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Estelle Liebling
Estelle Liebling (April 21, 1880 – September 25, 1970) was an American soprano, composer, arranger, music editor, and celebrated voice teacher and vocal coach. Born into the Liebling family of musicians, she began her professional opera career in Dresden as a leading coloratura soprano in 1898 when she was just 18 years old. She sang with several important opera houses in Europe, including the Opéra-Comique, the Semperoper, and the Staatsoper Stuttgart. From 1902 to 1904 she was committed to the Metropolitan Opera, and from 1902 to 1905 she toured internationally in more than 1,600 concerts with John Philip Sousa and his band. After her marriage in 1906, she performed only occasionally in the succeeding two decades. Liebling began her teaching career in the 1910s, not stopping until her death more than 50 years later. Her pedagogy was rooted in the tradition of her teacher Mathilde Marchesi. She mainly taught out of her private studio in New York City, with the exception ...
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Stern Conservatory
The Stern Conservatory (''Stern'sches Konservatorium'') was a private music school in Berlin with many distinguished tutors and alumni. The school is now part of Berlin University of the Arts. History It was founded in 1850 as the ''Berliner Musikschule'' by Julius Stern, Theodor Kullak and Adolf Bernhard Marx. Kullak withdrew from the conservatory in 1855 in order to create a new academy of sculpture and three-dimensional art. With Marx's withdrawal in 1856, the conservatory came exclusively under the Stern family and adopted its name. In 1894 it was taken over by Gustav Hollaender (the uncle of film composer Friedrich Hollaender), who moved the school's location to the Berlin Philharmonic concert hall on Bernburger Strasse in Berlin-Kreuzberg. In the course of the ''Gleichschaltung'' process, the Stern Academy in 1936 was renamed ''Konservatorium der Reichshauptstadt Berlin'' controlled by the Nazi regime. Gustav Hollaender's heirs were disseized, but for a few years they we ...
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Beverly Sills
Beverly Sills (May 25, 1929July 2, 2007) was an American operatic soprano whose peak career was between the 1950s and 1970s. Although she sang a repertoire from Handel and Mozart to Puccini, Massenet and Verdi, she was especially renowned for her performances in coloratura soprano roles in live opera and recordings. Sills was largely associated with the operas of Donizetti, of which she performed and recorded many roles. Her signature roles include the title role in Donizetti's ''Lucia di Lammermoor'', the title role in Massenet's ''Manon'', Marie in Donizetti's ''La fille du régiment'', the three heroines in Offenbach's ''Les contes d'Hoffmann'', Rosina in Rossini's ''The Barber of Seville'', Violetta in Verdi's ''La traviata'', and most notably Elisabetta in Donizetti's ''Roberto Devereux''. ''The New York Times'' noted, In her prime her technique was exemplary. She could dispatch coloratura roulades and embellishments, capped by radiant high Ds and E-flats, with seemin ...
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Louella Parsons
Louella Parsons (born Louella Rose Oettinger; August 6, 1881 – December 9, 1972) was an American movie columnist and a screenwriter. She was retained by William Randolph Hearst because she had championed Hearst's mistress Marion Davies and subsequently became an influential figure in Hollywood. At her peak, her columns were read by 20 million people in 700 newspapers worldwide. She remained the unchallenged “Queen of Hollywood gossip” until the arrival of the flamboyant Hedda Hopper, with whom she feuded for years. Early life Louella Parsons was born Louella Rose Oettinger in Freeport, Illinois, the daughter of Helen (Stine) and Joshua Oettinger. Her father was of German Jewish descent, as was her maternal grandfather, while her maternal grandmother, Jeanette Wilcox, was of Irish origin. During her childhood, her parents attended an Episcopal church. She had two brothers, Edwin and Fred, and a sister, Rae. In 1890, her widowed mother married John H. Edwards. They lived i ...
