mesto Riposo (London, 1975)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 7:20
- Updated: 23 Oct 2012
Christmas Eve 1974 was a nightmare for the inhabitants of Darwin (in Australia's Northern Territory) when it was destroyed by a violent cyclone. A Darwin Appeal Fund was launched and a month later, on 25 January 1975, Richard Bonynge conducted a fund-raising concert at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. The idea was Dame Joan's who participated together with a cast of Australian, New Zealand and British operatic luminaries. In this aria from Maria Stuarda, Joan brings the house down!
http://wn.com/Joan_Sutherland_Maria_Stuarda_Oh_Nube!_Nella_Pace_Del_Mesto_Riposo_London,_1975
1995 Masterclass - Joan Sutherland
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 4:46
- Updated: 20 Nov 2012
Clips from the master classes held for the 1995 Cardiff Singer of the World competition. Joan Sutherland is pretty funny in this.
http://wn.com/1995_Masterclass_Joan_Sutherland
How to Sing Bel Canto: Sutherland, Pavarotti and Horne (1981)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 16:19
- Updated: 21 Nov 2012
High Quality Video: Discussion of Bel Canto technique: Dame Joan Sutherland, Marilyn Horne, Luciano Pavarotti and Richard Bonynge. Includes vocal demonstrations by three of the greatest singers of the twentieth century. What a gem! Not only is the information on Bel Canto singing from their points of view fascinating, but the way these icons interact with each other is priceless to see close up.
http://wn.com/How_to_Sing_Bel_Canto_Sutherland,_Pavarotti_and_Horne_1981
Joan Sutherland talks about CONTROL & INTONATION
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:12
- Updated: 18 Nov 2012
A true goddess of singing talks about the importance of controlling the voice and proper intonation. Subtitles added on annotations :)
http://wn.com/Joan_Sutherland_talks_about_CONTROL_INTONATION
Joan Sutherland sings TOSCA Vissi d'arte
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:38
- Updated: 21 Nov 2012
Joan Sutherland sings TOSCA Vissi d'arte
http://wn.com/Joan_Sutherland_sings_TOSCA_Vissi_d'arte
Rarity!! Joan Sutherland - Concerto for coloratura and orchestra - Glière (Paris 1966)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 13:14
- Updated: 20 Nov 2012
TOP!!
http://wn.com/Rarity!!_Joan_Sutherland_Concerto_for_coloratura_and_orchestra_Glière_Paris_1966
Joan Sutherland & Margreta Elkins: Rodelinda: Io T'abbraccio
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 6:47
- Updated: 21 Nov 2012
Handel: Rodelinda, regina de' Longobardi (HWV 19) Sutherland's fresh voice, flawless technique and fine enunciation of the text are delightful. Recorded live on 24th June 1959. Joan Sutherland (Rodelinda), Janet Baker (Eduige), Margreta Elkins (Bertarido), Patricia Kern (Unulfo), Alfred Hallet (Grimoaldo), Raimund Herincx (Garibaldo) Philomusica of London, Chandos Choir, Charles Farncombe
http://wn.com/Joan_Sutherland_Margreta_Elkins_Rodelinda_Io_T'abbraccio
Joan Sutherland - Ma la sola, ohimè! son io (Score Animation)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:51
- Updated: 12 Nov 2012
One of the most beautiful bel canto arias. Entrance scene of Beatrice in "Beatrice di Tenda" by Bellini. For me this is one of Joan Sutherland's greatest vocal performances. Originally written for the great diva Assoluta, Giuditta Pasta - Who sang contralto as well as high soprano roles. "Beatrice" is perhaps one of the few truly soprano roles that Pasta originated; it stays within a lyric soprano tessitura and goes up to C#6 twice in this aria and to D6 twice later on in the opera - While, on the other hand, even "La Sonnambula" (though touching C#6 in "Sovra il sen") stays mainly within a high mezzo-soprano tessitura.
http://wn.com/Joan_Sutherland_Ma_la_sola,_ohimè!_son_io_Score_Animation
Joan Sutherland & Birgit Nilsson give a singing lesson
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 24:55
- Updated: 15 Nov 2012
Two great divas give a singing lesson.
http://wn.com/Joan_Sutherland_Birgit_Nilsson_give_a_singing_lesson
Photo: AP / Pablo Martinez Monsivais
20 Nov 2012
Article by WN.com Correspondent Dallas Darling President Barack Obama's whirlwind tour of southeast Asia and meetings with dignitaries will have to walk a tightrope between either appearing to endorse...
Photo: AP / Sebastian D'souza
21 Nov 2012
MUMBAI, India - India executed the lone surviving gunman from the 2008 terror attack on Mumbai early Wednesday, India's home ministry said. Ajmal Kasab, a Pakistani citizen, was one of 10 gunmen who...
Photo: AP / Pablo Martinez Monsivais
19 Nov 2012
Yangon, November 19: Newly re-elected US President Barack Obama arrived here Monday to kick off his visit to Myanmar, becoming the first sitting US president to visit the Southeast Asian nation. As...
Photo: AP / Hatem Moussa
19 Nov 2012
Gaza/Jerusalem - Israel bombed dozens of targets in the Gaza Strip on Monday and said that while it was prepared to step up its offensive by sending in troops, it preferred a diplomatic solution that...
Photo: UN / Logan Abassi
21 Nov 2012
A report by the UN says global attempts to curb emissions of CO2 are falling well short of what is needed to stem dangerous climate change. The UN's Environment Programme says greenhouse gases are 14%...
Street value for liquid codeine
22 Nov 2012
The Independent
On Jan. 31, 1953, a storm of historic proportions lashed the eastern coast of England, where US airman Reis Leming was stationed with the recently formed 67th Air Rescue Squadron. During the Night of the North Sea Rage, as it has been called, high tide and high sea levels clashed with...(size: 5.9Kb)
Extreme Weather Tough On Transportation System
22 Nov 2012
National Public Radio
WASHINGTON (AP) — Wild weather is taking a toll on roads, airports, railways and transit systems across the country. That's leaving states and cities searching for ways to brace for more catastrophes like Superstorm Sandy that are straining the nation's transportation lifelines beyond what their...(size: 8.7Kb)
Itinerary of 2013-14 Ashes Test series revealed
22 Nov 2012
Newstrack India
Tweet Sydney, Nov 22(ANI): The number of one-day matches for Australia has been halved to put greater emphasis on the Ashes Test series next year after the itinerary for the series was revealed. However the total of one-day games the following season will return to 10 as the 2015 World Cup...(size: 2.5Kb)
>Extreme weather tough on transportation system
22 Nov 2012
Seattle Post
WASHINGTON (AP) — Wild weather is taking a toll on roads, airports, railways and transit systems across the country. That's leaving states and cities searching for ways to brace for more catastrophes like Superstorm Sandy that are straining the nation's transportation lifelines beyond what their...(size: 7.8Kb)
2013-14 Ashes series dates unveiled
22 Nov 2012
Deccan Herald
England will play five Tests, five one-day internationals and three Twenty20 internationals in their 2013-14 Ashes campaign in Australia, Cricket Australia said today. The Test series begins at Brisbane's...(size: 1.4Kb)
Kid Brands reports net loss of $49.6 million
22 Nov 2012
North Jersey
Shares of -based Kid Brands Inc. plunged more than 9 percent Wednesday, after the company reported a net loss of $49.6 million, or $2.27 a share, for the third quarter, and revealed that net sales had declined 12.3 percent....(size: 9.6Kb)
North Jersey
— The Women's Rights Information Center launched a new program in October called "Welcome Home" designed to help women who may have been domestically abused and were forced to leave their personal belongings when fleeing from a bad situation....(size: 11.1Kb)
Refusal to protect deeply held beliefs led to Church of England’s failure to agree on ...
22 Nov 2012
The Daily Telegraph
The failure to reach concensus on women bishops at the Church of England's Synod The Rev Marie-Elsa Bragg (right) consoles the Rev Angi Nutt at Church House after the vote Photo: GETTY IMAGES 7:00AM GMT 22 Nov 2012 Comments...(size: 13.2Kb)
Extreme weather poses threat to U.S. transit
22 Nov 2012
Detroit news
By Joan Lowy Associated Press Comments Washington â The nation's lifelines â its roads, airports, railways and transit systems â are getting hammered by extreme weather beyond what their builders imagined, leaving states and cities searching for ways to brace for more catastrophes like...(size: 10.7Kb)
Kaley Cuoco just wants to have fun
22 Nov 2012
Detroit news
By Frazier Moore Associated Press Comments Kaley Cuoco, second from right, plays the Ânormal one surrounded by brainiacs Mayim Bialik, left, Jim Parsons and Johnny Galecki on ÂThe Big Bang Theory. (Michael Yarish / CBS) 'I now this sounds like it's not true," says Kaley Cuoco, "but as huge as...(size: 12.7Kb)
Cricket Australia confirms Ashes dates
22 Nov 2012
Newstrack India
Tweet Melbourne, Nov 22 (IANS) Cricket Australia (CA) Thursday confirmed the fixtures for the 2013?14 Ashes series against arch?rivals England for what will be a new?look Austrlian summer of 33 scheduled international playing days. A schedule of five Commonwealth Bank ODI Series matches and three...(size: 2.0Kb)
Gift for the derps on your list!
22 Nov 2012
The Examiner
Related topics Roller DerbygiftsBlack FridayChristmasideas Advertisement The holiday season approacheth! Black Friday is nigh upon our doorstep. So again this year, I present to you: GIFTS FOR THE ROLLERS ON YOUR LIST! Here are all kinds of ideas that roller girls, boys, refs and NSOs will love. If...(size: 13.2Kb)
Dame Joan Alston Sutherland, OM, AC, DBE (7 November 1926 – 10 October 2010)[1] was an Australian dramatic coloratura soprano noted for her contribution to the renaissance of the bel canto repertoire from the late 1950s through to the 1980s.
One of the most remarkable female opera singers of the 20th century, she was dubbed La Stupenda by a La Fenice audience in 1960 after a performance of the title role in Handel's Alcina. She possessed a voice of beauty and power, combining extraordinary agility, accurate intonation, "supremely" pinpoint staccatos,[2] a splendid trill and a tremendous upper register, although music critics often complained about the imprecision of her diction.[3] Her friend Luciano Pavarotti once called Sutherland the "Voice of the Century"; Montserrat Caballé described the Australian's voice as being like "heaven".
Contents |
Early life and career[link]
Joan Sutherland was born to Scottish parents in Sydney, and attended St Catherine's School in the suburb of Waverley, New South Wales. As a child, she listened to and imitated her mother's singing exercises. Her mother, a mezzo-soprano, had taken voice lessons but never considered making a career as a professional singer. Sutherland was 18 years old when she began seriously studying voice with John and Aida Dickens. She made her concert debut in Sydney, as Dido in Purcell's Dido and Aeneas, in 1947. In 1951, she made her stage debut in Eugene Goossens's Judith. In 1951, after winning Australia's most important competition, the Sun Aria, now known as the Sydney Eisteddfod McDonald's Operatic Aria in 1949.[4] She then went to London to further her studies at the Opera School of the Royal College of Music with Clive Carey. She was engaged by the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, as a utility soprano, and made her debut there on 28 October 1952, as the First Lady in The Magic Flute, followed in November by a few performances as Clotilde in Vincenzo Bellini's Norma, with Maria Callas as Norma.
Being an admirer of Kirsten Flagstad in her early career, she trained to be a Wagnerian dramatic soprano. In December 1952, she sang her first leading role at the Royal Opera House, Amelia in Un ballo in maschera. Other roles included Agathe in Der Freischütz, the Countess in The Marriage of Figaro, Desdemona in Otello, Gilda in Rigoletto, Eva in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, and Pamina in The Magic Flute. In 1953, she sang the role of Lady Rich in Benjamin Britten's Gloriana a few months after its world premiere, and created the role of Jennifer in Michael Tippett's The Midsummer Marriage, on 27 January 1955.
Sutherland married Australian conductor and pianist Richard Bonynge on 16 October 1954. Their son, Adam, was born in 1956. Bonynge gradually convinced her that Wagner might not be her Fach, and that since she could produce high notes and coloratura with great ease, she should perhaps explore the bel canto repertoire. She eventually settled in this Fach, spending most of her career singing dramatic coloratura soprano.
In 1957, she appeared in Handel's Alcina with the Handel Opera Society, and in Donizetti's Emilia di Liverpool, in which performances her bel canto potential was clearly demonstrated, vindicating her husband's judgement. The following year she sang Donna Anna in Don Giovanni in Vancouver.
In 1958, at the Royal Opera House, after singing, "Let the Bright Seraphim", from Handel's oratorio, Samson, she received a ten minute-long standing ovation.[citation needed]
La Stupenda[link]
In 1959, Sutherland was invited to sing Lucia di Lammermoor at the Royal Opera House in a production conducted by Tullio Serafin and staged by Franco Zeffirelli. The role of Edgardo was sung by her fellow Australian Kenneth Neate, who had replaced the scheduled tenor at short notice.[5] It was a breakthrough for Sutherland's career, and, upon the completion of the famous Mad Scene, she had become a star. In 1960, she recorded the album The Art of the Prima Donna, which remains today one of the most recommended opera albums ever recorded: the double LP set won the Grammy Award for Best Classical Performance – Vocal Soloist in 1962. The album, a collection consisting mainly of coloratura arias, displays her seemingly effortless coloratura ability, high notes and opulent tones, as well as her exemplary trill. The album was added to the National Film and Sound Archive's Sounds of Australia registry in 2011.[citation needed]
By the beginning of the 1960s, Sutherland had already established a reputation as a diva with a voice out of the ordinary. She sang Lucia to great acclaim in Paris in 1960 and, in 1961, at La Scala and the Metropolitan Opera. In 1960, she sang a superb Alcina at La Fenice, Venice, where she was nicknamed La Stupenda ("The Stunning One"). Sutherland would soon be praised as La Stupenda in newspapers around the world. Later that year (1960), Sutherland sang Alcina at the Dallas Opera, with which she made her US debut.
Her Metropolitan Opera debut took place on 26 November 1961, when she sang Lucia. After a total of 223 performances in a number of different operas,[6] her last appearance there was a concert on 12 March 1989.[7] During the 1978–82 period her relationship with the Met severely deteriorated when Sutherland had to decline the role of Constanze in Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem Serail, more than a year before the rehearsals were scheduled to start. The opera house management then declined to stage the operetta The Merry Widow especially for her, as requested; subsequently, she did not perform at the Met during that time at all, even though a production of Rossini's Semiramide had also been planned, but later she returned there to sing in other operas.[8]
During the 1960s, Sutherland had added the greatest heroines of bel canto ("beautiful singing") to her repertoire: Violetta in Verdi's La traviata, Amina in Bellini's La sonnambula and Elvira in Bellini's I puritani in 1960; the title role in Bellini's Beatrice di Tenda in 1961; Marguerite de Valois in Meyerbeer's Les Huguenots and the title role in Rossini's Semiramide in 1962; Norma in Bellini's Norma and Cleopatra in Handel's Giulio Cesare in 1963. In 1966 she added Marie in Donizetti's La fille du régiment, which became one of her most popular roles, because of her perfect coloratura and lively, funny interpretation.
In 1965, Sutherland toured Australia with the Sutherland-Williamson Opera Company. Accompanying her was a young tenor named Luciano Pavarotti, and the tour proved to be a major milestone in Pavarotti's career. Every performance featuring Sutherland sold out.
During the 1970s, Sutherland strove to improve her diction, which had often been criticised, and increase the expressiveness of her interpretations. She continued to add dramatic bel canto roles to her repertoire, such as Donizetti's Maria Stuarda and Lucrezia Borgia, as well as Massenet's extremely difficult Esclarmonde, a role that few sopranos attempt. With Pavarotti she made a very successful studio-recording of Turandot in 1972 under the baton of Zubin Mehta, though she never performed the role on stage.
Sutherland's early recordings show her to be possessed of a crystal-clear voice and excellent diction. However, by the early 1960s her voice lost some of this clarity in the middle register, and she often came under fire for having unclear diction. Some have attributed this to sinus surgery; however, her major sinus surgery was done in 1959, immediately after her breakthrough Lucia at Covent Garden.[9] In fact, her first commercial recording of the first and final scene of Lucia reveals her voice and diction to be just as clear as prior to the sinus procedure. Her husband Richard Bonynge stated in an interview that her "mushy diction" occurred while striving to achieve perfect legato. According to him, it is because she earlier had a very Germanic "un-legato" way of singing.[10] She clearly took the criticism to heart, as, within a few years, her diction improved markedly and she continued to amaze and thrill audiences throughout the world.
In the late 1970s, Sutherland's voice started to decline and her vibrato loosened to an intrusive extent. However, thanks to her vocal agility and solid technique, she continued singing the most difficult roles amazingly well. During the 1980s, she added Anna Bolena, Amalia in I masnadieri and Adriana Lecouvreur to her repertoire, and repeated Esclarmonde at the Royal Opera House performances in November and December 1983. Her last full-length dramatic performance was as Marguerite de Valois (Les Huguenots) at the Sydney Opera House in 1990, at the age of 63, where she sang Home Sweet Home for her encore. Her last public appearance, however, took place in a gala performance of Die Fledermaus on New Year's Eve, 1990, at Covent Garden, where she was accompanied by her colleagues Luciano Pavarotti and the mezzo-soprano Marilyn Horne.
According to her own words, given in an interview with The Guardian newspaper in 2002,[11] her biggest achievement was to sing the title role in Esclarmonde. She considered those performances and recordings her best.
Retirement years[link]
After retirement, Sutherland made relatively few public appearances, preferring a quiet life at her home in Les Avants, Switzerland. One exception was her 1994 address at a lunch organised by Australians for Constitutional Monarchy. In that address, she complained about having to be interviewed by a clerk of Chinese or Indian background when applying to renew her Australian passport. Her comments caused controversy among some sections of the community at the time.[12][13]
Sutherland had a leading role as Mother Rudd in the 1995 comedy film Dad and Dave: On Our Selection opposite Leo McKern and Geoffrey Rush.[14]
In 1997 she published an autobiography, The Autobiography of Joan Sutherland: A Prima Donna's Progress. It received generally scathing reviews for its literary merits,[15] but it does contain a complete list of all her performances, with full cast lists.
Her official biography, Joan Sutherland: The Authorised Biography, published in February 1994, was written by Norma Major, wife of the then prime minister John Major.[16]
In 2002 she appeared at a dinner in London to accept the Royal Philharmonic Society's gold medal. She gave an interview to The Guardian in which she lamented the lack of technique in young opera singers and the dearth of good teachers.[11] By this time she was no longer giving master classes herself; when asked by Italian journalists in May 2007 why this was, she replied: "Because I'm 80 years old and I really don't want to have anything to do with opera any more, although I do sit on the juries of singing competitions."[17] The Cardiff Singer of the World competition was the one that Sutherland was most closely associated with after her retirement. She began her regular involvement with the event in 1993, serving on the jury five consecutive times and later, in 2003, becoming its patron.[18]
On 3 July 2008, she fell and broke both of her legs while gardening at her home in Switzerland.[19] She completely recovered and attended a 2009 luncheon hosted by Queen Elizabeth at Buckingham Palace in honour of members of the Order of Merit.
Death[link]
On 11 October 2010, Sutherland's family announced that she had died at her home at Les Avants in Switzerland the previous day of cardiopulmonary failure – "the heart just gave out...When it came to the point that she physically couldn't do anything, she didn't want to live any more. She wanted to go, she was happy to go, and in the end she died very, very peacefully."[20][21][22] Though she recovered from her fall in 2008, it led to more serious health problems.[23] A statement from her family said "She's had a long life and gave a lot of pleasure to a lot of people." Sutherland had requested a small, private funeral service.[20] Her funeral was held on 14 October and Opera Australia planned a tribute to her.[23] Artistic director of Opera Australia, Lyndon Terracini, said "We won't see her like again. She had a phenomenal range, size and quality of voice. We simply don't hear that any more."[23] Sutherland is survived by her husband, son, daughter-in-law and two grandchildren.[24][25]
Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard said, "She was of course one of the great opera voices of the 20th century," adding that Dame Joan showed a lot of "quintessential Australian values. She was described as down to earth despite her status as a diva. On behalf of all Australians I would like to extend my condolences to her husband Richard and son Adam and their extended family at this difficult time. I know many Australians will be reflecting on her life's work today."[26]
Memorial service[link]
A State Memorial Service on 9 November 2010, arranged by Opera Australia, was held at the Sydney Opera House.[27] Speakers at the service were Julia Gillard, Prime Minister of Australia; Professor Marie Bashir, the Governor of New South Wales; Moffatt Oxenbould, the former Artistic Director of Opera Australia; and Sutherland's son, Adam Bonynge. The service was broadcast live by both ABC1 television and ABC Classic FM (radio) and streamed globally by ABC News 24. Further memorial services were held in Westminster Abbey on 15 February 2011,[28] and in New York City on 24 May 2011, which was hosted by Marilyn Horne with an appearance by Richard Bonynge. In attendance were Sherrill Milnes, Norman Ayrton, Regina Resnick, and Spiro Malas.
Voice[link]
Vocal timbre[link]
Described as "fresh," "silvery" and "bell-like" until 1963,[29] Joan Sutherland's voice, later became "golden" and "warm",[2] music critic John Yohalem writes it was like "molten honey caressing the line."[29] In his book "Voices, Singers and Critics", John Steane writes that "if the tonal spectrum ranges from bright to dark, Sutherland's place would be near the centre, which is no doubt another reason for her wide appeal."[2] According to John Yohalem, "Her lower register was a cello register, Stradivarius-hued."[29] Her voice was full and rounded even in her highest notes,[30] which was brilliant, but sometimes "slightly acid."[31]
In 1971, Time writes an article comparing Sutherland and Beverly Sills,
"Originally bright and youthful-sounding, her voice darkened as she transformed herself into a coloratura. There is a suggestion of Callas' famous middle register in Sutherland's vocal center—a tone that sounds as if the singer were singing into the neck of a resonant bottle. Today the Sutherland voice towers like a natural wonder, unique as Niagara or Mount Everest. Sills' voice is made of more ordinary stuff; what she shares with Callas is an abandon in hurling herself into fiery emotional music and a willingness to sacrifice vocal beauty for dramatic effect. Sutherland deals in vocal velvet, Sills in emotional dynamite. Sutherland's voice is much larger, but its plush monochrome robs it of carrying power in dramatic moments. Sills' multicolored voice, though smaller, projects better and has a cutting edge that can slice through the largest orchestra and chorus. Sometimes, indeed, it verges on shrillness. [...] In slow, legato music, Sills has a superior sense of rhythm and clean attack to keep things moving; Sutherland's more flaccid beat and her style of gliding from note to note often turn song into somnolence. Sills' diction in English, French and Italian is superb; Sutherland's vocal placement produces mushy diction in any language, but makes possible an even more seamless beauty of tone than is available to Sills."[32]
Describing Sutherland's voice, John Yohalem writes:
On my personal color scale, which runs from a voluptuous red (Tebaldi) or blood-orange (Leontyne Price) or purple (Caballé) or red-purple (Troyanos) to white-hot (Rysanek) or runny yellow-green (Sills), Sutherland is among the “blue” sopranos – which has nothing to do with “blues” in the pop sense of the term. (Ella Fitzgerald had a blue voice, but Billie Holiday had a blues voice, which is very different.) Diana Damrau is blue. Mirella Freni is blue-ish. Karita Mattila is ice blue. Regine Crespin was deep blue shading to violet. Sutherland was true blue (like the Garter ribbon). There is a coolness here that can take on the passion in the music but does not inject passion where the music lacks it, could possibly use it.[29]
Vocal category, size and range[link]
Although she is generally described as a dramatic coloratura soprano, "categorizing Sutherland's voice has always been extremely difficult, both the size and the sound present definitional problems [...] Aside from singing some roles popular amongst coloratura sopranos, Sutherland’s voice could not be more different."[2]
In a 1961 profile in The New York Times Magazine, Sutherland said she initially had "a big rather wild voice" that was not heavy enough for Wagner, although she did not realize this until she heard "Wagner sung as it should be."[33]
Regarding the size of Sutherland's voice, Opera Britannia praise "a voice of truly heroic dimensions singing bel canto. It is doubtful if any soprano in this repertoire has fielded quite so much power and tone as Dame Joan, and this includes Callas and Tetrazzini. The contrast with other sopranos who sing the same roles is appropriately enough stupendous, with rival prima donnas producing small pin points of sound as compared to Sutherland's seemingly endless cascades of full tone."[2] In 1972, music critic Winthrop Sargeant describes her voice "as large as that of a top-ranking Wagnerian soprano" in the The New Yorker.[34] French soprano Natalie Dessay states, "She had a huge, huge voice and she was able to lighten suddenly and to take this quick coloratura and she had also the top high notes like a coloratura soprano but with a big, huge voice, which is very rare."[35]
Sutherland's vocal range extended from G below the staff (G3)[33] to high F (F6), or high F-sharp (F♯6), although she never sang this last note in a public performance.[2][36]
Honours and awards[link]
During her career and after, Sutherland received many honours and awards. In 1961, she was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE).[37] That year she was named the Australian of the Year.[38]
In the Queen's Birthday Honours of 9 June 1975, she was in the first group of people to be named Companions of the Order of Australia (AC) (the order had been created only in February 1975).[39] She was elevated within the Order of the British Empire from Commander to Dame Commander (DBE) in the New Year's Honours of 1979.[40]
On 29 November 1991, the Queen bestowed on Dame Joan the Order of Merit (OM).[41] In January 2004 she received the Australia Post Australian Legends Award which honours Australians who have contributed to the Australian identity and culture. Two stamps featuring Joan Sutherland were issued on Australia Day 2004 to mark the award. Later in 2004, she received a Kennedy Center Honor for her outstanding achievement throughout her career.
Sutherland House and the Dame Joan Sutherland Centre, both at St Catherine's School, Waverley, and the Joan Sutherland Performing Arts Centre (JSPAC), Penrith, are all named in her honour.[42]
John Paul College, a leading private school in Queensland, Australia, dedicated its newly established facility the Dame Joan Sutherland Music Centre in 1991. Sutherland visited the centre for its opening and again in 1996.
In 2012, Sutherland was voted into Gramophone Magazine's first Hall of Fame.[43]
Roles[link]
Sutherland performed live the following complete roles.[44]
| First performance | Composer | Work | Role | House | Conductor | Director | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1947-06-00Jun 1947 | Handel | Acis and Galatea | Galatea | Eastwood Masonic Hall, Sydney | Concert performance | ||
| 1947-08-00Aug 1947 | Purcell | Dido and Aeneas | Dido | Lyceum Club, Sydney | Concert performance | ||
| 1950-07-1515 Jul 1950 | Handel | Samson | Dalila and Israelite woman | Sydney Town Hall | Concert performance; Sutherland made her professional role debut as the Israelite woman on 14 October 1958 | ||
| 1951-07-099 Jul 1951 | Goossens | Judith | Judith | Sydney Conservatorium of Music | Goossens | Sutherland's first complete staged opera | |
| 1952-07-1616 Jul 1952 | Puccini | tabarroIl tabarro | Giorgetta | Parry Theatre, RCM | Richard Austin | Peter Rice/Pauline Elliot | |
| 1952-10-2828 Oct 1952 | Mozart | Magic FluteThe Magic Flute | First lady | ROH, Covent Garden | Pritchard | Messel | Sutherland's professional debut |
| 1952-11-033 Nov 1952 | Verdi | Aida | High Priestess | ROH, Covent Garden | Barbirolli | Cruddas | |
| 1952-11-088 Nov 1952 | Bellini | Norma | Clotilde | ROH, Covent Garden | Gui | Barlow | |
| 1952-12-2929 Dec 1952 | Verdi | balloUn ballo in maschera | Amelia | ROH, Covent Garden | Pritchard | Barlow/Stone | Sutherland's first leading role |
| 1953-02-2424 Feb 1953 | Mozart | MarriageThe Marriage of Figaro | Countess Almaviva | ROH tour, Edinburgh | J Gibson | Gerard | |
| 1953-05-1313 May 1953 | Strauss | Elektra | Overseer | ROH, Covent Garden | Kleiber | Lambert | |
| 1953-08-1111 Aug 1953 | Britten | Gloriana | Lady Rich | ROH tour, Bulawayo | |||
| 1953-10-1919 Oct 1953 | Wagner | WalkureDie Walküre | Helmwige | ROH, Covent Garden | Stiedry | Pemberton | |
| 1953-11-022 Nov 1953 | Bizet | Carmen | Frasquita | ROH, Covent Garden | Pritchard | Wakhévitch | |
| 1954-02-044 Feb 1954 | Verdi | Aida | Aida | ROH, Covent Garden | E Young | Cruddas | |
| 1954-03-2323 Mar 1954 | Weber | FreischutzDer Freischütz | Agathe | ROH, Covent Garden | Downes | Furse | |
