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Gwendolyn Killebrew
Gwendolyn Killebrew (August 26, 1941 – December 24, 2021) was an American operatic contralto and mezzo-soprano who worked in Germany and internationally, including the Metropolitan Opera and the Bayreuth Festival. She performed in the 1971 world premiere of Ginastera's ''Beatrix Cenci'' for the opening of the new opera house of Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. She was a member of the Deutsche Oper am Rhein from 1976 to 2006, where she took part in the world premiere of Klebe's ''Gervaise Macquart'', and performed in other contemporary operas. After retirement, she worked as a music educator, giving master classes and teaching privately. Early life and education Killebrew was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on August 26, 1941. She studied piano and horn at Temple University in Philadelphia, receiving a bachelor's degree in music education in 1963, and worked as a music teacher and music therapist. She studied voice at the Juilliard School in New York with Hans Heinz and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since 1854, the city has been coextensive with Philadelphia County, the most populous county in Pennsylvania and the urban core of the Delaware Valley, the nation's seventh-largest and one of world's largest metropolitan regions, with 6.245 million residents . The city's population at the 2020 census was 1,603,797, and over 56 million people live within of Philadelphia. Philadelphia was founded in 1682 by William Penn, an English Quaker. The city served as capital of the Pennsylvania Colony during the British colonial era and went on to play a historic and vital role as the central meeting place for the nation's founding fathers whose plans and actions in Philadelphia ultimately inspired the American Revolution and the nation's inde ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
San Francisco Opera
San Francisco Opera (SFO) is an American opera company founded in 1923 by Gaetano Merola (1881–1953) based in San Francisco, California. History Gaetano Merola (1923–1953) Merola's road to prominence in the Bay Area began in 1906 when he first visited the city. In 1909, he returned as the conductor of the International Opera Company of Montreal, one of the many visiting troupes that frequented the bustling city. Continued visits for the next decade convinced him that a San Francisco company was viable. In 1921, Merola returned to live in the city under the patronage of Mrs. Oliver Stine. During this time, Merola conceived of branching away from the area's reliance on visiting troupes for entertainment that had been common place since the Gold Rush era. By the fall, he was planning his first season, and the very next year, Merola organized a trial season at Stanford University. The first performance occurred in the Stanford Cardinal's football stadium on June 3rd, 1922 wi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leonie Rysanek
Leopoldine Rysanek (14 November 1926 – 7 March 1998) was an Austrian dramatic soprano. Life Rysanek was born in Vienna and made her operatic debut in 1949 in Innsbruck. In 1951 the Bayreuth Festival reopened and the new leader Wieland Wagner asked her to sing Sieglinde in ''Die Walküre''. He was convinced that her unique, young and beautiful voice, combined with her rare acting abilities, would create a sensation. She became a star overnight, and the role of Sieglinde followed her for the rest of her career. Her final performance was at the Salzburg Festival in August 1996, as Klytämnestra in '' Elektra'' by Richard Strauss. Her Metropolitan Opera debut came in 1959 as Lady Macbeth in Verdi's '' Macbeth'', replacing Maria Callas who had been "fired" from the production. Over her lengthy career, she sang 299 performances of 24 roles there. She starred in productions of Verdi's ''Nabucco'', in the title role of ''Ariadne auf Naxos'' by Richard Strauss, the Empress in ''D ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Berislav Klobučar
Berislav Klobučar (28 August 192413 June 2014) was a Croatian opera conductor. He conducted the Vienna State Opera for more than four decades, and guest conductor at the Bayreuth Festival. __TOC__ Biography Born in Zagreb on 28 August 1924, Klobučar was a student of conductor Lovro von Matačić. He started his career with the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra. He conducted the Graz Opera in Austria, the Royal Swedish Opera in Stockholm, Sweden, La Scala in Milan, Italy, the Orchestre philharmonique de Nice and the Opéra de Nice in France, and guest conductor at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, United States. During his forty-year tenure at the Vienna State Opera that began in 1952, he conducted 53 operas in 1,133 performances. Death Berislav Klobučar died in Vienna, Austria on 13 June 2014 at the age of 89. Awards * 1967 Joseph Marx–Musikpreis des Landes Steiermark * Honorary member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music * Commander of the Royal Order of the Polar Star * 19 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Christa Ludwig
