Marco Lazzara
Marco Lazzara (born 1962) is an Italian countertenor who sings a wide-ranging repertoire from baroque composers to those of the 20th century and has performed in a number of notable premieres and revivals of rarely performed operas. He has recorded widely on the Bongiovanni, Ricordi, Nuova Era, Forlane, Opera Rara and Dynamic labels. Career Lazzara received diplomas in piano, organ, harpsichord and singing, followed by studies at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena, and made his professional debut in 1989. In the field of baroque music, Lazzara has sung as a leading soloist with the Alessandro Stradella Consort in a series of performances and world premiere recordings, including, Stradella's ''Il barcheggio'', ''Moro per amore'', and ''Esule dalle sfere'' and Nicola Porpora's ''Dorindo dormi ancor?'' on the Bongiovanni label. He also appears in the world premiere recording of Niccolò Piccinni's ''Salve Regina'' and ''Dixit Dominus'' on Bongiovanni. Lazzara was the first count ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Countertenor
A countertenor (also contra tenor) is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range is equivalent to that of the female contralto or mezzo-soprano voice types, generally extending from around G3 to D5 or E5, although a sopranist (a specific kind of countertenor) may match the soprano's range of around C4 to C6.A sopranist is a term used to describe a countertenor whose vocal range is so high it is equivalent to that of a soprano; however, this term is widely used falsely. Countertenors often are baritones or tenors at core, but only on rare occasions do they use their lower vocal range, instead preferring their falsetto or high head voice. The nature of the countertenor voice has radically changed throughout musical history, from a modal voice, to a modal and falsetto voice, to the primarily falsetto voice which is denoted by the term today. This is partly because of changes in human physiology and partly because of fluctuations in pitch. The term first came into ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Opéra National Du Rhin
The Opéra national du Rhin is an opera company which performs in Alsace, eastern France. It includes the Opéras in Strasbourg, in Mulhouse, where the Ballet de l'Opéra national du Rhin, also known as the Ballet Du Rhin, is based, and in Colmar, with its Opéra Studio, a training centre for young singers. Thee organisation has held the status of "national opera" since 1997. The Orchestre philharmonique de Strasbourg and the Orchestre symphonique de Mulhouse are the usual orchestras of this institution. History The first opera house opened in Strasbourg in 1701 in a converted granary. After a fire and temporary locations, a new Théâtre municipal opened in the Place Broglie in 1821. This building was virtually gutted during the German bombardment of 1870, but it was rebuilt in identical style, re-opening in 1873.Pitt, C. "Strasbourg", ''The New Grove Dictionary of Opera.'' Macmillan, London & New York, 1997. During the German era up to 1919, several eminent conductors held po ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Francesco Florimo
Francesco Florimo (12 October 1800 – 18 December 1888) was an Italian librarian, musicologist, historian of music, and composer.Libby, Dennis; Rosselli, John. "Florimo, Francesco" in Sadie 2001. Early life and friendship with Bellini Florimo was born in San Giorgio Morgeto in Calabria and enrolled at the age of 12 (or 15) at the Naples Conservatory (Conservatorio di San Pietro a Majella). There he studied with Nicola Antonio Zingarelli and Giacomo Tritto and met Vincenzo Bellini, a student companion who became a lifelong friend and the recipient of Florimo's fervent devotion. Florimo later dedicated several works to Bellini, including his ''Traslazione delle ceneri di Vincenzo Bellini: memorie e impressioni'', (Naples, 1876) and ''Bellini: memorie e lettere'' (Florence 1882). This material contains much that is important and indispensable, but some of the letters were partially or entirely fabricated, and several of Florimo's more dubious claims were based on 'remembered conve ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Vincenzo Bellini
Vincenzo Salvatore Carmelo Francesco Bellini (; 3 November 1801 – 23 September 1835) was a Sicilian opera composer, who was known for his long-flowing melodic lines for which he was named "the Swan of Catania". Many years later, in 1898, Giuseppe Verdi "praised the broad curves of Bellini's melody: 'there are extremely long melodies as no-one else had ever made before'." A large amount of what is known about Bellini's life and his activities comes from surviving letters—except for a short period—which were written over his lifetime to his friend Francesco Florimo, whom he had met as a fellow student in Naples and with whom he maintained a lifelong friendship. Other sources of information come from correspondence saved by other friends and business acquaintances. Bellini was the quintessential composer of the Italian '' bel canto'' era of the early 19th century, and his work has been summed up by the London critic Tim Ashley as: ... also hugely influential, as much a ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Annick Massis
Annick Massis (born Jacqueline Dubreuil; ; born 31 January 1958) is a French operatic soprano. She sang a wide variety of roles, but is best known for her interpretation of works in the 19th-century Italian and French repertoire. Biography Jacqueline Dubreuil was born in the 15th arrondissement of Paris, to singer parents: mother specialising in operetta, father being a baritone in the Choir of Radio France. After obtaining double degree in history and English, she worked as a school teacher till 28, during which she took masterclasses and met her teacher Isabel Garcisanz. Two years later, Gabriel Dussurget, founder of the Aix-en-Provence Festival, introduced her to conductor Bernard Thomas, who engaged her in ''Great Mass in C minor'' and the entire oratorio repertoire after a simple audition. Her stage career began at the Théâtre du Capitole in Toulouse in 1991, and in the same season she performed in Mozart's ''La finta giardiniera'' as the title role at the Opéra de Nante ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Rossini
Gioachino Antonio Rossini (29 February 1792 – 13 November 1868) was an Italian composer who gained fame for his 39 operas, although he also wrote many songs, some chamber music and piano pieces, and some sacred music. He set new standards for both comic and serious opera before retiring from large-scale composition while still in his thirties, at the height of his popularity. Born in Pesaro to parents who were both musicians (his father a trumpeter, his mother a singer), Rossini began to compose by the age of 12 and was educated at music school in Bologna. His first opera was performed in Venice in 1810 when he was 18 years old. In 1815 he was engaged to write operas and manage theatres in Naples. In the period 1810–1823 he wrote 34 operas for the Italian stage that were performed in Venice, Milan, Ferrara, Naples and elsewhere; this productivity necessitated an almost formulaic approach for some components (such as overtures) and a certain amount of self-borrowing. During ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Trieste
Trieste ( , ; sl, Trst ; german: Triest ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital city, and largest city, of the autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, one of two autonomous regions which are not subdivided into provinces. Trieste is located at the head of the Gulf of Trieste, on a narrow strip of Italian territory lying between the Adriatic Sea and Slovenia; Slovenia lies approximately east and southeast of the city, while Croatia is about to the south of the city. The city has a long coastline and is surrounded by grassland, forest, and karstic areas. The city has a subtropical climate, unusual in relation to its relatively high latitude, due to marine breezes. In 2022, it had a population of about 204,302. Capital of the autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia and previously capital of the Province of Trieste, until its abolition on 1 October 2017. Trieste belonged to the Habsburg monarchy from 1382 until 1918. In the 19th century the mon ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Teatro Lirico Giuseppe Verdi
The Teatro Lirico Giuseppe Verdi is an opera house located in Trieste, Italy and named after the composer Giuseppe Verdi. Privately constructed, it was inaugurated as the Teatro Nuovo to replace the smaller 800-seat "Cesareo Regio Teatro di San Pietro" on 21 April 1801 with a performance of Johann Simon Mayr's ''Ginevra di Scozia''. Initially, the Nuovo had 1,400 seats. In 1821, it became known as the Teatro Grande. By the end of the 18th century, the need for a new theatre in Trieste became evident. Its main theatre, the Teatro di San Pietro, had become increasingly inadequate and closed in 1800. A proposal to the Austrian Chancery from Giovanni Matteo Tommasini to build a private theatre had existed since 1795 and, in June 1798, a contract was drawn up whereby annual funding would come from the municipality and Tommasini would hold the rights to several boxes and the rights to sell others. Gian Antonio Selva, the architect of the La Fenice in Venice, was engaged, and he designed ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Ginevra Di Scozia
''Ginevra di Scozia'' is an opera in two acts by Simon Mayr set to an Italian libretto by Gaetano Rossi based on Antonio Salvi's ''Ginevra, principessa di Scozia'', which in turn was adapted from cantos 5 and 6 of Ludovico Ariosto's ''Orlando Furioso''. ''Ginevra di Scozia'' premiered on 21 April 1801 at the Regio Teatro Nuovo in Trieste to celebrate the inauguration of the new theatre. The story is virtually identical to that of Handel's ''Ariodante'' which shares the same source for the libretto. Roles Recordings *Mayr: ''Ginevra di Scozia'' – Live recording to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the opera's premiere. Tiziano Severini conducts the orchestra and chorus of the Teatro Lirico "Giuseppe Verdi", with Elizabeth Vidal as Ginevra and Daniela Barcellona as Ariodante. Label: Opera Rara ORC 23 *Mayr: ''Ginevra di Scozia'' – Live recording. George Petrou, conductor, Münchner Rundfunkorchester with Myrtò Papatanasiu, Anna Bonitatibus, Mario Zeffiri. Label : Oehms C ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Simon Mayr
Johann(es) Simon Mayr (also spelled Majer, Mayer, Maier), also known in Italian as Giovanni Simone Mayr or Simone Mayr (14 June 1763 – 2 December 1845), was a German composer. His music reflects the transition from the Classical to the Romantic musical era. He was an early inspiration to Rossini and taught and advocated for Donizetti. Life He was born in Mendorf near Altmannstein, Landkreis Eichstätt, Bavaria, and studied theology at the University of Ingolstadt, continuing his studies in Italy from 1787. He was closely associated with the Illuminati of Adam Weishaupt while a student in Ingolstadt, and the ideals of the French Enlightenment were a strong influence on his philosophy as a musician as corroborated by his famed ''Zibaldone'' or "Notebooks" compiled toward the end of his career. Shortly thereafter, he took music lessons with Carlo Lenzi, and later with Ferdinando Bertoni. He moved to Bergamo in 1802 and was appointed ''maestro di cappella'' at the Cath ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Bel Canto
Bel canto (Italian for "beautiful singing" or "beautiful song", )—with several similar constructions (''bellezze del canto'', ''bell'arte del canto'')—is a term with several meanings that relate to Italian singing. The phrase was not associated with a "school" of singing until the middle of the 19th century, when writers in the early 1860s used it nostalgically to describe a manner of singing that had begun to wane around 1830. Nonetheless, "neither musical nor general dictionaries saw fit to attempt definition f bel cantountil after 1900". The term remains vague and ambiguous in the 21st century and is often used to evoke a lost singing tradition. History of the term and its various definitions As generally understood today, the term ''bel canto'' refers to the Italian-originated vocal style that prevailed throughout most of Europe during the 18th and early 19th centuries. Late 19th- and 20th-century sources "would lead us to believe that ''bel canto'' was restricted to ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Alan Curtis (harpsichordist)
Alan Curtis (November 17, 1934July 15, 2015) was an American harpsichordist, musicologist, and conductor of baroque opera. Born in Mason, Michigan, Curtis graduated from studies at the University of Illinois, and received his PhD in 1960 with a dissertation on the keyboard music of Sweelinck. He then relocated to Amsterdam to work with Gustav Leonhardt, with whom he subsequently recorded a number of Bach's concerti for harpsichord. In the 1960s and 1970s, he made a number of recordings of solo harpsichord music including albums dedicated to the keyboard music of Rameau and the works of Johann Sebastian Bach, such as his recording of the ''Goldberg Variations'' made on a 1728 Christian Zell harpsichord. Following an academic career divided between UC Berkeley and Europe, Curtis devoted his time to performing dramatic music from Monteverdi to Mozart. As a student in the 1950s, he was the first modern harpsichordist to examine problems surrounding Louis Couperin's unmeasured pr ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |