Sir John Michael Pritchard CBE (5 February 1921 – 5 December 1989) was an English conductor. He was known for his interpretations of Mozart operas and for his support of contemporary music.

Pritchard was born in London, to a musical family. His father, Albert Edward Pritchard, was a violinist with the London Symphony Orchestra. The young Pritchard studied violin, piano, and conducting in Italy.

Pritchard, as a conscientious objector, refused to serve in the Second World War, but was in any case registered unfit on medical grounds. In 1943 he took over the semi-professional Derby String Orchestra and was its principal conductor until 1951. He joined the music staff of Glyndebourne Festival Opera in 1947 and was appointed chorus master in 1949. He remained associated with Glyndebourne for most of his career, as conductor, music counsellor (from 1963), principal conductor (1968) and musical director (1969–78).

Beyond Glyndebourne, Pritchard appeared with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, at Edinburgh in 1952 (deputising for Ernest Ansermet, who was ill). He made his début at the Royal Opera House in 1951 and at the Vienna State Opera in 1952. He appeared regularly with the Vienna Symphony (1953–5).

John Pritchard may refer to:

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.

Ida Haendel, CBE (reportedly born 15 December 1928) is a British violinist of Polish birth.

Ida Haendel was born in Chełm, a small city in Eastern Poland. She took up the violin at the age of three and as a seven-year-old was admitted at the Warsaw Conservatory. She later studied with Carl Flesch and George Enescu in Paris. During World War II she played in factories and for British and American troops. Her career developed after the end of World War II. Her autobiography, Woman with Violin, was published in 1970. She was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1991. Haendel has lived primarily in Miami, Florida for many years and is actively involved with the Miami International Piano Festival.

She has the reputation of being as accomplished and brilliant a violinist as Yehudi Menuhin and Isaac Stern.

Ida Haendel's recording of the Sibelius Concerto, with Paavo Berglund and the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, is a highly acclaimed interpretation that garnered praise from Sibelius himself.

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.