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Billy Budd (opera)
''Billy Budd'', Op. 50, is an opera by Benjamin Britten to a libretto by the English novelist E. M. Forster and Eric Crozier, based on the short novel '' Billy Budd'' by Herman Melville. Originally in four acts, the opera received its premiere at the Royal Opera House (ROH), London, on 1 December 1951. Britten later revised the work into a two-act opera, with a prologue and an epilogue. The revised version received its first performance at the ROH, Covent Garden, London, on 9 January 1964. Composition history E. M. Forster had an interest in the novella, which he discussed in his Clark lectures at Cambridge University. Forster had admired Britten's music since 1937 when he attended a performance of the play ''The Ascent of F6'' (for which Britten wrote incidental music). Forster met Britten in October 1942, when he heard Peter Pears and Britten perform Britten's '' Seven Sonnets of Michelangelo'' at the National Gallery. In 1948, Britten and Forster discussed whether Forster ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Benjamin Britten
Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976, aged 63) was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British music, with a range of works including opera, other vocal music, orchestral and chamber pieces. His best-known works include the opera '' Peter Grimes'' (1945), the '' War Requiem'' (1962) and the orchestral showpiece ''The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra'' (1945). Born in Lowestoft, Suffolk, the son of a dentist, Britten showed talent from an early age. He studied at the Royal College of Music in London and privately with the composer Frank Bridge. Britten first came to public attention with the '' a cappella'' choral work '' A Boy was Born'' in 1934. With the premiere of ''Peter Grimes'' in 1945, he leapt to international fame. Over the next 28 years, he wrote 14 more operas, establishing himself as one of the leading 20th-century composers in the genre. In addition to large-sca ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
HMS Pinafore
''H.M.S. Pinafore; or, The Lass That Loved a Sailor'' is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and a libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It opened at the Opera Comique in London, on 25 May 1878 and ran for 571 performances, which was the second-longest run of any musical theatre piece up to that time. ''H.M.S. Pinafore'' was Gilbert and Sullivan's fourth operatic collaboration and their first international sensation. The story takes place aboard the Royal Navy ship HMS ''Pinafore''. The captain's daughter, Josephine, is in love with a lower-class sailor, Ralph Rackstraw, although her father intends her to marry Sir Joseph Porter, the First Lord of the Admiralty. She abides by her father's wishes at first, but Sir Joseph's advocacy of the equality of humankind encourages Ralph and Josephine to overturn conventional social order. They declare their love for each other and eventually plan to elope. The Captain discovers this plan, but, as in many of the Gilbert ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Steuart Bedford
Steuart John Rudolf Bedford (31 July 1939 – 15 February 2021) was an English orchestral and opera conductor and pianist. He was the brother of composer David Bedford and of singer Peter Lehmann Bedford and a grandson of Liza Lehmann and Herbert Bedford; his parents were Leslie Bedford, an inventor, and Lesley Duff, a soprano opera singer. Bedford was particularly associated with the music of Benjamin Britten, and conducted the world premiere of ''Death in Venice'' in 1973. Bedford also conducted Britten's other operas, and made an orchestral suite of music from ''Death in Venice''. Between 1974 and 1998, he was one of the Artistic Directors of the Aldeburgh Festival. In 1989, he became joint artistic director with Oliver Knussen. In the summer of 2013, Bedford conducted a performance of ''Peter Grimes'' which was staged in its natural setting on the beach at Aldeburgh. His book ''Knowing Britten'', compiled through his conversations with the tenor Christopher Gillett, is d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Michael Grandage
Michael Grandage CBE (born 2 May 1962) is a British theatre director and producer. He is currently Artistic Director of the Michael Grandage Company. From 2002 to 2012 he was Artistic Director of the Donmar Warehouse in London and from 2000 to 2005 he was Artistic Director of Sheffield Theatres. Early years Grandage was born in Yorkshire, England, and raised in Penzance, Cornwall, where his parents ran a family business. He was educated at the Humphry Davy Grammar School before training as an actor at the Royal Central School of Speech & Drama through 1984. He spent twelve years working as an actor for companies such as the Royal Exchange and the Royal Shakespeare Company and was also a member of National Youth Theatre before turning to directing. He made his directorial debut in 1996 with a production of Arthur Miller's ''The Last Yankee'' at the Mercury Theatre, Colchester. In 1998 he was invited by Sheffield Theatres to direct ''Twelfth Night'', his first Shakespeare product ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Glyndebourne Festival Opera
Glyndebourne Festival Opera is an annual opera festival held at Glyndebourne, an English country house near Lewes, in East Sussex, England. History Under the supervision of the Christie family, the festival has been held annually since 1934, except in 1941–45 during World War II and 1993 when the theatre was being rebuilt, for a 1994 reopening. Gus Christie, son of Sir George Christie and grandson of festival founder John Christie, became festival chairman in 2000. Since the company's inception, Glyndebourne has been particularly celebrated for its productions of Mozart operas. Recordings of Glyndebourne's past historic Mozart productions have been reissued. Other notable productions included their 1980s production of George Gershwin's ''Porgy and Bess'', directed by Trevor Nunn, and later expanded from the Glyndebourne stage and videotaped in 1993 for television, with Nunn again directing. While Mozart operas have continued to be the mainstay of its repertory, the compa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Metropolitan Opera
The Metropolitan Opera (commonly known as the Met) is an American opera company based in New York City, resident at the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, currently situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager. As of 2018, the company's current music director is Yannick Nézet-Séguin. The Met was founded in 1883 as an alternative to the previously established Academy of Music opera house, and debuted the same year in a new building on 39th and Broadway (now known as the "Old Met"). It moved to the new Lincoln Center location in 1966. The Metropolitan Opera is the largest classical music organization in North America. Until 2019, it presented about 27 different operas each year from late September through May. The operas are presented in a rotating repertory schedule, with up to seven performances of four different works staged each week. Performances are ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arnold Voketaitis
Arnold and Nijole Voketaitis. Arnold Voketaitis (born May 11, 1930, New Haven, Connecticut) is an American bass-baritone of Lithuanian descent who had an active singing career performing in operas, concerts, and recitals from the late 1950s through the 1990s. He enjoyed a particularly successful partnership with the New York City Opera and has performed with most of the major opera companies in North America. A strong actor, he has a powerful voice with a wide range and fine timbre. Biography Born in Connecticut, Voketaitis is a graduate of Quinnipiac University. Before his singing career, Voketaitis worked as a cars salesman, jazz trumpeter, and a radio announcer. He studied voice under Elda Ercole, Leila Edward and Kurt Saffir in New York City. Voketaitis began his singing career touring as soloist with the United States Army Band ("Pershing's Own") in 1956. With the Army Band, Voketaitis had the opportunity to perform for President Dwight D. Eisenhower at the White Hou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Raymond Michalski
Raymond Michalski (born 8 June 1933) is an American operatic bass-baritone. Michalski was born in Bayonne, New Jersey. He studied voice with Rosalie Miller at the Mannes School of Music in New York City before making his professional stage debut in 1959 as Nourabad in Georges Bizet's '' Les pecheurs de perles'' with the Philadelphia Grand Opera Company. In 1964 he sang the role of Talbot in the United States premiere of Gaetano Donizetti's ''Maria Stuarda'' in concert form at Carnegie Hall. In 1965 he joined the roster of singers at the Metropolitan Opera; making his Met debut on December 29, 1965, as the King in Giuseppe Verdi's ''Aida''. Over the next 11 years he gave 301 performances at the Met in a total of 32 roles. The bass died of cancer 24 Dec 1978 in Elizabeth, New Jersey Elizabeth is a city and the county seat of Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bruce Yarnell
