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Prague Spring Festival
The Prague Spring International Music Festival ( cs, Mezinárodní hudební festival Pražské jaro, commonly cs, Pražské jaro, Prague Spring) is a classical music festival held every year in Prague, Czech Republic, with symphony orchestras and chamber music ensembles from around the world. The first festival was held in 1946 under the patronage of Czechoslovak president Edvard Beneš, and its organizing committee was made up of important figures in Czech musical life. In that year, the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra was celebrating its fiftieth anniversary and was therefore granted to appear in all of the orchestral concerts. The project was initiated by Rafael Kubelík, chief conductor of the orchestra at the time. Such musicians as Karel Ančerl, Leonard Bernstein, Sir Adrian Boult, Rudolf Firkušný, Jaroslav Krombholc, Rafael Kubelík, Moura Lympany, Yevgeny Mravinsky, Charles Münch, Ginette Neveu, Jarmila Novotná, Lev Oborin, David Oistrakh, Ken-Ichiro Kobayashi and J ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prague Municipal Smetana Hall
Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate oceanic climate, with relatively warm summers and chilly winters. Prague is a political, cultural, and economic hub of central Europe, with a rich history and Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque architectures. It was the capital of the Kingdom of Bohemia and residence of several Holy Roman Emperors, most notably Charles IV (r. 1346–1378). It was an important city to the Habsburg monarchy and Austro-Hungarian Empire. The city played major roles in the Bohemian and the Protestant Reformations, the Thirty Years' War and in 20th-century history as the capital of Czechoslovakia between the World Wars and the post-war Communist era. Prague is home to a number of well-known cultural attractions, many of which survived the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jarmila Novotná
Jarmila Novotná (September 23, 1907, in Prague, Austria-Hungary – February 9, 1994, in New York City) was a celebrated Bohemian soprano and actress and, from 1940 to 1956, a star of the Metropolitan Opera. Early career A student of Emmy Destinn, Novotná made her operatic debut at the National Theatre in Prague, on June 28, 1925, as Mařenka in Smetana's ''The Bartered Bride''. Six days later, she sang there as Violetta in Verdi's ''La traviata''. In 1928 she starred in Verona as Gilda opposite Giacomo Lauri-Volpi in Verdi's ''Rigoletto'' and at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples as Adina opposite Tito Schipa in Donizetti's ''L'elisir d'amore''. In 1929 she joined the Kroll Opera in Berlin, where she sang Violetta as well as the title roles of Puccini's '' Manon Lescaut'' and ''Madama Butterfly''. In January 1933 she created the female lead in Jaromir Weinberger's new operetta ''Frühlingsstürme'', opposite Richard Tauber at the Theater im Admiralspalast, Berlin. Th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Julian Lloyd Webber
Julian Lloyd Webber (born 14 April 1951) is a British solo cellist, conductor and broadcaster, a former principal of Royal Birmingham Conservatoire and the founder of the In Harmony music education programme. Early years and education Julian Lloyd Webber is the second son of the composer and music educator William Lloyd Webber and his wife, Jean Johnstone (a piano teacher). He is the younger brother of the composer Andrew Lloyd Webber. The composer Herbert Howells was his godfather. He won a scholarship to the Royal College of Music in 1968 and completed his studies with Pierre Fournier in Geneva in 1973. Career Lloyd Webber made his professional debut as a cellist at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, London, in September 1972 when he gave the first London performance of the cello concerto by Sir Arthur Bliss. Throughout his career, he has collaborated with a wide variety of musicians, including conductors Yehudi Menuhin, Lorin Maazel, Neville Marriner, Georg Solti, Yevgeny Svetla ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mstislav Rostropovich
Mstislav Leopoldovich Rostropovich, (27 March 192727 April 2007) was a Russian cellist and conductor. He is considered by many to be the greatest cellist of the 20th century. In addition to his interpretations and technique, he was well known for both inspiring and commissioning new works, which enlarged the cello repertoire more than any cellist before or since. He inspired and premiered over 100 pieces, forming long-standing friendships and artistic partnerships with composers including Dmitri Shostakovich, Sergei Prokofiev, Henri Dutilleux, Witold Lutosławski, Olivier Messiaen, Luciano Berio, Krzysztof Penderecki, Alfred Schnittke, Norbert Moret, Andreas Makris, Leonard Bernstein, Aram Khachaturian and Benjamin Britten. Rostropovich was internationally recognized as a staunch advocate of human rights, and was awarded the 1974 Award of the International League of Human Rights. He was married to the soprano Galina Vishnevskaya and had two daughters, Olga and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Herbert Von Karajan
Herbert von Karajan (; born Heribert Ritter von Karajan; 5 April 1908 – 16 July 1989) was an Austrian conductor. He was principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic for 34 years. During the Nazi era, he debuted at the Salzburg Festival, with the Vienna Philharmonic, the Berlin Philharmonic, and during the Second World War he conducted at the Berlin State Opera. Generally regarded as one of the greatest conductors of the 20th century, he was a controversial but dominant figure in European classical music from the mid-1950s until his death. Part of the reason for this was the large number of recordings he made and their prominence during his lifetime. By one estimate, he was the top-selling classical music recording artist of all time, having sold an estimated 200 million records. Biography Early life Genealogy The Karajans were of Greek ancestry. Herbert's great-great-grandfather, Georg Karajan (Geórgios Karajánnis, el, Γεώργιος Καραγιάννης, li ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lorin Maazel
