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American Opera Auditions
The American Opera Auditions was a non-profit organization located in Cincinnati, Ohio that organized an annual singing contest in both the United States and Italy from 1956-1990. The organization was founded by Cincinnati businessman and philanthropist John L. Magro. Winners of the American Opera Auditions from the United States were afforded the opportunity to study singing in Italy and make their professional European opera debuts at notable Italian opera houses. The Italian winners were afforded the opportunity to study singing in the United States and make their US debut with the Cincinnati Opera during its summer season. Notable winners of the competition include Sharon Azrieli, Gene Boucher, Dominic Cossa, James King, John Modinos, Elizabeth Fischer Monastero, Karen Holvik, Sherill Milnes, Seymour Schwartzman, George Shirley and Carol Toscano Carol Toscano is an American operatic soprano who appeared frequently with a number of prominent American opera companies from 19 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Non-profit
A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in contrast with an entity that operates as a business aiming to generate a profit for its owners. A nonprofit is subject to the non-distribution constraint: any revenues that exceed expenses must be committed to the organization's purpose, not taken by private parties. An array of organizations are nonprofit, including some political organizations, schools, business associations, churches, social clubs, and consumer cooperatives. Nonprofit entities may seek approval from governments to be tax-exempt, and some may also qualify to receive tax-deductible contributions, but an entity may incorporate as a nonprofit entity without securing tax-exempt status. Key aspects of nonprofits are accountability, trustworthiness, honesty, and openness to eve ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elizabeth Fischer Monastero
Elizabeth Fischer Monastero is an American operatic mezzo-soprano and voice teacher. Life and career Born Elizabeth Fischer and raised in Dubuque, Iowa, Fischer Monastero graduated with a bachelor's degree in vocal performance from the University of Michigan in 1956. She also studied with tenor Richard Miller at the Interlochen Center for the Arts and with Clara Bloomfield of Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. In 1962 Fischer Monastero won the Euclid McBride Memorial Scholarship in the finals of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. That same year she won the American Opera Auditions which enabled her to study opera in Italy. Before leaving for Italy, she attended the Music Academy of the West's summer conservatory. Shortly after she made her European debut at the Teatro Nuovo in Milan in September 1962 as Suzuki in Giacomo Puccini's '' Madama Butterfly''; a role which she repeated that year at the Teatro Comunale Florence. Fischer Monastero made her debut at the Lyric Oper ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carol Toscano
Carol Toscano is an American operatic soprano who appeared frequently with a number of prominent American opera companies from 1962 to 1972. Afterwards she continued to perform in concerts and operas with less frequency. More recently she has appeared as a concert singer of works from the Great American Songbook. In her early career she won several prominent singing competitions. Life and career Born and raised in the Philadelphia area, Toscano studied singing with Marinka Gurewich, Claire Gelda, and Floria Mari. In 1960 she won third prize in the Marian Anderson Singing Competition and first prize at the American Opera Auditions in Cincinnati which led to her opera debut in 1961 as Rosina in Rossini's ''The Barber of Seville'' at the Teatro Nuovo in Milan, Italy. In 1962 she won the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. That same year she made her debut at Carnegie Hall as Alice in Rossini's ''Le comte Ory'' under conductor Thomas Schippers with the American Opera ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Naomi André
Naomi André is an American scholar of music. She is the David G. Frey Distinguished Professor in Music at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is also the first scholar-in-residence of the Seattle Opera and the Des Moines Metro Opera. Biography André grew up the only child of a single mother. Her mother sang high coloratura soprano and studied operatic singing at the Juilliard School. She received her B.A. from Barnard College in 1989. She was the first black woman to earn a Ph.D. from Harvard University’s department of music in 1996. André taught at the University of Michigan, first at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance, then at the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts until 2022, when she joined the faculty of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her scholarship focuses on 19th century Italian Opera as well as the issues of race, representation and gender in Opera with an expertise in the works of composer Giusep ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Shirley
George Irving Shirley (born April 18, 1934) is an American operatic tenor, and was the first African-American tenor to perform a leading role at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. Early life Shirley was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, and raised in Detroit, Michigan. He earned a bachelor's degree in music education from Wayne State University in 1955 and then was drafted into the Army, where he became the first Black member of the United States Army Chorus.Randye Jones"George Shirley (b. 1934)" Afrocentric Voices, retrieved June 10, 2014. He was also the first African American hired to teach music in Detroit high schools."Surviving Odds to Become a Star: George Shirley" '' |
Seymour Schwartzman
