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David Cordier
David Cordier (born 1 May 1959) is an English countertenor. He made an international career based in Germany, and appeared both in concert and opera. While focused on roles by Handel such as Radamisto, he has also performed in contemporary opera, including works by Aribert Reimann and Péter Eötvös. Life Born in Rochester, Kent, Cordier was initially a boy soprano in the Cathedral Choir of his home town and a member of King's College Choir in Cambridge. After studying mathematics at the University of Cambridge, completed with a master's degree, he studied voice at the Royal College of Music in London. He moved to Berlin in the 1980s where he regularly performed with Gustav Leonhardt and Musica Antiqua Köln. He later took residence in Cologne. Cordier's repertoire includes music of the 16th and 17th centuries, and contemporary music. He is known for his interpretations of roles in operas by Georg Friedrich Handel, including the title roles of ''Giulio Cesare'', '' Ezio' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rochester, Kent
Rochester ( ) is a town in the unitary authority of Medway, in Kent, England. It is at the lowest bridging point of the River Medway, about from London. The town forms a conurbation with neighbouring towns Chatham, Rainham, Strood and Gillingham. Rochester was a city until losing its status as one in 1998 following the forming of Medway and failing to protect its status as a city. There have been ongoing campaigns to reinstate the city status for Rochester. Rochester was for many years a favourite of Charles Dickens, who owned nearby Gads Hill Place, Higham, basing many of his novels on the area. The Diocese of Rochester, the second oldest in England, is centred on Rochester Cathedral and was responsible for founding a school, now ''The King's School'', in 604 AD, which is recognised as the second oldest continuously running school in the world. Rochester Castle, built by Bishop Gundulf of Rochester, has one of the best-preserved keeps in either England or France. During ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Flavio
''Flavio, re de' Longobardi'' ("Flavio, King of the Lombards", HWV 16) is an opera seria in three acts by George Frideric Handel. The Italian-language libretto was by Nicola Francesco Haym, after Matteo Noris's ''Flavio Cuniberto''. It was Handel's fourth full-length opera for the Royal Academy of Music. Handel had originally entitled the opera after the character of Emilia in the opera. Dean, Winton, "A Handel Tragicomedy" (August 1969). ''The Musical Times'', 110 (1518): pp. 819–822. ''Flavio'' is unusually concise for an opera by Handel of this period. It is also notable as a skillful blend of tragedy and comedy, both in the text and the music, and for being one of Handel's few operas to feature leading roles for all major voice categories of his day – soprano, contralto, castrato, tenor and bass. Performance history Handel completed the score only seven days before the premiere, at the King's Theatre in the Haymarket on 14 May 1723. There were eight performances in the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Max Van Egmond
Max van Egmond (born 1 February 1936 in Semarang) is a Dutch bass and baritone singer. He has focused on oratorio and Lied and is known for singing works of Johann Sebastian Bach. He was one of the pioneers of historically informed performance of Baroque and Renaissance music. Career Max van Egmond studied voice at Hilversum with Tine van Willingen de Lorme.[ Max van Egmond] at all-music At the age of eighteen he became a member of Netherlands Bach Society, De Nederlandse Bachvereniging (Netherlands Bach Society).Max van Egmond on the bach-cantatas website Starting in 1965, he became involved in the complete Bach recordings of Gustav Leonhardt, Nikolaus Harnoncourt and Frans Brüggen. He recorded the ''St Matthew Passion'' under Claudio Abbado in 1969 and Nikolaus Harnoncourt in 1970, singing the bass arias. In 1973, he was the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Evangelist (Bach)
