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Hugh The Drover
''Hugh the Drover'' (or ''Love in the Stocks'') is an opera in two acts by Ralph Vaughan Williams to an original English libretto by Harold Child. The work has set numbers with recitatives. It has been described as a modern example of a ballad opera. Contemporary comment noted the use of humour and the role of the chorus in the work, in the context of developing English opera. History According to Michael Kennedy, the composer took first inspiration for the opera from this question to Bruce Richmond, editor of ''The Times Literary Supplement'', around 1909–1910: :"I want to set a prize fight to music. Can you find someone to make a libretto for me?" Vaughan Williams worked on the opera for a number of years, before and after World War I. The work did not receive its first performance until 4 July 1924 at the Royal College of Music, London, in performances described as "private dress rehearsals". The "professional premiere" was at His Majesty's Theatre, London, on 14 July 19 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ralph Vaughan Williams
Ralph Vaughan Williams, (; 12 October 1872– 26 August 1958) was an English composer. His works include operas, ballets, chamber music, secular and religious vocal pieces and orchestral compositions including nine symphonies, written over sixty years. Strongly influenced by Tudor music and English folk-song, his output marked a decisive break in British music from its German-dominated style of the 19th century. Vaughan Williams was born to a well-to-do family with strong moral views and a progressive social life. Throughout his life he sought to be of service to his fellow citizens, and believed in making music as available as possible to everybody. He wrote many works for amateur and student performance. He was musically a late developer, not finding his true voice until his late thirties; his studies in 1907–1908 with the French composer Maurice Ravel helped him clarify the textures of his music and free it from Music of Germany, Teutonic influences. Vaughan Williams i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Morris Dance
Morris dancing is a form of English folk dance. It is based on rhythmic stepping and the execution of choreographed figures by a group of dancers, usually wearing bell pads on their shins. Implements such as sticks, swords and handkerchiefs may also be wielded by the dancers. In a small number of dances for one or two people, steps are near and across a pair of clay tobacco pipes laid one across the other on the floor. They clap their sticks, swords, or handkerchiefs together to match with the dance. The earliest known and surviving English written mention of Morris dance is dated to 1448 and records the payment of seven shillings to Morris dancers by the Goldsmiths' Company in London. Further mentions of Morris dancing occur in the late 15th century, and there are also early records such as bishops' "Visitation Articles" mentioning sword dancing, guising and other dancing activities, as well as mumming plays. While the earliest records invariably mention "Morys" in a court sett ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Matthew Best (conductor)
Matthew Best (born 6 February 1957) is an English bass singer and conductor, especially of vocal music. He founded the ensemble Corydon Singers in 1973 and won the Kathleen Ferrier Award in 1981. From 1985, he was also a guest conductor of the English Chamber Orchestra. His recordings with Corydon Singers were made on the Hyperion Records label and focus on choral music by the likes of Anton Bruckner, Johannes Brahms and Felix Mendelssohn. He is currently engaged as Music Director of the Academy Choir Wimbledon and as a Principal Study singing teacher at the Royal Northern College of Music. Discography Matthew Best founded Corydon Singers in 1973 which achieved recognition as one of the foremost choirs in Britain. Indeed, in a light-hearted article in ''The Guardian'' in 2002 on the potential for a connection to exist between the quality of football fans' singing and their team's performance, David McKie wondered whether "Bolton could yet excel even Southampton if they cl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alice Coote
Alice Coote OBE (born 10 May 1968) is a British lyric mezzo-soprano. Life Coote was born in Frodsham, Cheshire, the daughter of the painter Mark Coote. She was educated at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London (though she did not complete her course), the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester (where she came into contact with Janet Baker and Brigitte Fassbaender) and the National Opera Studio during 1995/96. Coote was a BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist from 2001 until 2003. She sings both operatic roles, particularly trouser roles, and recital repertoire, often with pianist Julius Drake. An interpreter of Handel she has also performed contemporary pieces such as Dominick Argento's ''From the Diary of Virginia Woolf'', a partly atonal work first performed by Janet Baker, who influenced Coote. Judith Weir has written a song cycle, ''The Voice of Desire'', especially for her; it was premiered at a BBC Chamber Prom. Coote has performed at England's Opera ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wynford Evans
Wynford Evans (30 April 1946 – 23 September 2009) was a Welsh tenor. Early years Wynford Evans was born in Swansea to William Thomas Evans and Lizzie Ann. He had an older brother, Hugh. He was educated at Dyfatty Primary school and then at Dynevor Grammar School for Boys from 1957 to 1963. During his first year in grammar school, Wynford was a regular performer on Radio Wales on a Sunday morning show called Silver Chords which continued for four years. At this time he learned to play the French horn and played with the Glamorgan Schools Orchestra. In the summer of 1964, at the age of 18, Wynford entered and won the tenor solo for 18 to 25s in the Royal National Eisteddfod which was held that year in his home town of Swansea. Wynford attended The Guildhall School of Music and Drama at John Carpenter Street in London where he was taught singing by Joyce Newton, among others, and after graduating went on to win the Gold Medal for Singers in 1967. In the same year Wynford al ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alan Opie
Alan Opie (born 22 March 1945 in Redruth, Cornwall, England) is an English baritone, primarily known as an opera singer. Education He attended Truro School and went to Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge University as a choral student in 1963. He also studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and the London Opera Centre before joining the Sadler's Wells Opera (now the English National Opera, ENO). He became a Principal baritone there while still a student. Opera career Opie has also sung with the other major UK opera companies Scottish Opera, Opera North, Glyndebourne Festival Opera and the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Internationally, he has performed in the opera houses of Paris, Amsterdam, Vienna, Brussels, Berlin, Chicago and Santa Fe and regularly appears at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich. He has also sung at the Bayreuth Festival. In 1996, Opie switched his status at the ENO from company member to regular guest, enabling him to make his début at La ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Richard Van Allan
Richard Van Allan CBE (28 May 1935 – 4 December 2008) was a versatile British operatic bass singer who had a lengthy career. He sang varied repertoire at Covent Garden and English National Opera, as well as at numerous important houses worldwide. With his distinctive profile and memorable stage presence, he made a powerful impression in many roles, from Wagner, Verdi and Mozart, to Gilbert and Sullivan. ''The Times'' wrote that he embodied "all the virtues that make the complete artist – vocal beauty and technique, musicianship, language, dramatic ability, stylistic authority"."Richard Van Allan: versatile operatic bass" '''', 9 December 2008 |
Sarah Walker (mezzo-soprano)
Sarah Elizabeth Royle Walker (born 11 March 1943) is an English mezzo-soprano. Walker was born in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. She studied at the Royal College of Music from 1961 to 1965, initially as a violinist and cellist, and went on to study singing with Vera Rózsa. She has appeared in numerous opera performances and is also known as a concert soloist and recitalist. Operatic career Walker's operatic debut was in 1969, as Ottavia in Kent Opera's production of ''L'incoronazione di Poppea''. She has also appeared in Britain with Glyndebourne Festival Opera, The Royal Opera, English National Opera, Scottish Opera, and abroad at The Metropolitan Opera (New York City), Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Francisco Opera, La Monnaie (Brussels) and the Vienna State Opera. Notable roles have included the title-roles in ''Gloriana'' and ''Maria Stuarda'', Dido in ''Les Troyens'' and Baba the Turk in ''The Rake's Progress''. She recorded the challenging '' Voices'' under the direction of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bonaventura Bottone
Bonaventura Bottone (born 19 September 1950 in London) is an operatic tenor who has performed at many of the world's leading opera houses. He trained at the Royal Academy of Music in London. The Academy awarded him a Fellowship in 1998. He is described by the New Grove Dictionary of Opera as "''a superb actor with a strong, lyrical voice''" who "''excels in comic roles''". Early career Bonaventura Bottone made his professional debut as Count Almaviva in ''The Barber of Seville'' with Welsh National Opera in 1973. He subsequently sang Arturo in ''Lucia di Lammermoor'' in Belfast, a Servant in Richard Strauss's '' Capriccio'' with Glyndebourne Festival Opera and Bardolfo in Verdi's ''Falstaff'' for Glyndebourne Touring Opera in 1976. He appeared at the Wexford Festival for three consecutive seasons (1977–1979) in Smetana's ''The Two Widows'', Luigi and Federico Ricci's ''Crispino e la comare'' and Montemezzi's ''L'amore dei tre re''. English National Opera Bonaventu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charles Groves
Sir Charles Barnard Groves CBE (10 March 191520 June 1992) was an English conductor. He was known for the breadth of his repertoire and for encouraging contemporary composers and young conductors. After accompanying positions and conducting various orchestras and studio work for the BBC, Groves spent a decade as conductor of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. His best-known musical directorship was of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, beginning in 1963, with which he made most of his recordings. From 1967 until his death, Groves was associate conductor of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and in the 1970s he was one of the regular conductors of the Last Night of the Proms. He also served as president of the National Youth Orchestra from 1977, and, during the last decade of his life, as guest conductor for orchestras around the world. Life and career Early years Groves was born in London, the only child of Frederick Groves and Annie (née Whitehead). Groves b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London, that performs and produces primarily classic works. The RPO was established by Thomas Beecham in 1946. In its early days, the orchestra secured profitable recording contracts and important engagements including the Glyndebourne Festival Opera and the concerts of the Royal Philharmonic Society. After Beecham's death in 1961, the RPO's fortunes declined steeply. The RPO battled for survival until the mid-1960s, when its future was secured after a report by the Arts Council of Great Britain recommended that it should receive public subsidy. A further crisis arose in the same era when it seemed that the orchestra's right to call itself "Royal" could be withdrawn. In 2004, the RPO acquired its first permanent London base, at Cadogan Hall in Chelsea. The RPO also gives concerts at the Royal Festival Hall, the Royal Albert Hall and venues around the UK and other countries. The current music dir ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Helen Watts
Helen Watts (7 December 19277 October 2009) was a Welsh contralto. Early life Helen Josephine Watts was born in Milford Haven, Pembrokeshire, Wales. Her father was a pharmacist, Tom Watts and moved to live above his shop at 26 Market Street, Haverfordwest, Wales as a child. She was educated at Taskers School for Girls in Haverfordwest, the Abbots Bromley School for Girls and at the Royal Academy of Music where she was taught voice by Caroline Hatchard. Career She began her career with the Glyndebourne Festival Chorus, and was a regular broadcaster on the Welsh Home Service. She subsequently had a distinguished career as an opera singer. She sang Bach arias at her debut at The Proms, in 1955. She toured the Soviet Union with the English Opera Group in 1964, singing the lead in ''The Rape of Lucretia''.Patrick O'Connor"Helen Watts Obituary"''The Guardian'' (15 October 2009). She was also known for her 1969 performances as Mistress Quickly in Verdi's ''Falstaff'' with the Welsh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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