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Virginia Opera
Virginia Opera is an opera company based in the Commonwealth of Virginia which was first organized in 1974 by a group of Norfolk, Virginia community volunteers. The company presented its first productions in 1975, and in the following four decades has become known and respected nationwide for the identification and presentation of the finest young artists, for the musical and dramatic integrity of its productions, and for the ingenuity and variety of its education and outreach programs. The company has an annual budget of $5 million with over 30 performances, reaching nearly 50,000 attendees each season. In March 1994, by unanimous vote of the Virginia General Assembly, Virginia Opera was named The Official Opera Company of the Commonwealth of Virginia in recognition of the organization's contribution to the Commonwealth, and to the world of opera. Virginia Opera currently presents four productions a year at four major Virginia venues: Norfolk's Harrison Opera House, Richmond's ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Opera
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 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rockwell Blake
Rockwell Blake (born January 10, 1951) is an American operatic tenor, particularly known for his roles in Rossini operas. He was the first winner of the Richard Tucker Award. Biography Born and raised in Plattsburgh, NY, Blake was the son of a mink farmer. After graduating from high school in Peru, he studied music first at the State University of New York at Fredonia and then at The Catholic University of America. On leaving Catholic University, he served for three years in the United States Navy as a member of the Sea Chanters male chorus and later as a soloist with the US Navy Band. During that time, he continued his voice training with Renata Carisio Booth, who had been his teacher since his school days. He made his solo opera debut in 1976 at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. as Lindoro in Rossini's ''L'italiana in Algeri'', and made his debut at the New York Metropolitan Opera House in 1981 in the same role, with Marilyn Horne as his Isabella. He went on to become one ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Barber Of Seville
''The Barber of Seville, or The Useless Precaution'' ( it, Il barbiere di Siviglia, ossia L'inutile precauzione ) is an ''opera buffa'' in two acts composed by Gioachino Rossini with an Italian libretto by Cesare Sterbini. The libretto was based on Pierre Beaumarchais's French comedy ''The Barber of Seville'' (1775). The première of Rossini's opera (under the title ''Almaviva, o sia L'inutile precauzione'') took place on 20 February 1816 at the Teatro Argentina, Rome, with designs by Angelo Toselli. Rossini's ''Barber of Seville'' has proven to be one of the greatest masterpieces of comedy within music, and has been described as the opera buffa of all "opere buffe". After two hundred years, it remains a popular work. Composition history Rossini's opera recounts the events of the first of the three plays by French playwright Pierre Beaumarchais that revolve around the clever and enterprising character named Figaro, the barber of the title. Mozart's opera ''The Marriage of Fi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lucia Di Lammermoor
''Lucia di Lammermoor'' () is a (tragic opera) in three acts by Italian composer Gaetano Donizetti. Salvadore Cammarano wrote the Italian-language libretto loosely based upon Sir Walter Scott's 1819 historical novel ''The Bride of Lammermoor''. Donizetti wrote ''Lucia di Lammermoor'' in 1835, when he was reaching the peak of his reputation as an opera composer. Gioachino Rossini had recently retired and Vincenzo Bellini had died shortly before the premiere of ''Lucia'' leaving Donizetti as "the sole reigning genius of Italian opera".Mackerras, p. 29 Not only were conditions ripe for Donizetti's success as a composer, but there was also a widespread interest in the history and culture of Scotland. The perceived romance of its violent wars and feuds, as well as its folklore and mythology, intrigued 19th century readers and audiences. Sir Walter Scott dramatized these elements in his novel ''The Bride of Lammermoor'', which inspired several musical works including ''Lucia''.Mackerra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tosca
''Tosca'' is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It premiered at the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, Teatro Costanzi in Rome on 14 January 1900. The work, based on Victorien Sardou's 1887 French-language dramatic play, ''La Tosca'', is a melodramatic piece set in Rome in June 1800, with the Kingdom of Naples's control of Rome threatened by Napoleon's Campaigns of 1800 in the French Revolutionary Wars#Italy, invasion of Italy. It contains depictions of torture, murder, and suicide, as well as some of Puccini's best-known lyrical arias. Puccini saw Sardou's play when it was touring Italy in 1889 and, after some vacillation, obtained the rights to turn the work into an opera in 1895. Turning the wordy French play into a succinct Italian opera took four years, during which the composer repeatedly argued with his librettists and publisher. ''Tosca'' premiered at a time of unrest in Rome, and its first performance was delayed ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
La Traviata
''La traviata'' (; ''The Fallen Woman'') is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi set to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. It is based on ''La Dame aux camélias'' (1852), a play by Alexandre Dumas ''fils'' adapted from his own 1848 novel. The opera was originally titled ''Violetta'', after the main character. It was first performed on 6 March 1853 at La Fenice opera house in Venice. Piave and Verdi wanted to follow Dumas in giving the opera a contemporary setting, but the authorities at La Fenice insisted that it be set in the past, "c. 1700". It was not until the 1880s that the composer's and librettist's original wishes were carried out and " realistic" productions were staged. ''La traviata'' has become immensely popular and is among the most frequently performed of all operas. Composition history For Verdi, the years 1851 to 1853 were filled with operatic activity. First, he had agreed with the librettist Salvadore Cammarano on a subject for what would ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
