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Sona Ghazarian
Sona Ghazarian (born September 2, 1945) is an Armenian-Austrian operatic soprano. A Kammersängerin of the Republic of Austria, she has sung over 70 roles in the major opera houses of both Europe and the United States. Biography Sona Ghazarian was born in Beirut in 1945, where she studied psychology at the American University of Beirut and singing at the National Conservatory. After further study at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena and the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome, she joined the Vienna State Opera in 1972 and sang there for many years where her roles have included Oscar in ''Un ballo in maschera'' and Violetta in ''La Traviata''. She made her Salzburg Festival debut in 1973 as Barbarina in ''Le nozze di Figaro'' and subsequently sang there in 1975 as Blonde in ''Die Entführung aus dem Serail'' and in 1983 as Marzelline in ''Fidelio''. Her Metropolitan Opera debut came in 1987 as Adina in ''L'elisir d'amore''. She returned there in 1989 as Musetta in ''La bohèm ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Armenian People
Armenians ( hy, հայեր, ''hayer'' ) are an ethnic group native to the Armenian highlands of Western Asia. Armenians constitute the main population of Armenia and the ''de facto'' independent Artsakh. There is a wide-ranging diaspora of around five million people of full or partial Armenian ancestry living outside modern Armenia. The largest Armenian populations today exist in Russia, the United States, France, Georgia, Iran, Germany, Ukraine, Lebanon, Brazil, and Syria. With the exceptions of Iran and the former Soviet states, the present-day Armenian diaspora was formed mainly as a result of the Armenian genocide. Richard G. Hovannisian, ''The Armenian people from ancient to modern times: the fifteenth century to the twentieth century'', Volume 2, p. 421, Palgrave Macmillan, 1997. Armenian is an Indo-European language. It has two mutually intelligible spoken and written forms: Eastern Armenian, today spoken mainly in Armenia, Artsakh, Iran, and the former Soviet ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Die Entführung Aus Dem Serail
' () ( K. 384; ''The Abduction from the Seraglio''; also known as ') is a singspiel in three acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The German libretto is by Gottlieb Stephanie, based on Christoph Friedrich Bretzner's ''Belmont und Constanze, oder Die Entführung aus dem Serail''. The plot concerns the attempt of the hero Belmonte, assisted by his servant Pedrillo, to rescue his beloved Constanze from the seraglio of Pasha Selim. The work premiered on 16 July 1782 at the Vienna Burgtheater, with the composer conducting. Origins The company that first sponsored the opera was the ''Nationalsingspiel'' ("national Singspiel"), a pet project (1778–1783) of the Austrian emperor Joseph II. The Emperor had set up the company to perform works in the German language (as opposed to the Italian opera style widely popular in Vienna). This project was ultimately given up as a failure, but along the way it produced a number of successes, mostly a series of translated works. Mozart's opera emerged ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tugomir Franc
Tugomir Franc (8 February 1932 – 5 January 1983), was a Yugoslavian opera singer (Bass (voice type), bass). Life Born in Zagreb, Kingdom of Yugoslavia, Franc was trained at the Academy of Music, University of Zagreb, Zagreb Conservatory by Zlatko Sir and Lav Vrbanik and then in Vienna by Elisabeth Radó. From the end of the 1950s he sang frequently at the Vienna State Opera and at the Bayreuth Festival, among others under the direction of Herbert von Karajan (as Titurel in ''Parsifal'' in 1961, and in ''Tannhäuser (opera), Tannhäuser'' in 1963). From 1964 to 1965 he also sang at the Salzburg Festival. As a guest he was active in Bordeaux, Nancy, Toulouse, Rome, Turin, Frankfurt am Main, Stockholm, Geneva, Belgrade and Zagreb as well as at the Vienna Volksoper. on Operaclass.com ... [...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] |
I Capuleti E I Montecchi
''I Capuleti e i Montecchi'' (''The Capulets and the Montagues'') is an Italian opera (''Tragedia lirica'') in two acts by Vincenzo Bellini. The libretto by Felice Romani was a reworking of the story of ''Romeo and Juliet'' for an opera by Nicola Vaccai called '' Giulietta e Romeo'' and based on the play of the same name by Luigi Scevola written in 1818, thus an Italian source rather than taken directly from William Shakespeare. Bellini was persuaded to write the opera for the 1830 Carnival season at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice, with only a month and a half available for composition. He succeeded by appropriating a large amount of music previously written for his unsuccessful opera '' Zaira''. The first performance of ''I Capuleti e i Montecchi'' took place on 11 March 1830. Composition history After ''Zaira'' Following the poor reception which ''Zaira'' received in Parma, Bellini returned to Milan by the end of June 1829 with no contract for another opera in sight. Gi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Decca Records
Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis (Decca), Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934 by Lewis, Jack Kapp, American Decca's first president, and Milton Rackmil, who later became American Decca's president. In 1937, anticipating Nazi Germany, Nazi aggression leading to World War II, Lewis sold American Decca and the link between the U.K. and U.S. Decca labels was broken for several decades. The British label was renowned for its development of recording methods, while the American company developed the concept of cast albums in the musical genre. Both wings are now part of the Universal Music Group. The U.S. Decca label was the foundation company that evolved into UMG (Universal Music Group). Label name The name dates back to a portable phonograph, gramophone called the "Decca Dulcephone" patented in 1914 by musical instrument makers Barnett Samuel and Sons. The name "Decca" was coined by Wilfred S. Samuel by merging the w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sir Georg Solti