Christa Ludwig (16 March 1928 – 24 April 2021) was a German mezzo-soprano and occasional dramatic soprano, distinguished for her performances of opera, lieder, oratorio, and other major religious works like masses, passions, and solos in symphonic literature. Her performing career spanned almost half a century, from the late 1940s until the early 1990s. She sang at many international opera houses and festivals, including at the Vienna State Opera from 1955 to 1994, and at the Metropolitan Opera in many roles. She is remembered for roles such as Mozart's Dorabella, Beethoven's Leonore in ''Fidelio'', Wagner's Kundry, and both Octavian and the Marschallin in ''Der Rosenkavalier'' by Richard Strauss. In Vienna, she created the title role of Gottfried von Einem's ''Der Besuch der alten Dame'' in 1971. She is widely recognised as having been one of the most significant and distinguished singers of the 20th century. ''The NPR Listener's Encyclopedia of Classical Music'' (2006) st ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Karl Ridderbusch
Karl Ridderbusch (29 May 1932 – 21 June 1997) was a German operatic bass (vocal range), bass, associated in particular with the music of Richard Wagner, Wagner. He was recognised as a notable exponent of the role of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Hans Sachs.Barry Millington "Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Die", Laura Macy (ed.) ''The New Grove Dictionary of Opera'', Accessed online 9 November 2009 Background and early career Karl Ridderbusch was born in Recklinghausen, Germany, and was discovered at an amateur music competition by the tenor Rudolf Schock who helped pay for the younger singer's training.Obituaries ''Gramophone (magazine), Gramophone'', September 1997, p.12 Ridderbusch had previously planned to work as an engineer for his father.Elizabeth Forbes (musicologist), Elizabet ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gundula Janowitz
Gundula Janowitz (born 2 August 1937)"Janowitz, Gundula" by , is an Austrian singer of operas, oratorios, lieder, and concerts. She is one of the most renowned opera singers of the 20th century and was pre-eminent in the 1960s and 1970s. Career Janowitz was born in Berlin, but grew up in |
Jon Vickers
Jonathan Stewart Vickers, (October 29, 1926 – July 10, 2015), known professionally as Jon Vickers, was a Canadian heldentenor. Born in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, he was the sixth in a family of eight children. In 1950, he was awarded a scholarship to study opera at The Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto. In 1957 Vickers joined London’s Royal Opera House, Covent Garden company. In 1960 he joined the Metropolitan Opera. He became world-famous for a wide range of German, French, and Italian roles. Vickers' huge, powerful voice and solid technique met the demands of many French, German, and Italian roles. He was also highly regarded for his powerful stage presence and thoughtful characterizations. (Conversely, he was sometimes criticized for "scooping"—beginning a note below pitch and then sliding up to the correct pitch—and for "crooning".) In 1968 he was made a Companion of the Order of Canada. Vickers received the Governor General's Performing Arts Award for Life ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thomas Stewart (bass-baritone)
Thomas Stewart (August 29, 1928September 24, 2006) was an American bass-baritone who sang an unusually wide range of roles, earning global acclaim particularly for his performances in Wagner's operas. Thomas James Stewart was born in San Saba, Texas. He graduated from Baylor University in 1953 and then went to the Juilliard School, where he studied with Mack Harrell. An imposing six-footer, Stewart made his debut in 1954 as La Roche in the American premiere of Richard Strauss's '' Capriccio'', going on to sing with the New York City Opera and Lyric Opera of Chicago. He married soprano Evelyn Lear in 1955, and the following year the couple participated in a studio recording of Kurt Weill's '' Johnny Johnson'', first produced in 1936. In May 1957 he created the role of Dioneo in the world premiere of Carlos Chávez's '' The Visitors''. Later that year he and his wife traveled to Berlin on Fulbright Scholarships. In 1958 he made his major-role debut as Escamillo in Bizet's ''Carme ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Birgit Nilsson
Märta Birgit Nilsson (17 May 1918 – 25 December 2005) was a celebrated Swedish dramatic soprano. Although she sang a wide répertoire of operatic and vocal works, Nilsson was best known for her performances in the operas of Richard Wagner and Richard Strauss. Her voice was noted for its overwhelming force, bountiful reserves of power, and the gleaming brilliance and clarity in the upper register. Biography Early life Birgit Nilsson was born Märta Birgit Svensson on a farm at Västra Karup in Skåne (100 km/60 miles north of Malmö) to Nils Svensson and Justina Svensson (née Paulsson). When she was three years old she began picking out melodies on a toy piano her mother bought for her. She once told an interviewer that she could sing before she could walk, adding, "I even sang in my dreams". Her vocal talent was first noticed when she began to sing in her church choir. A choirmaster near her home heard her sing and advised her to take voice lessons. She studied w ... [...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] |
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