|
Kristján Jóhannsson
Kristján Jóhannsson (born 24 May 1948 in Akureyri, Iceland) is an Icelandic operatic tenor particularly known for his performances in Verdian roles, and especially as Radames in ''Aida''. Biography Although Kristján was born into a musical family, he did not begin his musical studies until he was twenty years old, first at the College of Music in his native city under Sigurdur Demetz. He then went to Italy to pursue additional vocal training at the Conservatorio Nicolini in Piacenza under Gianni Poggi, as well as studying privately with Ettore Campogalliani and Ferruccio Tagliavini. In 1980, Kristján Jóhannsson made his operatic debut in Osimo, Italy at the Teatro Piccolo la Fenice in Puccini´s ''Il tabarro'' and ''Gianni Schicchi''. He then went on to sing in leading opera houses around the world as well as at the Arena di Verona Apart from Verdian roles, his repertoire also includes the principal tenor roles in operas by Puccini, Leoncavallo, Wagner, Saint-Saëns, Masc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Akureyri
Akureyri (, locally ) is a town in northern Iceland. It is Iceland's fifth-largest municipality, after Reykjavík, Hafnarfjörður, Reykjanesbær and Kópavogur, and the largest town outside Iceland's more populated southwest corner. Nicknamed the "Capital of North Iceland", Akureyri is an important port and fishing centre. The area where Akureyri is located was settled in the 9th century, but did not receive a municipal charter until 1786. Allied units were based in the town during World War II. Further growth occurred after the war as the Icelandic population increasingly moved to urban areas. The area has a relatively mild climate because of geographical factors, and the town's ice-free harbour has played a significant role in its history. History The Norse Viking Helgi ''magri'' (the slim) Eyvindarson originally settled the area in the 9th century. The first mention of Akureyri is in court records from 1562, when a woman was sentenced there for adultery. In the 17th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cincinnati Opera
Cincinnati Opera is an American opera company based in Cincinnati, Ohio and the second oldest opera company in the United States (after the New York Metropolitan Opera). Beginning with its first season in 1920, Cincinnati Opera has produced operas in the summer months of June and July with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra providing orchestral accompaniment. History The company, originally named Cincinnati Opera Association, gave its first performance, Flotow's ''Martha'', on Sunday, June 27, 1920. During its early years, the company was under the direction of Ralph Lyford, an American composer and conductor whose single opera ''Castle Agrazant would receive its world premiere at Cincinnati Music Hall on April 29, 1926, following Lyford's departure from Cincinnati Opera in 1925. From 1956-1990 the company ran a singing competition known as the American Opera Auditions. For most of its first fifty years, Cincinnati Opera's performances were held at the Cincinnati Zoo Pavilion. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nello Santi
Nello Santi (22 September 1931 – 6 February 2020) was an Italian conductor. He was associated with the Opernhaus Zürich for six decades, and was a regular conductor at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. He was focused on Italian repertoire, especially operas by Verdi and Puccini, in a style following the tradition of Toscanini. He made sound and video recordings of Italian operas, including in 1971 Leoncavallo's ''Pagliacci'' with Plácido Domingo, Montserrat Caballé and Sherrill Milnes, in 1976 Montemezzi's ''L'amore dei tre re'' with Anna Moffo, Domingo and Pablo Elvira, in 2000 Verdi's '' I due Foscari'', and in 2006 Donizetti's ''Don Pasquale'' in a Zürich production. Santi conducted from memory, and said "I love all of Verdi, but when he composed ''Rigoletto'', ''Il trovatore'' and ''La traviata'' he was in a profound state of grace." Life Santi was born on 22 September 1931 in Adria (Veneto), Kingdom of Italy, to Giovanni and Alfonsina () Santi. His mother ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rico Saccani
Rico Saccani (born April 16, 1952) is a conductor who served as Music Director/Artistic Adviser of the Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra between 1996 and 2005 and was principal guest conductor of the Hungarian State Opera from 1985 to 2005. Biography Saccani began his music career with piano studies at age six. He attended the National Music Camp in Interlochen, Michigan from 1965–1968 and went on to the Chautauqua Summer Music Institute from 1969-1972. In 1973, he attended the Summer Academy at Fontainebleau where he worked with Nadia Boulanger. Following 300 Community Concert piano recitals from 1974–1978, he participated in the 1978 Leeds and Tchaikowsky International Piano Competitions. In 1974, Saccani graduated from the University of Arizona with a B.S. in Business and returned in 1980 for a B.M. in Music. From 1980-1982 he attended the University of Michigan School of Music where he obtained his M.M. in Conducting under Gustav Meier and his D.M.A. under Louis Nagel. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra
The National Symphony Orchestra (NSO; previously known as RTÉ Symphony Orchestra and the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra) is the largest professional orchestra in Ireland. Housed at the National Concert Hall, Dublin, since January 2022, it used to be the concert and radio orchestra of Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ), Ireland's public radio station. It plays an important role in Irish cultural life, also undertaking occasional tours of Ireland. History In 1926, a national radio channel, based in Dublin, began broadcasting. To provide music, it hired staff musicians, who often played together on the radio and in concert as a chamber orchestra. Musicians were frequently hired from the Army School of Music and the Dublin Philharmonic Society (1927–1936) under the direction of Colonel Fritz Brase, Head of the Army School of Music since 1923. The original group was gradually expanded during the 1930s and '40s, when it was known as the Radio Éireann Orchestra, and by 1946 had re ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maria Dragoni