Seymour Schwartzman (December 7, 1930 – January 18, 2009) was an American cantor and opera singer. He was a principal baritone at New York City Opera where he sang over thirty roles and also performed internationally in opera houses and on the concert stage. Among the synagogues where he served as cantor was the Beth Sholom Congregation in Elkins Park, Pennsylvania. Biography Seymour Schwartzman was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son and grandson of cantors, and initially trained with his father. Following service in the US Army, he studied at the School of Sacred Music at Hebrew Union College, while at the same time holding a full-time position as cantor at Temple Beth Emeth in Teaneck, New Jersey. After his graduation in 1953, he served as cantor for the Beth Israel Congregation in Providence, Rhode Island for three years until moving to Elkins Park, Pennsylvania where he took up an appointment as the first cantor to the newly built Beth Sholom CongregationMattanna, Pauline ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sherill Milnes
Sherrill Milnes (born January 10, 1935) is an American dramatic 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. By 1965, aged 30, 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. Early life Milnes was born in Downers Grove, Illinois. His mother and father were dairy farmers. 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. While in high school, Milnes planned to be an anesthesiologist, but later returned to music, stud ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Karen Holvik
Karen Holvik is an American classical soprano and voice teacher. Holvik was born in Cedar Falls, Iowa, the daughter of Karl Holvik (1921–2003), clarinetist, conductor, and Professor of Music at the University of Northern Iowa from 1947 to 1984, and Martha Holvik (1920–2014), violinist, violist, pianist and soprano, who also taught at UNI and founded the UNI Suzuki School in 1976. She gained a master's degree and Performer's Certificate in Opera at the Eastman School of Music, and settled in New York City. She appeared with Western Opera Theater, Texas Opera Theater, Houston Grand Opera, Opera Illinois, Opera Festival of New Jersey, and Anchorage Opera. Her operatic roles include Susanna, Constanze, Sandrina, Adina, Lucia, Juliette, Micaela, Miss Wordsworth, Tytania and Baby Doe. She has toured extensively in the United States, Western Europe and Canada, singing both popular and classical repertoire. Among the vocal competitions in which she participated were the Oratorio Soci ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Modinos
John Modinos (May 26, 1927 – January 11, 2011) was a Cypriot opera baritone. Life and career In 1927, John Modinos was born in Omodos, a small village in the Troodos Mountains. He had a career that spanned over four decades. His illustrious career in music started in New York after winning "The American Theater Wing Concert Award" with which he made his Recital debut in New York' s Town Hall that had tremendous reviews. His operatic debut was also in New York in Traviata with Beverly Sills. Another singing Award "The American Opera Auditions" brought him to Europe, performing Figaro in Barber of Seville in Milano with sensational notices and Scarpia in Tosca in Florence, Italy with James King as Cavaradosi. The same summer, he performed at the Athens Festival with Teresa Stratas, the world Premiere of the Opera "Nausicaa". Both these events opened the way for world acclamation. With Luciano Pavarotti he had sung many times "Rigoletto" a role that secured for Modenos worldwid ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line with Kentucky. The city is the economic and cultural hub of the Cincinnati metropolitan area. With an estimated population of 2,256,884, it is Ohio's largest metropolitan area and the nation's 30th-largest, and with a city population of 309,317, Cincinnati is the third-largest city in Ohio and 64th in the United States. Throughout much of the 19th century, it was among the top 10 U.S. cities by population, surpassed only by New Orleans and the older, established settlements of the United States eastern seaboard, as well as being the sixth-most populous city from 1840 until 1860. As a rivertown crossroads at the junction of the North, South, East, and West, Cincinnati developed with fewer immigrants and less influence from Europe than Ea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
James King (tenor)
James King (May 22, 1925November 20, 2005) was an American operatic tenor who had an active international singing career in operas and concerts from the 1950s through 2000. Widely regarded as one of the finest American heldentenors of the post-war period, he excelled in performances of the works of Richard Wagner and Richard Strauss. King made several recording during his career, most notably singing the role of Siegmund in ''Die Walküre'' for Sir Georg Solti's famous recording of Wagner's ''Ring Cycle''. He was a member of the voice faculties at the University of Missouri–Kansas City and the Jacobs School of Music of Indiana University. Biography King was born in Dodge City, Kansas, to an Irish father and a mother of German lineage. In his youth he actively sang in church choirs and studied the violin. He earned a bachelor's degree in music from Louisiana State University in 1949, where he trained to be a baritone with Dallas Draper. He then pursued a master's degree in vocal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dominic Cossa
Dominic Cossa (born May 13, 1935) is an American operatic lyric baritone particularly associated with the Italian and French repertoire. Biography Born in Jessup, Pennsylvania, Cossa studied with Anthony Marlowe in Detroit, Michigan, Robert Weede in Concord, California, and Armen Boyajian in New York City. He made his debut at the New York City Opera as Moralès in 1961, and a week later sang Sharpless with the company. He won the American Opera Auditions in 1964 and was sent to Italy for debuts at the Teatro Nuovo in Milan and Teatro della Pergola in Florence. He made his debut at the San Francisco Opera in 1967 as Zurga in '' Les pêcheurs de perles''. His Metropolitan Opera debut took place on January 30, 1970 as Silvio in '' Pagliacci''. Other roles there were Figaro in ''Il barbiere di Siviglia'', Lescaut in ''Manon Lescaut'', Marcello in ''La bohème'', Mercutio in '' Roméo et Juliette'', Masetto in '' Don Giovanni'', Valentin in ''Faust'', Yeletsky in '' Pique D ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
