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Transformations (opera)
''Transformations'' is a chamber opera in two acts by the American composer Conrad Susa with a libretto of ten poems by Anne Sexton from her 1971 book ''Transformations'', a collection of confessional poetry based on stories by the Brothers Grimm. Commissioned by Minnesota Opera, the work, which is described by its composer as "An Entertainment in 2 Acts", had its world premiere on 5 May 1973 at the Cedar Village Theater in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Anne Sexton, who had worked closely with Susa on the libretto, was in the audience. It went on to become one of the most frequently performed operas by an American composer with its chamber opera format of eight singers and an instrumental ensemble of eight musicians making it particularly popular with smaller opera companies and conservatories. The 2006 revival production of ''Transformations'' at the Wexford Opera Festival won the ''Irish Times'' Theatre Award for Best Opera Production. Background and performance history ''Transforma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chamber Opera
Chamber opera is a designation for operas written to be performed with a chamber ensemble rather than a full orchestra. Early 20th-century operas of this type include Paul Hindemith's ''Cardillac'' (1926). Earlier small-scale operas such as Pergolesi's ''La serva padrona'' (1733) are sometimes known as chamber operas. Other 20th-century examples include Gustav Holst's '' Savitri'' (1916). Benjamin Britten wrote works in this category in the 1940s when the English Opera Group needed works that could easily be taken on tour and performed in a variety of small performance spaces. ''The Rape of Lucretia'' (1946) was his first example in the genre, and Britten followed it with ''Albert Herring'' (1947), ''The Turn of the Screw'' (1954) and ''Curlew River'' (1964). Other composers, including Hans Werner Henze, Harrison Birtwistle, Thomas Adès, George Benjamin, William Walton, and Philip Glass have written in this genre. Instrumentation for chamber operas vary: Britten scored ''The Rape ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spoleto Festival USA
Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston, South Carolina, is one of America's major performing arts festivals. It was founded in 1977 by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Gian Carlo Menotti, who sought to establish a counterpart to the Festival dei Due Mondi (''The Festival of Two Worlds'') in Spoleto, Italy. When Italian organizers planned an American festival, they searched for a city that would offer the charm of Spoleto, Italy, and also its wealth of theaters, churches, and other performance spaces. Charleston was selected as an ideal location, with Menotti saying of Charleston: :It's intimate, so you can walk from one theatre to the next. It has Old World charm in architecture and gardens. Yet it's a community big enough to support the large number of visitors to the festival. The annual 17-day late-spring event showcases both established and emerging artists in more than 150 performances of opera, dance, theater, classical music, and jazz. History of the Charleston festival Begi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Suburbia
A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area, which may include commercial and mixed-use, that is primarily a residential area. A suburb can exist either as part of a larger city/urban area or as a separate political entity. The name describes an area which is not as densely populated as an inner city, yet more densely populated than a rural area in the countryside. In many metropolitan areas, suburbs exist as separate residential communities within commuting distance of a city (cf "bedroom suburb".) Suburbs can have their own political or legal jurisdiction, especially in the United States, but this is not always the case, especially in the United Kingdom, where most suburbs are located within the administrative boundaries of cities. In most English-speaking countries, suburban areas are defined in contrast to central or inner city areas, but in Australian English and South African English, ''suburb'' has become largely synonymous with what i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lausanne Opera
The Lausanne Opera is an opera house based in Lausanne, Switzerland. Once known as a municipal theater, it has transformed into a world renowned opera house that produces and co-produces their own productions. With a stage renovation in 2012, the Lausanne Opera offers a wide variety of operas, from baroque to contemporary, along with concerts and ballets. Thanks to its bold programming and emphasis on quality vocals and stage production, the Lausanne Opera welcomes over 45'000 spectators a year and continues to make itself known internationally. History The opening ceremony took place on 10 May 1871. See also * List of opera houses * List of opera companies in Europe This inclusive list of opera companies in Europe contains European opera companies with entries in Wikipedia plus other companies based there. Within the sections for each country, the arrangement is alphabetical by location. For a list of the mos ... References External links Official website T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
English Opera Group
The English Opera Group was a small company of British musicians formed in 1947 by the composer Benjamin Britten (along with John Piper, Eric Crozier and Anne Wood) for the purpose of presenting his and other, primarily British, composers' operatic works. The group later expanded to present larger-scale works, and was renamed the English Music Theatre Company. The organisation produced its last opera and ceased to run in 1980. English Opera Group Fleeing internal politics at Sadler's Wells Opera at the end of 1945, Britten and singers Joan Cross, Anne Wood, and Peter Pears joined with designer Piper and producer Crozier to found the English Opera Group. The new company's goal was to première Britten's operas, and to present other, mostly British, small-scale operas. Rosenthal, Harold. ''English Opera Group'' in Sadie, vol. 2, p. 52 The company's first project was to première Britten's chamber opera ''Albert Herring'' and give further performances of his opera ''The Rape of L ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Juilliard School
