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Dunja Vejzović
Dunja Vejzović (; born 20 October 1943, Zagreb, Independent State of Croatia) is an operatic mezzo-soprano and soprano from Croatia. Biography Dunja Crnković was born in Zagreb and was married in 1963, changing her surname to Vejzović. She studied at the Zagreb Academy of Music, where she sang The Witch in '' Hänsel und Gretel'' in 1968. She began her career as a mezzo-soprano with the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb, debuting in 1970 as Ariel in Stjepan Šulek's ''Oluja'' (The Tempest). From 1971 to 1978, Vejzović was a member of the Nuremberg Opera, where she appeared in many operas, including principal roles in '' Orfeo ed Euridice'', '' Carmen'', ''Tannhäuser'' (as Venus), '' Intolleranza'', ''Die Soldaten'' (as Charlotte), ''Dido and Æneas'', '' Elektra'' (as Klytemnästra), ''Il trovatore'' (as Azucena, directed by Hans Neuenfels in his operatic debut), '' Boris Godunov'' (as Marina Mnichek), ''Wozzeck'' (as Marie), ''Aïda'' (as Amneris), ''Lulu'' (as the C ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zagreb
Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb stands near the international border between Croatia and Slovenia at an elevation of approximately above mean sea level, above sea level. At the 2021 census, the city had a population of 767,131. The population of the Zagreb urban agglomeration is 1,071,150, approximately a quarter of the total population of Croatia. Zagreb is a city with a rich history dating from Roman Empire, Roman times. The oldest settlement in the vicinity of the city was the Roman Andautonia, in today's Ščitarjevo. The historical record of the name "Zagreb" dates from 1134, in reference to the foundation of the settlement at Kaptol, Zagreb, Kaptol in 1094. Zagreb became a free royal city in 1242. In 1851 Janko Kamauf became Z ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hans Neuenfels
Hans Neuenfels (; 31 May 1941 – 6 February 2022) was a German writer, poet, film producer, librettist, theatre director, opera director and theatre manager. As a director, he first focused on drama, staged at prominent houses such as the Vienna Burgtheater, and became a leading exponent of German Regietheater. From 1974, he turned to opera, looking for "the subliminal of the music and the interlinear of the texts", for "surprisingly new, sometimes even disturbingly ambivalent perspectives on the works". Some of his opera productions caused controversies, such as Verdi's ''Aida'' at the Oper Frankfurt in 1980 where he staged the title character as a contemporary cleaning lady. In Mozart's ''Idomeneo'' at the Deutsche Oper Berlin in 2006, he was accused of offending Islam, and in Wagner's ''Lohengrin'' at the Bayreuth Festival in 2010, he dressed the choir as laboratory rats. He received the Der Faust award for his life's achievements in 2016, and is regarded as one of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Herbert Von Karajan
Herbert von Karajan (; born Heribert Ritter von Karajan; 5 April 1908 – 16 July 1989) was an Austrian conductor. He was principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic for 34 years. During the Nazi era, he debuted at the Salzburg Festival, with the Vienna Philharmonic, the Berlin Philharmonic, and during the Second World War he conducted at the Berlin State Opera. Generally regarded as one of the greatest conductors of the 20th century, he was a controversial but dominant figure in European classical music from the mid-1950s until his death. Part of the reason for this was the large number of recordings he made and their prominence during his lifetime. By one estimate, he was the top-selling classical music recording artist of all time, having sold an estimated 200 million records. Biography Early life Genealogy The Karajans were of Greek ancestry. Herbert's great-great-grandfather, Georg Karajan (Geórgios Karajánnis, el, Γεώργιος Καραγιάννης, lin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
James Levine
James Lawrence Levine (; June 23, 1943 – March 9, 2021) was an American conductor and pianist. He was music director of the Metropolitan Opera from 1976 to 2016. He was terminated from all his positions and affiliations with the Met on March 12, 2018, over sexual misconduct allegations, which he denied. Levine held leadership positions with the Ravinia Festival, the Munich Philharmonic, and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. In 1980 he started the Lindemann Young Artists Development Program, and trained singers, conductors, and musicians for professional careers. After taking an almost two-year health-related hiatus from conducting from 2011 to 2013, during which time he held artistic and administrative planning sessions at the Met, and led training of the Lindemann Young Artists, Levine retired as the Met's full-time Music Director following the 2015–16 season to become Music Director Emeritus. Early years and personal life Levine was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, to a musical Je ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jess Thomas
Jess Thomas (August 4, 1927 – October 11, 1993) was an American operatic tenor, best known for singing Richard Wagner, Wagner compositions. Biography Jess Floyd Thomas was born in Hot Springs, South Dakota. As a child, he took part in various musical activities and studied psychology at the University of Nebraska. For several years, he worked as a high school guidance counselor, before enrolling at Stanford University for an MA. Learning that the operatic department was producing Verdi's ''Falstaff (opera), Falstaff'', he auditioned for Otto Schulmann, the vocal professor, and obtained the role of Fenton. Although by now 27 years old, Thomas decided to change careers and to become a singer. He studied with Schulmann for three years before his operatic debut in 1957. In 1958, he joined the Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe, Badisches Staatstheater in Karlsruhe, Germany. He was awarded the Wagner Medal at Bayreuth Festspielhaus, Bayreuth in 1963. His many appearances in Nort ... [...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] |
Parsifal