| 1954-04-3030 Apr 1954 | Piccinni | buona figliuolaLa buona figliuola | Lucinda | Mackerras | BBC radio broadcast | ||
| 1954-05-2727 May 1954 | Wagner | RingDer Ring des Nibelungen | Woglinde and Woodbird | ROH, Covent Garden | Stiedry | Hurry | Sutherland also sang the role of Helmwige, which she had sung previously; the other dates of the cycle were 2, 8, and 17 June |
| 1954-11-1717 Nov 1954 | Offenbach | contesLes contes d'Hoffmann | Antonia | ROH, Covent Garden | Downes | Wakhévitch | |
| 1955-01-2727 Jan 1955 | Tippett | MidsummerThe Midsummer Marriage | Jenifer | ROH, Covent Garden | Pritchard | Hepworth | World premiere; Sutherland created the role |
| 1955-02-2828 Feb 1955 | Offenbach | contesLes contes d'Hoffmann | Giulietta | ROH tour, Glasgow | Downes | Wakhévitch | |
| 1955-06-1919 Jun 1955 | Offenbach | contesLes contes d'Hoffmann | Olympia | ROH, Covent Garden | Downes | Wakhévitch | |
| 1955-09-3030 Sep 1955 | Weber | Euryanthe | Euryanthe | Stiedry | BBC radio broadcast | ||
| 1955-10-3030 Oct 1955 | Bizet | Carmen | Micaela | ROH, Covent Garden | Downes | Wakhévitch | |
| 1956-03-1111 Mar 1956 | Mozart | clemenzaLa clemenza di Tito | Vitellia | Pritchard | BBC radio broadcast | ||
| 1956-11-1010 Nov 1956 | Mozart | MagicThe Magic Flute | Pamina | ROH, Covent Garden | J Gibson | Messel | |
| 1957-01-2828 Jan 1957 | Wagner | MeistersingerDie Meistersinger von Nürnberg | Eva | ROH, Covent Garden | Kubelík | Wakhévitch | |
| 1957-03-1919 Mar 1957 | Handel | Alcina | Alcina | St Pancras Town Hall | Farncombe | Concert performance; Sutherland first performed this role on stage on 19 February 1960 | |
| 1957-06-088 Jun 1957 | Verdi | Rigoletto | Gilda | ROH, Covent Garden | Downes | Gellner | |
| 1957-07-055 Jul 1957 | Mozart | SchauspieldirektorDer Schauspieldirektor | HertzMme Hertz | Glyndebourne Festival Opera | Balkwill | Rice | |
| 1957-08-1616 Aug 1957 | Scarlatti | Mitridate Eupatore | Laodice | Appia | BBC radio broadcast | ||
| 1957-09-088 Sep 1957 | Donizetti | Emilia di Liverpool | Emilia | Pritchard | BBC radio broadcast | ||
| 1957-12-2121 Dec 1957 | Verdi | Otello | Desdemona | ROH, Covent Garden | Downes | Wakhévitch | |
| 1958-01-1616 Jan 1958 | Poulenc | Dialogues of the Carmelites | LidoineMme Lidoine | ROH, Covent Garden | Kubelík | Wakhévitch | |
| 1958-05-2424 May 1958 | Haydn | Applausus Musicus | Temperantia | Newstone | BBC radio broadcast | ||
| 1958-07-2626 Jul 1958 | Mozart | Don Giovanni | Donna Anna | Vancouver Opera | Goldschmidt | Maximowna | |
| 1959-02-1717 Feb 1959 | Donizetti | Lucia di Lammermoor | Lucia | ROH, Covent Garden | Serafin | Zeffirelli | This performance marked the beginning of Sutherland's international career |
| 1959-06-2424 Jun 1959 | Handel | Rodelinda | Rodelinda | Sadler's Wells Theatre | Farncombe | Pidcock | |
| 1960-01-088 Jan 1960 | Verdi | traviataLa traviata | Violetta Valéry | ROH, Covent Garden | Santi | Fedorovitch | |
| 1960-05-2424 May 1960 | Bellini | puritaniI puritani | Elvira | Glyndebourne Festival Opera | Gui | Heeley | |
| 1960-10-1919 Oct 1960 | Bellini | sonnambulaLa sonnambula | Amina | ROH, Covent Garden | Serafin | Sanjust | |
| 1961-02-2121 Feb 1961 | Bellini | Beatrice di Tenda | Beatrice | New York Town Hall | Rescigno | Concert performance; Sutherland first performed this role on stage on 10 May 1961 | |
| 1962-01-044 Jan 1962 | Mozart | MagicThe Magic Flute | The Queen of the Night | ROH, Covent Garden | Klemperer | Eisler | |
| 1962-05-2828 May 1962 | Meyerbeer | HuguenotsLes Huguenots | Maguerite de Valois | La Scala | Gavazzeni | Nicola Benois | |
| 1962-12-1717 Dec 1962 | Rossini | Semiramide | Semiramide | La Scala | Santini | ||
| 1963-06-2020 Jun 1963 | Handel | Giulio Cesare | Cleopatra | Sadler's Wells Theatre | Farncombe | Warre | |
| 1963-10-1717 Oct 1963 | Bellini | Norma | Norma | Vancouver Opera | Bonynge | McLance/Mess | |
| 1965-03-099 Mar 1965 | Gounod | Faust | Marguerite | Connecticut Opera | Bonynge | Rome/Brooks van Horne | |
| 1966-06-022 Jun 1966 | Donizetti | filleLa fille du régiment | Marie | ROH, Covent Garden | Bonynge | Anni/Escoffier | |
| 1967-04-1010 Apr 1967 | Delibes | Lakmé | Lakmé | Seattle Opera | Bonynge | ||
| 1967-05-2121 May 1967 | Haydn | L'anima del filosofo | Euridice | Theater an der Wien | Bonynge | Ludwig | |
| 1971-11-1212 Nov 1971 | Donizetti | Maria Stuarda | Maria Stuarda | San Francisco Opera | Bonynge | Pizzi | |
| 1972-10-2626 Oct 1972 | Donizetti | Lucrezia Borgia | Lucrezia | Vancouver Opera | Bonynge | Varona | |
| 1974-10-2323 Oct 1974 | Massenet | Esclarmonde | Esclarmonde | San Francisco Opera | Bonynge | Montressor | |
| 1975-09-1212 Sep 1975 | Verdi | trovatoreIl trovatore | Leonora | San Francisco Opera | Bonynge | Hager/Skalicki | |
| 1976-04-2222 Apr 1976 | Lehár | MerryThe Merry Widow | Hanna Glavari | Vancouver Opera | Bonynge | Varona | |
| 1977-06-1616 Jul 1977 | Puccini | Suor Angelica | Suor Angelica | Sydney Opera House | Bonynge | Digby | |
| 1977-09-2323 Sep 1977 | Massenet | roiLe roi de Lahore | Sita | Vancouver Opera | Bonynge | Mariani | |
| 1979-07-044 Jul 1979 | Mozart | Idomeneo | Electra | Sydney Opera House | Bonynge | Truscott | |
| 1980-07-022 Jul 1980 | Verdi | masnadieriI masnadieri | Amalia | Sydney Opera House | Bonynge | Lees/Stennett | |
| 1983-05-2222 May 1983 | Cilea | Adriana Lecouvreur | Adriana | San Diego Opera | Bonynge | O'Hearn/Mess | |
| 1984-06-2222 Jun 1984 | Donizetti | Anna Bolena | Anna Bolena | Canadian Opera Company, Toronto | Bonynge | Pascoe/Stennett | |
| 1985-10-044 Oct 1985 | Thomas | Hamlet | Ophélie | Canadian Opera Company, Toronto | Bonynge | Shalicki/Digby/Stennett |
Recordings[link]
Recordings include:
- Beatrice di Tenda—Joan Sutherland (Beatrice), Luciano Pavarotti (Orombello), Cornelius Opthof (Filippo), Josephine Veasey (Agnese), Joseph Ward (Anichino/Rizzardo), Ambrosian Opera Chorus, London Symphony Orchestra, Richard Bonynge—Decca
- I puritani—Joan Sutherland (Elvira), Pierre Duval (Arturo), Renato Capecchi (Riccardo), Ezio Flagello (Giorgio), Giovanni Fioiani (Gualtiero), Margreta Elkins (Enrichetta), Piero de Palma (Bruno), Coro e Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Richard Bonynge (conductor) –recorded 1963– Decca 448 969-2 / Decca 467 789-2 (part of a 10-CD set) / London POCL 3965-7
- I puritani—Joan Sutherland (Elvira), Luciano Pavarotti (Arturo), Piero Cappuccilli (Riccardo), Nicolai Ghiaurov (Giorgio), Giancarlo Luccardi (Gualtiero), Anita Caminada (Enrichetta), Renato Cazzaniga (Bruno), Chorus of the Royal Opera, Covent Garden, London Symphony Orchestra—Richard Bonynge, Recorded 1973, Decca
- La sonnambula—Joan Sutherland (Amina), Nicola Monti (Elvino), Fernando Corena (Rodolfo), Sylvia Stahlman (Lisa), Margreta Elkins (Teresa), Angelo Mercuriali (Notary), Giovanni Fioiani (Alessio), Coro e Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Richard Bonynge recorded 1962—Decca 00289 448 9662 6 / 000320702 / 455 823-2—Track listing
- La sonnambula—Joan Sutherland (Amina), Luciano Pavarotti (Elvino), Nicolai Ghiaurov (Rodolfo), Isobel Buchanan (Lisa), Della Jones (Teresa), Piero De Palma (Notaro), John Tomlinson (Alessio), National Philharmonic Orchestra, London Opera Chorus, Richard Bonynge, recorded 1980—Decca 2LH417-424
- Norma—Joan Sutherland (Norma), Marilyn Horne (Adalgisa), John Alexander (Pollione), Richard Cross (Oroveso), Yvonne Minton (Clotilde), Joseph Ward (Flavio), London Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, Richard Bonynge, Recorded 1964—Decca
- Norma—Joan Sutherland (Norma), Margreta Elkins (Adalgisa), Ronald Stevens (Pollione), Clifford Grant (Oroveso), Etela Piha (Clotilde), Trevor Brown (Flavio), Opera Australia Chorus, Elizabethan Sydney Orchestra, Richard Bonynge, recorded 1978—DVD Arthaus Musik 100 180
- Norma—Joan Sutherland (Norma), Montserrat Caballé (Adalgisa), Luciano Pavarotti (Pollione), Samuel Ramey (Oroveso), Diana Montague (Clotilde), Kim Begley (Flavio), Chorus and Orchestra of the Welsh National Opera, Richard Bonynge, Recorded 1984—Decca
- Carmen—Regina Resnik (Carmen), Mario Del Monaco (Don Jose), Joan Sutherland (Micaëla), Tom Krause (Escamillo), Georgette Spanellys (Frasquita), Yvonne Minton (Mercedes), Robert Geay (Zuniga), Jean Prudent (Le Dancaire), Alfred Hallet (Le Remendado), Claude Cales (Morales)
- Griselda—Joan Sutherland (Griselda), Lauris Elms (Ernesto), Monica Sinclair (Gualtiero), Margreta Elkins (Almirena), Spiro Malas (Rambaldo), Ambrosian Opera Chorus, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Richard Bonynge, recorded 1967. Decca 448 977-2 (coupled with Montezuma)
- Lakmé—Joan Sutherland (Lakmé), Gabriel Bacquier (Nilakantha), Jane Berbié (Malika), Émile Belcourt (Hadji), Alain Vanzo (Gérald), Monte Carlo Opera Chorus, Orchestre National de l'Opéra de Monte-Carlo, Richard Bonynge, Recorded 1968, Decca Records.
- Emilia di Liverpool (excerpts) / Lucia di Lammermoor (excerpts)—Joan Sutherland (Lucia), Margreta Elkins (Alisa), Joao Gibin (Edgardo), Tullio Serafin (conductor). Recorded 26 February 1959—Myto Records MCD 91545 (Probably these are excerpts from the same performance as the Melodram recording.)
- Lucia di Lammermoor—Joan Sutherland (Lucia), Renato Cioni (Edgardo), Robert Merrill (Enrico), Cesare Siepi (Raimondo), Chorus & Orchestra of the Accademia di Santa Cecilia, John Pritchard (conductor), Decca, 1961.
- Lucia di Lammermoor—Joan Sutherland (Lucia), Luciano Pavarotti (Edgardo), Sherrill Milnes(Enrico), Nicolai Ghiaurov (Raimondo), Chorus & Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Richard Bonynge, Decca, 1971.
- Lucia di Lammermoor—Joan Sutherland (Lucia), João Gibin (Edgardo), John Shaw (Enrico), Joseph Rouleau (Raimondo), Kenneth MacDonald (Arturo), Margreta Elkins (Alisa), Robert Bowman (Normanno), Chorus & Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Tullio Serafin, recorded 1959—Golden Melodram GM 50024 or Giuseppe di Stefano GDS 21017 or Bella Voce BLV 107 218 (highlights). 2006 release: Royal Opera House Heritage Series ROHS 002.
- Lucia di Lammermoor—Joan Sutherland (Lucia), André Turp (Edgardo), John Shaw (Enrico), Joseph Rouleau (Raimondo), Kenneth MacDonald (Arturo), Margreta Elkins (Alisa), Edgar Evans (Normanno), Chorus & Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, John Pritchard, recorded 1961—Celestial Audio CA 345
- Lucia di Lammermoor—Joan Sutherland (Lucia), Richard Tucker (Edgardo), Frank Guarrera (Enrico), Nicola Moscona (Raimondo), Robert Nagy (Normanno), Thelma Votipka (Alisa), Charles Anthony (Arturo), Metropolitan Opera House, Conductor: Silvio Varviso. Recorded 9 December 1961 for radio broadcasting.
- La fille du régiment—Joan Sutherland (Marie), Luciano Pavarotti (Tonio), Monica Sinclair (La Marquise de Berkenfield), Jules Bruyère (Hortensius), Spiro Malas (Sulpice), Eric Garrett (Le Caporal), Edith Coates (La Duchesse de Crakentorp), Orchestra & Chorus of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Richard Bonynge. Recorded: Kingsway Hall, London, 17–28 July 1967. Original LP release: SET 372-3 (two LPs), CD release: 414 520-2 DH2 (two CDs).
- L'elisir d'amore—Joan Sutherland (Adina), Luciano Pavarotti (Nemorino), Dominic Cossa (Belcore), Spiro Malas (Dulcamara), Maria Casula (Giannetta), Ambrosian Opera Chorus, English Chamber Orchestra, Richard Bonynge. Recorded: Kingsway Hall, London, 12–23 January and 1–10 July 1970. Original LP release: SET 503-5 (three LPs), CD release: 414 461-2 DH2 (two CDs), CD re-release: 475 7514 DOR2 (two CDs).
- Lucrezia Borgia—Joan Sutherland (Lucrezia Borgia), Ronald Stevens (Gennaro), Margreta Elkins (Maffio Orsini), Richard Allman (Don Alfonso), Robin Donald (Jacopo Liveretto), Lyndon Terracini (Don Apostolo Gazella), Gregory Yurisich (Ascanio Petrucci), Lamberto Furlan (Oloferno Vitellozzo), Pieter Van der Stolk (Gubetta), Graeme Ewer (Rustighello), John Germain (Astolfo), Neville Grave (Un servo), Eddie Wilden (Un coppiere), Jennifer Bermingham (Principessa Negroni), Australian Opera Chorus, Sydney Elizabethan Orchestra, Richard Bonynge, recorded 1977. VHS Video Cassette—Castle Video CV2845 (PAL); Polygram-Vidéo 070 031-3 (SECAM) Polygram 079 261-3 (PAL)
- Lucrezia Borgia—Joan Sutherland (Lucrezia), Giacomo Aragall (Gennaro), Marilyn Horne (Orsini), Ingvar Wixell (Alfonso), London Opera Chorus, National Philarmonic Orchestra, Richard Bonynge (conductor), Decca, 1977.
- Maria Stuarda—Joan Sutherland (Maria), Huguette Tourangeau (Elisabeta), Luciano Pavarotti (Leicester), Roger Soyer (Talbot), Margreta Elkins (Anna), James Morris (Cecil), Coro del Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Orchestra del Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Richard Bonynge, recorded 1975—Decca 00289 425 4102 / Lyrica LRC 1040/1041—Track listing and excerpts
- Faust—Joan Sutherland (Marguerite), Franco Corelli (Faust), Nicolai Ghiaurov (Méphistophélès), Robert Massard (Valentin), Margreta Elkins (Siébel), Monica Sinclair (Marthe), Raymond Myers (Wagner), Ambrosian Opera Chorus and Highgate School Choir, London Symphony Orchestra, Richard Bonynge, Decca 0289 4705632 4 (2002 release) / 421 240-2 (1991 release) / 467 059-2 / London POCL 3962-4 Track listing and audio samples
- Alcina—Joan Sutherland (Alcina), Margreta Elkins (Ruggiero), Lauris Elms (Bradamante), Richard Greager (Oronte), Narelle Davidson (Morgana), Ann-Maree McDonald (Oberto), John Wegner (Melisso), Chorus and Orchestra of Australian Opera, Richard Bonynge, recorded 1983. Celestial Audio CA 112
- Alcina coupled with Giulio Cesare in Egitto (highlights)—Margreta Elkins (Giulio Cesare), Joan Sutherland (Cleopatra), Marilyn Horne (Cornelia), Monica Sinclair (Tolomeo), Richard Conrad (Sesto), New Symphonic Orchestra of London, Richard Bonynge—Decca 00289 433 7232 / 467063-2 / 467 067-2—Track listing and excerpts
- Athalia—Joan Sutherland, Emma Kirkby, Aled Jones, James Bowman, Anthony Rolfe Johnson, David Thomas, The Academy of Ancient Music, Christopher Hogwood (Conductor)
- Messiah—Joan Sutherland, Grace Bumbry, London Symphony Orchestra, Sir Adrian Boult (Conductor)—Decca 433 003-2
- Rodelinda—Alfred Hallett (Grimoaldo), Raimund Herincx (Garibaldo), Joan Sutherland (Rodelinda), Dame Janet Baker (Eduige), Margreta Elkins (Bertarido), Patricia Kern (Unolfo), Chandos Singers, Philomusica Antiqua Orchestra, Charles Farncombe. An English language version, recorded live on June 24, 1959—Opera D'oro OPD 1189 (two CDs) or Memories HR 4577–4578 or Living Stage LS 403 35147 (highlights).
