Deon Van Der Walt
Deon van der Walt (28 July 1958 – 29 November 2005), was a South African tenor. Van der Walt studied singing at Stellenbosch University and made his debut as Jaquino in Beethoven's ''Fidelio'' at the Cape Town Opera before he had graduated. Numerous scholarships and awards allowed him to continue his studies abroad. In 1981, he won the in Salzburg. His first formal engagement took him to Gelsenkirchen's Musiktheater im Revier, then to the Staatsoper Stuttgart and Zurich Opera. He was invited to perform at the Royal Opera House in London in 1985 and there made his debut as Almaviva in Rossini's ''The Barber of Seville''. He was counted amongst the leading lyric tenors of his day and performed at all the world's major opera houses, including *La Scala in Milan *the Hamburg State Opera *the Vienna State Opera *the Bavarian State Opera in Munich *the Zurich Opera, Switzerland *the Liceu in Barcelona *the Metropolitan Opera in New York He also performed at numerous internati ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Tenor
A tenor is a type of classical music, classical male singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. The tenor's vocal range extends up to C5. The low extreme for tenors is widely defined to be B2, though some roles include an A2 (two As below middle C). At the highest extreme, some tenors can sing up to the second F above middle C (F5). The tenor voice type is generally divided into the ''leggero'' tenor, lyric tenor, spinto tenor, dramatic tenor, heldentenor, and tenor buffo or . History The name "tenor" derives from the Latin word ''wikt:teneo#Latin, tenere'', which means "to hold". As Fallows, Jander, Forbes, Steane, Harris and Waldman note in the "Tenor" article at ''Grove Music Online'': In polyphony between about 1250 and 1500, the [tenor was the] structurally fundamental (or 'holding') voice, vocal or instrumental; by the 15th century it came to signify the male voice that ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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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]   |
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1958 Births
Events January * January 1 – The European Economic Community (EEC) comes into being. * January 3 – The West Indies Federation is formed. * January 4 ** Edmund Hillary's Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition completes the third overland journey to the South Pole, the first to use powered vehicles. ** Sputnik 1 (launched on October 4, 1957) falls to Earth from its orbit, and burns up. * January 13 – Battle of Edchera: The Moroccan Army of Liberation ambushes a Spanish patrol. * January 27 – A Soviet-American executive agreement on cultural, educational and scientific exchanges, also known as the "Lacy-Zarubin Agreement, Lacy–Zarubin Agreement", is signed in Washington, D.C. * January 31 – The first successful American satellite, Explorer 1, is launched into orbit. February * February 1 – Egypt and Syria unite, to form the United Arab Republic. * February 6 – Seven Manchester United F.C., Manchester United footballers are among the 21 people killed i ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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News24 (website)
News24 is an English-language South African news website created in October 1998 by the multinational media company, Naspers. Its team of approximately 100 journalists, led by editor-in-chief Adriaan Basson, are based in Cape Town, Johannesburg, Pretoria, Durban and Gqeberha. Its brands include Fin24, Sport24, Channel24, Health24, Arts24, Parent24, Wheels24, W24, Ride24 and Business Insider SA. News24 is owned by Media24, a South African media company, with interests in digital media and services, newspapers, magazines, e-commerce, book publishing, print and distribution. In August 2021, News24 launched a digital subscription service that offers premium investigative journalism, opinion, analysis and more to paying subscribers at R75 per month. It currently has more than 40 000 subscribers. History News24 was launched in October 1998 as part of Naspers’ new internet strategy under the company's new managing director at the time, Koos Bekker. According to the APP Annie's bu ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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La Belle Hélène
''La belle Hélène'' (, ''The Beautiful Helen'') is an opéra bouffe in three acts, with music by Jacques Offenbach and words by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy. The piece parodies the story of Helen of Troy, Helen's elopement with Paris (mythology), Paris, which set off the Trojan War. The premiere was at the Théâtre des Variétés, Paris, on 17 December 1864. The work ran well, and productions followed in three continents. ''La belle Hélene'' continued to be revived throughout the 20th century and has remained a repertoire piece in the 21st. Background and first performance By 1864 Offenbach was well established as the leading French composer of operetta. After successes with his early works – short pieces for modest forces – he was granted a licence in 1858 to stage full-length operas with larger casts and chorus. The first of these to be produced, ''Orpheus in the Underworld, Orphée aux enfers'', achieved notoriety and box-office success for its risqué satire o ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Edita Gruberová
Edita Gruberová (; 23 December 1946 – 18 October 2021) was a Slovak coloratura soprano. She made her stage debut in Bratislava in 1968 as Rosina in Rossini's ''Il barbiere di Siviglia'', and successfully auditioned at the Vienna State Opera the following year, which became her base. She received international recognition for roles such as Mozart's Queen of the Night in ''Die Zauberflöte'' and Zerbinetta in ''Ariadne auf Naxos'' by Richard Strauss. In her later career, she explored heavier roles in the Italian bel canto repertoire, such as the title role in Donizetti's ''Lucia di Lammermoor'', and Elvira in Bellini's ''I puritani''. In 2019, she portrayed Elisabetta in Donizetti's ''Roberto Devereux'', who leaves her throne, concluding a stage career performing leading roles over 51 years. She is remembered as the "" (Slovak Nightingale), and as prima donna assoluta. Early life and education Edita Gruberová was born on 23 December 1946 in Rača, Bratislava, to a German ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Linda Di Chamounix