Sir Georg Solti ( , ; born György Stern; 21 October 1912 – 5 September 1997) was a Hungarian-British orchestral and operatic conductor, known for his appearances with opera companies in Munich, Frankfurt and London, and as a long-serving music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Born in Budapest, he studied there with Béla Bartók, Leó Weiner and Ernő Dohnányi. In the 1930s, he was a répétiteur at the Hungarian State Opera and worked at the Salzburg Festival for Arturo Toscanini. His career was interrupted by the rise of the Nazis' influence on Hungarian politics and, being of Jewish background, he fled the increasingly harsh Hungarian anti-Jewish laws in 1938. After conducting a season of Russian ballet in London at the Royal Opera House he found refuge in Switzerland, where he remained during the Second World War. Prohibited from conducting there, he earned a living as a pianist. After the war, Solti was appointed musical director of the Bavarian State O ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) was founded by Theodore Thomas in 1891. The ensemble makes its home at Orchestra Hall in Chicago and plays a summer season at the Ravinia Festival. The music director is Riccardo Muti, who began his tenure in 2010. The CSO is one of five American orchestras commonly referred to as the " Big Five". History In 1890, Charles Norman Fay, a Chicago businessman, invited Theodore Thomas to establish an orchestra in Chicago. Under the name "Chicago Orchestra," the orchestra played its first concert October 16, 1891 at the Auditorium Theater. It is one of the oldest orchestras in the United States, along with the New York Philharmonic, the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra. Orchestra Hall, now a component of the Symphony Center complex, was designed by Chicago architect Daniel H. Burnham and completed in 1904. Maestro Thomas served as music director for thirteen years until his death shortly after the orchestra' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gwynne Howell
Gwynne Howell (born 13 June 1938) is a Welsh operatic bass, known particularly for his performances of Verdi and Wagner roles. Life and career Born in Gorseinon, Wales, he studied at the RMCM, where he sang Leporello in concert, and Hunding, Fasolt, and Pogner in staged performances. He joined the Sadler's Wells Theatre in 1968, and the Royal Opera House in 1970. He was also a regular guest at the English National Opera and the Welsh National Opera. His roles have included most of the major bass roles of the Verdi and Wagner repertories, such as: Miller, Sparafucile, Ferrando, Padre Guardiano, Phillip II, Landgrave, Hans Sachs, Gurnemanz, etc. He continued into his seventies to sing small roles on stage: Simone in ''Gianni Schicchi'' at the Royal Opera House in 2009 and 2016, Titurel from ''Parsifal'' at the Royal Opera House in 2007 under Bernard Haitink, and Schigolch in ''Lulu'' at the Metropolitan Opera in 2010. Howell took part in the premieres of two of Peter M ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peter Hofmann
Peter Hofmann (22 August 1944 – 30 November 2010) was a German tenor who had a successful performance career within the fields of opera, rock, pop, and musical theatre. He first rose to prominence as a heldentenor at the Bayreuth festival's ''Jahrhundertring'' (''Centenary Ring'') in 1976, where he drew critical acclaim for his performance of Siegmund in Richard Wagner's ''Die Walküre''. He was active as one of the world's leading Wagnerian tenors over the next decade, performing roles like Lohengrin, Parsifal, Siegfried, and Tristan at major opera houses and festivals internationally. Hofmann's busy and demanding schedule in combination with an "imperfect vocal technique", led to intermittent vocal problems which became more prominent in the singer's opera performances in the late 1980s. These difficulties led him to completely abandon his opera career in 1989 in favor of pursuing a full-time career in popular music. Hofmann had already spent portions of his opera career pe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hildegard Behrens
Hildegard Behrens (9 February 1937 – 18 August 2009) was a German operatic soprano with a wide repertoire including Wagner, Weber, Mozart, Richard Strauss, and Alban Berg roles. She performed at major opera houses around the world, and received several Grammy Awards for performances with the Metropolitan Opera. Life and career Behrens was born in Varel in 1937. She graduated from the University of Freiburg as a junior barrister before becoming serious about her talents as a singer, studying at first with Ines Leuwen at the Freiburg Academy Of Music. She made her stage debut was as the Countess in Mozart's ''Le nozze di Figaro'' in Freiburg in 1971.Anthony TommasiniHildegard Behrens, Soprano Acclaimed for Wagner, Is Dead at 72 ''New York Times'' (obituary), 2009/08/19. In 1973, she joined the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf. In the 1975–76 season, while rehearsing for Alban Berg's ''Wozzeck'', she was "discovered" by Herbert von Karajan, who was then looking for a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Theo Adam
Theo Adam (1 August 1926 – 10 January 2019) was a German operatic bass-baritone and bass singer who had an international career in opera, concert and recital from 1949. He was a member of the Staatsoper Dresden for his entire career, and sang at the Bayreuth Festival from 1952 to 1980. He particularly excelled in portraying roles by Richard Wagner, especially Wotan in ''Der Ring des Nibelungen'', which he also performed at the Metropolitan Opera, among others. In concert, he was a much admired Bach singer and also drew acclaim for his interpretation of the title character of Mendelssohn's ''Elijah''. He was a voice teacher at the Musikhochschule Dresden. Career Born in Dresden, Adam sang with the Dresdner Kreuzchor as a boy from 1936 to 1942. He served in the German Army in World War II. He studied singing privately with Rudolf Dietrich between 1946 and 1949. He made his professional debut at the Staatsoper Dresden as Czernikowski in Mussorgsky's '' Boris Godunov'' in 194 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
