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UCOpera
University College Opera, or UCOpera, is the student opera company of University College London. The operas are staged by professional singers, directors and designers, with the orchestra and chorus drawn from the student body. Founded in 1951, UCOpera is known for its productions of rarely performed operas, including 3 world premières, and 22 British premières. On 10 March 2008 UCOpera staged the UK premiere of Édouard Lalo's ''Fiesque'', at the Bloomsbury Theatre. 2009 saw another British première, Ernest Bloch's ''Macbeth''. UCOpera extended its list of British premières by staging Gounod's ''Polyeucte'' at Theatre Royal Stratford East in 2018, and Smetana's Czech national opera, ''Libuše'' in 2019. History The brainchild of the conductor Anthony Addison, (UCL's then Director of Music), University College Opera gave its first performance in 1951 with an all-student production of Purcell's ''Dido and Aeneas'', followed by Mozart's ''Bastien und Bastienne''. Even in its ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bloomsbury Theatre
The Bloomsbury Theatre is a theatre on Gordon Street, Bloomsbury, in the London Borough of Camden, owned by University College London. The Theatre has a seating capacity of 547 and offers a professional programme of innovative music, drama, comedy and dance all year round as well as providing a space for student-led productions. Funded by a UGC grant and a considerable private donation, the theatre was opened in 1968 as the Collegiate Theatre, and was renamed the Bloomsbury Theatre in 1982. Between 2001 and 2008, the theatre was known as The UCL Bloomsbury, to emphasise links with UCL, who use it for student productions 12 weeks a year. The Bloomsbury Theatre recently returned to the logo designed by cartoonist Gerald Scarfe which it had used for nearly twenty years until 2001. The main theatre was closed for building works in 2015 and reopened in February 2019. The theatre building also provides access to the UCL Union Fitness Centre and Clubs and Societies Centre on the 2nd, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bastien Und Bastienne
' (''Bastien and Bastienne''), K. 50 (revised in 1964 to K. 46b) is a one-act singspiel, a comic opera, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. ' was one of Mozart's earliest operas, written in 1768 when he was only twelve years old. It was allegedly commissioned by Viennese physician and 'magnetist' Dr. Franz Mesmer (who himself would later be parodied in ''Così fan tutte'') as a satire of the 'pastoral' genre then prevalent, and specifically as a parody of the opera ''Le devin du village'' by Jean-Jacques Rousseau. The German libretto is by Friedrich Wilhelm Weiskern, Johann Heinrich Friedrich Müller and Johann Andreas Schachtner, based on ' by Justine Favart and Harny de Guerville. After its supposed premiere in Mesmer's garden theater (that is only corroborated by an unverified account of Nissen), it was not revived again until 1890. It is not clear whether this piece was performed in Mozart's lifetime. The first known performance was on 2 October 1890 at Architektenhaus in Berlin. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most opera composers, Wagner wrote both the libretto and the music for each of his stage works. Initially establishing his reputation as a composer of works in the romantic vein of Carl Maria von Weber and Giacomo Meyerbeer, Wagner revolutionised opera through his concept of the ''Gesamtkunstwerk'' ("total work of art"), by which he sought to synthesise the poetic, visual, musical and dramatic arts, with music subsidiary to drama. He described this vision in a series of essays published between 1849 and 1852. Wagner realised these ideas most fully in the first half of the four-opera cycle ''Der Ring des Nibelungen'' (''The Ring of the Nibelung''). His compositions, particularly those of his later period, are notable for their complex textures, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Julian Gavin
Julian Gavin (born 1965) is an Australian-born British operatic tenor who has sung leading roles both in the United Kingdom and internationally. His full-length opera recordings include Don José in ''Carmen'' and the title roles in ''Ernani'' and ''Don Carlos'' for Chandos Records. Life and career Julian Gavin was born in Melbourne to a musical family. His mother Val was a concert pianist and composer and his father Paul Gavin had been a professional singer before becoming a teacher. He received his Bachelor's degree in music from the University of Melbourne and then studied conducting at the Victorian College of the Arts in Melbourne before training as an opera singer, at first with his father, and then at the National Opera Studio in London. He initially covered roles for Opera North before making his UK debut as Alvaro in ''La forza del destino'' for English National Opera. He went on to sing for the company as its resident Principal Tenor in roles that included Alfredo in ''L ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jonathan Summers
Jonathan Summers (born 2 October 1946) is an Australian operatic baritone who has mainly worked in the UK. He sang the role of Captain Balstrode in the 1980 recording of Benjamin Britten's ''Peter Grimes'' which won a Grammy award for Best Opera recording. Early life Summers was born in Melbourne and in that city studied art at Prahran Technical College (1964–9) and singing with Bettine McCaughan (1964–74). From 1970 to 1974, he worked as a technical operator and recording engineer with the Radio Division of the Australian Broadcasting Commission. In 1973 he won the ABC Instrumental and Vocal Competition. In 1974, he moved to London, where he studied with Otakar Kraus until 1980. Career Summers's professional debut in opera took place in 1975, when he sang the title role in ''Rigoletto'' with Kent Opera. He was a member of The Royal Opera, Covent Garden, from 1976 to 1986, singing such roles as Albert in ''Werther'', the Animal Tamer in the British premiere of t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Lloyd (bass)
Robert Andrew Lloyd (born 2 March 1940) is an English operatic bass. Early life and education Born in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, Lloyd was educated at Keble College, Oxford, and studied in London with the baritone Otakar Kraus. Career He made his debut with University College Opera in 1969 as Don Fernando in ''Leonore'', the early version of Fidelio. From 1969 to 1972 he was Principal Bass with the Sadler's Wells Opera Company (now English National Opera), and from 1972 to 1982 was a member of the Royal Opera, Covent Garden. He made 195 appearances with the Metropolitan Opera, New York City, during the period 1988-2008. He has sung leading roles at Glyndebourne and with other British opera companies, and has appeared in major opera houses throughout the world. He sings roles in British, German, Italian, French and Russian works (Claggart and Superintendent Budd in Benjamin Britten's ''Billy Budd'' and ''Albert Herring'', the Priest and Angel of Agony in Edward Elgar's ''The D ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Felicity Lott
Dame Felicity Ann Emwhyla Lott, (born 8 May 1947) is an English soprano. Education Lott was born in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. From her earliest years she was musical, having started studying piano at age 5. She also played violin and began singing lessons at 12. She is an alumna of Royal Holloway, University of London, obtaining a BA in French and Latin in 1969. During her year in France as part of her four-year degree course, from 1967–68 she took singing lessons at the conservatory in Grenoble. She graduated from the Royal Academy of Music, winning the Principal's Prize. Career She made her debut in 1975 as Pamina in Mozart's ''The Magic Flute'' at the English National Opera. In 1976 she appeared in the premiere of Henze's ''We Come to the River'' at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden and began a long relationship with the Glyndebourne Festival. In 1977, she recorded for Emi records Ltd, with the Choir of King's College, Cambridge and the Academy of St. Martin-in-the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Halka
''Halka'' is an opera by Polish composer Stanisław Moniuszko to a libretto written by Włodzimierz Wolski, a young Warsaw poet with radical social views. It is part of the canon of Polish national operas. Performance history The first performance of the two-act version was in a concert performance in Vilnius on 1 January 1848. The staged premiere took place in the same city on 28 February 1854. A four-act version was performed in Warsaw on 1 January 1858. The opera was subsequently produced in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Japan, Turkey, Russia and Cuba. More recently, in June 2004 the Opera has been staged in Kraków Zakrzówek Nature Park as an outdoor performance with horses, fireworks, special effects, and attendance exceeding 6,000 viewers. It was produced by Krzysztof Jasiński under the musical direction of Wojciech Michniewski, with the ballet and orchestra of the Opera Krakowska and with Ewa Biegas and Maria Mitrosz alternating in the title role. The Opera ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stanisław Moniuszko
Stanisław Moniuszko (; May 5, 1819 – June 4, 1872) was a Polish composer, conductor and teacher. He wrote many popular art songs and operas, and his music is filled with patriotic folk themes of the peoples of the former Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (mainly Poles, Lithuanians and Belarusians). He is generally referred to as "the father of Polish national opera". Since the 1990s Stanisław Moniuszko is being recognized in Belarus as an important figure of Belarusian culture. Life Moniuszko was born into a noble landowning family in Ubiel, Minsk Governorate (now Belarus). He initially took piano lessons with his mother and then continued his musical education in Warsaw, Minsk, and in Berlin under Carl Friedrich Rungenhagen. In 1858 he was appointed conductor at the Warsaw Opera and later became professor at the Warsaw Conservatory. He died in Warsaw, Congress Poland and was buried at Powązki Cemetery. Works For a complete list, see List of compositions by Sta ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Der Wildschütz
''Der Wildschütz oder Die Stimme der Natur'' (''The Poacher, or The Voice of Nature'') is a German ''Komische Oper'', or comic opera, in three acts by Albert Lortzing from a libretto by the composer adapted from the comedy ''Der Rehbock, oder Die schuldlosen Schuldbewussten'' by August von Kotzebue. It had its premiere at the Stadttheater in Leipzig on 31 December 1842. Roles Synopsis Act 1 At the village hotel, the schoolmaster Baculus is celebrating his engagement to Gretchen. A hunter from the Count von Eberbach then arrives at the festivities with a letter telling Baculus that he has been dismissed from his schoolmaster post, as Baculus had earlier gone hunting on the count's land without his permission. Baculus thinks to send Gretchen to change the count's mind, but then recalls the count's weakness for young women. The Baroness von Freimann, sister of the count and recently widowed, arrives disguised as a student to travel ''incognito''. Her brother wants her to remar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Albert Lortzing
Gustav Albert Lortzing (23 October 1801 – 21 January 1851) was a German composer, librettist, actor and singer. He is considered to be the main representative of the German ''Spieloper'', a form similar to the French '' opéra comique'', which grew out of the '' Singspiel''. Life and career Lortzing was born in Berlin to Johann Gottlieb and Charlotte Sophie Lortzing. They had abandoned their leather shop and travelled through Germany as itinerant actors, founding the Berlin theatre company ''Urania'', and turning their amateur passion into a profession. The young Lortzing's first stage appearance was at the age of 12, entertaining the audience with comic poems during the interval in the ''Kornhaus'' at the Freiburg Münster. From 1817, the Lortzing family were part of Josef Derossi ensemble in the Rhineland, treading the boards at Bonn, Düsseldorf, Barmen and Aachen. Albert Lortzing became an audience favourite, playing the roles of a youthful lover, a country boy and bon ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Don Procopio
''Don Procopio'' is a two-act opera buffa by Georges Bizet with an Italian libretto completed in 1859, and first performed in 1906. Background Bizet spent 1857 to 1860 in Italy as winner of the Prix de Rome. Looking for inspiration for a work to send home, he found the subject for his opera buffa in a second-hand bookstall in Rome, writing home that the piece by Carlo Cambiaggio (1798–1880) was "an Italian farce in the manner of ''Don Pasquale''". The words were a reduced version of ''I pretendenti delusi'' (1811) by Giuseppe Mosca (1772–1839). Composition was sporadic over the winter of 1858–59; Bizet confessed that he was still trying to find his voice, although he intentionally aimed at an Italian style for this piece. The report from the Prix de Rome judges noted advances, but a later report signed by Ambroise Thomas criticised Bizet for sending an ''opéra bouffe'' as his first envoi and suggested he divert his attention away from this toward sacred music (although ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