Bruce Patane Altomari Yarnell (December 28, 1935 – November 30, 1973) was an American film, television, theatre actor and singer. He was known for playing the role of Deputy Marshal Chalk Breeson in the final season of the American western television series ''Outlaws''. As a baritone, he performed in musicals such as '' Annie Get Your Gun'', ''Bye Bye Birdie'', ''Carousel'', and ''Oklahoma!''. Life and career Yarnell was born in Pasadena, California, the son of Marie and Harold, a police officer. He was the older brother of dancer and actress Lorene Yarnell. He studied opera and later sang at the Earl Carroll Theatre in Los Angeles. He also sang in Reno, Nevada, where he was later joined by the Mormon Choir in numerous musical productions. Yarnell made his theatre debut in 1960 on Broadway, in ''Camelot'' as Sir Lionel. His film and television career began soon afterwards, when he joined the cast of the western television series ''Outlaws'' in 1961, for its final season, p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Richard Lewis (tenor)
Richard Lewis CBE (10 May 191413 November 1990) was an English tenor of Welsh parentage. Life Born Thomas Thomas in Manchester to Welsh parents, Lewis began his career as a boy soprano and studied at the Royal Manchester College of Music (now merged into the Royal Northern College of Music) from 1939 to 1941, and later at the Royal Academy of Music. He made his operatic debut in 1939, and from 1947 onwards, sang at the Glyndebourne Festival Opera and at Covent Garden (London). He made his debut in the United States in 1955. Lewis made a number of recordings, including ''Messiah'' (Handel), ''L'incoronazione di Poppea'' (Monteverdi), ''Idomeneo'' (Mozart), ''Liebeslieder Walzer'' and Neue Liebeslieder Walzer (Brahms), Coleridge-Taylor's ''The Song of Hiawatha'', Elgar's ''The Dream of Gerontius'', Benjamin Britten's Spring Symphony (with Leonard Bernstein), scenes from William Walton's ''Troilus and Cressida'', BBC Studio recording of ''The Mercy of Titus'' (''La Clemenza di T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lyric Opera Of Chicago
Lyric Opera of Chicago is one of the leading opera companies in the United States. It was founded in Chicago in 1954, under the name 'Lyric Theatre of Chicago' by Carol Fox, Nicola Rescigno and Lawrence Kelly, with a season that included Maria Callas's American debut in ''Norma''. The company was re-organized by Fox in 1956 under its present name and, after her 1981 departure, it has continued to be of one of the major opera companies in the United States. The Lyric is housed in a theater and related spaces in the Civic Opera Building. These spaces are now owned by the Lyric. Opera in Chicago 1850–1954 The first opera to be performed in Chicago was Bellini's ''La sonnambula'', presented by a traveling opera company on 29 July 1850. Chicago's first opera house opened in 1865 but was destroyed in the Great Fire of Chicago in 1871. The second opera house, the Chicago Auditorium, opened in 1889. In 1929 the current Civic Opera House on 20 North Wacker Drive was opened, though ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Decca Label Group
Decca Gold is a United States-based record label focusing on classical repertoire. It falls under the umbrella of Verve Label Group, owned by Universal Music Group. The label has a new roster of classical artists and partnerships, and was inspired by the historic Decca Gold Label Series established in 1956 that featured artists such as Andrés Segovia, Leonard Bernstein, Claudio Arrau and Dave Brubeck. The label's first album, Emerson String Quartet's ''Chaconnes and Fantasias: Music of Britten and Purcell'', was released on April 21, 2017. Decca Gold partnered with the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition to release recordings of the Gold, Silver and Bronze winners. That album reached No. 1 on the Billboard Classical Traditional Chart. Although the group's primary focus is on Western classical music, it also has subsidiaries dealing with jazz and musical theater. The main Decca label also issues some pop and country releases. Universal Music Classical *Decca Classics *Deu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