''Parsifal'' ( WWV 111) is an opera or a music drama in three acts by the German composer Richard Wagner and his last composition. Wagner's own libretto for the work is loosely based on the 13th-century Middle High German epic poem ''Parzival'' of the ''Minnesänger'' Wolfram von Eschenbach, recounting the story of the Arthurian knight Parzival (Percival) and his quest for the Holy Grail. Wagner conceived the work in April 1857, but did not finish it until 25 years later. In composing it he took advantage of the particular acoustics of his Bayreuth Festspielhaus. ''Parsifal'' was first produced at the second Bayreuth Festival in 1882. The Bayreuth Festival maintained a monopoly on ''Parsifal'' productions until 1903, when the opera was performed at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. Wagner described ''Parsifal'' not as an opera, but as (a festival play for the consecration of the stage). At Bayreuth a tradition has arisen that audiences do not applaud at the end of the first ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bayreuth Festival
The Bayreuth Festival (german: link=no, Bayreuther Festspiele) is a music festival held annually in Bayreuth, Germany, at which performances of operas by the 19th-century German composer Richard Wagner are presented. Wagner himself conceived and promoted the idea of a special festival to showcase his own works, in particular his monumental cycle and ''Parsifal''. Performances take place in a specially designed theatre, the Bayreuth Festspielhaus. Wagner personally supervised the design and construction of the theatre, which contained many architectural innovations to accommodate the huge orchestras for which Wagner wrote as well as the composer's particular vision about the staging of his works. The Festival has become a pilgrimage destination for Wagnerians and classical-music enthusiasts. Origins The origins of the Festival itself lie rooted in Richard Wagner's interest in establishing his financial independence. A souring of the relationship with his patron, Ludwig II o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gina Cigna
Gina Cigna (6 March 1900 – 26 June 2001) was a French-Italian dramatic soprano. Biography Gina Cigna was born in Angers, department of Maine-et-Loire, to parents of Italian origin. She trained as a pianist at the Paris Conservatory studying with Alfred Cortot and graduated with a gold medal. She then started a career as a recitalist. She met French tenor Maurice Sens, whom she married in 1921, and following his advice turned to singing. She took private lessons with Emma Calvé, Hariclea Darclée and Rosina Storchio, but was mostly self-taught. She made her debut as Geneviève Sens in 1927 at the Teatro alla Scala, in Milan, as Freia in ''Das Rheingold'', and sang minor roles in ''Boris Godunov'' and '' Ariane et Barbe-Bleue'' under Arturo Toscanini, without much success. Two years later, still at La Scala, but this time under the name Gina Cigna, she sang the role of Donna Elvira in ''Don Giovanni'', and this time it was a triumph. A few weeks later she appeared as Elisabeth ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Iris Adami Corradetti
Iris Adami Corradetti (19 March 1904 – 26 June 1998) was an Italian opera soprano, and latterly a singing teacher. Biography Adami Corradetti was born in Milan in 1904. Her father, , was a noted baritone singer at La Scala and other European venues, and a music critic. Her mother was Bice Adami, a soprano singer. Her younger half sister, Fiora Contino, became a conductor and music teacher. A soprano singer, Corradetti studied piano and taught herself singing. She debuted in 1926 at the Teatro Dal Verme in Milan, playing the part of Coralità in the opera ''Anima Allegra'' by Franco Vittadini. In 1928, she was the protagonist at La Scala in Milan, playing Rosalina in '' Sly'' by Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari. In the same season she sang her first Mozart part, that of Barbarina in ''The Marriage of Figaro''. Corradetti had a vast repertoire that included eighty works, of which thirty-five were first performances of a piece, and about a hundred roles, mostly by composers of early Roma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Samson And Delilah (opera)
''Samson and Delilah'' (french: Samson et Dalila, links=no), Op. 47, is a grand opera in three acts and four scenes by Camille Saint-Saëns to a French libretto by Ferdinand Lemaire. It was first performed in Weimar at the (Grand Ducal) Theater (now the Staatskapelle Weimar) on 2 December 1877 in a German translation. The opera is based on the Biblical tale of Samson and Delilah found in Chapter 16 of the Book of Judges in the Old Testament. It is the only opera by Saint-Saëns that is regularly performed. The second act love scene in Delilah's tent is one of the set pieces that define French opera. Two of Delilah's arias are particularly well known: "" ("Spring begins") and "" ("My heart opens itself to your voice", also known as "Softly awakes my heart"), the latter of which is one of the most popular recital pieces in the mezzo-soprano/contralto repertoire. Composition history In the middle of the 19th century, a revival of interest in choral music swept France, and Saint ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lulu (opera)
''Lulu'' (composed from 1929 to 1935, premièred incomplete in 1937 and complete in 1979) is an opera in three acts by Alban Berg. Berg adapted the libretto from Frank Wedekind's two ''Lulu'' plays, ''Erdgeist'' ('' Earth Spirit'', 1895) and ''Die Büchse der Pandora'' (''Pandora's Box'', 1904). The opera tells the story of a mysterious young woman known as Lulu, who follows a downward spiral from a well-kept mistress in Vienna to a street prostitute in London, while being both a victim and a purveyor of destruction. It explores the idea of the '' femme fatale'' and the duality between her feminine and masculine qualities. Berg died before completing the third and final act, and in the following decades the opera was typically performed incomplete. Since the 1979 publication of the version including Friedrich Cerha's orchestration of the act 3 sketches, it has become standard. ''Lulu'' is especially notable for using serialism at a time that was particularly inhospitable to it. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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