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Stéfan Louw
Stéfan Louw is a South African operatic tenor, regarded as one of South Africa's leading tenors. He has been performing opera since 1995. Biography While still a student, Louw joined the Pretoria State Theatre Opera Chorus in 1995. In the following year, he received the Chorister of the Year Award. He made his solo debut in 1999 as Beppe in ''Pagliacci''. Louw received the FNB Vita Opera Award for Most Promising Newcomer for his debut role. He remained a member of the chorus until 2001, often performing supporting character roles. In 2000, he became one of the founding members of the Black Tie Ensemble (BTE). When Louw made his leading-role debut as Cavaradossi in ''Tosca'' (2003), he decided to quit his full-time job as a sales person at Incredible Connection to focus on his opera career. Since then Louw made a living singing opera in South Africa, America, and Europe. Some of the roles he performed over the years include Alfredo in ''La traviata'', Barinkay in ''The Gypsy Ba ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
La Bohème
''La bohème'' (; ) is an opera in four acts,Puccini called the divisions ''quadri'', ''tableaux'' or "images", rather than ''atti'' (acts). composed by Giacomo Puccini between 1893 and 1895 to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, based on ''Scènes de la vie de bohème'' (1851) by Henri Murger. The story is set in Paris around 1830 and shows the Bohemian lifestyle (known in French as "") of a poor seamstress and her artist friends. The world premiere of ''La bohème'' was in Turin on 1 February 1896 at the Teatro Regio, conducted by the 28-year-old Arturo Toscanini. Since then, ''La bohème'' has become part of the standard Italian opera repertory and is one of the most frequently performed operas worldwide. In 1946, fifty years after the opera's premiere, Toscanini conducted a commemorative performance of it on radio with the NBC Symphony Orchestra. A recording of the performance was later released by RCA Victor on vinyl record, tape and compact disc. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alain Altinoglu
Alain Altinoglu (born 9 October 1975) is a French conductor of Armenian descent. Biography Born in Paris, into an Armenian family who were originally from Istanbul, Altinoglu studied music at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris. After finishing his studies at the Conservatoire, he joined the school's faculty and became director of the conducting class there in 2014. Alain Altinoglu is one of the first conductors to conduct a production wholly, or partially composed of electronic music. In 2006 he conducted the symphonic orchestra that performed alongside the renowned Techno producer Jeff Mills' landmark recording. This performance is considered as an exceptional performance, wherein classical music and modern electronic music is combined in a rhythmic orchestral performance. Altinoglu first appeared as a guest conductor with La Monnaie in 2011, conducting a production of Massenet's '' Cendrillon''. In September 2015, La Monnaie announced the a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cyril Diederich
Cyril Diederich (born 2 October 1945) is a French Conducting, conductor. Career Born in Aix-en-Provence, after studying piano, horn and timpani, Diederich studied writing at the conservatories of Toulouse and Rennes, and studied conducting with Louis Fourestier and Jean-Sébastien Béreau. A prize-winner at the Conservatoire de Paris, he won two international conducting prizes, in Italy and Poland. In 1975, he began his professional career as an assistant conductor to Serge Baudo at the Opéra national de Lyon, then in 1978 as assistant conductor to Jean-Claude Casadesus at the Orchestre national de Lille. At the same time, thanks to the producer and artistic director Michel Glotz, he stayed in Berlin to attend the work of Herbert von Karajan, and later became the disciple of Georges Prêtre. In 1984, he was appointed music and artistic director of the Orchestre national de Montpellier Languedoc-Roussillon. In 1986, he received the prize for Musical Revelation of the Year, awa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Laurence Dale
Laurence Dale (born 1957) is an English tenor, artistic director and conductor. Biography Laurence Dale studied singing at London's Guildhall School of Music and Drama with Rudolf Piernay and the Mozarteum in Salzburg. Early leading roles included that of Hilarion in the Gilbert and Sullivan opera ''Princess Ida'' with the London Symphony Orchestra and the Ambrosian Opera Chorus in 1982, and Ramiro in Rossini's opera ''La Cenerentola'' with the Glyndebourne Festival Opera in 1983. In 1984 he appeared in the Channel 4 series Top C's and Tiaras. Amongst many Mozartian rôles, as well as baroque and romantic, his portrayal of Tamino, with which he opened Mozart year in Salzburg in 1991 was described by the press as legendary. He performed this rôle regularly in Vienna's Staatsoper and Berlin's Deutsche Oper, then in Paris Opera Bastille and throughout the world. In 1992, he created the Rodrigue in '' Rodrigue et Chimène'' to open the new opera in Lyon, recorded for Erato ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gérard Korsten
