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ORFEO
Orfeo Classic Schallplatten und Musikfilm GmbH of Munich was a German independent classical record label founded in 1979 by Axel Mehrle and launched in 1980. It has been owned by Naxos since 2015. History The Orfeo music label was registered by F. Axel Mehrle on 12 December 1979 as the Orfeo Classic Records and Music Film GmbH. Orfeo introduced a new financial model for the music industry that made all investment to the label tax-deductible. All of Orfeo's masters were digital, pressed using Direct Metal Mastering, distributed as CD starting in 1983, and with a striking navy blue border on all covers. In 1981, some of Orfeo's records were released and distributed by EMI and RCA through a 5-year partnership deal. From 1981 to 1984, the label's yearly revenue went from $100,000 to $2 million. In 1985, as the company was reaching dramatic financial failure, the name of the label was changed to Oro, and the company filed for bankruptcy. In May 1985, Frank Mehrle licensed all of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Naxos (company)
Naxos comprises numerous companies, divisions, imprints, and labels specializing in classical music but also audiobooks and other genres. The premier label is Naxos Records which focuses on classical music. Naxos Musical Group encompasses about 17 labels including Naxos Records, Naxos Audiobooks, and Naxos Books (ebooks). There are about an additional 50 labels that are independent of the Naxos Musical Group with a wide range of offerings. The company was founded in 1987 by Klaus Heymann, a German-born resident of Hong Kong. Naxos Records Naxos Records is a record label specializing in classical music. The company was known for its budget pricing of discs, with simpler artwork and design than most other labels. In the 1980s, Naxos primarily recorded central and eastern European symphony orchestras, often with lesser-known conductors, as well as upcoming and unknown musicians, to minimize recording costs and maintain its budget prices. In more recent years, Naxos has taken advan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lucia Popp
Lucia Popp (born Lucia Poppová; 12 November 193916 November 1993) was a Slovak operatic soprano. She began her career as a soubrette, and later moved into the light-lyric and lyric coloratura soprano repertoire and then the lighter Richard Strauss and Wagner operas. Her career included performances at Vienna State Opera, the Metropolitan Opera, Covent Garden, and La Scala. Popp was also a highly regarded recitalist and lieder singer. Life and career Lucia Poppová was born in Záhorská Ves in the Slovak State (later Czechoslovakia; present-day Slovakia). Her mother was a soprano, with whom the young Lucia often sang duets at home. Her father, an engineer, was at one time a cultural attaché to the British embassy.Opera News (2014) She initially studied medicine at the Bratislava University,Forbes (1993) then entered the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava to study drama. Her vocal talent was discovered when she was cast as Nicole in ''Le Bourgeois gentilhomme'', a ro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Josef Bulva
Josef Bulva (9 January 1943 – 12 August 2020) was a Czech pianist. Life Bulva was born in Brno, Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, now the Czech Republic. began his training aged nine at a music school in Napajedla, and performed his first concerts aged 13, playing works by Mozart, études by Liszt and the Paganini Variations by Brahms. He was excused from conventional education and entered the Brno Conservatory with a state scholarship, before continuing on to the Music Academy of the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava (where he studied alongside Lucia Popp and Edita Gruberová), graduating with honors. Soon after, aged 21, he was named as an "artist of the State". Bulva's subsequent intense international concert schedule was interrupted in 1971 for an entire year by a serious accident. He subsequently emigrated to the west for political reasons, taking residence first in Munich and then in Luxembourg, where he resumed his concert and recording activities. In 1996 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dmitry Sitkovetsky
Dmitry Yulianovich Sitkovetsky (russian: Дмитрий Юлианович Ситковецкий; born September 27, 1954) is a Soviet-Russian born classical violinist, conductor and arranger, most notably of an arrangement for strings of J. S. Bach's Goldberg Variations https://theviolinchannel.com/dmitry-sitkovetsky-bach-goldberg-variations-trio-1985/]. Early life Dmitry Si ...[...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kurt Moll
Kurt Moll (11 April 19385 March 2017) was a German operatic bass singer who enjoyed an international career and was widely recorded. His voice was notable for its range, a true basso profondo, including full, resonant low and very-low notes with relaxed vibrato; also for its unusual combination of extreme volume-capacity and a purring, contrabassoon-like timbre. Although he had a powerful voice and stamina adequate for the most demanding parts, he was not a thunderer, and never performed as Wagner's vocally athletic, bellowing bassos Hagen, Hans Sachs, nor Wotan. His interpretations tended to be restrained and intelligent, even in comedic roles like Osmin in Mozart's ''Die Entführung aus dem Serail'' and Baron Ochs in ''Der Rosenkavalier''. Career Moll was born in Buir, near Cologne, Germany. As a child, he played the cello and hoped to become a great cellist. (He also had ambitions to be an industrialist/businessman.) He sang in the school choir whose conductor encouraged ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bernd Weikl