- Rodelinda—Joan Sutherland (Rodelinda), Huguette Tourangeau (Bertarido), Eric Tappy (Grimoaldo), Margreta Elkins (Eduige), Cora Canne-Meijer (Unolfo), Pieter Van Den Berg (Garibaldo), Netherlands Chamber Orchestra, Richard Bonynge. Recorded 30 June 1973—Bella Voce BLV 10 7206.
- Idomeneo—Sergei Baigildin (Idomeneo), Margreta Elkins (Idamante), Henri Wilden (Arbace), Leona Mitchell (Ilia), Joan Sutherland (Elettra), Australian Opera Chorus, Sydney Elizabethan Orchestra, Richard Bonynge, recorded 1979. Gala GLH 826 (highlights) and Celestial Audio CA 060 (highlights)
- Don Giovanni—Gottlob Frick (Commendatore), Luigi Alva (Don Ottavio), Graziella Sciutti (Zerlina), Joan Sutherland (Donna Anna), Piero Cappuccilli (Masetto), Elisabeth Schwarzkopf (Donna Elvira), Eberhard Wächter (Don Giovanni), Heinrich Schmidt, Giuseppe Taddei (Leporello), London Philharmonia Orchestra, Carlo Maria Giulini. Recorded 1959—EMI 0724356787353
- Don Giovanni—Gabriel Bacquier (Don Giovanni), Pilar Lorengar (Donna Elvira), Marilyn Horne (Zerlina), Joan Sutherland (Donna Anna), English Chamber Orchestra, Richard Bonynge. Decca 448 973-2
- Les Huguenots—Joan Sutherland (Marguerite), Franco Corelli (Raoul), Giulietta Simionato (Valentine), Nicolai Ghiaurov (Marcel), Fiorenza Cossotto (Urbain), Gianandrea Gavazzeni, Orchestra e Coro del Teatro Alla Scala. Live: June 7, 1962. Opera D'Oro. Sung in Italian.
- Les Huguenots—Dominic Cossa (Nevers), Gabriel Bacquier (Saint-Bris), Nicola Ghiuselev (Marcel), John Wakefield (Tavannes), Joseph Ward (Cossé), John Noble (Thoré), Glynne Thomas (Retz), John Gibbs (Meru), Clifford Grant (Maurevert), Janet Coster (Léonard), Dame Kiri Te Kanawa (1st Maid of Honour), Josephte Clement (2nd Maid of Honour), Arleen Auger (1st Gypsy Girl), Maureen Lehane (2nd Gypsy Girl), Joan Sutherland (Marguerite de Valois), Martina Arroyo (Valentine), Huguette Tourangeau (Urbain), Anastasios Vrenios (Raoul de Nangis), Alan Opie (2nd Monk), NPO, Bonynge. Decca 430 549-2, recorded in 1969.
- Les contes d'Hoffmann—Joan Sutherland, Plácido Domingo, Gabriel Bacquier,, L'Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Orchestre du Radio de la Suisse Romande, Pro Arte de Lausanne, Andre Charlet, Richard Bonynge, studio recording made at Victoria Hall, Geneva, first published in 1976.
- Suor Angelica—Joan Sutherland (Angelica), Christa Ludwig (La Zia Principessa), National Phiharmonic Orchestra, Richard Bonynge. Decca 475 6531 (coupled with Leoni's "L'oracolo")
- Turandot—Joan Sutherland (Turandot), Luciano Pavarotti (Calaf), Montserrat Caballé (Liu), Nicolai Ghiaurov (Timur), Peter Pears (Emperor), London Phiharmonic Orchestra, Zubin Mehta. Decca 414 274-2, recorded in 1972.
- Semiramide—Joan Sutherland (Semiramide), John Serge (Idreno), Joseph Rouleau (Assur), Spiro Malas (Oroe), Patricia Clark (Azema), Leslie Fyson (Mitrane), Michael Langdon (Spectre of Nino), Marilyn Horne (Arsace), London Symphony Orchestra, Richard Bonynge. Decca 425 481-2, recorded in 1966.
- Hamlet—Joan Sutherland, Gösta Winbergh, James Morris, Sheril Milnes, Orchestra and Chorus of the Welsh National Opera. Decca, 433 857-2.
- Ernani—Luciano Pavarotti (Ernani), Joan Sutherland (Elvira), Leo Nucci (Carlo), Paata Burchuladze (Silva), Linda McLeod (Giovanna), Richard Morton (Riccardo), Alastair Miles (Jago), Orchestra and Chorus of Welsh National Opera, Richard Bonynge. Recorded: Walthamstow Assembly Hall, 10–21 May 1987. Original CD release: 421 412-2 DHO2 (two CDs), CD re-release: 475 7008 DM2 (two CDs)
- I masnadieri—Joan Sutherland, Samuel Ramey, Franco Bonisolli, Matteo Manuguerra, Simone Alaimo, Orchestra and Chorus of the Welsh Nation, Richard Bonynge. CD re-release in 1993: 433 854–2 (two CD, DDD).
- Requiem—Joan Sutherland, Marilyn Horne, Luciano Pavarotti, Martti Talvela, Vienna State Opera Chorus and Vienna Philharmonic (Sir Georg Solti). Decca 411 944-2
- Rigoletto—Cornell MacNeil, Joan Sutherland, Renato Cioni, Cesare Siepi, Chorus & Orchestra of the Accademia di Santa Cecilia, Nino Sanzogno, Decca, 1961.
- Rigoletto—Sherrill Milnes, Joan Sutherland, Luciano Pavarotti, Martti Talvela, Ambrosian Opera Chorus, London Symphony Orchestra, Richard Bonynge, Decca, 1971.
- La traviata—Joan Sutherland, Carlo Bergonzi, Robert Merrill, Chorus & Orchestra of Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, John Pritchard, Decca, 1962
- La traviata—Joan Sutherland, Luciano Pavarotti, Matteo Manuguerra, National Philharmonic Orchestra, Richard Bonynge. London 430 491-2 recorded in 1979.
- Il trovatore—Luciano Pavarotti (Manrico), Ingvar Wixell (Il Conte di Luna), Nicolai Ghiaurov (Ferrando), Joan Sutherland (Leonora), Marilyn Horne (Azucena), Graham Clark (Ruiz), Norma Burrowes (Ines), Peter Knapp (Un vecchio zingaro), Wynford Evans (Un messo), London Opera Chorus, National Philharmonic Orchestra, Richard Bonynge. Recorded: Kingsway Hall, London, 8, 10, 11, 13–18, 20 September 1976; 26 March 1977. Original LP release: D82D 3 (three LPs), CD release: 417 137-2 DH2* (two CDs), CD re-release: 460 735-2 DF2 (two CDs). (Ballet music not included in CD release).
- Siegfried—Joan Sutherland as the Woodbird, Vienna Philharmonic (Sir Georg Solti) 1962 recording, London 414 110-2
References[link]
- ^ Australian Soprano Dame Joan Sutherland dies
- ^ a b c d e f "Icons of Opera – Dame Joan Sutherland", Opera Britannia (6 July 2009). Retrieved 27 September 2010.
- ^ Major, Norma (1992). "Sutherland, Dame Joan". In Sadie, Stanley. The New Grove Dictionary of Opera 4: 612. London: Macmillan.
- ^ "Young soprano triumphs", The West Australian (4 October 1949)
- ^ Martin Cooke: Vale Ken Neate
- ^ Performers' Report, MetOpera database
- ^ Sutherland – Bonynge Concert
- ^ Music View: Mystery of Casting at the Met by Donal Henahan, NYT, February 16, 1986
- ^ Joan Sutherland, Russell Braddon, Collins, 1962
- ^ Joan Sutherland talks about high notes—part 2 on YouTube
- ^ a b Martin Kettle, "I didn't want to be a diva", The Guardian, May 8, 2002.
- ^ "Dame Joan Sutherland". Sunday Profile (Australian Broadcasting Corporation). 27 March 2005. http://www.abc.net.au/sundayprofile/stories/s1331197.htm. Retrieved 21 December 2007.
- ^ Hide, Carolyn (1996). "Background Paper 9 1995–96: The Recent Republic Debate—A Chronology". Background Papers published 1995–96. Australian Parliamentary Library. http://www.aph.gov.au/library/pubs/bp/1995-96/96bp09.htm. Retrieved 21 December 2007. "7 October 1994 Dame Joan Sutherland addressed a lunch organised by Australians for Constitutional Monarchy and said: I was brought up having a British passport and it upsets me that I don't have a British passport now ...; When I go to the post office to be interviewed by a Chinese or an Indian – I'm not particularly racist – but I find it ludicrous, when I've had a passport for 40 years."
- ^ Dad and Dave: On Our Selection at the Internet Movie Database
- ^ "One Long Flat Note", Anthony Clarke, The Sydney Morning Herald, Spectrum, 20 December 1997, p. 10
- ^ "John Major", profile at the British Prime Minister's Office
- ^ Alberto Mattioli, 'Big Luciano, un video per la Stupenda Joan', La Stampa, 23 May 2007.
- ^ BBC Cardiff Singer of the World 2005.
- ^ "Opera legend Joan Sutherland, 81, recovering after breaking both her legs in a fall at home" Daily Mail (7 July 2008)
- ^ a b "Opera star Dame Joan Sutherland dies aged 83". BBC News Online. 11 October 2010. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-11517053. Retrieved 11 October 2010.
- ^ "Family: Soprano Joan Sutherland has died, age 83". Associated Press. 11 October 2010. http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hhaIYU1yAHN1iliIB6iJkfGDVWGwD9IPIFA03?docId=D9IPIFA03. Retrieved 11 October 2010.
- ^ "My last days with opera's grandest dame Joan Sutherland". The Australian. 1 February 2011. http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/arts/my-last-days-with-operas-grandest-dame-joan-sutherland/story-e6frg8n6-1225997678028. Retrieved 14 February 2011.
- ^ a b c Westwood, Matthew (12 October 2010). "Voice of the century, Dame Joan Sutherland, dies aged 83". Herald Sun (The Herald and Weekly Times). http://www.heraldsun.com.au/entertainment/voice-of-the-century-dame-joan-sutherland-dies-aged-83/story-e6frf96f-1225937433450. Retrieved 11 October 2010.
- ^ Collett-White, Mike (11 October 2010). "Opera great Joan Sutherland dies aged 83". Reuters. http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE69A2ZS20101011?pageNumber=2. Retrieved 11 October 2010.
- ^ Barry, Colleen; Jahn, George (11 October 2010). "Joan Sutherland, 'voice of the century,' dies". Associated Press. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101011/ap_en_mu/eu_switzerland_obit_sutherland. Retrieved 12 October 2010.
- ^ "Joan Sutherland dies at 83,'http://www.australiantimes.co.uk/news/PM-Gillard-pays-tribute-to-Dame-Joan-Sutherland". http://www.australiantimes.co.uk/news/Dame-Joan-Sutherland-dies-at-83. Retrieved 12 October 2010.
- ^ Joyce Morgan, 'A Fitting Finale for La Stupenda' http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/opera/a-fitting-finale-for-la-stupenda-20101109-17m2d.html
- ^ "A Service of Thanksgiving for the late Dame Joan Sutherland" at Westminster Abbey
- ^ a b c d "Joan Sutherland: My Starter Diva", Opera Britannia (24 October 2010)
- ^ http://www.classiquenews.com/ecouter/lire_article.aspx?article=478&identifiant=N2S56TZLZ3600HWN00W1Z19PU
- ^ http://next.liberation.fr/culture/01012295905-joan-sutherland-une-diva-s-en-va
- ^ "Music: Sutherland: A Separate Greatness". Time. 22 November 1971. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,905556,00.html.
- ^ a b Tommasini, Anthony. "Joan Sutherland, Flawless Soprano, Is Dead at 83". The New York Times. 11 October 2010. Retrieved 19 February 2011.
- ^ Boehm, Mike (12 October 2010). "Joan Sutherland dies at 83; ranked among the most powerful divas of the 20th century". Los Angeles Times. http://articles.latimes.com/2010/oct/12/local/la-me-joan-sutherland-20101012.
- ^ Natalie Dessay talks about Joan Sutherland and Maria Callas on YouTube. Retrieved 25 April 2011.
- ^ Joan Sutherland talks about high notes on YouTube. Retrieved 19 February 2011.
- ^ It's an Honour: CBE
- ^ Lewis, Wendy (2010). Australians of the Year. Pier 9 Press. ISBN 978-1-74196-809-5.
- ^ It's an Honour: AC
- ^ It's an Honour: DBE
- ^ It's an Honour: OM
- ^ "The Passing of Opera Legend Dame Joan Sutherland", The Joan Sutherland Performing Arts Centre (12 October 2010)
- ^ "Dame Joan Sutherland (soprano)". Gramophone. http://www.gramophone.co.uk/HallofFame/ArtistPage/Sutherland. Retrieved 11 April 2012.
- ^ This list is taken from the complete list of Sutherland's performances up to and including 18 December 1986 on pp. 204–241 of Norma Major's book Joan Sutherland, published 1987
Further reading[link]
- Norma Major Joan Sutherland: The Authorized Biography Queen Anne P, 1987, ISBN 0-356-12693-5, ISBN 978-0-356-12693-7 / Little Brown & Co, 1994, ISBN 0-316-54555-4, ISBN 978-0-316-54555-6
- The Autobiography of Joan Sutherland—A prima donna's progress Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1997, ISBN 0-297-81321-8
External links[link]
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Joan Sutherland |
- Joan Sutherland at Decca Records
- Joan Sutherland at the Internet Movie Database
- Joan Sutherland Collection at the Performing Arts Collection, the Arts Centre Melbourne (costumes, costume elements, costume designs, props, photographs, programmes, correspondence, scrapbooks, news clippings, business records etc.)
- Dame Joan Sutherland programs in the National Library of Australia
- Collected news and commentary at The New York Times
- R.I.P: Opera Legend Joan Sutherland – slideshow by Life
- Interviews
- ABC Sunday Profile interview: Dame Joan Sutherland
- Arts and Culture: Ch. Purdy Interview with Dame Sutherland, November 2006
- Joan Sutherland interview by Bruce Duffie
- Obituaries
- Dame Joan Sutherland obituary, John Amis, Alan Blyth, The Guardian, Monday, 11 October 2010
- Joan Sutherland, Opera Soprano, Dies, Anthony Tommasini at The New York Times
- Joan Sutherland: addio, Stupenda, Anne Midgette at The Washington Post
- Opinion
- Dame Joan Sutherland remembered at Opera Now
- Sutherland, Joan (1926–) National Library of Australia, Trove, People and Organisation record for Joan Sutherland
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| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| Name | Sutherland, Joan Alston |
| Alternative names | |
| Short description | Australian soprano |
| Date of birth | 7 November 1926 |
| Place of birth | Sydney, New South Wales, Australia |
| Date of death | 10 October 2010 |
| Place of death | Les Avants, Switzerland |
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This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joan_Sutherland
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This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
This article is about the Sutherland area of the highlands of Scotland. For other uses, see Sutherland (disambiguation).
| Sutherland | |
|---|---|
| — County (until circa 1890) — | |
 |
|
| Country | Scotland |
| County town | Dornoch |
| Area | |
| • Total | 5,252 km2 (2,028 sq mi) |
| Ranked 5th | |
| Chapman code | SUT |
Sutherland is a registration county, lieutenancy area and former county of Scotland. It is now within the Highland council area. In Gaelic the area is referred to according to its traditional areas: Dùthaich Mhic Aoidh (or Dùthaich 'Ic Aoidh) (NW), Asainte (Assynt), and Cataibh (East). However, Cataibh will often be used to refer to the area as a whole.
The county town, and only burgh of the county, was Dornoch. Other settlements include Bonar Bridge, Lairg, Brora, Durness, Embo, Tongue, Golspie, Helmsdale, Lochinver, Scourie and Kinlochbervie.
Sutherland became a local government area in 1890, and the county was abolished in 1975, when the Sutherland district was created as one of eight districts of the Highland Region. The region was created at the same time as the district. The district was abolished in 1996, when the region became a council area.
The name Sutherland dates from the era of Norse rule and settlement over much of the Highlands and Islands, under the rule of the jarl of Orkney. Although it contains some of the northernmost land in the island of Great Britain, it was called Suðrland ("southern land") from the standpoint of Orkney and Caithness.
The North-West corner of Sutherland, traditionally known as the Province of Strathnaver, was not incorporated into Sutherland until 1601. This was the home of the powerful and warlike Clan Mackay, and as such was named in Gaelic, Dùthaich 'Ic Aoidh, the Homeland of Mackay. Even today this part of Sutherland is known as Mackay Country, and, unlike other areas of Scotland where the names traditionally associated with the area have become diluted, there is still a preponderance of Mackays in the Dùthaich.
As well as Caithness to the north and east, Sutherland has North Sea (Moray Firth) coastline in the east, the former county of Ross and Cromarty to the south, and Atlantic coastline in the west and north. Like its southern neighbour, Wester Ross, Sutherland has some of the most dramatic scenery in the whole of Europe, especially on its western fringe where the mountains meet the sea. These include high sea cliffs, and very old mountains composed of Precambrian and Cambrian rocks.
Contents |
Landscape[link]
The inland landscape is rugged and very sparsely populated. Despite being Scotland's 5th largest former county in terms of area, it has a smaller population than a medium-size lowland Scottish town. It stretches from the Atlantic in the west, up to the Pentland Firth and across to the North Sea. The sea-coasts boast very high cliffs and deep fjords in the east and north, ragged inlets on the west and sandy beaches in the north. As would be expected, much of the population is based in seaward towns, such as Helmsdale and Lochinver, which until very recently made much of their living from the rich fishing of the waters around the British Isles. The remote far north west point of Sutherland, Cape Wrath is the most north westerly point in Scotland.
Sutherland has many rugged mountains such as Ben Hope, the most northerly Munro. The western part comprises Torridonian sandstone underlain by Lewisian gneiss. The spectacular scenery has been created by denudation to form isolated sandstone peaks such as Foinaven, Arkle (hill), Cùl Mòr, Suilven and Stac Pollaidh. Such mountains are attractive for hill walking and scrambling, despite their remote location. Together with similar peaks to the south in Wester Ross, they have a unique structure with great scope for exploration. On the other hand, care is needed when bad weather occurs owing to their isolation and the risks of injury. Sutherland also has many fine beaches, a remote example being Sandwood Bay, which can only be reached by foot along a rough track. The number of visiting tourists is naturally, minimal.
Transport links are poor: the A9 road main east coast road is challenging north of Helmsdale, particularly at the notorious Berriedale Braes, and there are few inland roads.
The Far North Line north-south single-track railway line was extended through Sutherland by the Highland Railway between 1868 and 1871. It enters Sutherland near Invershin and runs along the east coast as far as possible, but an inland diversion was necessary from Helmsdale along the Strath of Kildonan. The line exits to the east of Forsinard. There are no airports. Much of the Sutherland is poor relative to the rest of Scotland with few job opportunities beyond government funded employment. Further education is provided by North Highland College, part of the University of the Highland and Islands. The Ross House Campus in Dornoch was the first establishment in the UK to provide a degree in Golf Management. The Burghfield House Campus, also in Dornoch, is an hotel school.
Sutherland is perhaps best known for its saddest memory: The Highland Clearances: The forceful eviction of people from their homes in the 18th century by the landowners to make way for large sheep farms. Sutherland suffered more than most parts of the Highlands, scattering people far and wide across the globe.[1] The clearances also saw many forced to move from their inland homes to live along the coast scraping a life as fisherfolk. It was the villages produced by this policy that formed the last Gaelic speaking communities to be found on the east coast of Scotland, as discovered by Nancy Dorian in the early 1960s, and there are still some native speakers of the East Sutherland dialect of Gaelic in this area.[2]
Owing to its isolation from the rest of the country, Sutherland was reputedly the last haunt of the native wolf, the last survivor being shot in the 18th century. However, other wild life has survived, including the golden eagle, sea eagle and pine marten amongst other species which are very rare in the rest of the country. There are pockets of the native Scots Pine, remnants of the original Caledonian Forest.
Local government[link]
See also: Politics of the Highland council area
County, burgh and parishes, 1890 to 1975[link]
Sutherland became a local government county, with its own elected county council, in 1890, under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1889. At that time, one town within the county, Dornoch, was already well established as an autonomous burgh with its own burgh council. Parish councils, covering rural areas of the county were established in 1894. In 1897, Sutherland introduced the world to the transfer station, where burgh residents could deposit and/or claim otherwise unwanted goods.
Dornoch, a royal burgh, served as the county's administrative centre.
The parish councils were abolished in 1931 under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1929. The county council and the burgh council were abolished in 1975 under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973. The 1973 act also created a new two tier system, with Sutherland as a district within the Highland region.
District, 1975 to 1996[link]
In 1975, under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, the county was divided between Caithness and Sutherland local government districts within the Highland region, with Tongue and Farr areas of the county of Sutherland becoming part of the Caithness district (which also included the area of the county of Caithness). Also, the Kincardine area of the county of Ross and Cromarty was merged into the new Sutherland district. Shortly after its creation, however the boundary between the districts of Sutherland and Caithness were redrawn to follow that between the counties.
The region was also created in 1975, as one of nine two-tier local government regions of Scotland. Each region consisted of a number of districts and both regions and districts had their own elected councils. The creation of the Highland region and of Sutherland as a district involved the abolition of the one burgh council in Sutherland, Dornoch, as well as abolition of the Sutherland county council.
In 1996 local government in Scotland was again reformed, to create 32 unitary council areas. The Highland region became the Highland unitary council area, and the functions of the district councils were absorbed by the Highland Council.
Management area and area committees, 1996 to 2007[link]
In 1996, Sutherland and the other seven districts of the Highland region were merged in to the unitary Highland council area, under the Local Government etc (Scotland) Act 1994. The new Highland Council then adopted the former districts as management areas and created a system of area committees to represent them.
Until 1999 the Sutherland management and committee areas consisted of seven out of the 72 Highland Council wards. Each ward elected one councillor by the first past the post system of election.
In 1999, however, ward boundaries were redrawn but management area boundaries were not. As a result area committees were named for and made decisions for areas which they did not exactly represent. The new Sutherland committee area consisted of six out of the 80 new Highland Council wards.
New wards were created for elections this year, 2007, polling on 3 May and, as the wards became effective for representational purposes, the Highland Council's management and committee structures were reorganised. The Sutherland management area and the Sutherland area committees were therefore abolished. The management area is now divided between two of the five new ward management areas of the council's new Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross corporate management area.
Community councils, 1975 to present (2007)[link]
Although created under local government legislation (the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973) community councils have no statutory powers or responsibilities and are not a tier of local government. They are however the most local tier of statutory representation. Here is a list of Highland Community Councils (scroll to Sutherland).
Under the 1973 act, they were created in terms of community council schemes created by the district councils which were created under the same act. The Sutherland district scheme was adopted in 1975.
Statutory status for community councils was continued under the Local Government etc (Scotland) Act 1994, and the Sutherland scheme is now the responsibility of the Highland Council.
Constituency[link]
Main article: Sutherland (UK Parliament constituency)
The Sutherland constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom represented the county from 1708 to 1918. At the same time however the county town of Dornoch was represented as a component of the Northern Burghs constituency.
In 1918 the Sutherland constituency and Dornoch were merged into the then new constituency of Caithness and Sutherland. In 1997 Caithness and Sutherland was merged into Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross.
The Scottish Parliament constituency of Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross was created in 1999 and now has boundaries slightly different from those of the House of Commons constituency. In the Scottish Parliament Sutherland is represented also as part of the Highlands and Islands electoral region.
Sutherland in popular culture[link]
In M. C. Beaton's Hamish Macbeth mystery series, the fictional towns of Lochdubh and Strathbane are located in Sutherland.
Rosamunde Pilcher's last novel Winter Solstice is largely set in and around the fictional Sutherland town of Creagan, located somewhere to the northwest of the Black Isle.
Notable people with Sutherland connections[link]
- George Mackay Brown (1921-1996), 'Bard of Orkney', whose mother was born in Strathy
- John Lennon (1940-1980), a frequent visitor to Durness, on which the song 'In My Life' was reputedly based
- Joe Strummer (1952-2002), Frontman of The Clash. Born John Graham Mellor in Ankara, Turkey. His mother, Anna Mackenzie, was a crofter's daughter born and raised in Bonar Bridge.
Footnotes[link]
- ^1 Sutherland derives from a Norse perception of the land as 'southern' (Suðrland meaning "Southland"). The Norse referred similarly to the Western Isles as Suðreyjar (the "Southern Isles"), southern in relation to the "Northern Isles" of Orkney, Shetland and the Faroe Islands.
- ^2 Sutherland has two main names in the local, indigenous Scottish Gaelic: Cataibh may be used for the whole of Sutherland, but tended historically to apply to the south east, and Dùthaich MhicAoidh (Mackay Country) which was used for the north west, sometimes referred to as Reay Country in English. Cataibh can be read as meaning among the Cats and the Cat element appears as Cait in Caithness. The Scottish Gaelic name for Caithness, however, is Gallaibh, meaning among the Strangers (i.e. the Norse who extensively settled there).
- ^ The Highland Clearances, by John Prebble
- ^ http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7647046783946085652
See also[link]
External links[link]
|
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Sutherland |
- Small Area Population Estimates 2004PDF (412 KB) (www.highland.gov.uk)
- Miss Dempster "Folk-Lore of Sutherlandshire" Folk-Lore Journal. Volume 6, 1888.
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Coordinates: 58°15′N 4°30′W / 58.25°N 4.5°W / 58.25; -4.5
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There are many people in history who are commonly appended with the phrase "the Great", or who were called that or an equivalent phrase in their own language. Other languages have their own suffixes such as e Bozorg and e azam in Persian and Urdu respectively.
In Persia, the title "the Great" at first seems to be a colloquial version of the Old Persian title "Great King". This title was first used by the conqueror Cyrus II of Persia.[1]
The Persian title was inherited by Alexander III of Macedon (336–323 BC) when he conquered the Persian Empire, and the epithet "Great" eventually became personally associated with him. The first reference (in a comedy by Plautus)[2] assumes that everyone knew who "Alexander the Great" was; however, there is no earlier evidence that Alexander III of Macedon was called "the Great".
The early Seleucid kings, who succeeded Alexander in Persia, used "Great King" in local documents, but the title was most notably used for Antiochus the Great (223–187 BC).
Later rulers and commanders began to use the epithet "the Great" as a personal name, like the Roman general Pompey. Others received the surname retrospectively, like the Carthaginian Hanno and the Indian emperor Ashoka the Great. Once the surname gained currency, it was also used as an honorific surname for people without political careers, like the philosopher Albert the Great.
As there are no objective criteria for "greatness", the persistence of later generations in using the designation greatly varies. For example, Louis XIV of France was often referred to as "The Great" in his lifetime but is rarely called such nowadays, while Frederick II of Prussia is still called "The Great". A later Hohenzollern - Wilhelm I - was often called "The Great" in the time of his grandson Wilhelm II, but rarely later.
Contents |
Rulers[link]
- Abbas I of Persia (1571–1629), Shah of Iran
- Akbar (1542–1605), ruler of the Mughal Empire of South Asia, mainly India
- Alain I of Albret (1440–1522), French aristocrat
- Alexander the Great (356-323 BC), King of Macedonia, Persia, Greece, Egypt, and all of Mesopotamia
- Alexander I of Georgia (1386–1446), King of Georgia
- Alfonso III of León (c. 848-910), King of León, Galicia and Asturias
- Alfred the Great (848/849-899), King of Wessex
- Antiochus III the Great (c. 241–187 BC), ruler of the Seleucid Empire
- Ashoka the Great (c. 304–232 BC), Indian emperor of the Maurya dynasty
- Ashot I of Iberia “the Great”(died 826/830), presiding prince of Iberia (modern Georgia),
- Askia Mohammad I (c. 1442–1538), ruler of the Songhai Empire
- Bhumibol Adulyadej (born 1927), King of Thailand
- Bolesław I Chrobry (967-1025), sometimes called "the Great", first King of Poland
- Bruno the Great (925–965), Archbishop of Cologne and Duke of Lotharingia (also listed in the following section)
- Buddha Yodfa Chulaloke (1736–1809), founder and ruler of the Rattanakosin Kingdom (in what is now Thailand)
- Cnut the Great (c. 985 or 995-1035), King of Denmark, England, Norway and parts of Sweden
- Casimir III the Great (1310–1370), King of Poland
- Catherine the Great (1729–1796), Empress of Russia
- Chandragupta II (reigned 375-413/415), also known as Vikramaditya, ruler of the Gupta empire in India
- Charlemagne (died 814), King of the Franks and Emperor of the Romans
- Chulalongkorn (1853–1910), King of Siam (now Thailand)
- Chlothar II (584-629), King of Neustria and King of the Franks
- Conrad, Margrave of Meissen (c. 1097-1157), Margrave of Meissen
- Constantine I (c. 272-337), Roman emperor
- Cyaxares the Great (c. 625-585 BC), third king of Media
- Cyrus the Great (c. 600 BC or 576 BC–530 BC), founder and ruler of the Persian or Achaemenid Empire
- Darius the Great (550 – 486 BC), third ruler of the Persian Empire
- Devapala (died 850), ruler of the Pala Empire in the Indian subcontinent
- Dionysius I, Greek tyrant of Syracuse[3]
- Ferdinand I of León and Castile (c. 1015–1065), King of León and Count of Castile
- Frederick the Great (1712–1786), King of Prussia
- Genghis Khan (1162?-1227), founder and Great Khan of the Mongol Empire
- Gero (c. 900–965), ruler of Marca Geronis, a very large march in Europe
- Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden (1594–1632), King of Sweden, founder of the Swedish Empire, and noted military leader
- Gwanggaeto the Great, King of Goguryeo, one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea[4][5]
- Hanno the Great, the name of three leaders of Carthage, in the 4th, 3rd, and 2nd centuries BC
- Henry I, Duke of Burgundy (946–1002)
- Henry IV of France (1553–1610), King of France and King of Navarre
- Herod the Great (73/74 BC-4 BC), King of Judea
- Hugh the Great (898-956), Duke of the Franks and Count of Paris
- Hugh Magnus of France (1007–1025), co-King of France
- Hugh I, Count of Vermandois (1057–1101)
- Humphrey I de Bohun (died c. 1123), Anglo-Norman aristocrat
- Ivan III of Russia (1440–1505), Tsar of Russia
- John I of Portugal (1358–1433), King of Portugal and the Algarve
- John II of Aragon (1398–1479), King of Aragon and, through his wife, King of Navarre
- Justinian I (483-565), Byzantine Emperor
- Kamehameha I (c. 1758-1819), first King of Hawai'i
- Kanishka (died c. 127), ruler of the Kushan Empire in Central Asia and parts of India
- Kvirike III of Kakheti (1010–1029), King of Kakheti in eastern Georgia
- Kublai Khan (1215–1294), Mongol ruler in the 13th century and Emperor of China; founder of the Yuan Dynasty
- Llywelyn the Great (c. 1172–1240), Prince of Gwynedd and de facto ruler of most of Wales
- Louis I of Hungary (1326–1382), King of Hungary, Croatia and Poland
- Mangrai the Great (1238–1317), Lanna, northern Thailand
- Emperor Meiji (1852–1912), Emperor of Japan
- Mircea I of Wallachia (1355–1418)
- Mithridates II of Parthia (died 88 BC), ruler of the Parthian Empire (in present day Iran)
- Mithridates VI of Pontus (134 BC–63 BC), ruler of Pontus and the Bosporan Kingdom
- Mstislav I of Kiev (1076–1132), Grand Prince of Kievan Rus
- Naresuan (1555–1605), King of Ayutthaya
- Narai (1633–1688), King of Ayutthaya (in what is now modern Thailand)
- Odo the Great (died c. 735), Duke of Aquitaine
- Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor (912-973)
- K'inich Janaab' Pakal (603-683), ruler of the Mayan city-state of Palenque
- Parakramabahu I of Polonnaruwa (1123–1186), King of Sri Lanka
- Peter Krešimir IV of Croatia (died 1075), King of Croatia
- Peter the Great (1672–1725), Tsar of Russia
- Peter III of Aragon (1239–1285), King of Aragon and King of Sicily
- Pompey (106 BC-48 BC), military and political leader of the late Roman Republic, rival of Julius Caesar
- Radama I (1793–1828), first king of greater Madagascar
- Raja Raja Chola I (c. 947-1014), Indian emperor of the Cholas.[6][7][8]
- Rajendra Chola I (reigned 1014–1044), Tamil King of India
- Ramesses II (reigned 1279 BC – 1213 BC), considered the greatest pharaoh of Ancient Egypt
- Ram Khamhaeng (around 1237 to 1247-1298), King of Sukhothai (in present day Thailand)
- Ramon Berenguer III, Count of Barcelona (1082–1131), also Count of Provence and various other counties
- Rhodri the Great (c. 820–878), King of Gwynedd (in present day Wales)
- Roman the Great (after 1160-1205), Grand Prince of Kiev
- Saladin (c. 1138-1193), Kurdish Sultan of Egypt and Syria, founder of the Ayyubid dynasty, and victor over the Crusaders
- Samudragupta (c. 335–375), ruler of the Gupta empire in the Indian subcontinent
- Sancho III of Navarre (c. 992-1035), King of Kingdom of Navarre
- Sargon of Akkad (died c. 2215 BC), ruler of the Akkadian Empire
- Sejong the Great (1397–1450), Korean king[9]
- Shapur II (309-379), king of the Sassanid Empire, Persia
- Simeon I of Bulgaria (864/865-927), ruler of the First Bulgarian Empire
- Stephen III of Moldavia (1433–1504), Prince of Moldavia (Romania)
- Stephen Uroš IV Dušan of Serbia (c. 1308-1355), King of Serbia and Emperor of the Serbs and Greeks
- Taksin (1734–1782), King of the Thonburi Kingdom (Thailand)
- Tamar (1160-1123), Queen of the Georgian Empire
- Timur (1336–1405), better known as Tamerlane, founder of the Timurid Dynasty
- Theobald II, Count of Champagne (1090–1151), Count of Blois and of Chartres as Theobald IV, Count of Champagne and of Brie
- Theodoric the Great (454-526), King of the Ostrogoths, regent of the Visigoths and a viceroy of the Byzantine Empire
- Theodosius I (347-395), Roman emperor
- Tigranes the Great (140-55 BC), Emperor of Armenia
- Tiridates III of Armenia (285-339), King of Armenia
- Umar (c. 586 to 590–644), second caliph of the Muslim Empire
- Valdemar I of Denmark (1131–1182), King of Denmark
- Valentinian I (364-375), Roman Emperor
- Vladimir I of Kiev (c. 958-1015), ruler of Kievan Rus
- Vytautas (c. 1350-1430), archduke of the Lithuanian Grand Duchy
- William I, Count of Burgundy (1020–1087), Count of Burgandy and Mâcon
- William V, Duke of Aquitaine (969-1030), also Count of Poitou
- Xerxes I (519-465 BC), King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire (Persia)
- Yu the Great (c. 2200-2100 BC), legendary ruler in ancient China
Religious figures[link]
- Abraham the Great of Kashkar (ca. 492-586), monk and saint of the Assyrian Church of the East
- Abraham Kidunaia (died c. 366, hermit, priest, and Christian saint of Mesopotamia
- Albertus Magnus (1193/1206–1280), medieval German philosopher and theologian
- Anthony the Great (c. 251–356), early Christian saint of Egypt
- Babai the Great (c. 551–628), Assyrian church leader
- Basil of Caesarea (330-379), Greek bishop and theologian
- Bruno the Great (925–965), Archbishop of Cologne and Duke of Lotharingia (also listed in the previous section)
- Euthymius the Great (377-473), abbot and Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox saint
- Gertrude the Great (1256-c. 1302), German Benedictine, mystic, theologian and Roman Catholic saint
- Pope Gregory I (c. 540-604)
- Hiyya the Great, 3rd-century rabbi, Palestine
- Pope John Paul II (1920–2005)
- Pope Leo I (c. 391 or 400-461)
- Macarius of Egypt (c. 300-391), Egyptian hermit
- Pope Nicholas I (c. 800-867)
- Photius I of Constantinople (c. 810–c. 893), Eastern Orthodox saint and Patriarch of Constantinople
- William of Maleval (died 1157), founder of the Catholic congregation of Williamites
Other[link]
- Beli Mawr, a figure in medieval Welsh literature and genealogies
- Emmy the Great, folk singer
- Matteo Rosso the Great, Roman politician and father of Pope Nicholas III
- Prokop the Great, Hussite general in Bohemia
See also[link]
- Epithet
- List of monarchs by nickname
- List of nicknames of European Royalty and Nobility: G-I
- James, son of Zebedee, also known as James the Greater, one of the twelve apostles of Jesus
- Ajax (mythology), called Ajax the Greater
- Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, whose common honorific "Mahatma" means "Great Soul"
Notes[link]
- ^ In a clay cylinder (online). The expression was used in a propagandistic context: the conqueror wants to show he is a normal Babylonian ruler. The first Persian ruler to use the title in an Iranian context was Darius I of Persia (Darius the Great), in the Behistun Inscription (online).
- ^ Plautus, Mostellaria 775.
- ^ History, Instituto Geografico De Agostini S.p.A., p. 479
- ^ World and Its Peoples:Korea. Marshall Cavendish Corporation. September 2008. p. 887. ISBN 0-7614-7631-8.
- ^ Alison Behnke (2004). North Korea in Pictures. Twenty-First Century Books. p. 70. ISBN 0-8225-1908-9. http://books.google.com/?id=ovWvhyLc6hAC&pg=RA1-PA70&dq=%22Gwanggaeto+the+Great%22.
- ^ Sarkar, Benoy Kumar (December 1919). "An English History of India". Political Science Quarterly 34 (4): 644–653. DOI:10.2307/2142032. JSTOR 2142032. ""The finances of the state were not more centralized under Louis XIV than under Rajaraja the Great.""
- ^ "Heaven sent: Michael Wood explores the art of the Chola dynasty". Royal Academy, UK. http://www.royalacademy.org.uk/ra-magazine/winter2006/features/heven-sent,47,RAMA.html. Retrieved 2007-04-26.
- ^ "The Chola Dynasty: Accession of Rajaraja, the Great". Sify.com. http://sify.com/itihaas/fullstory.php?id=13219885. Retrieved 2007-04-26.
- ^ Christoph Bluth; Gareth Schott (2007). Korea. Polity. p. 10. ISBN 0-7456-3356-0.
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Marilyn Horne (born January 16, 1934, Bradford, Pennsylvania) is an American mezzo-soprano opera singer. She specialized in roles requiring a large sound, beauty of tone, excellent breath support, and the ability to execute difficult coloratura passages.
Contents |
Biography[link]
Horne was born in Bradford, Pennsylvania, but moved with her parents to Long Beach, California, when she was 11. At the age of 13, she became part of the newly formed Los Angeles Concert Youth Chorus. She attended the University of Southern California where she was a member of Pi Beta Phi sorority. She is an alumna of Long Beach Polytechnic High School and returned in 1989 in a performance to benefit its music program. As a high school student, Marilyn was part of the St. Luke's Choir of Long Beach under the direction of William Ripley Dorr. This prestigious choir often worked for the movie studios and recorded on Capitol Records. Marilyn and her sister Gloria were part of St. Luke's Quartet along with tenor, Bob James and baritone, Philip D. Haynes.
She studied voice under William Vennard at the University of Southern California School of Music and participated in Lotte Lehmann's vocal master classes.[1]
Career[link]
Horne's first major professional engagement was in 1954, when she dubbed the singing voice of Dorothy Dandridge in the film Carmen Jones. Until that point, she had worked as a background singer for several TV sitcoms, as well as recorded covers of popular songs of the early 1950s, which were sold in dimestores around the country for $1.98. She made an appearance on The Odd Couple as a character named "Jackie," her own nickname, a meek and nervous would-be singer who develops into a full-blown diva and essays the role of Carmen with brilliant results; she also sang on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. She made her Los Angeles debut the same year when she performed the role of Hata in The Bartered Bride with the Los Angeles Guild Opera.
Her first major breakthrough came when her singing ability was recognized by Igor Stravinsky; her operatic career began when he invited her to perform in the 1956 Venice festival. She remained in Europe for three seasons singing for the Gelsenkirchen Opera.
She was highly acclaimed for her performance as Marie in Alban Berg's Wozzeck at the inauguration of Gelsenkirchen's new opera house on May 22, 1960. In 1964, she returned to the United States to appear in Wozzeck at the San Francisco Opera.
For many years, Horne was associated with the Australian soprano Dame Joan Sutherland in their performances of the bel canto repertoire. They first performed together in a concert version of Vincenzo Bellini's Beatrice di Tenda at The Town Hall in Manhattan in February 1961. This performance was so successful, it was repeated twice at Carnegie Hall. In 1965, they were paired again in a performance of Rossini's Semiramide with the Opera Company of Boston, and sang in a joint concert on October 15, 1979, which was telecasted as "Live from Lincoln Center".
Horne made her debut at the Royal Opera House in October 1964 as Marie in Wozzeck. Her La Scala debut was as Jocasta in Stravinsky's opéra-oratorio Œdipus rex on March 13, 1969. Another of Horne's breakthroughs occurred that same year during a performance of Rossini's Le siège de Corinthe at La Scala, when Horne received a remarkable mid-act seven-minute ovation. Horne made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera in 1970 as Adalgisa in Bellini's Norma with Sutherland in the title role. She thereafter appeared regularly at the Met, opening the 1972/1973 season as Carmen. A great success there was in Meyerbeer's Le prophète, in John Dexter's production. In 1984, she sang the title role of Handel's opera seria Rinaldo (directed by Frank Corsaro), the first Handel opera ever performed at the Met.
Although best known for her bel canto and opera seria roles, Horne also sang much American music, both contemporary music by composers such as William Bolcom, and traditional popular songs. She can be heard on the soundtrack of Flower Drum Song singing "Love, Look Away" and sings the role of Lady Thiang on the Philips recording of The King and I starring Julie Andrews and Ben Kingsley. She had previously sung in the women's chorus for the 1956 film version of The King and I.
Horne was married from 1960 to 1979 (separated 1974) to the conductor Henry Lewis, with whom she maintained a home in the Echo Park neighborhood of Los Angeles for many years, and with whom she had a daughter, Angela. Horne's mother initially had misgivings that the interracial marriage would have a negative impact on Horne's career, saying, "Be his mistress, for God's sake, not his wife," but soon reconciled with the couple.[2]
In 1983, she published (with co-writer Jane Scovell) a candid autobiography, My Life, and a continuation volume, Marilyn Horne, The Song Continues, appeared in 2004.
Horne received many honors during her career. A New York Times article by Robert Jacobson, editor of Opera News, in celebration of the Met's 100th anniversary in 1983, listed the hundred greatest singers who had ever performed at the house and included Horne, the only one still actively singing at the time. She was awarded Yale University's Sanford Medal.[3]
On July 5, 1986, she performed on the New York Philharmonic's tribute to the 100th anniversary of the Statue of Liberty, which was televised live on ABC Television.[4]. The orchestra, conducted by Zubin Mehta, performed in Central Park. She sang an aria from "Carmen" by Georges Bizet.
In 1992 she was awarded the National Medal of Arts.[5]
In January 1993, Horne sang "Make A Rainbow", by American singer and songwriter Portia Nelson, and the Shaker hymn "Simple Gifts" at the inauguration of US President Bill Clinton.
Horne retired from the concert stage in 1999 with a recital at the Chicago Symphony Center. She still occasionally performs at pop concerts (most recently with Broadway star Barbara Cook), her voice undimmed by age. Horne has also established the Marilyn Horne Foundation to help preserve the art of vocal recitals. She teaches a series of annual Master Classes at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music; the University of Maryland, College Park; the Manhattan School of Music; and the University of Oklahoma.
In December 2005, shortly before Horne's 72nd birthday, she was diagnosed with localized pancreatic cancer.[6] In January 2007, she appeared at a public function for her Foundation.[7] Interviewed by Norman Lebrecht on BBC Radio 3 on July 26, 2010, she spoke briefly about her cancer and cheerfully said, "I'm still here!"[8]
Horne has directed the Voice Program at the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, California, since 1997.
Abridged discography[link]
- Bellini: Norma (Sutherland, J. Alexander, Cross; Bonynge, 1964) Decca
- Bernstein: West Side Story (Te Kanawa, Troyanos, Carreras; Bernstein, 1984) Deutsche Grammophon
- Bizet: Carmen (Maliponte, McCracken, Krause; Bernstein, 1972) Deutsche Grammophon
- Donizetti: Anna Bolena (Souliotis, J. Alexander, Ghiaurov; Varviso, 1968/69) Decca
- Donizetti: Lucrezia Borgia (Sutherland, Aragall, Wixell; Bonynge, 1977) Decca
- Gluck: Orfeo ed Euridice (Lorengar, Donath; Solti, 1970) Decca
- Handel: Semele (Battle, Ramey; Nelson, 1990) Deutsche Grammophon
- Massenet: La navarraise (Domingo, Milnes, Zaccaria; Lewis, 1975) RCA
- Meyerbeer: Le prophète (Scotto, McCracken, Hines; Lewis, c1976) Sony
- Mozart: Don Giovanni (Sutherland, Lorengar, Krenn, Bacquier, Gramm; Bonynge, 1968) Decca
- Ponchielli: La Gioconda (Tebaldi, Dominguez, Bergonzi, Merrill; Gardelli, 1967) Decca
- Puccini: Suor Angelica (Scotto, Cotrubas; Maazel, 1976) Sony
- Rossini: Il barbiere di Siviglia (Barbacini, Nucci, Dara, Ramey; R.Chailly, 1982) Sony
- Rossini: Bianca e Falliero (Ricciarelli, Merritt; Renzetti, 1986) [live] Fonit Cetra
- Rossini: L'italiana in Algeri (Battle, Ramey; Scimone, 1980) Erato
- Rossini: Semiramide (Sutherland, Rouleau; Bonynge, 1965/66) Decca
- Rossini: Tancredi (Cuberli, Zaccaria; Weikert, 1982) Sony
- Roussel: Padmâvatî (Gedda, van Dam; Plasson, 1982/83) EMI
- Thomas: Mignon (Welting, von Stade, Vanzo, Zaccaria; de Almeida, 1977) Sony
- Verdi: Falstaff (Sweet, Lopardo, Panerai, Titus; C.Davis, 1991) RCA
- Verdi: Requiem (Sutherland, Horne, Pavarotti, Talvela; Solti, 1967) Decca
- Verdi: Il trovatore (Sutherland, Pavarotti, Wixell, Ghiaurov; Bonynge, 1976) Decca
- Vivaldi: Orlando furioso (de los Ángeles, Valentini Terrani; Scimone, 1977) Erato
Abridged videography[link]
- Corigliano: The Ghosts of Versailles (Stratas, Fleming; Levine, Graham, 1992) [live] Deutsche Grammophon
- Rossini: L'italiana in Algeri (M.Merritt, Ahlstedt; Levine, Ponnelle, 1986) [live] Deutsche Grammophon
- Rossini: Semiramide (Anderson, Ramey; Conlon, Copley, 1990) [live] Kultur
- Verdi: Falstaff (Freni, Bonney, Lopardo, Plishka; Levine, Zeffirelli, 1992) [live] Deutsche Grammophon
- Vivaldi: Orlando furioso (Behr, Pizzi, 1989) [live] Kultur
Works[link]
- Marilyn Horne: The Song Continues by Marilyn Horne and Jane Scovell, Baskerville Publishers; ISBN 1-880909-71-5
- Marilyn Horne: My Life by Marilyn Horne and Jane Scovell, Atheneum Books; ISBN 0-689-11401-X
Sources[link]
- ^ Kennedy Center: Biographical information for Marilyn Horne
- ^ Ryan, Michael (January 23, 1984). "Marilyn Horne". People 21 (3). ISSN 0093-7673. http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20086915,00.html. Retrieved September 8, 2011.
