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Darren Jeffery
Darren Lee Jeffery (born 3 April 1976) is an English bass-baritone singer active in opera, concert and oratorio. Life and career Jeffery was born in Fordham, Cambridgeshire, and attended The King's School, Ely. He then studied as both an undergraduate and graduate student at the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM) from 1995 to 2001. During that time he won the RNCM's highest student award, the Curtis Gold Medal. He sang in the chorus of Glyndebourne Festival Opera while still a post-graduate student as well as singing the title role in the college's 2001 production of Verdi's ''Falstaff''. On completion of his studies in Manchester, he joined The Royal Opera's Young Artists Programme in its founding year. Jeffery made his professional debut as a principal artist as Sciarrone in Puccini's ''Tosca'' at the Royal Opera House in 2002. He subsequently appeared with the company in several more roles, including Bottom in '' A Midsummer Night's Dream'', Monterone in ''Rigoletto'', a ...
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Bass-baritone
A bass-baritone is a high-lying bass or low-lying "classical" baritone voice type which shares certain qualities with the true baritone voice. The term arose in the late 19th century to describe the particular type of voice required to sing three Wagnerian roles: the title role in ''Der fliegende Holländer'', Wotan/Der Wanderer in the ''Ring Cycle'' and Hans Sachs in '' Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg''. Wagner labelled these roles as ''Hoher Bass'' ("high bass")—see fach for more details. The bass-baritone voice is distinguished by two attributes. First, it must be capable of singing comfortably in a baritonal tessitura. Secondly, however, it needs to have the ripely resonant lower range typically associated with the bass voice. For example, the role of Wotan in ''Die Walküre'' covers the range from F2 (the F at the bottom of the bass clef) to F4 (the F above middle C), but only infrequently descends beyond C3 (the C below middle C). Bass-baritones are typically divide ...
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WQXR-FM
WQXR-FM (105.9 FM) is an American non-commercial classical radio station, licensed to Newark, New Jersey and serving the North Jersey and New York City area. It is owned by the nonprofit organization New York Public Radio, which also operates WNYC AM and FM and the four-station New Jersey Public Radio group. WQXR-FM broadcasts from studios and offices located in the Hudson Square neighborhood in lower Manhattan and its transmitter is located at the Empire State Building. The current WQXR-FM is its second incarnation on the FM band, and station owners traditionally trace its history to an earlier New York City station, WQXR, which broadcast on the AM band. New York Public Radio acquired the WQXR-FM operation on July 14, 2009, as part of a three-way trade which also involved The New York Times Company—the previous owners of WQXR-FM—and Univision Radio. As a result of the deal, WQXR-FM became a non-commercial public radio station operated by New York Public Radio and now ru ...
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Grammy Award For Best Opera Recording
The Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ... for Best Opera Recording has been awarded since 1961. The award was originally titled Best Classical Opera Production. The current title has been used since 1962. Prior to 1961 the awards for operatic and choral performances were combined in a single award for Best Classical Performance, Operatic or Choral. According to the list of nominees for the 2023 Grammy season, the award goes to the conductor, album producer(s) and principal soloists, and also to the composer and librettist (if applicable) of a world premiere opera recording only. Years reflect the year in which the Grammy Awards were presented, for works released in the previous year. ''Note: Performers who did not receive a nomination and/or an award (s ...
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Grammy Award
The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the music industry worldwide. It was originally called the Gramophone Awards, as the trophy depicts a gilded Phonograph, gramophone. The Grammys are the first of the Big Three television networks, Big Three networks' major music awards held annually, and is considered one of the EGOT, four major annual American entertainment awards, alongside the Academy Awards (for films), the Emmy Awards (for television), and the Tony Awards (for theater). The 1st Annual Grammy Awards, first Grammy Awards ceremony was held on May 4, 1959, to honor the musical accomplishments of performers for the year 1958. After the 2011 ceremony, the Recording Academy overhauled many Grammy Award categories for 2012. History The Grammys ...
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48th Annual Grammy Awards
The 48th Annual Grammy Awards took place on February 8, 2006, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California honoring the best in music for the recording year beginning from October 1, 2004 through September 30, 2005. Irish rock band U2 were the main recipients with five awards including Album of the Year. Mariah Carey, John Legend, and Kanye West were each nominated for eight awards and won three; Alison Krauss & Union Station also won three awards; and Kelly Clarkson won two. Green Day were amongst the big winners, winning the Grammy Award for Record of the Year. Performances Presenters *Carlos Santana * Jenna Elfman *Bonnie Raitt *Teri Hatcher *Common *Ellen DeGeneres *Terrence Howard *Fiona Apple *Dave Chappelle *Matt Dillon *Chuck D. *Ludacris *Chris Brown *Tom Hanks *Alicia Keys *Stevie Wonder *Billie Joe Armstrong *Gwen Stefani *Sting (musician), Sting *Queen Latifah *LL Cool J *Ben Roethlisberger *Michael Bublé *Jennifer Love Hewitt *Destiny's Child *Sheryl Crow ...
