Myfanwy (a woman's name derived from annwyl, ‘beloved’) is a popular Welsh song, composed by Joseph Parry and first published in 1875. Parry wrote the music to lyrics written by Richard Davies ('Mynyddog'; 1833–77). Some sources say it was written with Parry's childhood sweetheart, Myfanwy Llywellyn, in mind, although the lyrics were probably inspired by the fourteenth-century love-story of Myfanwy Fychan of Castell Dinas Brân, Llangollen and the poet Hywel ab Einion. That story was also the subject of the popular poem, 'Myfanwy Fychan' (1858), by John Ceiriog Hughes (1832–87).

The song is still a favourite with Welsh male voice choirs. A version has been performed by John Cale. It is also on O Fortuna, the second album from Rhydian, where he duets with fellow Welsh baritone Bryn Terfel. It is also a bonus track, sung unaccompanied, on the self titled album by John Owen Jones. The song also is sung in the Welsh language biopic Hedd Wyn (film).

Lyrics

Paham mae dicter, O Myfanwy, Yn llenwi'th lygaid duon di? A'th ruddiau tirion, O Myfanwy, Heb wrido wrth fy ngweled i? Pa le mae'r wên oedd ar dy wefus Fu'n cynnau 'nghariad ffyddlon ffôl? Pa le mae sain dy eiriau melys, Fu'n denu'n nghalon ar dy ôl?

Why is it anger, O Myfanwy, That fills your eyes so dark and clear? Your gentle cheeks, O sweet Myfanwy, Why blush they not when I draw near? Where is the smile that once most tender Kindled my love so fond, so true? Where is the sound of your sweet words, That drew my heart to follow you?

Pa beth a wneuthum, O Myfanwy I haeddu gwg dy ddwyrudd hardd? Ai chwarae oeddit, O Myfanwy  thanau euraidd serch dy fardd? Wyt eiddo im drwy gywir amod Ai gormod cadw'th air i mi? Ni cheisiaf fyth mo'th law, Myfanwy, Heb gael dy galon gyda hi.

What have I done, O my Myfanwy, To earn your frown? What is my blame? Was it just play, my sweet Myfanwy, To set your poet's love aflame? You truly once to me were promised, Is it too much to keep your part? I wish no more your hand, Myfanwy, If I no longer have your heart.

Myfanwy boed yr holl o'th fywyd Dan heulwen ddisglair canol dydd. A boed i rosyn gwridog iechyd I ddawnsio ganmlwydd ar dy rudd. Anghofia'r oll o'th addewidion A wnest i rywun, 'ngeneth ddel, A dyro'th law, Myfanwy dirion I ddim ond dweud y gair "Ffarwél".

Myfanwy, may you spend your lifetime Beneath the midday sunshine's glow, And on your cheeks O may the roses Dance for a hundred years or so. Forget now all the words of promise You made to one who loved you well, Give me your hand, my sweet Myfanwy, But one last time, to say "farewell".

External links

Midi rendition

Trelawnyd Men's Choir Performs "Myfanwy"

Morriston Orpheus Choir Performs "Myfanwy"

Category:Welsh folk songs Category:1875 songs

Joseph Parry (21 May 1841 – 17 February 1903), was a Welsh composer and musician. Born in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales, he is best-known as the composer of Myfanwy and Aberystwyth (a hymn tune).

The cottage at 4 Chapel Row, Merthyr Tydfil, where Parry was born, is now open to the public as a museum. Parry's family emigrated to the United States in 1854, when he was 13, and he became an ironworker in Danville, Pennsylvania. There was a large Welsh community there and he became involved in strengthening Welsh culture locally. When, in 1865, he was admitted to the Gorsedd at the National Eisteddfod of Wales, he took the bardic name, "Pencerdd America".

He became a Freemason in 1867, while in Pennsylvania. His 1875 song, Ysgytwad y Llaw (The Handshake) appears to acknowledge his connection with the movement. He returned to Great Britain and studied music in London under Sir William Sterndale Bennett and at the University of Cambridge. In 1873 he became Professor of Music at the University of Wales.

In 1876, he joined the masonic lodge at Aberystwyth, and became their organist. His opera, Blodwen, was first performed in the town's Temperance Hall on 21 May 1878, and was an enormous success, racking up a further 500 performances worldwide by 1896. His oratorio, Saul of Tarsus, was commissioned for the National Eisteddfod at Rhyl in 1892, and was also a major success. In about 1881, the Parry family left Aberystwyth for Swansea.

A resident of Penarth in his later years, Parry died there and is buried in St. Augustine's Churchyard, Penarth.

He was the subject of a BBC dramatisation in 1978 entitled Off to Philadelphia in the Morning based on the book by Jack Jones, another of Merthyr Tydfil's famous sons.

References

External links

Photograph of Joseph Parry's grave at Penarth

Joseph Parry biography from BBC Wales

Note: A New edition of Parry's oratorio 'Emmanuel' is currently being published by the composer and musical director Edward-Rhys Harry. Visit www.edwardrhysharry.com for further information.