''Linda di Chamounix'' is an operatic ''melodramma semiserio'' in three acts by Gaetano Donizetti. The Italian libretto was written by Gaetano Rossi. It premiered in Vienna, at the Kärntnertortheater, on 19 May 1842. Performance history ''Linda di Chamounix'' was first presented in the UK on 1 June 1843, with its New York premiere following on 4 January 1847 at Palmo's Opera House. On 1 March 1934, the opera received its Metropolitan Opera premiere with Lily Pons in the title role. Through 25 March 1935, the Met presented the opera in seven more performances, all starring Pons. It has not been performed there since. The Teatro alla Scala produced the opera in March 1972 conducted by Gianandrea Gavazzeni with Margherita Rinaldi as Linda, Alfredo Kraus as Carlo and Renato Bruson as Antonio. The production was recorded on 17 March. It was given in Geneva in 1975 with the same three cast members and also recorded, as was the performance at the 1983 Wexford Opera Festival. The ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Gaetano Donizetti
Domenico Gaetano Maria Donizetti (29 November 1797 – 8 April 1848) was an Italian composer, best known for his almost 70 operas. Along with Gioachino Rossini and Vincenzo Bellini, he was a leading composer of the '' bel canto'' opera style during the first half of the nineteenth century and a probable influence on other composers such as Giuseppe Verdi. Donizetti was born in Bergamo in Lombardy. At an early age he was taken up by Simon Mayr who enrolled him with a full scholarship in a school which he had set up. There he received detailed musical training. Mayr was instrumental in obtaining a place for Donizetti at the Bologna Academy, where, at the age of 19, he wrote his first one-act opera, the comedy ''Il Pigmalione'', which may never have been performed during his lifetime. An offer in 1822 from Domenico Barbaja, the impresario of the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples, which followed the composer's ninth opera, led to his move to Naples and his residency there until productio ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Semele (Handel)
''Semele'' ( HWV 58) is a 'musical drama', originally presented "after the manner of an oratorio", in three parts by George Frideric Handel. Based on an existing opera libretto by William Congreve, the work is an opera in all but name but was first presented in concert form at Covent Garden theatre on 10 February 1744. The story comes from Ovid's ''Metamorphoses'' and concerns Semele, mother of Bacchus. Handel also referred to the work as 'The Story of Semele'. The work contains the famous aria ''Where'er you walk.'' The work fuses elements of opera, oratorio and classical drama. ''Semele'' was presented during Lent, one of Handel's regular oratorio seasons. However it was not what London audiences were expecting of an oratorio during the solemn season of Lent. ''Semele'' has a secular text with a story involving an adulterous sexual relationship. It is distinguished from Handel's operas by the large number of polyphonic choruses. ''Semele'' was performed four times during its o ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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George Frideric Handel
George Frideric (or Frederick) Handel (; baptised , ; 23 February 1685 – 14 April 1759) was a German-British Baroque music, Baroque composer well known for his opera#Baroque era, operas, oratorios, anthems, concerto grosso, concerti grossi, and organ concertos. Handel received his training in Halle (Saale), Halle and worked as a composer in Hamburg and Italy before settling in London in 1712, where he spent the bulk of his career and Handel's Naturalisation Act 1727, became a naturalised British subject in 1727. He was strongly influenced both by the middle-German polyphony, polyphonic choral tradition and by composers of the Italian Baroque. In turn, Handel's music forms one of the peaks of the "high baroque" style, bringing Italian opera to its highest development, creating the genres of English oratorio and organ concerto, and introducing a new style into English church music. He is consistently recognized as one of the greatest composers of his age. Handel started three c ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Riccardo Muti
Riccardo Muti, (; born 28 July 1941) is an Italian conductor. He currently holds two music directorships, at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and at the Orchestra Giovanile Luigi Cherubini. Muti has previously held posts at the Maggio Musicale in Florence, the Philharmonia Orchestra in London, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Teatro alla Scala in Milan, and the Salzburg Whitsun Festival. A prolific recording artist, Muti has received numerous honours and awards, including two Grammy Awards. He is especially associated with the music of Giuseppe Verdi. Among the world's leading conductors, in a 2015 '' Bachtrack'' poll, he was ranked by music critics as the world's fifth best living conductor. Childhood and education Muti was born in Naples but he spent his early childhood in Molfetta, near Bari, in the long region of Apulia on Italy's southern Adriatic coast. His father, Domenico, was a pathologist in Molfetta, as well as an amateur singer and great music lover; his mother, G ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Così Fan Tutte
(''All Women Do It, or The School for Lovers''), K. 588, is an opera buffa in two acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. It was first performed on 26 January 1790 at the Burgtheater in Vienna, Austria. The libretto was written by Lorenzo Da Ponte who also wrote ''Le nozze di Figaro'' and ''Don Giovanni''. Although it is commonly held that was written and composed at the suggestion of the Emperor Joseph II, recent research does not support this idea. There is evidence that Mozart's contemporary Antonio Salieri tried to set the libretto but left it unfinished. In 1994, John Rice uncovered two terzetti by Salieri in the Austrian National Library. The short title, ''Così fan tutte'', literally means "So do they all", using the feminine plural (''tutte'') to indicate women. It is usually translated into English as "Women are like that". The words are sung by the three men in act 2, scene 3, just before the finale; this melodic phrase is also quoted in the overture to the opera. Da P ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |