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Graeme Danby
Graeme Danby (born 23 May 1962 in Consett, County Durham, England) is an operatic bass who has performed at several of the world's leading opera houses, notably the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden and the English National Opera. He was educated at the Royal Academy of Music in London. English National Opera In 2003, he sang the role of Lorenzo (''I Capuletti ed I Montecchi'') conducted by Richard Bonynge. This appearance was one among many in major roles for English National Opera, which include Don Basilio in Rossini's ''Il Barbiere di Siviglia''; Dulcamara in Donizetti's ''L'elisir d'amore''; Somnus in Handel's ''Semele''; Quince in Britten's ''A Midsummer Night's Dream''; Collatinus in Britten's ''The Rape of Lucretia'', Poo-Bah in Gilbert & Sullivan's ''The Mikado''; Sarastro in Mozart's ''Die Zauberflöte''; Bartolo (''Le nozze di Figaro''); Sacristan in Puccini's ''Tosca''; Pistol in Verdi's ''Falstaff'' and Ribbing in Verdi's ''Un ballo in maschera''. Royal Opera Hou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Consett
Consett is a town in County Durham, England, about south-west of Newcastle upon Tyne. It had a population of 27,394 in 2001 and an estimate of 25,812 in 2019. History Consett sits high on the edge of the Pennines. Its' name originates in the Old English ''Cunecsheafod'' ("Cunec's headland"), first recorded in the 13th century. In 1841, it was a village community of only 145, but it was about to become a boom town: below the ground were coking coal and blackband iron ore, and nearby was limestone. These three ingredients were needed for blast furnaces to produce iron and steel. The town is perched on the steep eastern bank of the River Derwent and owes its origins to industrial development arising from lead mining in the area, together with the development of the steel industry in the Derwent Valley, which is said to have been initiated by immigrant German cutlers and sword-makers from Solingen, who settled in the village of Shotley Bridge during the 17th century. During the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Falstaff (opera)
''Falstaff'' () is a comic opera in three acts by the Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi. The Italian-language libretto was adapted by Arrigo Boito from the play '' The Merry Wives of Windsor'' and scenes from '' Henry IV, Part 1'' and '' Part 2'', by William Shakespeare. The work premiered on 9 February 1893 at La Scala, Milan. Verdi wrote ''Falstaff'', the last of his 28 operas, as he approached the age of 80. It was his second comedy, and his third work based on a Shakespeare play, following '' Macbeth'' and '' Otello''. The plot revolves around the thwarted, sometimes farcical, efforts of the fat knight Sir John Falstaff to seduce two married women to gain access to their husbands' wealth. Verdi was concerned about working on a new opera at his advanced age, but he yearned to write a comic work and was pleased with Boito's draft libretto. It took the collaborators three years from mid-1889 to complete. Although the prospect of a new opera from Verdi aroused im ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
BBC Newcastle
BBC Radio Newcastle is the BBC's local radio station serving Newcastle upon Tyne, the neighbouring metropolitan boroughs, Northumberland and north east County Durham. It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from BBC studios on Barrack Road, Newcastle upon Tyne. According to RAJAR, the station has a weekly audience of 195,000 listeners and a 4.3% share as of September 2022. Technical The Pontop Pike transmitter broadcasts the strongest signal on . This transmitter, one of the first in the country, provides Tyneside and parts of Wearside with national radio frequencies, terrestrial television, BBC National DAB and Digital One. The frequency from Chatton covers most of the populated areas of east Northumberland. The other two FM transmitters are much weaker. The Fenham transmitter, for west Newcastle and Gateshead is situated close to the studios on Barrack Road. It also broadcasts television, national radio, BBC National DAB, Digital One, the MXR No ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blaydon Races
"Blaydon Races" (Roud #3511) is a Geordie folk song written in the 19th century by Geordie Ridley, in a style deriving from music hall. It is frequently sung by supporters of Newcastle United Football Club, Newcastle Falcons rugby club, and Durham County Cricket Club. Blaydon is a small town in Gateshead, situated about from Newcastle upon Tyne, in North East England. The race used to take place on the Stella Haugh west of Blaydon. Stella South Power Station (demolished in 1995) was built on the site of the track in the early 1950s, after the races had stopped taking place in 1916. Lyrics The song is quoted from the author's manuscript in Allan's as follows: \relative c'' Tune: "Brighton". History Ridley sang the song at a concert in Balmbra's Music Hall on 5 June 1862. It is likely that on this occasion the song ended with the exhortation to see Ridley's show on 9 June, and that the final verse was added for that later performance. Although the account of th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Little Donkey
Little Donkey is a popular Christmas carol, written by British songwriter Eric Boswell in 1959, which describes the journey by Mary the mother of Jesus to Bethlehem on the donkey of the title. The first version to chart was by Gracie Fields, followed a fortnight later by The Beverley Sisters, who overtook her in the charts by Christmas. The song became No. 1 in the UK Sheet Music Chart from mid November 1959 until the end of the year, and a recording by Nina & Frederik reached No. 3 the following Christmas. The song has also been recorded by Vera Lynn, Aled Jones and many others, and it is a traditional part of the festive season and nativity plays for many young children. In the 21st century the song has become something of a signifier of childhood Christmas in popular culture having featured in the comedy acts of Alan Carr, Russell Brand and especially in The Ricky Gervais Show which featured a running gag about Karl Pilkington's drum performance of the song. See also * L ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eric Boswell (songwriter)