The Juilliard School ( ) is a private performing arts conservatory in New York City. Established in 1905, the school trains about 850 undergraduate and graduate students in dance, drama, and music. It is widely regarded as one of the most elite drama, music, and dance schools in the world. History Early years: 1905-1946 In 1905, the Institute of Musical Art, Juilliard's predecessor institution, was founded by Frank Damrosch, the godson of Franz Liszt and head of music education for New York City's public schools, on the premise that the United States did not have a premier music school and too many students were going to Europe to study music. In 1919, a wealthy textile merchant named Augustus Juilliard died and left the school in his will the largest single bequest for the advancement of music at that time. In 1968, the school's name was changed from the Juilliard School of Music to The Juilliard School to reflect its broadened mission to educate musicians, directors, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
University Of Maryland School Of Music
The University of Maryland School of Music (officially abbreviated ''UM School of Music'') is a music school in College Park, Maryland, outside of Washington, D.C. The School of Music is the largest performing arts unit at the University of Maryland, College Park. Academics The UM School of Music is a comprehensive music school, with undergraduate and graduate programs areas of study. The school offers the following degrees: Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA), Master of Music (MM), Master of Arts (MA), Bachelor of Music (BM), Bachelor of Music Education (BME), and Bachelor of Arts (BA). Specializations within these degrees include composition, conducting, music education, music history & literature, music theory, and performance (piano, string, voice & opera, wind & percussion, jazz). Academically, the UM School of Music is a constituent of the university's College of Arts & Humanities. Logistically, the School is a resident of the university's Clarice Smi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peabody Institute
The Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University is a private conservatory and preparatory school in Baltimore, Maryland. It was founded in 1857 and opened in 1866 by merchant/financier and philanthropist George Peabody (1795–1869), and is the oldest conservatory in the United States. Its association with JHU in recent decades, begun in 1977, allows students to do research across disciplines. History George Peabody (1792–1869) founded the institute with a bequest of about $800,000 from his fortune made initially in Massachusetts and later augmented in Baltimore (where he lived and worked from 1815 to 1835) and vastly increased in banking and finance during following residences in New York City and London, where he became the wealthiest American of his time. Completion of the white marble Grecian-Italianate west wing/original building housing the institute, designed by Edmund George Lind, was delayed by the Civil War. It was dedicated in 1866, with Peabody himself ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Opera Theatre Of St
Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librettist and incorporates a number of the performing arts, such as acting, scenery, costume, and sometimes dance or ballet. The performance is typically given in an opera house, accompanied by an orchestra or smaller musical ensemble, which since the early 19th century has been led by a conductor. Although musical theatre is closely related to opera, the two are considered to be distinct from one another. Opera is a key part of the Western classical music tradition. Originally understood as an entirely sung piece, in contrast to a play with songs, opera has come to include numerous genres, including some that include spoken dialogue such as ''Singspiel'' and ''Opéra comique''. In traditional number opera, singers employ two styles of singing: ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Center For Contemporary Opera
The Center for Contemporary Opera (CCO) is a professional opera company based in New York City, and a member of OPERA America. The company focuses on producing and developing new opera and music theater works and reviving rarely seen American operas written after the second World War. The Center for Contemporary Opera has staged the premieres of many works written during the latter half of the twentieth century. Works are performed at all stages of development from readings to workshops to full productions on the professional stage. In line with its mission to promote an interest in new operatic and music-theater culture among the American public, the company presents panel discussions and colloquia, and publishes a bi-annual newsletter ''Opera Today''. Since 2004, the company has been a regular participant in the New York City Opera's annual festival, "Vox: Showcasing American Composers".Tommasini, AnthonyIf Operas Can Make It Here... ''New York Times'', June 6, 2004. Accessed 26 Mar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the List of United States cities by population density, most densely populated major city in the United States, and is more than twice as populous as second-place Los Angeles. New York City lies at the southern tip of New York (state), New York State, and constitutes the geographical and demographic center of both the Northeast megalopolis and the New York metropolitan area, the largest metropolitan area in the world by urban area, urban landmass. With over 20.1 million people in its metropolitan statistical area and 23.5 million in its combined statistical area as of 2020, New York is one of the world's most populous Megacity, megacities, and over 58 million people live within of the city. New York City is a global city, global Culture of New ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Renée Fleming
Renée Lynn Fleming (born February 14, 1959) is an American soprano, known for performances in opera, concerts, recordings, theater, film, and at major public occasions. A recipient of the National Medal of Arts, Fleming has been nominated for 18 Grammy Awards and has won four times. Other notable awards have included the Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur from the French government, Germany's Cross of the Order of Merit, Sweden's Polar Music Prize and honorary membership in England's Royal Academy of Music. Unusual among artists whose careers began in opera, Fleming has achieved name recognition beyond the classical music world. Fleming has a full lyric soprano voice.Tommasini, Anthony"For a Wary Soprano, Slow and Steady Wins the Race" ''The New York Times'', September 14, 1997 She has performed coloratura, lyric, and lighter spinto soprano operatic roles in Italian, German, French, Czech, and Russian, aside from her native English. A significant portion of her career has been ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