Bernd Weikl (born 29 July 1942) is an Austrian operatic baritone, particularly known for his performances in the stage works by Richard Wagner. He also has written books and directed operas. Career Born in Vienna, he moved with his family to Mainz when he was ten years old. Weikl studied first in Mainz, national economics, and from 1962 to 1965 at the conservatory. He then studied voice at the Musikhochschule Hannover with Naan Pöld und William Reimer). He made his stage debut as Ottokar in Weber's ''Der Freischütz'' and the Staatsoper Hannover. From 1970 to 1973 he was a member of the company at the Düsseldorf Opera. Weikl made his debut at the Salzburg Festival in 1971 as Melot in Wagner's ''Tristan und Isolde'', at the Bayreuth Festival in 1972 as Wolfram in ''Tannhäuser'', at the Royal Opera House in London in 1975 as Figaro in Rossini's ''The Barber of Seville'', at the Metropolitan Opera in 1977 as Wolfram, and at La Scala in Milan in 1980 as Ford in Verdi's ''Fals ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Renato Bruson
Renato Bruson (born 13 January 1936) is an Italian operatic baritone. Bruson is widely considered one of the most important Verdi baritones of the late 20th and early 21st century. He was born in Granze near Padua, Italy. Biography and career Bruson's passion for music matured in the parish choir when he was a child. He began his music studies at the conservatory of Padua where he was awarded a scholarship that allowed him to attend the courses in the face of economic problems. He did not receive much support from his family, who considered him a good-for-nothing. In his own words: "They thought that I only wanted to study music because I had no desire to work. At that time, the general feeling where I lived was that if someone worked, they had a future, whereas those who studied, especially if they studied music, were considered failures who would never find their path in life." However, he could continue his studies with the help of the administration of the conservatory and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peter Schreier
Peter Schreier (29 July 1935 – 25 December 2019) was a German tenor in opera, concert and lied, and a conductor. He was regarded as one of the leading lyric tenors of the 20th century. Schreier was a member of the Dresdner Kreuzchor conducted by Rudolf Mauersberger, performing as an alto soloist. He became a tenor, focused on concert and lieder singing, well known internationally for the Evangelist parts in Bach's ''Christmas Oratorio'' and Passion. A member of the Berlin State Opera from 1963, he appeared in Mozart roles such as Belmonte in ''Die Entführung aus dem Serail'' and Tamino in ''Die Zauberflöte'', and in the title role of Pfitzner's ''Palestrina'', among others. He appeared at the Vienna State Opera and the Metropolitan Opera, among others, as one of few singers from the German Democratic Republic to perform internationally. Schreier made many recordings, especially of Bach's works as both a singer and a conductor, even simultaneously. He recorded many lieder i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carlo Bergonzi (tenor)
Carlo Bergonzi (13 July 1924 – 25 July 2014) was an Italian operatic tenor. Although he performed and recorded some bel canto and verismo roles, he was above all associated with the operas of Giuseppe Verdi, including many of the composer's lesser known works he helped revive. He sang more than forty other roles throughout his career. Biography Early life Bergonzi was born in Polesine Parmense, near Parma in Northern Italy, on 13 July 1924. He was an only child."Carlo-Bergonzi-obituary" ''The Telegraph'' (London), 27 July 2014 on telegraph.co.uk He later claimed he saw his first opera, Verdi’s '''', when he was six years old. He sang in church, and so ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Agnes Baltsa
Agni Baltsa ( el, Aγνή Mπάλτσα; also known as Agnes Baltsa; born 19 November 1944) is a leading Greek mezzo-soprano singer. Baltsa was born in Lefkada. She began playing piano at the age of six, before moving to Athens in 1958 to concentrate on singing. She graduated from the Greek National Conservatoire in 1965 and then travelled to Munich to continue studying on a Maria Callas scholarship. Baltsa made her first appearance in an opera in 1968 as Cherubino in ''The Marriage of Figaro'' at Frankfurt Opera, before going on to appear as Octavian in ''Der Rosenkavalier'' at the Vienna State Opera in 1970. Under the guidance of Herbert von Karajan, she became a regular at the prestigious Salzburg Festival. She became ''Kammersängerin'' of the Vienna State Opera in 1980. Her best-known performance is that of Carmen by Georges Bizet, which she has sung a number of times with noted tenors such as José Carreras, Neil Shicoff, and others. She has also sung works by Mozart (no ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brigitte Fassbaender
Brigitte Fassbaender (; born 3 July 1939), is a German mezzo-soprano opera singer and a stage director. From 1999 to 2012 she was intendant (managing director) of the Tyrolean State Theatre in Innsbruck, Austria. She holds the title Kammersängerin from the Bavarian State Opera in Munich and the Vienna Staatsoper. Career Fassbaender was born in Berlin, the daughter of screen actress Sabine Peters and baritone Willi Domgraf-Fassbaender. The family settled in Nuremberg after World War II. She spent her early career in Munich. Fassbaender studied singing with her father, at the Nuremberg Conservatory. She joined the Bavarian State Opera in 1961, where her first leading role was Nicklausse in ''The Tales of Hoffmann''. Fassbaender appeared as Octavian, the title role of ''Der Rosenkavalier'' by Richard Strauss, in Munich in 1967, the role that launched her international career. In 1971, she performed at Royal Opera, London and made her Metropolitan Opera debut in 1974. Fassbaender ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