Maria Dragoni (born 22 December 1958) is an Italian operatic soprano active international career in major opera house from 1984 to present. Life and career Born in Procida, Dragoni was trained at the "Licinio Refice" Music Conservatory in Frosinone. She studied singing there with Maria Alòs, wife of pianist Arnaldo Graziosi. In 1979 she joined the RAI Chorus in Rome. In that city she studied singing with Duchess Melina Pignatelli della Leonessa. She later pursued further studies in Naples with Rodolfo Celletti and Gina Cigna. In 1981 she won the Maria Callas Award at the International Vincenzo Bellini Competition in Caltanissetta and in 1983 she won the International Maria Callas Competition at the Foro Italico to Rome.Dragoni, Maria at operis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Royal Opera House
The Royal Opera House (ROH) is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. It is the home of The Royal Opera, The Royal Ballet, and the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House. The first theatre on the site, the Theatre Royal (1732), served primarily as a playhouse for the first hundred years of its history. In 1734, the first ballet was presented. A year later, the first season of operas, by George Frideric Handel, began. Many of his operas and oratorios were specifically written for Covent Garden and had their premieres there. The current building is the third theatre on the site, following disastrous fires in 1808 and 1856 to previous buildings. The façade, foyer, and auditorium date from 1858, but almost every other element of the present complex dates from an extensive reconstruction in the 1990s. The main auditorium seats 2,256 people, mak ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Il Trovatore
''Il trovatore'' ('The Troubadour') is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto largely written by Salvadore Cammarano, based on the play ''El trovador'' (1836) by Antonio García Gutiérrez. It was García Gutiérrez's most successful play, one which Verdi scholar Julian Budden describes as "a high flown, sprawling melodrama flamboyantly defiant of the Aristotelian unities, packed with all manner of fantastic and bizarre incident." The premiere took place at the Teatro Apollo in Rome on 19 January 1853, where it "began a victorious march throughout the operatic world," a success due to Verdi's work over the previous three years. It began with his January 1850 approach to Cammarano with the idea of ''Il trovatore''. There followed, slowly and with interruptions, the preparation of the libretto, first by Cammarano until his death in mid-1852 and then with the young librettist Leone Emanuele Bardare, which gave the composer the opportunity to propose signifi ... [...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] |
Vienna State Opera
The Vienna State Opera (, ) is an opera house and opera company based in Vienna, Austria. The 1,709-seat Renaissance Revival venue was the first major building on the Vienna Ring Road. It was built from 1861 to 1869 following plans by August Sicard von Sicardsburg and Eduard van der Nüll, and designs by Josef Hlávka. The opera house was inaugurated as the "Vienna Court Opera" (''Wiener Hofoper'') in the presence of Emperor Franz Joseph I and Empress Elisabeth of Austria. It became known by its current name after the establishment of the First Austrian Republic in 1921. The Vienna State Opera is the successor of the old Vienna Court Opera (built in 1636 inside the Hofburg). The new site was chosen and the construction paid by Emperor Franz Joseph in 1861. The members of the Vienna Philharmonic are recruited from the Vienna State Opera's orchestra. The building is also the home of the Vienna State Ballet, and it hosts the annual Vienna Opera Ball during the carnival season. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tosca
''Tosca'' is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It premiered at the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, Teatro Costanzi in Rome on 14 January 1900. The work, based on Victorien Sardou's 1887 French-language dramatic play, ''La Tosca'', is a melodramatic piece set in Rome in June 1800, with the Kingdom of Naples's control of Rome threatened by Napoleon's Campaigns of 1800 in the French Revolutionary Wars#Italy, invasion of Italy. It contains depictions of torture, murder, and suicide, as well as some of Puccini's best-known lyrical arias. Puccini saw Sardou's play when it was touring Italy in 1889 and, after some vacillation, obtained the rights to turn the work into an opera in 1895. Turning the wordy French play into a succinct Italian opera took four years, during which the composer repeatedly argued with his librettists and publisher. ''Tosca'' premiered at a time of unrest in Rome, and its first performance was delayed ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lyric Opera Of Chicago
Lyric Opera of Chicago is one of the leading opera companies in the United States. It was founded in Chicago in 1954, under the name 'Lyric Theatre of Chicago' by Carol Fox, Nicola Rescigno and Lawrence Kelly, with a season that included Maria Callas's American debut in ''Norma''. The company was re-organized by Fox in 1956 under its present name and, after her 1981 departure, it has continued to be of one of the major opera companies in the United States. The Lyric is housed in a theater and related spaces in the Civic Opera Building. These spaces are now owned by the Lyric. Opera in Chicago 1850–1954 The first opera to be performed in Chicago was Bellini's ''La sonnambula'', presented by a traveling opera company on 29 July 1850. Chicago's first opera house opened in 1865 but was destroyed in the Great Fire of Chicago in 1871. The second opera house, the Chicago Auditorium, opened in 1889. In 1929 the current Civic Opera House on 20 North Wacker Drive was opened, though ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
.JPG "Click for more on -> Vienna State Opera")