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London Symphony Orchestra
The London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London. Founded in 1904, the LSO is the oldest of London's orchestras, symphony orchestras. The LSO was created by a group of players who left Henry Wood's Queen's Hall Orchestra because of a new rule requiring players to give the orchestra their exclusive services. The LSO itself later introduced a similar rule for its members. From the outset the LSO was organised on co-operative lines, with all players sharing the profits at the end of each season. This practice continued for the orchestra's first four decades. The LSO underwent periods of eclipse in the 1930s and 1950s when it was regarded as inferior in quality to new London orchestras, to which it lost players and bookings: the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the London Philharmonic Orchestra in the 1930s and the Philharmonia Orchestra, Philharmonia and Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic after the Second World War. The profit-sharing ...
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Das Rheingold
''Das Rheingold'' (; ''The Rhinegold''), WWV 86A, is the first of the four music dramas that constitute Richard Wagner's ''Der Ring des Nibelungen'' (English: ''The Ring of the Nibelung''). It was performed, as a single opera, at the National Theatre Munich on 22 September 1869, and received its first performance as part of the ''Ring'' cycle at the Bayreuth Festspielhaus, on 13 August 1876. Wagner wrote the ''Ring'' librettos in reverse order, so that ''Das Rheingold'' was the last of the texts to be written; it was, however, the first to be set to music. The score was completed in 1854, but Wagner was unwilling to sanction its performance until the whole cycle was complete; he worked intermittently on this music until 1874. The 1869 Munich premiere of ''Das Rheingold'' was staged, much against Wagner's wishes, on the orders of his patron, King Ludwig II of Bavaria. Following its 1876 Bayreuth premiere, the ''Ring'' cycle was introduced into the worldwide repertory, with perf ...
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Der Fliegende Holländer
' (''The Flying Dutchman''), WWV 63, is a German-language opera, with libretto and music by Richard Wagner. The central theme is redemption through love. Wagner conducted the premiere at the Königliches Hoftheater Dresden in 1843. Wagner claimed in his 1870 autobiography '' Mein Leben'' that he had been inspired to write the opera following a stormy sea crossing he made from Riga to London in July and August 1839. In his 1843 '' Autobiographic Sketch'', Wagner acknowledged he had taken the story from Heinrich Heine's retelling of the legend in his 1833 satirical novel ''The Memoirs of Mister von Schnabelewopski'' (''Aus den Memoiren des Herrn von Schnabelewopski''). This work shows early attempts at operatic styles that would characterise his later music dramas. In ''Der fliegende Holländer'' Wagner uses a number of leitmotifs (literally, "leading motifs") associated with the characters and themes. The leitmotifs are all introduced in the overture, which begins with a well- ...
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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 ...
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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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The Seven Last Words Of Christ (Haydn)
''The Seven Last Words of Our Saviour on the Cross'' (German: ) is an orchestral work by Joseph Haydn, commissioned in 1786 for the Good Friday service at Oratorio de la Santa Cueva (Holy Cave Oratory) in Cádiz, Spain. Published in 1787 and performed then in Paris, Rome, Berlin and Vienna, the composer adapted it in 1787 for string quartet, approved a version for solo piano in the same year, and finally adapted it in 1796 as an oratorio (with both solo and choral vocal forces). The seven main meditative sections are based on seven expressions attributed to Jesus during his crucifixion. The seven sections are labelled "sonatas" and are all slow. They are framed by a slow Introduction and a fast "Earthquake" conclusion, for a total of nine movements. Origin Haydn himself explained the origin and difficulty of writing the work when the publisher Breitkopf & Härtel issued (in 1801) a new edition and requested a preface: Some fifteen years ago I was requested by a canon of Cà ...
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Les Troyens
''Les Troyens'' (; in English: ''The Trojans'') is a French grand opera in five acts by Hector Berlioz. The libretto was written by Berlioz himself from Virgil's epic poem the ''Aeneid''; the score was composed between 1856 and 1858. ''Les Troyens'' is Berlioz's most ambitious work, the summation of his entire artistic career, but he did not live to see it performed in its entirety. Under the title ''Les Troyens à Carthage'', the last three acts were premièred with many cuts by Léon Carvalho's company, the Théâtre Lyrique, at their theatre (now the Théâtre de la Ville) on the Place du Châtelet in Paris on 4 November 1863, with 21 repeat performances. After decades of neglect, today the opera is considered by some music critics as one of the finest ever written. Composition history Berlioz began the libretto on 5 May 1856 and completed it toward the end of June 1856. He finished the full score on 12 April 1858. Berlioz had a keen affection for literature, and he had ...
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