Category:1841 births Category:1903 deaths Category:Academics of the University of Wales Category:Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge Category:Bards of the Gorsedd Category:People from Merthyr Tydfil Category:People from Penarth Category:People from Swansea Category:People from Danville, Pennsylvania Category:Welsh composers Category:Welsh immigrants to the United States Category:People from Aberystwyth

Name	Sir John Betjeman
Caption	Statue of John Betjeman at St Pancras station.
Birthdate	August 28, 1906
Birthplace	Parliament Hill Mansions, Lissenden Gardens, Hampstead, London, England
Deathdate	May 19, 1984
Deathplace	Trebetherick, Cornwall, England
Occupation	Poet, writer, broadcaster
Debut works	Poetry Mount Zion (1931)Prose Ghastly Good Taste (1933)
Spouse	Hon. Penelope Chetwode (1933–51)
Partner	Lady Elizabeth Cavendish (1951–84)
Children	Paul BetjemanCandida Lycett Green

Sir John Betjeman, CBE (; 28 August 1906 – 19 May 1984) was an English poet, writer and broadcaster who described himself in Who's Who as a "poet and hack". He was a founding member of the Victorian Society and a passionate defender of Victorian architecture. Starting his career as a journalist, he ended it as one of the most popular British Poets Laureate to date and a much-loved figure on British television.

Life

Early life and education

Betjeman was born "John Betjemann"; this was changed to the less Teutonic "Betjeman" during the First World War. He grew up at Parliament Hill Mansions in the Lissenden Gardens private estate in Highgate in North London. His parents Mabel (née Dawson) and Ernest Betjemann had a family firm which manufactured the kind of ornamental household furniture and gadgets distinctive to Victorians. His father's forebears had come from the Netherlands,

Permission to sit the Pass School was granted. Betjeman famously decided to offer a paper in Welsh. Osbert Lancaster tells the story that a tutor came by train twice a week (first class) from Aberystwyth to teach Betjeman. However, Jesus College had a number of Welsh tutors who more probably would have taught him. Betjeman finally had to leave at the end of the Michaelmas Term, 1928. Betjeman's academic failure at Oxford rankled him for the rest of his life and he was never reconciled with C.S. Lewis, towards whom he nursed a bitter detestation. This situation was perhaps complicated by his enduring love of Oxford, from which he accepted an honorary doctorate of letters in 1974.

After university

Betjeman left Oxford without a degree but he had made the acquaintance of people who would influence his work, including Louis MacNeice and W. H. Auden In the poem "Christmas", one of his most openly religious pieces, the last three stanzas that proclaim the wonder of Christ's birth do so in the form of a question "And is it true...?" His views on Christianity were expressed in his poem "The Conversion of St. Paul", a response to a radio broadcast by humanist Margaret Knight: But most of us turn slow to see The figure hanging on a tree And stumble on and blindly grope Upheld by intermittent hope, God grant before we die we all May see the light as did St. Paul.

Betjeman became Poet Laureate in 1972, the first Knight Bachelor ever to be appointed (the only other, Sir William Davenant, had been knighted after his appointment). This role, combined with his popularity as a television performer, ensured that his poetry eventually reached an audience enormous by the standards of the time. Similarly to Tennyson, he appealed to a wide public and managed to voice the thoughts and aspirations of many ordinary people while retaining the respect of many of his fellow poets. This is partly because of the apparently simple traditional metrical structures and rhymes he uses. About the station itself he wrote" "What [the Londoner] sees in his mind's eye is that cluster of towers and pinnacles seen from Pentonville Hill and outlined against a foggy sunset, and the great arc of Barlow's train shed gaping to devour incoming engines, and the sudden burst of exuberant Gothic of the hotel seen from gloomy Judd Street." On the re-opening St. Pancras in 2007, a statue of Betjeman was erected in the station at platform level.

Betjeman responded to architecture as the visible manifestation of society's spiritual life as well as its political and economic structure. He attacked speculators and bureaucrats for what he saw as their rapacity and lack of imagination. In the preface of his collection of architectural essays, First and Last Loves says: "We accept the collapse of the fabrics of our old churches, the thieving of lead and objects from them, the commandeering and butchery of our scenery by the services, the despoiling of landscaped parks and the abandonment to a fate worse than the workhouse of our country houses, because we are convinced we must save money." In a BBC film made in 1968 but not broadcast at that time, Betjeman described the sound of Leeds to be of "Victorian buildings crashing to the ground". He went on to lambaste John Poulson's building, British Railways House (now City House) saying how it blocked all the light out to City Square and was only a testament to money with no architectural merit. He also praised the architecture of Leeds Town Hall. In 1969 Betjeman contributed the foreword to Derek Linstrum's Historic Architecture of Leeds.

Legacy

A memorial window, designed by John Piper, is set in All Saints' Church, Farnborough, Berkshire, where Betjeman lived in the adjoining Rectory.

The Betjeman Millennium Park at Wantage in Oxfordshire (formerly in Berkshire), was where he lived from 1951 to 1972 and where he set his book, Archie and the Strict Baptists

The John Betjeman Young People's Poetry Competition was inaugurated in 2006 to celebrate Betjeman's centenary. The competition is open to 11–14 year olds living anywhere in the British Isles and the Republic of Ireland. The spirit behind the competition is to encourage young people to understand and appreciate the importance of place.

One of the two engines used on the pier railway at Southend-on-Sea is named Sir John Betjeman (the other being Sir William Heygate).

In 2003, to mark their Centenary, the residents of Lissenden Gardens in London put up a plaque to mark Betjeman's birth place.