Eric Boswell (born Eric Simpson, 18 July 1921 – 29 November 2009) was an English composer of popular songs and folk music, most famous for writing the children's Christmas song "Little Donkey". Early life Eric Boswell was born in Millfield, Sunderland, England, son of a tailor and a seamstress. He studied piano from age seven and later organ under Clifford Hartley, organist of Bishopwearmouth Church (now Sunderland Minster). After degrees in Electrical Engineering from Sunderland Technical College and Physics from Birkbeck College, London, Boswell joined Marconi as a scientist working with radar before becoming a Physics lecturer. Meanwhile, he spent his leisure time writing serious piano music and light songs. A composition he entered the 1950 Brighton Music Festival won first prize and several of his classical works were performed at London's Wigmore Hall during the 1950s. "Little Donkey" and 1960s pop writer In 1959, while hawking his more commercial songs to London' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Don Giovanni
''Don Giovanni'' (; K. 527; Vienna (1788) title: , literally ''The Rake Punished, or Don Giovanni'') is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. Its subject is a centuries-old Spanish legend about a libertine as told by playwright Tirso de Molina in his 1630 play '' El burlador de Sevilla y convidado de piedra''. It is a ''dramma giocoso'' blending comedy, melodrama and supernatural elements (although the composer entered it into his catalogue simply as ''opera buffa''). It was premiered by the Prague Italian opera at the National Theater (of Bohemia), now called the Estates Theatre, on 29 October 1787. ''Don Giovanni'' is regarded as one of the greatest operas of all time and has proved a fruitful subject for commentary in its own right; critic Fiona Maddocks has described it as one of Mozart's "trio of masterpieces with librettos by Da Ponte". Composition and premiere The opera was commissioned after the succes ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
La Vie Parisienne (operetta)
''La vie parisienne'' (, Parisian life) is an opéra bouffe, or operetta, composed by Jacques Offenbach, with a libretto by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy. This work was Offenbach's first full-length piece to portray contemporary Parisian life, unlike his earlier period pieces and mythological subjects. It became one of Offenbach's most popular operettas. In 1864 the Théâtre du Palais-Royal presented a comedy by Meilhac and Halévy entitled ''Le Photographe'' (''The Photographer''), which featured a character called Raoul Gardefeu, the lover of Métella, trying to seduce a baroness. Two years earlier, a comedy by the same authors ''La Clé de Métella'' (''The Key of Métella'') was played at the Théâtre du Vaudeville. These two pieces presage the libretto of ''La vie parisienne'' which can be dated from late 1865. Performance history It was first produced in a five-act version at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal, Paris, on 31 October 1866. The work was revived in four acts ( ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rape Of Lucretia
''The Rape of Lucretia'' (Op. 37) is an opera in two acts by Benjamin Britten, written for Kathleen Ferrier, who performed the title role. Ronald Duncan based his English libretto on André Obey's play '. Performance history The opera was first performed at Glyndebourne in England on 12 July 1946. It is the first work to which Britten applied his term "chamber opera." The opera debuted in the United States on Broadway at the Ziegfeld Theatre in a production staged by Agnes de Mille which opened on 29 December 1948 and closed on 15 January 1949 after 23 performances. The cast notably included Giorgio Tozzi as Tarquinius, Kitty Carlisle as Lucretia, Lidija Franklin as Bianca, Brenda Lewis as the Female Chorus, and Adelaide Bishop as Lucia. In 1996 the opera was presented at the Opera Theatre of St. Louis directed by Britten expert and friend, Colin Graham. It also appeared in the Opera Company of Philadelphia's 2009 season. In 2013, the opera was performed for the first time b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Garsington Opera
Garsington Opera is an annual summer opera festival founded in 1989 by Leonard Ingrams. The Philharmonia Orchestra and The English Concert are its two resident orchestras. For 21 years it was held in the gardens of Ingrams's home at Garsington Manor in Oxfordshire. Since 2011 the festival is held in Wormsley Park, the home of the Getty family near Stokenchurch in Buckinghamshire, England. After Ingrams's death in 2005 Anthony Whitworth-Jones became its General Director until 2013 when Douglas Boyd became artistic director. Opera at Garsington A characteristic feature of Garsington Opera's programming has been the combination of well known operas with discoveries of little known works. These have included the British premieres of Richard Strauss' ''Die ägyptische Helena'', Rossini's '' La gazzetta'' and ''L'equivoco stravagante'', and Vivaldi's '' L'incoronazione di Dario''. The festival also gave the first British professional productions of Haydn's ''La vera costanza'', Str ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Opera North
Opera North is an English opera company based in Leeds. The company's home theatre is the Leeds Grand Theatre, but it also presents regular seasons in several other cities, at the Theatre Royal, Nottingham, the Lowry Centre, Salford Quays and the Theatre Royal, Newcastle. The company's orchestra, the Orchestra of Opera North, regularly performs and records in its own right. Operas are performed either in English translation or in the original language of the libretto, in the latter case usually with surtitles. The major funders of Opera North include Arts Council England and, in Yorkshire, Leeds City Council, West Yorkshire Grants, North Yorkshire County Council, and East Riding of Yorkshire Council. History Opera North was established in 1977 as English National Opera North, as an offshoot of English National Opera, with the specific intention of delivering high-quality opera to the northern areas of England which, up to that point, had had no permanently established oper ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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