The Evangelist in the music of Johann Sebastian Bach is the tenor part in his oratorios and Passions who narrates the exact words of the Bible, translated by Martin Luther, in recitative secco. The part appears in the works ''St John Passion'', ''St Matthew Passion'', and the ''Christmas Oratorio'', as well as the '' St Mark Passion'' and the ''Ascension Oratorio Lobet Gott in seinen Reichen, BWV 11''. Some cantatas also contain recitatives of Bible quotations, assigned to the tenor voice. Bach followed a tradition using the tenor for the narrator of a gospel. It exists (and is also often called ''the Evangelist'') in earlier works setting biblical narration, for example by Heinrich Schütz ('' Weinachtshistorie'', ''Matthäuspassion'', ''Lukaspassion'', ''Johannespassion''). In contrast, the vox Christi, voice of Christ, is always the bass in Bach's works, including several cantatas. Music and sources The Evangelist reports in secco recitatives accompanied by basso continuo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Christoph Prégardien
Christoph Prégardien (born 18 January 1956) is a German lyric tenor whose career is closely associated with the roles in Mozart operas, as well as performances of Lieder, oratorio roles, and Baroque music. He is well known for his performances and recordings of the Evangelist roles in Bach's ''St John Passion'' and ''St Matthew Passion''. Born in Limburg an der Lahn, he began his musical education as a choirboy at the cathedral's boys' choir, the Limburger Domsingknaben. He then studied singing with Martin Gründler and Karlheinz Jarius in Frankfurt at the Hochschule für Musik, with Carla Castellani in Milan, with Alois Treml in Stuttgart, and attended Hartmut Höll's lieder-class. His orchestral and oratorio repertory spans a wide range from the great Baroque, Classical and Romantic Oratorios to 20th-century works by Britten, Killmayer, Rihm, and Stravinsky. Also recognized as an eminent recitalist, he regularly performs at the major recital venues in Paris, London, Bru ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
La Petite Bande
La Petite Bande is a Belgium-based ensemble specialising in music of the Baroque and Classical eras played on period instruments. They are particularly known for their recordings of works by Corelli, Rameau, Handel, Bach, Haydn, and Mozart. History The ensemble was brought together in 1972 by Sigiswald Kuijken, originally for the one-off purpose of recording Lully's comédie-ballet, ''Le Bourgeois gentilhomme'', conducted by Gustav Leonhardt for the Deutsche Harmonia Mundi label. The ensemble was given its name from Lully's '' Petite Bande des Violons du Roi'', an orchestra of 21 string players at the court of Louis XIV. The nucleus of the original group was the Leonhardt Consort along with Sigiswald Kuijken and his brothers Wieland and Barthold. Following the recording, the group continued to give concerts throughout Europe and became a permanent ensemble based in Leuven with Kuijken as director. Their initial repertoire concentrated on French Baroque music, but soon bra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tölzer Knabenchor
The Tölzer Knabenchor (Tölz Boys' Choir) is a German boys' choir named after the Upper Bavarian city of Bad Tölz and since 1971 based in Munich. The choir is ranked among the most versatile and sought-after boys' choirs in the world. History Tölzer Knabenchor was founded in 1956 by the then 19-year-old grammar school graduate Gerhard Schmidt-Gaden in Bad Tölz. Already in the same year, it was invited to give radio concerts. In 1957 the first concert tour to South Tyrol and Trento followed, in 1960 a trip to Luxembourg, France, England and Belgium. Since 1963 Carl Orff was a regular guest and conductor. He recorded his Schulwerk with the choir. From the 1960s on, the choir and its members participated in opera performances. In 1964, for example, soloists from the choir participated for the first time in a performance of Mozart's Magic Flute. Since 1971, the choir has rehearsed in the state capital of Munich. In 1973, Gerhard Schmidt-Gaden and his choir received the Germ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
St Matthew Passion
The ''St Matthew Passion'' (german: Matthäus-Passion, links=-no), BWV 244, is a '' Passion'', a sacred oratorio written by Johann Sebastian Bach in 1727 for solo voices, double choir and double orchestra, with libretto by Picander. It sets the 26th and 27th chapters of the Gospel of Matthew (in the Luther Bible) to music, with interspersed chorales and arias. It is widely regarded as one of the greatest masterpieces of Baroque sacred music. The original Latin title translates to "The Passion of our Lord J susC[hrist">rist.html" ;"title="susC[hrist">susC[hristaccording to the Evangelist Matthew".Markus Rathey. 2016. ''Bach's Major Vocal Works. Music, Drama, Liturgy'', Yale University Press History The ''St Matthew Passion'' is the second of two Passion settings by Bach that have survived in their entirety, the first being the '' St John Passion'', first performed in 1724. Versions and contemporaneous performances Little is known with certainty about the creation proc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tri Sestry (opera)