Honours

1960 Queen's Medal for Poetry

1960 CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire)

1968 Companion of Literature, the Royal Society of Literature

1969 Knight Bachelor

1972 Poet Laureate

1973 Honorary Member, the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Poetry Collections

Mount Zion (1932)

Continual Dew (1937)

Old Lights For New Chancels (1940)

New Bats In Old Belfries (1945)

A Few Late Chrysanthemums (1954)

Poems In The Porch (1954)

Summoned By Bells (1960)

High and Low (1966)

A Nip In The Air (1974)

Bibliography

Matthew, H.C.G. and Harrison, B. (eds), (2004). Oxford dictionary of national biography (vol. 5). Oxford: OUP.

Brooke, Jocelyn (1962). Ronald Firbank and John Betjeman. London: Longmans, Green & Co.

Games, Stephen (2006). Trains and Buttered Toast, Introduction. London: John Murray.

Games, Stephen (2007). Tennis Whites and Teacakes, Introduction. London: John Murray.

Games, Stephen (2007). Sweet Songs of Zion, Introduction. London: Hodder & Stoughton.

Games, Stephen (2009). Betjeman's England, Introduction. London: John Murray.

Gardner, Kevin J. (2005). "John Betjeman." The Oxford Encyclopedia of British Literature. New York: Oxford University Press.

Gardner, Kevin J. (2010) Betjeman and the Anglican Tradition, London, SPCK.

Green, Chris (2006). John Betjeman and the Railways. Transport for London

Hillier, Bevis (1984). John Betjeman: a life in pictures. London: John Murray.

Hillier, Bevis (1988). Young Betjeman. London: John Murray. ISBN 0-7195-4531-5.

Hillier, Bevis (2002). John Betjeman: new fame, new love. London: John Murray. ISBN 0-7195-5002-5.

Hillier, Bevis (2004). Betjeman: the bonus of laughter. London : John Murray. ISBN 0-7195-6495-6.

Hillier, Bevis (2006). Betjeman: the biography. London: John Murray. ISBN 0-7195-6443-3

Lycett Green, Candida (Ed.) (Aug 2006). Letters: John Betjeman, Vol.1, 1926 to 1951. London: Methuen. ISBN 0-413-77595-X

Lycett Green, Candida (Ed.) (Aug 2006). Letters: John Betjeman, Vol.2, 1951 to 1984. London: Methuen. ISBN 0-413-77596-8

Lycett Green, Candida, Betjeman's stations in The Oldie, September 2006

Mirzoeff, Edward (2006). Viewing notes for Metro-land (DVD) (24pp)

Mowl, Timothy (2000). Stylistic Cold Wars, Betjeman versus Pevsner. London: John Murray. ISBN 0-7195-5909-X

Schroeder, Reinhard (1972). Die Lyrik John Betjemans. Hamburg: Helmut Buske Verlag. (Thesis).

Sieveking, Lancelot de Giberne (1963). John Betjeman and Dorset. Dorchester: Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society.

Stanford, Derek (1961). John Betjeman, a study. London: Neville Spearman.

Taylor-Martin, Patrick (1983). John Betjeman, his life and work. London: Allen Lane. ISBN 0-7139-1539-0

Wilson, A. N. (2006). Betjeman. London: Hutchinson. ISBN 0-09-179702-0

References

Further reading

Betjeman, John (1960). Summoned by Bells. London: John Murray.

Mowl, Timothy (2000). Stylistic Cold Wars, Betjeman versus Pevsner. London: John Murray. ISBN 0-7195-5909-X

External links

John Betjeman Young People's Poetry Competition website

John Betjeman archive at University of Victoria, Special Collections

The Betjeman Society

Poetry Foundation profile

profile and poems written and audio at the Poetry Archive

BBC4 audio interviews from People Today 24 December 1959 Home Service

Category:1906 births Category:1984 deaths Category:Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford Category:Anglican poets Category:Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Category:Deaths from Parkinson's disease Category:English people of Dutch descent Category:English Anglicans Category:English writers Category:English poets Category:British Poets Laureate Category:Knights Bachelor Category:Dutch–English translators Category:Old Dragons Category:Old Marlburians Category:Old Cholmeleians Category:People from Camden Category:People from Hampstead Category:Private Eye contributors Category:Cornish writers Category:Cornish poets Category:Bisexual writers Category:LGBT Christians

Name	Donny Osmond
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Donald Clark Osmond
Born	December 09, 1957
Origin	Ogden, Utah, U.S.
Genre	Vocal, pop, rock, R&B;, bubblegum, blue-eyed soul, comedy, musical theatre
Occupation	Singer, musician, actor, presenter, former teen idol
Years active	1961–present
Label	Universal
Associated acts	Marie Osmond, The Osmonds
Url

Donald Clark "Donny" Osmond (born December 9, 1957) is an American singer, musician, actor and former teen idol. Osmond has also been a talk show and game show host, record producer, race car driver, and author. In the mid 1960s, he and his four elder brothers gained fame as the Osmond Brothers on the long running variety program, The Andy Williams Show. Donny went solo in the early 1970s covering such hits as Go Away Little Girl and Puppy Love. From 1974, he was best known as half of the brother-sister singing duet Donny & Marie, with a four-year variety series of their own on ABC from 1978. Between a highly successful teen career in the 1970s and a rebirth in the 1990s, the singer/actor's career was to some extent stymied in the 1980s by what was sometimes perceived as his former 'boy scout' image. Osmond stated on the May 1, 2009 Larry King Live show, that Michael Jackson had suggested he change his name to overcome this. Osmond's agent even suggested that spreading false rumors about drug arrest charges might boost his career. In 1989, Osmond had two big-selling recordings, the first of which, Soldier of Love (Donny Osmond song), was initially credited to a 'mystery artist' by some radio stations. From 1992-1997 Osmond played Joseph in the Toronto production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Creator Andrew Lloyd Webber, impressed by Osmond's talents and the show's long run, chose him for the 1999 film version (which also starred Richard Attenborough as Jacob). On November 24, 2009, two weeks shy of his 52nd birthday, Osmond was crowned Dancing with the Stars season nine champion.

Early life

Osmond was born in Ogden, Utah, the seventh son of Olive May Osmond (née Davis) and George Virl Osmond. He is the brother of Alan, Jay, Jimmy, Merrill, Wayne, Marie, Tom, and Virl Osmond. Alan, Jay, Merrill, Wayne, and Donny were members of the popular singing group The Osmonds (also known as The Osmond Brothers, which later included tracks with youngest brother Jimmy as well). Donny was raised as a Mormon in Utah along with his siblings. Osmond later traced his family ancestry back to Merthyr Tydfil in Wales; his journey was documented in a BBC Wales program, Donny Osmond Coming Home. On the BBC's The One Show a plaque was unveiled in the town commemorating 'the ancestors of Donny Osmond'.

Music career

Teen idol: 1971 — 1978

The father of Andy Williams saw the Osmond Brothers (Alan, Wayne, Merrill and Jay) perform at Disneyland as a barbershop quartet. In short order, the group was invited to audition for The Andy Williams Show. They soon became regulars on the show and gained popularity quickly. Donny made his debut on the show at the age of 5 singing "You Are My Sunshine". The brothers continued to perform on the show throughout the 1960s along with a few visits from their sister Marie.

Donny became a teen idol in the early 1970s as a solo singer, while continuing to sing with his older brothers. He, Bobby Sherman, and David Cassidy were the biggest "Cover Boy" pop stars for Tiger Beat magazine in the early 1970s. He had his first solo hit with "Sweet and Innocent", which peaked at #7 in the U.S. in 1971. His solo songs "Go Away Little Girl" (1971) (#1 in the U.S.), "Puppy Love" (U.S. #3), and "Hey Girl/I Knew You When" (U.S. #9) (1972) vaulted him into international fame. The fame was further advanced by his appearance on the Here's Lucy show, where he sang "Too Young" to Lucille Ball's niece, played by Eve Plumb, and sang with Lucie Arnaz ("I'll Never Fall in Love Again").

Comeback: 1989 — 1990

In the 1980s, Osmond re-invented himself as a solo vocal artist and abandoned the earlier television show image crafted to appeal to young viewers. He made an unlikely appearance as one of several celebrities and unknowns auditioning to sing for guitarist Jeff Beck in the video for Beck's 1985 single "Ambitious", followed in 1986 by an equally unlikely cameo in the animated Luis Cardenas music video Runaway. He spent several years as a performer, before hiring the services of music and entertainment guru Steven Machat, who got Donny together with Peter Gabriel to see whether Machat and Gabriel were really alchemist. Whether they could turn the Tv image of Osmond into a contemporary young pop act. They succeeded with the hit song Soldier of Love. Returning to the US charts in 1989 with the Billboard Hot 100 #2 song "Soldier of Love" and its top twenty follow-up "Sacred Emotion". The campaign to market "Soldier Of Love" received considerable airplay with the singer being presented as a 'mystery artist', before his identity was later revealed. Launching an extensive tour in support of the Eyes Don't Lie record, he enlisted Earth Wind & Fire and Kenny Loggins guitarist Dick Smith along with keyboardist Marc Jackson.

Donny was often reluctant to perform his earliest songs, in particular "Go Away Little Girl", but was convinced to sing the song live for KLOS-FM's 'Mark & Brian Christmas Show' on December 21, 1990.

Current music career: 1991 — 2010

Osmond was the guest vocalist on Dweezil Zappa's star-studded version of the Bee Gees' "Stayin' Alive" which appeared on Zappa's 1991 album Confessions. The song also included guitar solos from Zakk Wylde, Steve Lukather, Warren DeMartini, Nuno Bettencourt, and Tim Pierce. Osmond sang "No One Has To Be Alone", but the song was heard at the end of the film . He also sang "I'll Make a Man Out of You" for Disney's Mulan

In the 2000s, he released a Christmas album, an album of his favorite Broadway songs, and a compilation of popular love songs. In 2004, he returned to the UK Top 10 for the first time as a solo artist since 1973, with the George Benson-sampling "Breeze On By", co-written with former teen idol Gary Barlow, from the 1990s UK boy band Take That, reaching number 8.

In early 2011 he is scheduled to record a new album with legendary producer Todd Rundgren.

Donny & Marie in Las Vegas

Following Marie's stint on Dancing with the Stars in 2007, the pair teamed up for a limited engagement in Las Vegas at the MGM Grand Las Vegas. Beginning September 2008, Donny and Marie began playing the 750-seat showroom at the Flamingo Hotel. "Donny & Marie" is a 90-minute variety show. The singing siblings are backed by eight dancers and a nine piece band. Donny and Marie sing together at the beginning and end of the show, and have solo segments in between. Patrons who purchase VIP tickets get to meet Donny and Marie after the show. "Donny & Marie" will appear Tuesday through Saturday (except for hiatus) through October 2010. On July 30, 2009, Donny and Marie made an official announcement on NBC's Today Show that they had just extended their contract for another 2 years, to go until October 2012.