- ^ Leading clarinetist to receive Sanford Medal
- ^ "Liberty Receives Classical Salute, Sun Sentinel, July 5, 1986". http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/1986-07-05/features/8602090161_1_liberty-weekend-liberty-festivities-great-lawn.
- ^ Lifetime Honors – National Medal of Arts
- ^ Opera News > The Met Opera Guild
- ^ Anne Midgette: Marilyn Horne Puts Her Protégés on Parade in Song, The New York Times, January 29 2007. Retrieved 21 May 2007.
- ^ Norman Lebrecht interviews Marilyn Horne for 45 minutes on BBC Radio 3, 26 July 2010 at 21:15, available on podcast
External links[link]
- Marilyn Horne at the Internet Movie Database
- The Marilyn Horne Foundation
- Discography (Capon's Lists of Opera Recordings)
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| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| Name | Horne, Marilyn |
| Alternative names | |
| Short description | American mezzo-soprano opera singer |
| Date of birth | January 16, 1934 |
| Place of birth | Bradford, Pennsylvania |
| Date of death | |
| Place of death | |
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Luciano Pavarotti, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI (12 October 1935 – 6 September 2007) was an Italian operatic tenor, who also crossed over into popular music, eventually becoming one of the most commercially successful tenors of all time. He made numerous recordings of complete operas and individual arias, and established himself as one of the finest tenors of the 20th century.[1] He was one of The Three Tenors and became well known for his televised concerts and media appearances. Pavarotti was also noted for his charity work on behalf of refugees and the Red Cross, amongst others.
Pavarotti began his professional career as a tenor in 1961 in Italy. That same year, he made his first international appearance in La traviata in Belgrade, Yugoslavia.[2] He sang in opera houses in addition to Italy, in the Netherlands, Vienna, London, Ankara, Budapest and Barcelona. The young tenor earned valuable experience and recognition while touring Australia at the invitation of soprano Joan Sutherland in 1965. He made his United States debut in Miami soon afterwards, also on Sutherland's recommendation. His position as a leading lyric tenor was consolidated in the years between 1966 and 1972, during which time he first appeared at Milan's La Scala and other major European houses. In 1968, he debuted at New York City's Metropolitan Opera as Rodolfo in Puccini's La bohème. At the Met in 1972, in the role of Tonio in Donizetti's La fille du régiment he earned the title "King of the high Cs" when he sang the aria "Ah mes amis ... pour mon âme". He gained worldwide fame for the brilliance and beauty of his tone, especially into the upper register.[3] He was at his best in bel canto operas, pre-Aida Verdi roles and Puccini works such as La bohème, Tosca and Madama Butterfly. The late 1970s and 1980s saw Pavarotti continue to make significant appearances in the world's foremost opera houses.
Celebrity beyond the world of opera came to Pavarotti at the 1990 World Cup in Italy with performances of Puccini's "Nessun dorma", sample (help·info) from Turandot, and as one of The Three Tenors in their famed first concert held on the eve of the tournament's final match. He sang on that occasion with fellow star tenors Plácido Domingo and José Carreras, bringing opera highlights to a wider audience. Appearances in advertisements and with pop icons in concerts furthered his international celebrity.
His final performance in an opera was at the Metropolitan Opera in March 2004. Later that year, the National Italian American Foundation (NIAF) inducted him into its Italian American Hall of Fame in recognition of his lifetime of work. During a ceremony held at the Foundation's Anniversary Gala just four days after his 69th birthday, singer Faith Hill presented Pavarotti with a birthday cake and sang "Happy Birthday" to the opera legend.
The 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, saw Pavarotti on stage for the last time, where he performed "Nessun dorma", with the crowd serving as the aria's chorus, and he received a thunderous standing ovation.[4]
He died from pancreatic cancer on 6 September 2007.
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Earlier life and musical training[link]
Luciano Pavarotti was born in 1935 on the outskirts of Modena in Northern Italy, the son of Fernando Pavarotti, a baker and amateur tenor, and Adele Venturi, a cigar factory worker.[5] Although he spoke fondly of his childhood, the family had little money; its four members were crowded into a two-room apartment. According to Pavarotti, his father had a fine tenor voice but rejected the possibility of a singing career because of nervousness. World War II forced the family out of the city in 1943. For the following year they rented a single room from a farmer in the neighbouring countryside, where the young Pavarotti developed an interest in farming.
After abandoning the dream of becoming a football goalkeeper, Pavarotti spent seven years in vocal training. Pavarotti's earliest musical influences were his father's recordings, most of them featuring the popular tenors of the day - Beniamino Gigli, Giovanni Martinelli, Tito Schipa and Enrico Caruso. Pavarotti's favourite tenor and idol was Giuseppe Di Stefano.[6] He was also deeply influenced by Mario Lanza, saying, "In my teens I used to go to Mario Lanza movies and then come home and imitate him in the mirror".[7] At around the age of nine he began singing with his father in a small local church choir.
After what appears to have been a normal childhood with a typical interest in sports — in Pavarotti's case football above all, he graduated from the Scuola Magistrale and faced the dilemma of a career choice. He was interested in pursuing a career as a professional football goalkeeper, but his mother convinced him to train as a teacher. He subsequently taught in an elementary school for two years but finally allowed his interest in music to win out. Recognising the risk involved, his father gave his consent only reluctantly.
Pavarotti began the serious study of music in 1954 at the age of 19 with Arrigo Pola, a respected teacher and professional tenor in Modena who offered to teach him without remuneration. Not until he began these studies was Pavarotti aware that he had perfect pitch.[citation needed]
In 1955, he experienced his first singing success when he was a member of the Corale Rossini, a male voice choir from Modena that also included his father, which won first prize at the International Eisteddfod in Llangollen, Wales. He later said that this was the most important experience of his life, and that it inspired him to become a professional singer.[8] At about this time Pavarotti first met Adua Veroni. They married in 1961.
When his teacher Arrigo Pola moved to Japan, Pavarotti became a student of Ettore Campogalliani, who at that time was also teaching Pavarotti's childhood friend, Mirella Freni, whose mother worked with Luciano's mother in the cigar factory. Like Pavarotti, Freni was destined to operatic greatness; they were to share the stage many times and make memorable recordings together.
During his years of musical study, Pavarotti held part time jobs in order to sustain himself – first as an elementary school teacher and then as an insurance salesman. The first six years of study resulted in only a few recitals, all in small towns and without pay. When a nodule developed on his vocal cords, causing a "disastrous" concert in Ferrara, he decided to give up singing. Pavarotti attributed his immediate improvement to the psychological release connected with this decision. Whatever the reason, the nodule not only disappeared but, as he related in his autobiography, "Everything I had learned came together with my natural voice to make the sound I had been struggling so hard to achieve".
Career[link]
1960s–1970s[link]
Pavarotti began his career as a tenor in smaller regional Italian opera houses, making his debut as Rodolfo in La Bohème at the Teatro Municipale in Reggio Emilia in April 1961.
Very early in his career, on 23 February 1963, he debuted at the Vienna State Opera with the same role. In March and April 1963 Vienna saw Pavarotti again as Rodolfo and as Duca di Mantova in Rigoletto. The same year saw his Royal Opera House debut, where he replaced an indisposed Giuseppe di Stefano as Rodolfo.[9]
While generally successful, Pavarotti's early roles did not immediately propel him into the stardom that he would later enjoy. An early coup involved his connection with Joan Sutherland (and her conductor husband, Richard Bonynge), who in 1963 had sought a young tenor taller than herself to take along on her tour to Australia.[10] With his commanding physical presence, Pavarotti proved ideal.[11] The two sang some forty performances over two months, and Pavarotti later credited Sutherland for the breathing technique that would sustain him over his career.[12]
Pavarotti made his American début with the Greater Miami Opera in February 1965, singing in Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor opposite Joan Sutherland on the stage of the Miami-Dade County Auditorium in Miami. The tenor scheduled to perform that night became ill with no understudy. As Sutherland was traveling with him on tour, she recommended the young Pavarotti as he was well acquainted with the role.
Shortly after, on 28 April, Pavarotti made his La Scala debut in the revival of the famous Franco Zeffirelli production of La Bohème, with his childhood friend Mirella Freni singing Mimi and Herbert von Karajan conducting. Karajan had requested the singer's engagement. After an extended Australian tour, he returned to La Scala, where he added Tebaldo from I Capuleti e i Montecchi to his repertoire on 26 March 1966, with Giacomo Aragall as Romeo. His first appearance as Tonio in Donizetti's La Fille du Régiment took place at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, on 2 June of that year. It was his performances of this role that would earn him the title of "King of the High Cs".
He scored another major triumph in Rome on 20 November 1969 when he sang in I Lombardi opposite Renata Scotto. This was recorded on a private label and widely distributed, as were various recordings of his I Capuleti e i Montecchi, usually with Aragall. Early commercial recordings included a recital of Donizetti (the aria from Don Sebastiano were particularly highly regarded) and Verdi arias, as well as a complete L'Elisir d'Amore with Sutherland.
His major breakthrough in the United States came on 17 February 1972, in a production of La Fille du Régiment at New York's Metropolitan Opera, in which he drove the crowd into a frenzy with his nine effortless high Cs in the signature aria. He achieved a record seventeen curtain calls.
Pavarotti sang his international recital début at William Jewell College in Liberty, Missouri, on 1 February 1973, as part of the college's Fine Arts Program, now known as the Harriman-Jewell Series. Perspiring due to nerves and a lingering cold, the tenor clutched a handkerchief throughout the début. The prop became a signature part of his solo performances.
He began to give frequent television performances, starting with his performances as Rodolfo (La Bohème) in the first Live from the Met telecast in March 1977, which attracted one of the largest audiences ever for a televised opera. He won many Grammy awards and platinum and gold discs for his performances. In addition to the previously listed titles, his La Favorita with Fiorenza Cossotto and his I Puritani (1975) with Sutherland stand out.
In 1976, Pavarotti debuted at the Salzburg Festival, appearing in a solo recital on 31 July, accompanied by pianist Leone Magiera. Pavarotti returned to the festival in 1978 with a recital and as the Italian singer in Der Rosenkavalier in 1983 with Idomeneo, and both in 1985 and 1988 with solo recitals.
In 1979, he was profiled in a cover story in the weekly magazine Time.[13] That same year saw Pavarotti's return to the Vienna State Opera after an absence of fourteen years. With Herbert von Karajan conducting, Pavarotti sang Manrico in Il Trovatore. In 1978, he appeared in a solo recital on Live from Lincoln Center.
1980s–1990s[link]
At the beginning of the 1980s, he set up The Pavarotti International Voice Competition for young singers, performing with the winners in 1982 in excerpts of La Bohème and L'Elisir d'Amore. The second competition, in 1986, staged excerpts of La Bohème and Un Ballo in Maschera. To celebrate the 25th anniversary of his career, he brought the winners of the competition to Italy for gala performances of La Bohème in Modena and Genoa, and then to China where they staged performances of La Bohème in Beijing (Peking). To conclude the visit, Pavarotti performed the first ever concert in the Great Hall of the People before 10,000 people, receiving a standing ovation for nine effortless high Cs. The third competition in 1989 again staged performances of L'Elisir d'Amore and Un ballo in Maschera. The winners of the fifth competition accompanied Pavarotti in performances in Philadelphia in 1997.
In the mid-1980s, Pavarotti returned to two opera houses that had provided him with important breakthroughs, the Vienna State Opera and La Scala. Vienna saw Pavarotti as Rodolfo in La Bohème with Carlos Kleiber conducting and again Mirella Freni was Mimi; as Nemorino in L'Elisir d'Amore; as Radames in Aïda conducted by Lorin Maazel; as Rodolfo in Luisa Miller; and as Gustavo in Un Ballo in Maschera conducted by Claudio Abbado. In 1996, Pavarotti appeared for the last time at the Staatsoper in Andrea Chenier.
In 1985, Pavarotti sang Radames at La Scala opposite Maria Chiara in a Luca Ronconi production conducted by Maazel, recorded on video. His performance of the aria "Celeste Aïda" received a two-minute ovation on the opening night. He was reunited with Mirella Freni for the San Francisco Opera production of La Bohème in 1988, also recorded on video. In 1992, La Scala saw Pavarotti in a new Zeffirelli production of Don Carlo, conducted by Riccardo Muti. Pavarotti's performance was heavily criticized by some observers and booed by parts of the audience.
Pavarotti became even better known throughout the world in 1990 when his rendition of Giacomo Puccini's aria, "Nessun Dorma" from Turandot was taken as the theme song of BBC's TV coverage of the 1990 FIFA World Cup in Italy. The aria achieved pop status and remained his trademark song. This was followed by the hugely successful Three Tenors concert, held on the eve of the World Cup final at the ancient Baths of Caracalla in Rome with fellow tenors Plácido Domingo and José Carreras and conductor Zubin Mehta, which became the biggest selling classical record of all time. A highlight of the concert, in which Pavarotti hammed up a famous portion of di Capua's "O Sole Mio" and was mimicked by Domingo and Carreras to the delight of the audience, became one of the most memorable moments in contemporary operatic history. Throughout the 1990s, Pavarotti appeared in many well-attended outdoor concerts, including his televised concert in London's Hyde Park, which drew a record attendance of 150,000. In June 1993, more than 500,000 listeners gathered for his free performance on the Great Lawn of New York's Central Park, while millions more around the world watched on television. The following September, in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, he sang for an estimated crowd of 300,000. Following on from the original 1990 concert, the Three Tenors concerts were held during the Football World Cups: in Los Angeles in 1994, in Paris in 1998, and in Yokohama in 2002.
In 1995, Pavarotti's friends, the singer Lara Saint Paul (as Lara Cariaggi) and her husband showman Pier Quinto Cariaggi, who had produced and organised Pavarotti's 1990 FIFA World Cup Celebration Concert at the PalaTrussardi in Milan,[14] produced and wrote the television documentary The Best is Yet to Come, an extensive biography about the life of Pavarotti.[15] Lara Saint Paul was the interviewer for the documentary with Pavarotti, who spoke candidly about his life and career.[16]
Pavarotti's rise to stardom was not without occasional difficulties, however. He earned a reputation as "The King of Cancellations" by frequently backing out of performances, and his unreliable nature led to poor relationships with some opera houses. This was brought into focus in 1989 when Ardis Krainik of the Lyric Opera of Chicago severed the house's 15-year relationship with the tenor.[17] Over an eight-year period, Pavarotti had cancelled 26 out of 41 scheduled appearances at the Lyric, and the decisive move by Krainik to ban him for life was well-noted throughout the opera world, after the performer walked away from a season premiere less than two weeks before rehearsals began, saying pain from a sciatic nerve required two months of treatment.