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Irene Mayer Selznick
Irene Gladys Selznick (née Mayer; April 2, 1907 – October 10, 1990) was an American socialite and theatrical producer. Early life Irene Gladys Mayer was born in Brooklyn, the younger of two sisters born to film producer Louis B. Mayer and his first wife, Margaret Shenberg. Her sister, Edith (1905–1987), was nicknamed "Edie." Edith married William Goetz in March 1930, who became the vice president of 20th Century Fox in 1941 and later became the head of production at Universal-International. Selznick's paternal and maternal grandparents were Belarusian Jews who immigrated to Canada in the 1880s from Vilnius and Kaunas (then territories belonging to the Russian Empire). The Mayer family initially lived in Haverhill, Massachusetts, and then moved to Hollywood in 1918. It was there that her father established Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, one of the more successful film studios of its time. She attended Hollywood School for Girls, a private school in Los Angeles. She and her sister Ed ...
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Meryl Streep
Mary Louise Meryl Streep (born June 22, 1949) is an American actress. Often described as "the best actress of her generation", Streep is particularly known for her versatility and accent adaptability. She has received numerous accolades throughout her career spanning over five decades, including a record 21 Academy Award nominations, winning three, and a record 32 Golden Globe Award nominations, winning eight. She has also received two British Academy Film Awards, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, and three Primetime Emmy Awards, in addition to nominations for a Tony Award and six Grammy Awards. Streep made her stage debut in 1975 '' Trelawny of the Wells'' and received a Tony Award nomination the following year for a double-bill production of '' 27 Wagons Full of Cotton'' and '' A Memory of Two Mondays''. In 1977, she made her film debut in '' Julia''. In 1978, she won her first Primetime Emmy Award for a leading role in the mini-series ''Holocaust'', and received her first Osc ...
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Gertrude Lawrence
Gertrude Lawrence (4 July 1898 – 6 September 1952) was an English actress, singer, dancer and musical comedy performer known for her stage appearances in the West End of London and on Broadway in New York. Early life Lawrence was born Gertrude Alice Dagmar Klasen, Alexandra Dagmar Lawrence-Klasen, Gertrude Alexandra Dagmar Klasen or some variant (sources differ), of English and Danish extraction, in Newington, London. Her father was a basso profondo who performed under the name Arthur Lawrence. His heavy drinking led her mother Alice to leave him soon after Gertrude's birth. In 1904, her stepfather took the family to Bognor on the Sussex coast for the August bank holiday. While there, they attended a concert where audience members were invited to entertain. At her mother's urging, young Gertrude sang a song and was rewarded with a gold sovereign for her effort. It was her first public performance. In 1908, to augment the family's meagre income, Alice accepted a job in t ...
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Joan Crawford
Joan Crawford (born Lucille Fay LeSueur; March 23, ncertain year from 1904 to 1908was an American actress. She started her career as a dancer in traveling theatrical companies before debuting on Broadway. Crawford was signed to a motion picture contract by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1925. Initially frustrated by the size and quality of her parts, Crawford launched a publicity campaign and built an image as a nationally-known flapper by the end of the 1920s. By the 1930s, Crawford's fame rivaled MGM colleagues Norma Shearer and Greta Garbo. Crawford often played hardworking young women who find romance and financial success. These "rags-to-riches" stories were well received by Depression-era audiences and were popular with women. Crawford became one of Hollywood's most prominent movie stars and one of the highest paid women in the United States, but her films began losing money. By the end of the 1930s, she was labeled "box office poison". After an absence of nearly two years fr ...
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Adele Astaire
Adele Astaire Douglass (born Adele Marie Austerlitz, later known as Lady Charles Cavendish; September 10, 1896 – January 25, 1981), was an American dancer, stage actress, and singer. After beginning work as a dancer and vaudeville performer at the age of nine, Astaire built a successful performance career with her younger brother, Fred Astaire. The brother and sister act initially worked their way through vaudeville circuits, finally achieving a breakthrough with their first Broadway roles in 1917. Astaire became known for her talents as a skilled dancer and comedienne, starring in hit Broadway musicals such as '' Lady, Be Good!'' (1924), ''Funny Face'' (1927) and ''The Band Wagon'' (1931)''.'' The siblings took several of their more popular shows to Britain's West End during the 1920s, where they were soon international celebrities, meeting members of the British royal family and prominent figures from contemporary arts and literature circles. In 1932, after a 27-year p ...