''Tri sestry'' (''Three Sisters'') is a 1998 opera by Péter Eötvös to a Russian libretto by Eötvös and Claus H. Henneberg based on Anton Chekhov's play ''Three Sisters''. It was the composer's first large-scale opera. The premiere at the Opéra National de Lyon, directed by Ushio Amagatsu, was conducted by Kent Nagano, who had commissioned the work. The production was then also shown in Paris, Brussels, and at the Wiener Festwochen festival in 2002. It became an opera played at several European opera houses including the Vienna State Opera in 2016 and the Oper Frankfurt in 2018. History Péter Eötvös was commissioned by Kent Nagano to write an opera for the Opéra National de Lyon. It was to become his first large-scale opera. The composer chose Chekhov's 1901 Russian play '' Three Sisters'' as the basis. Together with Claus H. Henneberg, he wrote the libretto in German. It was then re-translated to Russian by Krzysztof Wiernicki. The librettists took episodes from the pl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Le Grand Macabre
''Le Grand Macabre'' (1974–1977, revised version 1996) is the only opera by Hungarian composer György Ligeti. The opera has two acts, and its libretto—based on the 1934 play ''La balade du grand macabre'' by Michel de Ghelderode—was written by Ligeti in collaboration with , director of the Stockholm puppet theatre. The original libretto was written in German as ''Der grosse Makaber'' but for the first production was translated into Swedish by Meschke under its current title. The opera has also been performed in English, French, Italian, Hungarian and Danish. Only a few notes need be changed to perform the opera in any of these languages. ''Le Grand Macabre'' was premiered in Stockholm on 12 April 1978 and has received more than 30 productions. In preparation for a 1997 production at the Salzburg Festival, Ligeti made substantial revisions to the opera in 1996, tightening the structure by means of cuts in scenes 2 and 4, setting some of the originally spoken passages to m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
A Midsummer Night's Dream (opera)
''A Midsummer Night's Dream'', Op. 64, is an opera with music by Benjamin Britten and set to a libretto adapted by the composer and Peter Pears from William Shakespeare's play, '' A Midsummer Night's Dream''. It was premiered on 11 June 1960 at the Aldeburgh Festival, conducted by the composer and with set and costume designs by Carl Toms. Stylistically, the work is typical of Britten, with a highly individual sound-world – not strikingly dissonant or atonal, but replete with subtly atmospheric harmonies and tone painting. The role of Oberon was composed for the countertenor Alfred Deller. Atypically for Britten, the opera did not include a leading role for his partner Pears, who instead was given the comic drag role of Flute/Thisbe. Performance history ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' was first performed on 11 June 1960 at the Jubilee Hall, Aldeburgh, UK as part of the Aldeburgh Festival. Conducted by the composer, it was directed by the choreographer John Cranko. The work re ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lear (opera)
''Lear'' is an opera in two parts with music by the German composer Aribert Reimann, and a libretto by Claus H. Henneberg, based on Shakespeare's tragedy ''King Lear''. Background and performance history Reimann wrote the title role specifically for the baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, who had suggested the subject to the composer as early as 1968. Reimann then received a commission from the Bavarian State Opera in 1975. The world premiere, in a production by Jean-Pierre Ponnelle with Fischer-Dieskau in the title role, occurred at the National Theatre Munich on 9 July 1978, with Gerd Albrecht conducting. The production was revived in Munich in 1980. The US premiere, in English translation, was presented by the San Francisco Opera in June 1981, with Thomas Stewart as Lear, under Gerd Albrecht. The Paris premiere took place in November 1982, in a French translation by Antoinette Becker. The UK premiere was presented by English National Opera in 1989; the Swedish premiere took pl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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