On 12 December 1998, he became the first (and, to date, only) opera singer to perform on Saturday Night Live, singing alongside Vanessa L. Williams. He also sang with U2, in the band's 1995 song "Miss Sarajevo", and with Mercedes Sosa in a big concert at the Boca Juniors arena La Bombonera in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1999.
In 1998, Pavarotti was presented with the Grammy Legend Award. Given only on special occasions, as of 2007 it has been awarded only 15 times since its first presentation in 1990.
2000s[link]
In 2004, one of Pavarotti's former managers, Herbert Breslin, published a book, The King & I.[17] Seen by many as bitter and sensationalistic, it is critical of the singer's acting (in opera), his inability to read music well and learn parts, and of his personal conduct, although acknowledging their mutual success. In an interview in 2005 with Jeremy Paxman on the BBC, Pavarotti rejected the allegation that he could not read music, although he acknowledged he did not read orchestral scores.
He received an enormous number of awards and honours, including Kennedy Center Honors in 2001. He also holds two Guinness World Records: one for receiving the most curtain calls (165)[18] and another for the best-selling classical album (In Concert by The Three Tenors). (The latter record is thus shared by fellow tenors Plácido Domingo and José Carreras.)
In late 2003, he released his final compilation - and his first and only "crossover" album, Ti Adoro. Most of the 13 songs were written and produced by the Michele Centonze who had already helped produce the "Pavarotti & Friends" concerts between 1998 and 2000.[19] The tenor described the album as a wedding gift to Nicoletta Mantovani.
Pavarotti began his farewell tour in 2004, at the age of 69, performing one last time in old and new locations, after more than four decades on the stage. Pavarotti gave his last performance in an opera at the New York Metropolitan Opera on 13 March 2004, for which he received a long standing ovation for his role as the painter Mario Cavaradossi in Giacomo Puccini's Tosca. On 1 December 2004, he announced a 40-city farewell tour. Pavarotti and his manager, Terri Robson, commissioned impresario Harvey Goldsmith to produce the Worldwide Farewell Tour. His last full-scale performance was at the end of a two-month Australasian tour in Taiwan, in December 2005.
In March 2005, Pavarotti underwent neck surgery to repair two vertebrae. In early 2006, he underwent further back surgery and contracted an infection while in the hospital in New York, forcing cancellation of concerts in the U.S., Canada and the UK.[20]
On 10 February 2006, Pavarotti sang "Nessun Dorma" at the 2006 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in Turin, Italy, at his final performance. In the last act of the opening ceremony, his performance received the longest and loudest ovation of the night from the international crowd. Leone Magiera, who directed the performance, revealed in his 2008 memoirs, Pavarotti Visto da Vicino, that the performance was prerecorded weeks earlier.[21] "The orchestra pretended to play for the audience, I pretended to conduct and Luciano pretended to sing. The effect was wonderful," he wrote. Pavarotti's manager, Terri Robson, said that the tenor had turned the Winter Olympic Committee's invitation down several times because it would have been impossible to sing late at night in the sub-zero conditions of Turin in February. The committee eventually persuaded him to take part by pre-recording the song.
Other work[link]
Film and television[link]
Pavarotti's one venture into film, a romantic comedy called Yes, Giorgio (1982), was roundly panned by the critics. He can be seen to better advantage in Jean-Pierre Ponnelle's adaptation of Rigoletto for television, released that same year, or in his more than 20 live opera performances taped for television between 1978 and 1994, most of them with the Metropolitan Opera, and most available on DVD.
Humanitarianism[link]
Pavarotti annually hosted the "Pavarotti and Friends" charity concerts in his home town of Modena in Italy, joining with singers from all parts of the music industry, including Andrea Bocelli, Jon Bon Jovi, Bryan Adams, Bono, James Brown, Mariah Carey, Eric Clapton, Sheryl Crow, Céline Dion, Elton John, Deep Purple, Meat Loaf, Queen, George Michael, Sting and the Spice Girls, to raise money for several UN causes. Concerts were held for War Child, and victims of war and civil unrest in Bosnia, Guatemala, Kosovo and Iraq. After the war in Bosnia, he financed and established the Pavarotti Music Centre in the southern city of Mostar to offer Bosnia's artists the opportunity to develop their skills. For these contributions, the city of Sarajevo named him an honorary citizen in 2006.[22]
He performed at benefit concerts to raise money for victims of tragedies such as the Spitak earthquake that killed 25,000 people in northern Armenia in December 1988,[23] and sang Gounod's Ave Maria with legendary French pop music star and ethnic Armenian Charles Aznavour.
He was a close friend of Diana, Princess of Wales. They raised money for the elimination of land mines worldwide. He was invited to sing at her funeral service, but declined to sing, as he felt he could not sing well "with his grief in his throat". Nonetheless, he attended the service.
In 1998, he was appointed the United Nations Messenger of Peace, using his fame to raise awareness of UN issues, including the Millennium Development Goals, HIV/AIDS, child rights, urban slums and poverty.[24]
In 1999, Pavarotti performed a charity benefit concert in Beirut, to mark Lebanon's reemergence on the world stage after a brutal 15 year civil war. The largest concert held in Beirut since the end of the war, it was attended by 20,000 people who travelled from countries as distant as Saudi Arabia and Bulgaria.[25]
In 2001, Pavarotti received the Nansen Medal from the UN High Commission for Refugees for his efforts raising money on behalf of refugees worldwide. Through benefit concerts and volunteer work, he has raised more than any other individual.[26]
Other honours he received include the "Freedom of London Award" and The Red Cross "Award for Services to Humanity", for his work in raising money for that organization, and the 1998 "MusiCares Person of the Year", given to humanitarian heroes by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.[27][28]
He was a National Patron of Delta Omicron, an international professional music fraternity.[29]
Death[link]
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Wikinews has related news: Opera singer Luciano Pavarotti dies at age 71 |
While undertaking an international "farewell tour," Pavarotti was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in July 2006. The tenor fought back against the implications of this diagnosis, undergoing major abdominal surgery and making plans for the resumption and conclusion of his singing commitments.[30] He died at his home in Modena on 6 September 2007. Within hours of his death, his manager, Terri Robson, noted in an e-mail statement, "The Maestro fought a long, tough battle against the pancreatic cancer which eventually took his life. In fitting with the approach that characterized his life and work, he remained positive until finally succumbing to the last stages of his illness".[31][32][33]
Pavarotti's funeral was held in Modena Cathedral. Romano Prodi and Kofi Annan attended.[34] The Frecce Tricolori, the aerobatic demonstration team of the Italian Air Force, flew overhead, leaving green-white-red smoke trails. After a funeral procession through the centre of Modena, Pavarotti's coffin was taken the final ten kilometres to Montale Rangone, a village part of Castelnuovo Rangone, and was buried near his parents' grave. The funeral, in its entirety, was also telecast live on CNN. The Vienna State Opera and the Salzburg Festival Hall flew black flags in mourning.[35] Tributes were published by many opera houses, such as London's Royal Opera House.[36] The Italian football giant Juventus F.C., of which Pavarotti was a lifelong fan, was represented at the funeral and posted a farewell message on its website which said: "Ciao Luciano, black-and-white heart" referring to the team's famous stripes when they play on their home ground.
Personal life[link]
On 13 December 2003, he married his former personal assistant, Nicoletta Mantovani (born 1969), with whom he already had a daughter, Alice. A second child, Riccardo, did not survive, because of complications at the time of birth in January 2003. Pavarotti is also survived by three other daughters by his first wife Adua, to whom he was married for 34 years: Lorenza, Cristina, and Giuliana. At the time of his death, he had one granddaughter.
Settlement of estate[link]
His first will was opened the day after his death and a second will, within the same month of September.[37] He left an estate outside his native Modena, a villa in Pesaro, a flat in Monte Carlo, and three flats in New York City.[38]
Pavarotti's widow's lawyers Giorgio Bernini, Anna Maria Bernini, and manager Terri Robson announced on 30 June 2008 that his family amicably settled his estate – 300 million euros ($ 474.2 million, including $15 million in U.S. assets). Pavarotti drafted two wills before his death: one divided his assets by Italian law, giving half to his second wife, Nicoletta Mantovani, and half to his four daughters; the second gave his U.S. holdings to Mantovani. The judge confirmed the compromise by the end of July 2008. However, a Pesaro public prosecutor, Massimo di Patria, investigated allegations that Pavarotti was not of sound mind when he signed the will.[39][40][41] Pavarotti's estate has been settled "fairly", a lawyer for Pavarotti's widow, Nicoletta Mantovani, said in statements after reports of a dispute between Ms. Mantovani and his three daughters from his first marriage.[42]
See also[link]
Notes and references[link]
- ^ The Times Obituary: Luciano Pavarotti, 6 September 2007
- ^ [1][dead link]
- ^ Warrack, John and Ewan West (1996). "Luciano Pavarotti." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Opera. (3rd Ed.), ... an excellent technique, and a conquering personality.")
- ^ Kington, Tom (7 April 2008). "Pavarotti mimed at final performance". The Guardian (London). http://music.guardian.co.uk/classical/story/0,,2271470,00.html. Retrieved 2008-04-07.
- ^ Luciano Pavarotti Biography (1935-2007)
- ^ YouTube - Luciano Pavarotti talks about his idol Giuseppe di Stefano
- ^ http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=5e2_1189060061 Originally from MSNBC article at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20607839/
- ^ "Pavarotti eisteddfod career start". BBC Online. 6 September 2007. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/north_east/6981188.stm. Retrieved 2007-09-07.
- ^ Paul Arendt, "It Was All About the Voice," The Guardian,(Italy), 7 September 2007
- ^ Joan Sutherland quoted in Paul Arendt, "It Was All About the Voice," The Guardian, (London), 7 September 2007: "The young Pavarotti was a revelation to the opera world. He made his debut in the United States with us in Miami in 1965. He then came as part of our company to Australia, where he sang three times a week for 14 weeks, and we went on to make countless recordings together.
- ^ Richard Dyer, "Opera star Luciano Pavarotti dies: Epic career spanned 40 years, The Boston Globe, 6 September 2007
- ^ Ariel David, "World Mourns Italian Tenor Pavarotti," WTOPnews.com, 6 September 2007
- ^ Time Cover Archive, Sept 24th, 1979
- ^ Pavarotti, Luciano: The Event, The World Cup Celebration Concert (1990) Pavarotti, Luciano
- ^ The New York Public Library: Luciano Pavarotti, The Best is Yet to Come Pavarotti: The Best is Yet to Come: LEO - the New York Public Library Catalogue[dead link]
- ^ The Best is Yet to Come Pavarotti: The Best is Yet to Come, Interviewed by Lara Saint Paul: Penrith City Library Catalogue
- ^ a b Herbert H. Breslin, The King and I: The Uncensored Tale of Luciano Pavarotti's Rise to Fame by His Manager, Friend and Sometime Adversary, New York: Doubleday Publishing, 2004 ISBN 978-0-385-50972-5 ISBN 0-385-50972-3
- ^ Block, Mervin (15 October 2004). "'60 Minutes' Story About Singer Hits False Note". Poynter Online. http://www.mervinblock.com/?q=node/34. Retrieved 2009-09-28.
- ^ Pavarotti & Friends concert series at Amazon.com
- ^ "Pavarotti 'will return to stage'". BBC News Online. 25 July 2006. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/5212832.stm. Retrieved 2007-09-05.
- ^ Kington, Tom (7 April 2008). "Pavarotti mimed at final performance". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2008/apr/07/classicalmusicandopera.italy. Retrieved 28 August 2009.
- ^ "Sarajevo authorities name Pavarotti honorary citizen", Deseret News (Salt Lake City), 22 February 2006; retrieved on 2007-09-06
- ^ Alessandra Rizzo, "Italian tenor Pavarotti dies at age 71" on yahoo.com[dead link]; retrieved on 2007-09-06
- ^ "Luciano Pavarotti to Promote UN Causes During Series of Concerts, 2005 - 2006", U.N. Press release, 5/4/2005, retrieved on 6 September 2007
- ^ Pavarotti breaks a different kind of sound barrier; 14 June 1999; retrieved on 2007-10-12
- ^ Crossette, Barbara (30 May 2001). "United Nations: Honor For Tenor With Midas Touch". The New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=990DE5D8133CF933A05756C0A9679C8B63. Retrieved 2007-09-06.
- ^ "Freedom of London for Pavarotti". Entertainment (BBC News). 13 September 2005. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/low/entertainment/4236980.stm. Retrieved 2007-09-06.
- ^ Parker, Lyndsey (31 February 1997). "Pavarotti Is The Person". Yahoo! Music News (Yahoo!). http://music.yahoo.com/read/news/12044059. Retrieved 2007-09-06.
- ^ Delta Omicron
- ^ "Singer Luciano Pavarotti recovering from pancreatic cancer surgery". Fox News. 7 July 2006. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,202530,00.html. Retrieved 2007-09-05.
- ^ "Tenor Luciano Pavarotti dead at 71" on cnn.com, 6 September 2007; retrieved on 2007-09-06
- ^ Pavarotti dead at 71: manager; retrieved on 2007-09-06
- ^ "Pavarotti Dead At Age 71". CBS News. 7 September 2007. http://www.webcastr.com/videos/news/pavarotti-dead-at-age-71.html.
- ^ People gather at Modena Cathedral to say farewell to Pavarotti|
- ^ "Black flag flies over Vienna Opera House for Pavarotti". Agence France-Presse. 2007-09-06. http://www.focus-fen.net/index.php?id=n121376. Retrieved 2007-09-06.
- ^ Castonguay, Gilles (2007-09-06). "Luciano Pavarotti dead at 71". Reuters. http://www.canada.com/topics/entertainment/story.html?id=24dd10ff-8048-45bb-9fde-b362693e5ac8&k=84681&p=1. Retrieved 2007-09-06.
- ^ Hooper, John (19 September 2007). "Pavarotti's will leaves US property to his second wife". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/italy/story/0,,2172193,00.html. Retrieved 2007-10-06.
- ^ Owen, Richard (11 September 2007). "Pavarotti's manager on his last days". The Times (London). http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article2433004.ece. Retrieved 2007-10-14.
- ^ ap.google.com, Pavarotti widow, daughters agree on inheritance[dead link]
- ^ uk.reuters.com, Pavarotti's widow and daughters reach inheritance deal
- ^ independent.co.uk, Widow settles dispute with Pavarotti's daughters over will
- ^ Lee, Felicia R. (1 July 2008). "Pavarotti's Daughters and Widow Reach Deal". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/01/arts/01arts-PAVAROTTISDA_BRF.html. Retrieved 5 April 2010.
External links[link]
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Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Luciano Pavarotti |
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Luciano Pavarotti |
- Official website
- Luciano Pavarotti at the Internet Movie Database
- Discography (Capon's Lists of Opera Recordings)
- Luciano Pavarotti discography at MusicBrainz
- The Times obituary
- Review of The King and I at theage.com.au
- The Pavarotti Story Decca Records
- Pavarotti Video Biography by National Italian American Foundation NIAF
- History of the Tenor - Sound Clips and Narration
- Funeral Mass of Luciano Pavarotti
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| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| Name | Pavarotti, Luciano |
| Alternative names | |
| Short description | Opera singer |
| Date of birth | 12 October 1935 |
| Place of birth | Modena, Emilia-Romagna, Italy |
| Date of death | 6 September 2007 |
| Place of death | Modena, Emilia-Romagna, Italy |
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http://ru.wn.com/Паваротти, Лучано
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This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luciano_Pavarotti
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This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