Lorin Varencove Maazel (, March 6, 1930 – July 13, 2014) was an American conductor, violinist and composer. He began conducting at the age of eight and by 1953 had decided to pursue a career in music. He had established a reputation in the concert halls of Europe by 1960 but, by comparison, his career in the U.S. progressed far more slowly. He served as music director of The Cleveland Orchestra, Orchestre National de France, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, and the New York Philharmonic, among other posts. Maazel was well-regarded in baton technique and possessed a photographic memory for scores. Described as mercurial and forbidding in rehearsal, he mellowed in old age. Early life Maazel was born to American parents of Ukrainian Jewish origin in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France. His grandfather Isaac Maazel (1873-1925), born in Poltava, Ukraine, then in the Russian Empire, was a violinist in the Metropolitan Opera orchestra. He and his wife Es ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sviatoslav Richter
Sviatoslav Teofilovich Richter, group= ( – August 1, 1997) was a Soviet classical pianist. He is frequently regarded as one of the greatest pianists of all time, Great Pianists of the 20th Century and has been praised for the "depth of his interpretations, his virtuoso technique, and his vast repertoire." Biography Childhood Richter was born in Zhytomyr, Volhynian Governorate, in the Russian Empire (modern-day Ukraine), the hometown of his parents. His father, (1872–1941), was a pianist, organist and composer born to German expatriates; from 1893 to 1900 he studied at the Vienna Conservatory. His mother, Anna Pavlovna Richter (née Moskaleva; 1893–1963), came from a noble Russian landowning family, and at one point she studied under her future husband. In 1918, when Richter's parents were in Odessa, the Civil War separated them from their son, and Richter moved in with his aunt Tamara. He lived with her from 1918 to 1921, and it was then that his interest in art firs ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Symphony No
A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, most often for orchestra. Although the term has had many meanings from its origins in the ancient Greek era, by the late 18th century the word had taken on the meaning common today: a work usually consisting of multiple distinct sections or movements, often four, with the first movement in sonata form. Symphonies are almost always scored for an orchestra consisting of a string section ( violin, viola, cello, and double bass), brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments which altogether number about 30 to 100 musicians. Symphonies are notated in a musical score, which contains all the instrument parts. Orchestral musicians play from parts which contain just the notated music for their own instrument. Some symphonies also contain vocal parts (e.g., Beethoven's Ninth Symphony). Etymology and origins The word ''symphony'' is derived from the Greek word (), meaning "agreement or concord of sound ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ludwig Van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classical music repertoire and span the transition from the Classical period to the Romantic era in classical music. His career has conventionally been divided into early, middle, and late periods. His early period, during which he forged his craft, is typically considered to have lasted until 1802. From 1802 to around 1812, his middle period showed an individual development from the styles of Joseph Haydn and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and is sometimes characterized as heroic. During this time, he began to grow increasingly deaf. In his late period, from 1812 to 1827, he extended his innovations in musical form and expression. Beethoven was born in Bonn. His musical talent was obvious at an early age. He was initially harshly and intensively t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Má Vlast
''Má vlast'' (), also known as ''My Fatherland'', is a set of six symphonic poems composed between 1874 and 1879 by the Czech composer Bedřich Smetana. The six pieces, conceived as individual works, are often presented and recorded as a single work in six movements. They premiered separately between 1875 and 1880. The complete set premiered on 5 November 1882 in Žofín Palace, Prague,Žofín Palace Official site of Žofín Palace, accessed 7 December 2016. under . ''Má vlast'' combines the symphonic poem form, pioneered by , with the ideals of nationalistic music of the late nineteenth ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bedřich Smetana
Bedřich Smetana ( , ; 2 March 1824 – 12 May 1884) was a Czech composer who pioneered the development of a musical style that became closely identified with his people's aspirations to a cultural and political "revival." He has been regarded in his homeland as the father of Czech music. Internationally he is best known for his 1866 opera '' The Bartered Bride'' and for the symphonic cycle '' Má vlast'' ("My Fatherland"), which portrays the history, legends and landscape of the composer's native Bohemia. It contains the famous symphonic poem "Vltava", also popularly known by its German name "Die Moldau" (in English, "The Moldau"). Smetana was naturally gifted as a composer, and gave his first public performance at the age of 6. After conventional schooling, he studied music under Josef Proksch in Prague. His first nationalistic music was written during the 1848 Prague uprising, in which he briefly participated. After failing to establish his career in Prague, he left for Swe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jan Panenka
Jan Panenka (8 July 192212 July 1999) was a Czech pianist. He recorded many of Beethoven's works, and he played for many years with the Suk Trio. Life Jan Panenka began his concert career in 1944, as a pupil of František Maxián at the Prague Conservatory. In 1951 he was awarded the 2nd prize at the Prague Spring International Music Competition. He attracted attention in 1959, on a concert tour to Australia and Japan with the Czech Philharmonic.Sleeve note of the Supraphon CD (SU 3547-2 101) Panenka interrupted his career in 1979, due to hand problems. He worked as a conductor, but later returned to the piano and made recordings with the Smetana Quartet. He worked also as a teacher at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague. As a soloist with the Czech Philharmonic he made also a number of gramophone recordings, including the complete piano concertos of Ludwig van Beethoven (1964–71). He was awarded the ''Grand Prix du Disque'' for the recording of violin sonatas by Leoš ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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