Film and television

Hosting

Donny & Marie

In the mid 1970s, he and Marie co-hosted an episode of The Mike Douglas Show, and were then offered a show of their own, The Donny & Marie Show, a television variety series which aired on ABC between 1976 and 1979.

Donny also co-hosted together in 20 years. Though ratings were high and they were nominated for an award as best talk show, the series was canceled. In a 1999 episode featuring Jefferson Starship promoting their album Windows of Heaven, the hosts performed a rendition of "Volunteers" live with the band.

Other hosting opportunities

Osmond went on to host Pyramid, a syndicated version of the Dick Clark-hosted television game show that ran two seasons in the US from 2002–2004, and a British version of Pyramid on Challenge in 2007.

Osmond returned to ABC as host of The Great American Dream Vote, a prime-time reality/game show that debuted in March, 2007. After earning lackluster ratings in its first two episodes, the program was cancelled.

Osmond hosted the British version of the game show Identity on BBC Two during the daytime.

On April 11, 2008, Osmond also hosted the 2008 Miss USA pageant along with his sister Marie from Las Vegas.

Osmond appeared on Entertainment Tonight as a commentator covering the ABC show Dancing with the Stars during his sister Marie's run as a contestant on the 5th season of the American version of the popular show in Fall of 2007. He was seen at week 7 of the competition in tears in the audience watching Marie do a rumba after his and Marie's father died.

Music

Osmond's name was used in the lyrics of Alice Coopers song "Department of Youth" near the end. Cooper asks the kids doing the background vocals "who gave them the power", where the kids reply "Donny Osmond".

Musical theatre

His first foray into Broadway musical theatre was the lead role in a revival of the 1904 George M. Cohan show Little Johnny Jones. Osmond replaced another former teen idol, David Cassidy, who received negative reviews while the show was on its pre-Broadway tour. After 29 previews and only 1 performance, the show closed on March 21, 1982.

Osmond found success in musical theatre through much of the 1990s when he starred in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat for over 2,000 performances. During his performances for the musical, he suffered from Social Anxiety Disorder, which caused him to feel light-headed and extremely nervous during his performances.

He returned to Broadway on September 19, 2006, in the role of Gaston in Disney's Beauty and the Beast. He was scheduled to perform for nine weeks but due to popular demand he extended his run through December 24. Liz Smith of the New York Post wrote "I am here to tell you he is charmingly campy, good-looking and grand as the villain "Gaston", patterned after our old friend Elvis and noting "Donny is divine". On July 29, 2007, Osmond played Gaston again for the final performance of Beauty and the Beast.

Donny and his sister Marie recently starred in a new holiday production called Donny & Marie - A Broadway Christmas, which was originally scheduled to play on Broadway at the Marquis Theatre from December 9 - 19, 2010. The show was then extended till December 30, 2010 and again till January 2, 2011.

Film

In the animated television series Johnny Bravo, Osmond voiced himself as a recurring character. He has also done guest spots on numerous other television shows such as Friends, , and Hannah Montana. He also appeared in a Pepsi Twist commercial during the Super Bowl with his sister, Marie, and Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne.

In 1998, Donny Osmond was chosen to be the singing voice of Shang in Walt Disney's Mulan. He sang "I'll Make a Man Out of You".

Also in 1998, he starred in the movie version of Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat by Andrew Lloyd Webber's request who said, "to me there is no better selection". In addition to playing the role of Joseph, he played with a cobra snake puppet during the "Poor, Poor Joseph" musical number.

Osmond remarked in an interview recently that with his movie appearance on College Road Trip and upcoming appearances on two Disney Channel shows that he would coming about full circle since he and his family were discovered by Walt Disney.

Osmond appears in the music video of "Weird Al" Yankovic's song "White & Nerdy". The song is a parody of Chamillionaire's "Ridin'"; Osmond's role is analogous to that of Krayzie Bone's role in the original video. Yankovic asked Osmond to appear because "if you have to have a white and nerdy icon in your video, like who else do you go for?"

Dancing with the Stars

Osmond and professional Kym Johnson were paired for the ninth season of Dancing with the Stars; he participated in the show to prove he was a better dancer than his sister. It was very difficult for him to manage to get to rehearsals and host his show in Las Vegas with sister Marie. For the first week, the two were assigned to dance a Foxtrot and a 30-second Salsa. His Foxtrot was said to be "too theatrical" and was scored 20/30 from the judges. He however managed to maintain a good score when his Salsa scored 10 points and was safe that week. He danced a Jive the following week which was guest judged by Baz Luhrman. He scored 25 and was scored 2nd place, called first to be safe. That following week he danced a Rumba and scored 21. After his comments he "attacked" openly homosexual judge Bruno Tonioli, first kissing him, before embracing him and tipping him back in a mock-passionate move after Bruno called Donny's dance "a bit airy fairy". The following week introduced 4 new dances including the Charleston which he danced and scored 24. That following week, the two danced an Argentine Tango which scored 29/30, the highest scored dance to date until it was beaten by then leader topping scorer and future runner-up Mýa and her 70s-themed Samba. He had also received that week's encore. Following that week, Osmond and Johnson danced a train-station themed Jitterbug and was scored a 24. He then danced a Mambo against all couples and was eliminated 6th receiving 7 points for a total of 31/40. The following week, he danced a Quickstep which he quotes "was one of the worst moments of my life" and scored 24 and a Team Tango along with Joanna Krupa and Kelly Osbourne and received 28/30 and the encore. In the 8th week of competition, Osmond was required to dance a Ballroom and decade-themed Latin dance. His Ballroom Viennese Waltz received 26 but his 1980's themed Paso Doble received 24 being quoted by judge Len Goodman as "the most scariest, bizarre Paso Doble we've ever seen" being awarded last place on the judges' leaderboard for the first time. Following that week, he danced a Tango and got advice from past runner-up Gilles Marini. He got tangled in Johnson's dress and received 21 and saying the cause was that "I saw Marie". He then danced a samba to a song originally recorded by his brothers and himself called "One Bad Apple", receiving 26 and a Jitterbug scored 27. He once again was scored last place. For the finals week, he danced a Cha-Cha-Cha (27), a Megamix dance alongside Mya and Kelly Osbourne (28), the only perfect-scoring Freestyle (30) and a repeat of his Argentine Tango (30) and won. As he accepted his trophy, he hugged fellow finalist Mya and grabbed sister Marie on stage.

Other projects

Donny and Marie were part of a Pepsi Twist commercial in 2006 with the Osbourne family. Osmond appeared in the North American version commercial for the PlayStation 2 video game Buzz! the Mega Quiz.

Donny and Marie began a six month run as the new headlining act at the Flamingo hotel in Las Vegas, on September 9, 2008. On October 27, 2008, the Flamingo announced that Donny and Marie's contract had been extended until October 2010. Then on July 30, 2009, Donny & Marie made an announcement on NBC's Today Show that they had again extended their contract to go until October 2012.

On the 15th December 2009, he appeared on The Paul O'Grady Show, along with his sister, Marie, being interviewed by the Channel 4 resident dinner lady, Susan.

Image struggle

Osmond states that he has had a tremendous public image struggle since Donny & Marie ended in 1979. He has been described as "unhip", as a "boy scout", and has been the butt of innumerable jokes, including appearing in "White and Nerdy" because Yankovic said he was the whitest guy he could think of. His image has seemed such a liability that one professional publicist even suggested that Osmond purposefully get arrested for drug possession in order to change his image. In March 2010, Osmond criticized Lady Gaga and Beyoncé for using profanity and sex in their Telephone video.

Personal life

Osmond married Debra Glenn on May 8, 1978, at the LDS Temple in Salt Lake City, Utah. Together they have five sons: Donald Clark Osmond, Jr. (b. July 31, 1979), Jeremy James Osmond (b. June 8, 1981), Brandon Michael Osmond (b. January 29, 1985), Christopher Glenn Osmond (b. December 12, 1990), and Joshua Davis Osmond (b. February 16, 1998).

Osmond became a grandfather on August 21, 2005, when his second son Jeremy and daughter-in-law Melisa (married 2002) had a son, Dylan James Osmond. His granddaughter Emery Anne was born on February 25, 2008. Osmond's third son Brandon married Shelby Hansen in 2008. Their son, Daxton Michael was born on June 28, 2010. Donny's son, Don Osmond Jr, married Jessica Nelson on October 2, 2010, in Salt Lake City, Utah at a ceremony in the Salt Lake LDS Temple.

Like the rest of his family, he is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In retrospect, he has written, "It would have been nice to be able to have served a regular full-time mission, but when I was of that age, my career was such that everyone, including my parents and the leaders of the church, thought that I could do a lot of good in the world by continuing being in the public eye, by living an exemplary life and sharing my beliefs in every way that I could". He continues sharing his beliefs in an extensive letters-and-comments portion of his website.

In the aftermath of Proposition 8 in California, which received large Mormon support, Osmond stated that he opposes same-sex marriage but that he condemns homophobia. He believes that homosexual and lesbian Mormons should be accepted in the church if they remain celibate.

He has stated on his website that:

Discography

References

External links

Interview on Reel.com

Donny Osmond Interview on Fox News Radio

Donny Osmond in I Dreamed A Dream: The Susan Boyle Story

Osmondheaven Popular Fan Site

Category:1957 births Category:Actors from Utah Category:American film actors Category:American game show hosts Category:American Latter Day Saints Category:American pop singers

Category:American television actors Category:Living people Category:MGM Records artists Category:Musicians from Utah Category:People from Ogden, Utah Category:American people of English descent Category:American people of Welsh descent Category:Participants in American reality television series Category:Dancing with the Stars (US TV series) participants Category:Reality show winners Category:American child singers Category:American musical theatre actors Category:The Osmonds members

at night]] David M. Childs (born 1941 Princeton, New Jersey) is the Consulting Design Partner at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. He is best known for his redesign of the new One World Trade Center in New York.

In 2010, Childs was named a Senior Fellow of the Design Futures Council.

Education

Deerfield Academy (1959)

Yale College (1963)

Yale School of Architecture (1967)

New York Institute of Technology (Honorary degree) (2006)

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill projects

Washington, DC (1971-1984)

National Geographic headquarters building

1300 New York Avenue

Metro Center

U.S. News and World Report headquarters

Four Seasons, Regent and Park Hyatt hotels

Expansion of the Dulles Airport main terminal.

New York City (1984-present)

Completed

, New York City.]]

Worldwide Plaza

450 Lexington Avenue (over the Main Post Office at Grand Central Station)

Bertelsmann Building at Times Square

New York Mercantile Exchange

JFK International Airport Arrivals Building

Bear Stearns Headquarters (383 Madison Avenue)

7 World Trade Center

Time Warner Center at Columbus Circle

Planned

One World Trade Center (under construction)

New New York Stock Exchange

New Pennsylvania Station (Moynihan Station) at James Farley Post Office Building

Renovation of Lever House

Boston Properties Times Square Tower

Other locations

Embassy of the United States in Ottawa

See also

William F. Baker (engineer)

Roger Duffy

T.J. Gottesdiener

Craig W. Hartman

Ross Wimer

References

External links

WTC.com, Interview with David Childs about Freedom Tower (video)

WTC.com, Freedom Tower

Category:1941 births Category:Living people Category:World Trade Center Category:American architects Category:Deerfield Academy alumni

Name	Bryn Terfel CBE
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Bryn Terfel Jones
Born	Pant Glas, Gwynedd,Wales
Occupation	Opera singer (Bass-baritone)
Spouse	Lesley Terfel
Children	3

Bryn Terfel Jones CBE (; born 9 November 1965) is a Welsh bass-baritone opera and concert singer. Terfel was initially associated with the roles of Mozart, particularly Figaro and Leporello, but has subsequently shifted his attention to heavier roles, especially those by Wagner.

Biography

Bryn Terfel Jones was born in Pant Glas, North Wales, the son of a farmer. He knew of another Welsh baritone named Bryn Jones, so Terfel chose Bryn Terfel as his professional name. Terfel had an interest in and talent for music from a very young age. A family friend taught him how to sing, starting with traditional Welsh songs. After winning numerous competitions for his singing, Terfel moved to London in 1984 and entered the Guildhall School of Music and Drama where he studied under Rudolf Piernay. (He has recorded that he initially applied to the music college in Cardiff but when the reply was addressed to ‘Miss Terfel’ he was so annoyed a Welsh College did not know Bryn was a man's name he switched to London). He graduated in 1989, winning both the Kathleen Ferrier Memorial Award and the Gold Medal. He came in second behind Dmitri Hvorostovsky in the Cardiff BBC Singer of the World Competition the same year, though he won the Lieder Prize.

Career

In 1990, Terfel made his operatic début as Guglielmo in Così fan tutte at the Welsh National Opera, and later in the same season he sang the title role in The Marriage of Figaro, a role with which he made his debut with the English National Opera in 1991. His international operatic career began that same year when he sang the Speaker in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte at the Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels and made his United States début as Figaro at the Santa Fe Opera.

In 1992, he made his Royal Opera House, Covent Garden début as Masetto in Don Giovanni, with Thomas Allen in the title role. That same year Terfel made his Salzburg Easter Festival debut singing the role of the Spirit Messenger in Die Frau ohne Schatten. This was followed by an international breakthrough at the main Salzburg Festival when he sang Jochanaan in Strauss's Salome. Terfel went on to make his début as Figaro at the Vienna State Opera and his debut at Covent Garden as Masetto in Don Giovanni. That year, he also signed an exclusive recording contract with Deutsche Grammophon, and returned to the Welsh National Opera to sing Ford in Falstaff. In 1993, he recorded the role of Wilfred Shadbolt in The Yeomen of the Guard, by Gilbert and Sullivan and sang Figaro to acclaim at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris. Terfel has said that he would like to record "an album of Gilbert and Sullivan arias".

In 1994, Terfel sang Figaro at Covent Garden, and made both his Metropolitan Opera and Teatro Nacional de São Carlos débuts in the same role. He also sang Mahler's Eighth Symphony at the Ravinia Festival under the baton of James Levine. However, back surgery in 1994 (and again in 2000) prevented him from performing in several scheduled events. In 1996, Terfel expanded his repertoire to include Wagner, singing Wolfram in Tannhäuser at the Metropolitan Opera, and Stravinsky, singing Nick Shadow in The Rake's Progress at the Welsh National Opera.

In 1997, Terfel made his La Scala début as Figaro. In 1998, Bryn had a recital at Carnegie Hall which included works by Wolf, Fauré, Brahms, Schumann, Schubert, and others. In 1999, Terfel performed in Paris the title role of Don Giovanni for the first time and sang his first Falstaff at the Lyric Opera of Chicago; the latter of which he reprised in the inaugural production at the newly refurbished Royal Opera House.

In 2007, Terfel performed at the opening gala concert for the re-dedication of the Salt Lake Tabernacle with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir on April 6–7. Later, Terfel performed the title role in a concert version of Sweeney Todd that had four performances from July 5 to July 7 at London's Royal Festival Hall. This was the idea of him and his fellow bass-baritone and friend, the Irishman Dermot Malone.

Terfel has not shied away from popular music either. He has recorded CDs of songs by Lerner and Loewe and Rodgers and Hammerstein. In 2001 he commissioned and performed Atgof o'r Ser ('The Memory of Stars') in the National Eisteddfod with the composer Robat Arwyn.

In September 2007, Terfel withdrew, to severe criticism, from Covent Garden's Ring Cycle when his six-year-old son required several operations on his finger. But the singer did successfully return to the Met in November 2007 to sing the role of Figaro. He told reporters in New York that he will now retire Figaro from his repertoire.

Terfel intended to take 2008 as a sabbatical from opera performances, but broke this to take the title role in WNO's revival of Falstaff. He had sung in this production in 1993, when he played the role of Ford.