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Max Lorenz (tenor)
Max Lorenz (born Max Sülzenfuß; 10 May 1901 – 11 January 1975) was a German heldentenor famous for Wagnerian roles. Career Lorenz was born in Düsseldorf, and studied with Ernst Grenzebach in Berlin in the 1920s. He later was a pupil of Estelle Liebling in New York City. He made his debut at the Semperoper in Dresden in 1927, becoming a principal tenor. From 1929 to 1944 he was a member of the ensemble at the Berlin State Opera, appearing also at the New York Metropolitan Opera (1931–1934), the Bayreuth Festspielhaus (1933–1939, 1952, 1954) and the Royal Opera House Covent Garden (1934 and 1937). He sang, too, at the Vienna State Opera (1929–1933, 1936–1944, 1954). Audiences at the Salzburg Festival also heard him, and he created roles in such post-World War II works as Gottfried von Einem’s '' Der Prozess'' (Josef K, 1953), Rolf Liebermann’s ''Penelope'' (1954) and Rudolf Wagner-Régeny’s ''Das Bergwerk zu Falun'' (1961). Lorenz's operatic and recital career ...
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Sándor Svéd
Sándor Svéd (28 May 1906, Budapest — 9 June 1979), also known as Alexander Sved in the United States, was a Hungarian baritone who had an active international career in operas and concerts from 1928 until his retirement from the stage in 1958. He performed lead roles at several important opera houses, including the Metropolitan Opera, the Vienna State Opera, and the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. In 1943 he performed the role of Folco in the world premiere of Italo Montemezzi's ''L'incantesimo''. He made several recordings during his career, both on record and on radio; including multiple performances for the Metropolitan Opera radio broadcasts. Life and career Born Sándor Svéd in Budapest, Hungary, Svéd was trained as a violinist at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music. After graduating he pursued vocal training in Milan with baritones Mario Sammarco and Riccardo Stracciari. He later studied singing with Estelle Liebling in New York City. Svéd made his professional debut ...
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Titta Ruffo
Titta Ruffo (9 June 1877 – 5 July 1953), born as Ruffo Cafiero (double forename) Titta, was an Italian operatic baritone who had a major international singing career. Known as the "Voce del leone" ("voice of the lion"), he was greatly admired, even by rival baritones, such as Giuseppe De Luca, who said of Ruffo: "His was not a voice, it was a miracle" (although not often published is the second part of De Luca's conclusion "which he uffobawled away..."), and Victor Maurel, the creator of Verdi's Iago and Falstaff. Maurel said that the notes of Ruffo's upper register were the most glorious baritone sounds he had ever heard (see Pleasants, cited below). Indeed Walter Legge, the prominent classical record producer, went so far as to call Ruffo "a genius". Biography Born Ruffo Titta in Pisa (he reversed his forename and surname for the stage), Ruffo was the son of an engineer. He studied voice with several teachers. In Musical America, December 27, 1913, Ruffo wrote the foll ...
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Margaret Truman
Mary Margaret Truman Daniel (February 17, 1924 – January 29, 2008) was an American classical soprano, actress, journalist, radio and television personality, writer, and New York socialite. She was the only child of President Harry S. Truman and First Lady Bess Truman. While her father was president during the years 1945 to 1953, Margaret regularly accompanied him on campaign trips, such as the 1948 countrywide whistle-stop campaign lasting several weeks. She also appeared at important White House and political events during those years, being a favorite with the media. After graduating from George Washington University in 1946, she embarked on a career as a coloratura soprano, beginning with a concert appearance with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in 1947. She appeared in concerts with orchestras throughout the United States and in recitals throughout the U.S. through 1956. She made recordings for RCA Victor, and made television appearances on programs like ''What's My Line?'' ...
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