Gérard Korsten (born 1960) is an Austrian musician and conductor. Life Born in Pretoria, Korsten studied violin at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia with Ivan Galamian as well as in Salzburg with Sándor Végh. He was initially concertmaster of the Camerata Salzburg, and in 1987 took up the post of concertmaster with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe for nine years. Engagements followed as music director at the Teatro Lirico di Cagliari (Sardinia), music director of the London Mozart Players, chief conductor in Uppsala and at the Opera house in Pretoria, and as chief conductor of the Symphony Orchestra Vorarlberg in Bregenz. Korsten is a jury member of the . His father was South African tenor singer Gé Korsten Gérard Korsten (popularly known as Gé) (6 December 1927 - 29 September 1999) was a South African opera tenor and actor who had a great influence on Afrikaans culture. Born in Schiedam, as the youngest of eight children, Korsten and his family .... R ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mimi Coertse
Mimi Coertse, DMS (born 12 June 1932) is a South African soprano. On 26 January 2020, Mimi was also inaugurated as a living legend in the South African Legends Museum. She was one of only 20 legends from whom a bust was also made. Early life Coertse, born in Durban, matriculated at the Helpmekaar Girls High School in Johannesburg. She began vocal studies in South Africa in 1949.H. Rosenthal and J. Warrack, ''Concise Oxford Dictionary of Opera'' (OUP, London 1974 printing). Her first vocal coach in Johannesburg was Aimee Parkerson. Her debut performance in South Africa was singing Handel's ''Messiah'' at the Johannesburg City Hall on 11 December 1951. In July 1953 she married broadcaster and composer Dawid Engela. She left South Africa in September 1953 for London, and then went via The Hague to Vienna. In January 1954 she started training with Maria Hittorff and Josef Witt. Opera career Coertse made her debut in January 1955 as the "first flower girl" in Wagner's ''P ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Missa Solemnis (Beethoven)
The Missa solemnis in D major, Op. 123, is a Solemn Mass composed by Ludwig van Beethoven from 1819 to 1823. It was first performed on 7 April 1824 in Saint Petersburg, Russia, under the auspices of Beethoven's patron Prince Nikolai Galitzin; an incomplete performance was given in Vienna on 7 May 1824, when the Kyrie, Credo, and Agnus Dei were conducted by the composer. It is generally considered one of the composer's supreme achievements and, along with Bach's Mass in B minor, one of the most significant Mass settings of the common practice period. Written around the same time as his Ninth Symphony, it is Beethoven's second setting of the Mass, after his Mass in C major, Op. 86. The work was dedicated to Archduke Rudolf of Austria, archbishop of Olmütz, Beethoven's foremost patron as well as pupil and friend. The copy presented to Rudolf was inscribed "Von Herzen—Möge es wieder—Zu Herzen gehn!" ("From the heart – may it return to the heart!") Structure Like ma ... [...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", "concert of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Petite Messe Solennelle
Gioachino Rossini's ''Petite messe solennelle'' (Little solemn mass) was written in 1863, possibly at the request of Count Alexis Pillet-Will for his wife Louise to whom it is dedicated. The composer, who had retired from composing operas more than 30 years before, described it as "the last of my '' péchés de vieillesse''" (sins of old age). The extended work is a missa solemnis, but Rossini labeled it, not without irony, ''petite'' (little). He scored it originally for twelve singers, four of them soloists, two pianos and harmonium. The mass was first performed on 14 March 1864 at the couple's new home in Paris. Rossini later produced an orchestral version, including an additional movement, a setting of the hymn "" as a soprano aria. This version of the mass was not performed during his lifetime because he could not obtain permission to perform it with female singers in a church. It was first performed three months after his death, at the Salle Ventadour in Paris by the com ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stabat Mater (Rossini)
Stabat Mater is a work by Gioachino Rossini based on the traditional structure of the Stabat Mater sequence for chorus and soloists. It was composed late in his career after retiring from the composition of opera. He began the work in 1831 but did not complete it until 1841. Composition In 1831 Rossini was traveling in Spain in the company of his friend the Spanish banker, Alexandre Aguado, owner of Château Margaux. In the course of the trip, Fernández Varela, a state councillor, commissioned a setting of the traditional liturgical text, the Stabat Mater. Rossini managed to complete part of the setting of the sequence in 1832, but ill health made it impossible for him to complete the commission. Having written only half the score (nos. 1 and 5–9), he asked his friend Giovanni Tadolini to compose six additional movements. Rossini presented the completed work to Varela as his own. It was premiered on Holy Saturday of 1833 in the Chapel of San Felipe el Real in Madrid, but this ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