In 2009 Terfel sang Scarpia and the Dutchman for the Royal Opera House.

In 2010, Terfel made his debut as Hans Sachs in Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg in a production for Welsh National Opera, in Cardiff and on tour. On 17 July 2010, the cast of this production gave a "concert staging" at the Royal Albert Hall as part of the 2010 BBC Proms, which was broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and on BBC Four television. On 31 July, again at the Proms, he performed in a concert from the Royal Albert Hall celebrating the works of Stephen Sondheim, in his 80th birthday year. On 27 September he led the opening of the Met's new season in New York singing Wotan in the premiere of the production of Das Rheingold that begins Robert Lepage's, and the Met's, new staging of the complete Wagner Ring; he continues with Die Walküre in spring 2011.

Personal life

He is married to his childhood sweetheart, Lesley; the couple have three children: Tomos, Morgan, and Deio Sion.

The family lives in Bontnewydd, near Caernarfon, Gwynedd. Terfel was a leading petitioner in the creation of Bontnewydd railway station on the rebuilt Welsh Highland Railway, and in part sponsored its construction.

Honours and awards

Terfel has been awarded the honour, by the Eisteddfod, of becoming a member of the Gorsedd of Bards. Created in 1792 as celebration of Welsh heritage, Gorsedd inductees are considered to have contributed to Welsh culture.

In 2003, Terfel became a Commander of the Order of the British Empire, receiving the honour from the Prince of Wales. In 2006, he became the second recipient of the Queen's Medal for Music (the previous recipient was conductor Sir Charles Mackerras). In 2008, he was appointed an Honorary Fellow of Jesus College, Oxford.

Terfel is also President of the Welsh homelessness charity Shelter Cymru and is Patron of Bobath Children's Therapy Centre Wales, a registered charity based in Cardiff which provides specialist Bobath therapy to children from all over Wales who have cerebral palsy.

Faenol Festival

Starting in 2000, Terfel started the Faenol Festival near Snowdonia in Wales. Billed as "Bryn Terfel's Faenol Festival" (often referred to as "BrynFest" or known locally in Welsh as "Gŵyl Y Faenol"), it turned into an annual music festival featuring internationally famous opera singers as well as popular Welsh artists. In the same year he released We'll Keep a Welcome - The Welsh Album, an anthology of favourite traditional songs. In 2009 and again in 2010, he was forced to cancel the festival due to low public bookings, after having been voted a £250,000 grant by the Welsh Assembly.

Operatic repertoire

These are roles that Terfel has performed on stage

{|class="wikitable sortable" !Composer!!Opera!!Role!!In repertoire!!Recorded |- |Britten||Peter Grimes||Balstrode||1995||No |- |Donizetti||L'elisir d'amore||Dulcamara||2001||Yes (dvd) |- |Gounod||Faust||Mephistopheles||2004||Yes (dvd) |- |Mozart||Così fan tutte||Guglielmo||1991||No |- |Mozart||Don Giovanni||Masetto||1992||Yes |- |Mozart||Don Giovanni||Leporello||1991||Yes |- |Mozart||Don Giovanni||Don Giovanni||1999 –||Yes |- |Mozart||Die Zauberflöte||Speaker||1991||No |- |Mozart||Le nozze di Figaro||Figaro||1991–2007||Yes |- |Offenbach||Les contes d'Hoffmann||Four male roles||2000||Yes (dvd) |- |Puccini||Gianni Schicchi||Gianni Schicchi||2007||No |- |Puccini||Tosca||Scarpia||||Yes |- |Puccini||Madama Butterfly||Sharpless||1996||No |- |Richard Strauss||Die Frau ohne Schatten||Der Geisterbote||1992||Yes |- |Richard Strauss||Salome||Jochanaan||1993||Yes |- |Sondheim||||Sweeney Todd||2002 –||No |- |Stravinsky||The Rake's Progress||Nick Shadow||1996–2000||Yes |- |Stravinsky||Oedipus Rex||Creon||1992||Yes |- |Verdi||Falstaff||Falstaff||1999 –||Yes |- |Verdi||Falstaff||Ford||1993||No |- |Wagner||Das Rheingold||Donner||1993||No |- |Wagner||Das Rheingold||Wotan||2005 –||No |- |Wagner||Die Walküre||Wotan||2005 –||No |- |Wagner||Tannhäuser||Wolfram||1998||No |- |Wagner||Der fliegende Holländer||Holländer||2006 –||No |- |Wagner||Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg||Hans Sachs||2010||Concert staging of Welsh National Opera production broadcast by BBC Radio 3 and BBC Four television as part of BBC Proms |- |-class="sortbottom" |}

References

External links

Bryn Terfel at Official Deutsche Grammophon site

Terfeliaid: Official site for followers of Terfel

www.brynfest.com Faenol Festival

Bryn Terfel biography from BBC Wales

Official Universal Classics and Jazz Website

Bryn Terfel Interview at What's on in Wales

Category:1965 births Category:Alumni of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama Category:Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Living people Category:People from Gwynedd Category:Operatic bass-baritones Category:Welsh Eisteddfod winners Category:Welsh male singers Category:Welsh opera singers Category:Welsh-language music Category:Welsh-speaking people Category:Bards of the Gorsedd Category:Welsh baritones Category:Honorary Members of the Royal Academy of Music Category:Bass-baritones