Sissel Kyrkjebø

Sissel Kyrkjebø (Norwegian pronunciation: [ˈsɪsəl ˈçʏʁçəˌbʷøː], /ˈsisel ˈçyrçeˌbø/; born 24 June 1969), also simply known as Sissel, is a Norwegian soprano.

Sissel is considered one of the world's top crossover sopranos, her musical style ranges from pop recordings and folk songs, to classical vocals and operatic arias. She possesses a "crystalline" voice and wide vocal range, sweeping down from mezzo-soprano notes, in arias such as Mon cœur s'ouvre à ta voix from Saint-Saëns's opera Samson et Dalila, to the F natural above soprano C. She sings mainly in English and Norwegian, and has also sung songs in Swedish, Danish, Irish, Italian, French, Russian, Icelandic, Faroese, German, Neapolitan, Māori, Japanese, and Latin.

She is well known for singing the Olympic Hymn (Hymne Olympique) at the opening and closing ceremonies of the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway; for duets with Plácido Domingo, Charles Aznavour, José Carreras, Neil Sedaka, Warren G, Brian May, Bryn Terfel, Josh Groban, Diana Krall, Russell Watson and The Chieftains; and her participation on the Titanic film soundtrack.

Kyrkjebø

Kyrkjebø is a former municipality in Sogn og Fjordane county, Norway. It is located in the northwestern part of the present-day municipality of Høyanger. The municipality existed from 1858 until 1964 when it became part of the new municipality of Høyanger. Prior to its dissolution, the municipality of Kyrkjebø covered a total of 681 square kilometres (263 sq mi) of land on the north and south side of the Sognefjorden. The administrative centre of the municipality was the village of Kyrkjebø, where the main Kyrkjebø Church is located.

Name

The municipality was originally named after the old Klævold farm (Old Norse: Kleppavǫllr). The first element comes from the Old Norse word kleppr meaning "hill" and the second element is identical to the Old Norse word vǫllr meaning "level ground". Therefore the meaning could be a hill in the middle of level ground.

The municipality was later named after the old Kirkebø farm, since Kyrkjebø Church was located there. The first element of the name is identical with the name for "church", and the second element of the name is identical with the word for "farm". It was named this because it was the farm where the church was located. From 1890 until 1917 the name was spelled Kirkebø (using the Bokmål spelling) and then in 1917 it was changed to Kyrkjebø (using the Nynorsk spelling).

Sissel

Sissel is a Norwegian female given name, a variant of Cecilia.

Notable people called Sissel include:

References

Plácido Domingo

José Plácido Domingo Embil (Spanish pronunciation: [xoˈse ˈplaθiðo ðoˈmiŋɡo emˈbil]; born 21 January 1941), known as Plácido Domingo, is a Spanish tenor, conductor and arts administrator. He has recorded over a hundred complete operas and is well known for his versatility, regularly performing in Italian, French, German, Spanish, English and Russian in the most prestigious opera houses in the world. Although primarily a lirico-spinto tenor for most of his career, especially popular for his Cavaradossi, Hoffmann, Don José, and Canio, he quickly moved into more dramatic roles, becoming the most acclaimed Otello of his generation. In the early 2010s, he transitioned from the tenor repertory into almost exclusively baritone parts, most notably Simon Boccanegra. He has performed 147 different roles.

Domingo has also achieved significant success as a crossover artist, especially in the genres of Latin and popular music. In addition to winning fourteen Grammy and Latin Grammy Awards, several of his records have gone silver, gold, platinum and multi-platinum. His first pop album, Perhaps Love (1981), spread his fame beyond the opera world. The title song, performed as a duet with country and folk singer John Denver, has sold almost four million copies and helped lead to numerous television appearances for the tenor. He also starred in many cinematically released and televised opera movies, particularly under the direction of Franco Zeffirelli. In 1990, he began singing with fellow tenors Luciano Pavarotti and José Carreras as part of The Three Tenors. The first Three Tenors recording became the best-selling classical album of all time.

José Carreras

Josep Maria Carreras i Coll (Catalan pronunciation: [ʒuˈzɛp kəˈreɾəs]; born 5 December 1946), better known as José Carreras (Spanish pronunciation: [xoˈse kaˈreɾas]), is a Catalan tenor who is particularly known for his performances in the operas of Verdi and Puccini. Born in Barcelona, he made his debut on the operatic stage at 11 as Trujamán in Manuel de Falla's El retablo de Maese Pedro and went on to a career that encompassed over 60 roles, performed in the world's leading opera houses and in numerous recordings.

He gained fame with a wider audience as one of the Three Tenors along with Plácido Domingo and Luciano Pavarotti in a series of mass concerts that began in 1990 and continued until 2003. Carreras is also known for his humanitarian work as the president of the José Carreras International Leukaemia Foundation (La Fundació Internacional Josep Carreras per a la Lluita contra la Leucèmia), which he established following his own recovery from the disease in 1988.

Life and career