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Bryan Drake
Bryan Ernest Hare Drake (7 October 192525 December 2001) was a New Zealand-born baritone who became particularly associated with the operas of Benjamin Britten. Born in Dunedin, Drake sang in the choir of the local St Paul's cathedral, and was educated at Otago Boys' High School. He then studied at the University of Otago, where he sang with the music society. He made his opera debut in 1948 as Escamillo in Bizet's '' Carmen'',Elizabeth Forbes"Drake, Bryan (Ernest Hare)" The New Grove Dictionary of Opera: Grove Music Online, Oxford Music Online, Oxford University Press, accessed 16 May 2014 in a production originally staged as part of the Otago Centennial, which then toured around the country. Receiving a government bursary in 1949, Drake travelled to London. The following year he received a two-year contract as a full-time principal in the Covent Garden Opera Company. During that time he created the roles of Donald, in the 1951 world premiere of Britten's '' Billy Budd'', and ...
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Bryan Drake
Bryan Ernest Hare Drake (7 October 192525 December 2001) was a New Zealand-born baritone who became particularly associated with the operas of Benjamin Britten. Born in Dunedin, Drake sang in the choir of the local St Paul's cathedral, and was educated at Otago Boys' High School. He then studied at the University of Otago, where he sang with the music society. He made his opera debut in 1948 as Escamillo in Bizet's '' Carmen'',Elizabeth Forbes"Drake, Bryan (Ernest Hare)" The New Grove Dictionary of Opera: Grove Music Online, Oxford Music Online, Oxford University Press, accessed 16 May 2014 in a production originally staged as part of the Otago Centennial, which then toured around the country. Receiving a government bursary in 1949, Drake travelled to London. The following year he received a two-year contract as a full-time principal in the Covent Garden Opera Company. During that time he created the roles of Donald, in the 1951 world premiere of Britten's '' Billy Budd'', and ...
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English Opera Group
The English Opera Group was a small company of British musicians formed in 1947 by the composer Benjamin Britten (along with John Piper, Eric Crozier and Anne Wood) for the purpose of presenting his and other, primarily British, composers' operatic works. The group later expanded to present larger-scale works, and was renamed the English Music Theatre Company. The organisation produced its last opera and ceased to run in 1980. English Opera Group Fleeing internal politics at Sadler's Wells Opera at the end of 1945, Britten and singers Joan Cross, Anne Wood, and Peter Pears joined with designer Piper and producer Crozier to found the English Opera Group. The new company's goal was to première Britten's operas, and to present other, mostly British, small-scale operas. Rosenthal, Harold. ''English Opera Group'' in Sadie, vol. 2, p. 52 The company's first project was to première Britten's chamber opera ''Albert Herring'' and give further performances of his opera ''The Rape of L ...
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1925 Births
Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number), the natural number following 18 and preceding 20 * one of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (film), a 1987 science fiction film Music * 19 (band), a Japanese pop music duo Albums * ''19'' (Adele album), 2008 * ''19'', a 2003 album by Alsou * ''19'', a 2006 album by Evan Yo * ''19'', a 2018 album by MHD * ''19'', one half of the double album ''63/19'' by Kool A.D. * ''Number Nineteen'', a 1971 album by American jazz pianist Mal Waldron * ''XIX'' (EP), a 2019 EP by 1the9 Songs * "19" (song), a 1985 song by British musician Paul Hardcastle. * "Nineteen", a song by Bad4Good from the 1992 album '' Refugee'' * "Nineteen", a song by Karma to Burn from the 2001 album ''Almost Heathen''. * "Nineteen" (song), a 2007 song by American singer Billy Ray Cyrus. * "Nineteen", a song by Tegan and Sara from the 2007 album '' The Con''. * "XIX" (song), a 2014 song by Slip ...
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Noye's Fludde
''Noye's Fludde'' is a one-act opera by the British composer Benjamin Britten, intended primarily for amateur performers, particularly children. First performed on 18 June 1958 at that year's Aldeburgh Festival, it is based on the 15th-century Chester "mystery" or "miracle" play which recounts the Old Testament story of Noah's Ark. Britten specified that the opera should be staged in churches or large halls, not in a theatre. By the mid-1950s Britten had established himself as a major composer, both of operas and of works for mixed professional and amateur forces – his mini-opera ''The Little Sweep'' (1949) was written for young audiences, and used child performers. He had previously adapted text from the Chester play cycle in his 1952 '' Canticle II'', which retells the story of Abraham and Isaac. ''Noye's Fludde'' was composed as a project for television; to the Chester text Britten added three congregational hymns, the Greek prayer ''Kyrie eleison'' as a children's chant ...
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Britten-Pears School For Advanced Musical Studies
The Britten–Pears School for Advanced Musical Studies was founded in 1977 in Aldeburgh, Suffolk, following the success both of the master classes held for singers by Peter Pears from 1972, and of the subsequent courses for string players. The School grew to offer a varied programme of practical and academic courses for young musicians and singers at the start of their professional career. Master classes have been taught by such distinguished visiting faculty members as Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Murray Perahia and Pierre Fournier. The successor of the school, the Britten–Pears Young Artist Programme, continues to provide training for outstanding young professionals from around the world and also manages courses for the Britten-Pears Orchestra, formerly The Snape Maltings Training Orchestra. The contemporary composition and performance course was founded by Oliver Knussen and Colin Matthews in 1992. More recently there has been in addition a digital media course, called New Mus ...
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Royal College Of Music
The Royal College of Music is a music school, conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the Undergraduate education, undergraduate to the Doctorate, doctoral level in all aspects of Western Music including performance, composition, conducting, music theory and history. The RCM also undertakes research, with particular strengths in performance practice and performance science. The college is one of the four conservatories of the ABRSM, Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music and a member of Conservatoires UK. Its buildings are directly opposite the Royal Albert Hall on Prince Consort Road, next to Imperial College and among the museums and cultural centres of Albertopolis. History Background The college was founded in 1883 to replace the short-lived and unsuccessful National Training School for Music (NTSM). The school was the result of an earlier proposal by the Albert, Prince Consort, Prince Con ...
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Guildhall School Of Music And Drama
The Guildhall School of Music and Drama is a conservatoire and drama school located in the City of London, United Kingdom. Established in 1880, the school offers undergraduate and postgraduate training in all aspects of classical music and jazz along with drama and production arts. The school has students from over seventy countries. Widely regarded as one of the leading performing arts institutions in the world, it was ranked first in both the Guardian’s 2022 League Table for Music and the Complete University Guide's 2023 Arts, Drama and Music league table. It is also ranked the sixth university in the world for performing arts in the 2022 QS World University Rankings. Based within the Barbican Centre in the City of London, the school currently numbers just over 1,000 students, approximately 800 of whom are music students and 200 on the drama and technical theatre programmes. The school is a member of Conservatoires UK, the European Association of Conservatoires and the Fede ...
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The Prodigal Son (Britten)
''The Prodigal Son'' is a music drama by Benjamin Britten with a libretto by William Plomer. Based on the Biblical story of the Prodigal Son, this was Britten's third "parable for church performance", after ''Curlew River'' and ''The Burning Fiery Furnace''. Britten dedicated the score to Dmitri Shostakovich. The first performance took place on 10 June 1968 in St Bartholomew's Church, Orford, Suffolk. The instrumentalists included the horn player Neill Sanders and the percussionist James Blades. Colin Graham was the stage director. The United States premiere was presented at the Caramoor Summer Music Festival on 29 June 1969 with Andrea Velis as the Tempter/Abbot. As with the other church parables, the instrumental forces are very modest: flute, horn, viola, double bass, harp, organ and percussion, with the use of the alto flute and small trumpet in D marking changes compared to the other works. The percussion also incorporates a gourd rattle. Roles Synopsis The story ce ...
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The Burning Fiery Furnace
''The Burning Fiery Furnace'' is an English music drama with music composed by Benjamin Britten, his Opus 77, to a libretto by William Plomer. One of Britten's three ''Parables for Church Performances'', this work received its premiere at the St Bartholomew's Church, Orford, Suffolk, England, on 9 June 1966 by the English Opera Group. Colin Graham was the stage director of this first production. Set designs were by Annena Stubbs. The United States premiere was presented at the Caramoor Summer Music Festival on 25 June 1967 with Andrea Velis as Nebuchadnezzar. The scale and manner of instrumentation are similar to those in ''Curlew River'', but one notable difference is the use of the alto trombone. Clifford Hindley has commented on a reading of a subtext sympathetic to homosexuality on the part of both Britten and Plomer in their treatment of the story. Roles Synopsis ''The Burning Fiery Furnace'' tells the story of Nebuchadnezzar (the historical Nebuchadnezzar II) and t ...
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Curlew River
''Curlew River – A Parable for Church Performance'' (Op. 71) is an English music drama, with music by Benjamin Britten to a libretto by William Plomer. The first of Britten's three 'Parables for Church Performance', the work is based on the Japanese ''noh'' play ''Sumidagawa'' (Sumida River) of Juro Motomasa] (1395–1431), which Britten saw during a visit to Japan and the Far East in early 1956. Beyond the ''noh'' source dramatic material, Britten incorporated elements of ''noh'' treatment of theatrical time into this composition. ''Curlew River'' marked a departure in style for the remainder of the composer's creative life, paving the way for such works as ''Owen Wingrave'', ''Death in Venice'' and the Third String Quartet. Plomer translated the setting of the original into a Christian parable, set in early medieval times near the fictional Curlew River, in the fenlands of East Anglia. Peter F. Alexander has investigated in detail the librettist's contribution to the work, ...
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Decca Records
Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis (Decca), Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934 by Lewis, Jack Kapp, American Decca's first president, and Milton Rackmil, who later became American Decca's president. In 1937, anticipating Nazi Germany, Nazi aggression leading to World War II, Lewis sold American Decca and the link between the U.K. and U.S. Decca labels was broken for several decades. The British label was renowned for its development of recording methods, while the American company developed the concept of cast albums in the musical genre. Both wings are now part of the Universal Music Group. The U.S. Decca label was the foundation company that evolved into UMG (Universal Music Group). Label name The name dates back to a portable phonograph, gramophone called the "Decca Dulcephone" patented in 1914 by musical instrument makers Barnett Samuel and Sons. The name "Decca" was coined by Wilfred S. Samuel by merging the w ...
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Peter Grimes
''Peter Grimes'', Op. 33, is an opera in three acts by Benjamin Britten, with a libretto by Montagu Slater based on the section "Peter Grimes", in George Crabbe's long narrative poem '' The Borough''. The "borough" of the opera is a fictional small town that bears some resemblance to Crabbe's – and later Britten's – home of Aldeburgh, Suffolk, on England's east coast. The work was conceived while Britten was living in the US in the early years of the Second World War and completed when he returned to Britain in 1943. It was first performed at Sadler's Wells in London on 7 June 1945, conducted by Reginald Goodall, and was a critical and popular success. It is still widely performed, both in Britain and internationally, and has become part of the standard repertoire. Among the tenors who have performed the title role in the opera house, or on record, or both are Britten's partner Peter Pears, who sang the part at the premiere, and Allan Clayton, Ben Heppner, Jonas Kaufmann, P ...
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