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Luonnotar (Sibelius)
, Op. 70 (), is a tone-poem for soprano and orchestra written in 1913 by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius. It was dedicated to Aino Ackté, who premiered the work at the Three Choirs Festival in Gloucester, England on 10 September 1913, with an orchestra conducted by Herbert Brewer. Sibelius arranged it for voice and piano in 1915. ''Luonnotar'' is based on Finnish mythology, the words coming from the ''Kalevala''. The text is from the first part of the Kalevala and deals with the creation of the world. Luonnotar or Ilmatar is the Spirit of Nature and Mother of the Seas. Setting music to Finnish texts was relatively new to Sibelius, as his first language was Swedish and most of his earlier settings had been to Swedish texts (except Kullervo in 1892, which is entirely in Finnish). Genesis In 1894, Sibelius had the character of Luonnotar in mind when writing sketches for an opera. The early drafts of his orchestral tone poem '' Pohjola's Daughter'' were called '' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Soprano
A soprano () is a type of classical female singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hz to "high A" (A5) = 880 Hz in choral music, or to "soprano C" (C6, two octaves above middle C) = 1046 Hz or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which often encompasses the melody. The soprano voice type is generally divided into the coloratura, soubrette, lyric, spinto, and dramatic soprano. Etymology The word "soprano" comes from the Italian word '' sopra'' (above, over, on top of),"Soprano" '' |
Helsinki
Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of Uusimaa in southern Finland, and has a population of . The Helsinki urban area, city's urban area has a population of , making it by far the List of urban areas in Finland by population, most populous urban area in Finland as well as the country's most important center for politics, education, finance, culture, and research; while Tampere in the Pirkanmaa region, located to the north from Helsinki, is the second largest urban area in Finland. Helsinki is located north of Tallinn, Estonia, east of Stockholm, Sweden, and west of Saint Petersburg, Russia. It has History of Helsinki, close historical ties with these three cities. Together with the cities of Espoo, Vantaa, and Kauniainen (and surrounding commuter towns, including the eastern ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fiona Shaw
Fiona Shaw (born Fiona Mary Wilson; 10 July 1958) is an Irish film and theatre actress. She is known for her roles as Petunia Dursley in the ''Harry Potter'' film series (2001–2010), Marnie Stonebrook in the fourth season of the HBO series ''True Blood'' (2011), and Carolyn Martens in the BBC series ''Killing Eve'' (2018–22). For her performance in ''Killing Eve'', Shaw won the 2019 BAFTA TV Award for Best Supporting Actress. For her performances in the second seasons of ''Killing Eve'' and ''Fleabag'', she received Primetime Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series and Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series respectively. For the third season of ''Killing Eve'', she was again nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series. Shaw has worked extensively with the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre. She won the 1990 Olivier Award for Best Actress for various roles, including '' Electra'', the 1994 Ol ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Riders To The Sea (opera)
''Riders to the Sea'' is a short one-act opera by Ralph Vaughan Williams, based on the play of the same name by John Millington Synge. The composer completed the score in 1927, but it was not premiered until 1 December 1937, at the Royal College of Music, London. The opera remained largely the province of students and amateurs until it entered the repertoire of Sadler's Wells in 1953. Vaughan Williams set Synge's text essentially intact, with only a small number of changes. Although the vocal score had been in print since 1936, the full orchestral score was not published until 1973.Ottaway, Hugh"Riders to the Sea" ''The Musical Times'', January 1973, p. 45 The composer Edmund Rubbra characterised this work as less an opera than a "spoken drama raised in emotional power and expressiveness to the nth degree". Hugh Ottaway and Michael Kennedy have commented on musical connections between the opera and Vaughan Williams's later Symphony No. 6. Caireann Shannon has noted that V ... [...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] |
English National Opera
English National Opera (ENO) is an opera company based in London, resident at the London Coliseum in St Martin's Lane. It is one of the two principal opera companies in London, along with The Royal Opera. ENO's productions are sung in English. The company's origins were in the late 19th century, when the philanthropist Emma Cons, later assisted by her niece Lilian Baylis, presented theatrical and operatic performances at the Old Vic, for the benefit of local people. Baylis subsequently built up both the opera and the theatre companies, and later added a ballet company; these evolved into the ENO, the Royal National Theatre and The Royal Ballet, respectively. Baylis acquired and rebuilt the Sadler's Wells theatre in north London, a larger house, better suited to opera than the Old Vic. The opera company grew there into a permanent ensemble in the 1930s. During the Second World War, the theatre was closed and the company toured British towns and cities. After the war, the comp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dawn Upshaw
Dawn Upshaw (born July 17, 1960) is an American soprano. She is the recipient of several Grammy Awards and has released a number of Edison Award-winning discs; she performs both opera and art song, and her repertoire spans Baroque to contemporary. Many composers, including Henri Dutilleux, Osvaldo Golijov, John Harbison, Esa-Pekka Salonen, John Adams, and Kaija Saariaho, have written for her. In 2007, she was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship. Early life Dawn Upshaw was born in Nashville, Tennessee. She began singing while attending Rich East High School in Park Forest, Illinois and was the only female ever promoted to the top choir (the Singing Rockets) as a sophomore, according to choir director Douglas Ulreich. She received a B.A. in 1982 from Illinois Wesleyan University, where she studied voice with Dr. David Nott. She went on to study voice with Ellen Faull at the Manhattan School of Music in New York City, earning her M.M. in 1984. She also attended courses given by Jan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phyllis Bryn-Julson
Phyllis Mae Bryn-Julson (born February 5, 1945) is an American operatic soprano and pedagogue. A native of Bowdon, North Dakota, Bryn-Julson is one of five children born to Norwegian parents. She initially studied to be a pianist at Concordia College; while there she came to the attention of Gunther Schuller, who was impressed by her ability to sight-read 12-tone music. He persuaded her to study singing at the Berkshire Music Center, where Erich Leinsdorf became a mentor. Further study came at Syracuse University under Helen Boatwright; there she received both her bachelor's degree in music in 1967 and her master's degree of music in voice in 1969. She made her official debut with the Boston Symphony Orchestra on October 28, 1966, performing the ''Lulu'' Suite of Alban Berg. This marked the beginning of a career in which she was associated largely with the work of modern and contemporary composers such as Milton Babbitt, John Cage, David Del Tredici, Olivier Messiaen, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Karita Mattila
Karita Marjatta Mattila (born 5 September 1960) is a Finnish operatic soprano. Mattila appears regularly in the major opera houses worldwide, including the Metropolitan Opera, the Royal Opera House in London, Théâtre du Châtelet, Opéra Bastille, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Francisco Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Vienna State Opera, Toronto Roy Thomson Hall, and Großes Festspielhaus in Salzburg. Career Born in Somero, Finland, Mattila graduated 1983 from the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, where she studied singing with Liisa Linko-Malmio. She then continued her studies with Vera Rózsa in London. Also in 1983, Mattila won the first Cardiff Singer of the World Competition. In 1985, she made her Royal Opera House, Covent Garden debut as Fiordiligi in Mozart's ''Così fan tutte''. She was seen as Emma in the first ever televised production of Schubert's ''Fierrabras'' at the Vienna State Opera in 1988. In 1990 she made her Metropolitan Opera debut as Donna Elvira in Mozart's ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phyllis Curtin
Phyllis Curtin (née Smith; December 3, 1921 – June 5, 2016) was an American soprano and academic teacher who had an active career in operas and concerts from the early 1950s through the 1980s. She is known for her creation of roles in operas by Carlisle Floyd, such as the title role in ''Susannah'' and Catherine Earnshaw in ''Wuthering Heights''. She was a dedicated song recitalist, who retired from singing in 1984. She was named Boston University's Dean Emerita, College of Fine Arts in 1991.Boston University College of Fine Arts , bu.edu; accessed July 18, 2015. Education and early career Phyllis Smith was born in , and s ...[...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Taru Valjakka
Taru Aura Helena Valjakka (née Kumpunen; 16 September 1938, Helsinki, Finland) is a Finnish soprano opera singer. Before her opera career she worked as music teacher and a choir director in Helsinki. She made her opera debut in 1964 as Donna Anna in Mozart's ''Don Giovanni''. She had a central role in rise of the new Finnish opera in 1970s, singing lead roles in world premieres of '' The Horseman'' and ''The Red Line'' by Aulis Sallinen, ''The Last Temptations'' by Joonas Kokkonen and ''Silkkirumpu'' by Paavo Heininen. Valjakka is also noted for lied recitals and her interpretations of songs by Jean Sibelius Jean Sibelius ( ; ; born Johan Julius Christian Sibelius; 8 December 186520 September 1957) was a Finnish composer of the late Romantic and 20th-century classical music, early-modern periods. He is widely regarded as his country's greatest com .... References {{DEFAULTSORT:Valjakka, Taru 1938 births Living people Singers from Helsinki Finnish operatic sopr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