La Boheme
LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * La (musical note), or A, the sixth note * "L.A.", a song by Elliott Smith on ''Figure 8'' (album) * ''L.A.'' (EP), by Teddy Thompson * '' L.A. (Light Album)'', a Beach Boys album * "L.A." (Neil Young song), 1973 * The La's, an English rock band * L.A. Reid, a prominent music producer * Yung L.A., a rapper * Lady A, an American country music trio * "L.A." (Amy Macdonald song), 2007 * "La", a song by Australian-Israeli singer-songwriter Old Man River Other media * l(a, a poem by E. E. Cummings * La (Tarzan), fictional queen of the lost city of Opar (Tarzan) * ''Lá'', later known as Lá Nua, an Irish language newspaper * La7, an Italian television channel * LucasArts, an American video game developer and publisher * Liber Annuus, academic journal Business, organizations, and government agencies * L.A. Screenings, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lillian Groag
Lillian Groag (born Liliana C. Groag) is an Argentine-American playwright, theater director, and actress. Her plays include ''The Ladies of the Camellias'', ''The Magic Fire'', and ''The White Rose''. Early life and career Lillian Groag was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, to a Viennese father and an Italian mother. Her father had fled to Argentina in 1938 when Austria joined Nazi Germany. When Lillian was only 7 years old her family fled from Argentina to Montevideo, Uruguay, but this time they were fleeing from the Juan Domingo Perón dictatorship. Her father would die 7 years later in Uruguay. Lillian was schooled in Catholic boarding schools in both Argentina and Uruguay her entire life until she came to Lake Forest College in Chicago, United States, and the University of Dijon in France. She would later go on to earn masters and doctoral degrees in Romance Languages and Literature from Northwestern University. While attending both Lake Forest College and Northwestern she a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arvin Brown
Arvin Brown (born May 24, 1940) is an American theatre and television director. He was the Artistic Director of the Long Wharf Theatre in New Haven, Connecticut for 30 years. Life and career Born in Los Angeles, California, Brown made his Broadway directorial debut with a 1970 revival of Noël Coward's '' Hay Fever''. Under Brown, Long Wharf produced more than 200 plays, some 70 of which were staged by Brown himself. His specialty at Long Wharf and in New York was realistic American plays of the mid 20th century, often in revival. Notable Brown-directed productions include works by Arthur Miller (''The Crucible'', '' A View From the Bridge)'', Eugene O'Neill (''A Touch of the Poet''), and Rod Serling (''Requiem for a Heavyweight''). His directing credits also include '' The National Health'' (1974), ''Ah, Wilderness!'' (1975), ''Watch on the Rhine'' (1980),'' Privates On Parade (1982),'' ''American Buffalo'' (1983), ''Open Admissions'' (1984), ''Private Lives'' (1992), and '' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gordon Davidson (director)
Gordon Davidson (May 7, 1933 – October 2, 2016) was an American stage and film director and the founding artistic director of Center Theatre Group in Los Angeles. Early life Gordon Davidson was born on May 7, 1933, in Brooklyn, New York. He graduated from Cornell University in 1956, studying electrical engineering, and received a master's in theater from Case Western Reserve University in 1957. He described his Jewish faith and heritage: “My paternal grandfather, born in a small town near Kyiv, was Orthodox; my father was Conservative; and I’m Reform.” Career Moving to Los Angeles in 1963 to serve as Director of the Theatre Group based at UCLA, Gordon Davidson was selected in 1967 to be Artistic Director of the then new Mark Taper Forum and staged as the inaugural show '' The Devils'' followed by ''In the Matter of J. Robert Oppenheimer''. Davidson directed over 40 plays including ''The Trial of the Catonsville Nine'' and ''Murderous Angels'' in 1971, '' Children of a L ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gian Carlo Menotti
Gian Carlo Menotti (, ; July 7, 1911 – February 1, 2007) was an Italian composer, librettist, director, and playwright who is primarily known for his output of 25 operas. Although he often referred to himself as an American composer, he kept his Italian citizenship. One of the most frequently performed opera composers of the 20th century, his most successful works were written in the 1940s and 1950s. Highly influenced by Giacomo Puccini and Modest Mussorgsky, Menotti further developed the verismo tradition of opera in the post-World War II era. Rejecting atonality and the aesthetic of the Second Viennese School, Menotti's music is characterized by expressive lyricism which carefully sets language to natural rhythms in ways that highlight textual meaning and underscore dramatic intent. Like Wagner, Menotti wrote the libretti of all his operas. He wrote the classic Christmas opera '' Amahl and the Night Visitors'' (1951), along with over two dozen other operas intended to appe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thomas Rolf Truhitte
Thomas Rolf Truhitte is an American heldentenor who has become noted in recent years for his roles in Wagnerian operas. The son of actor Daniel Truhitte, his middle name is a tribute to his father's most famous role as "Rolf" in the movie adaptation of ''The Sound of Music''. Thomas was in the resident company of Opera San Jose from 1997 to 2001 and appeared there in 11 productions, in many leading roles. Performances Festival dei Due Mondi, Spoleto, Italy * ''Lohengrin'' ( Richard Wagner) - "Lohengrin" Minnesota Opera * '' Der Fliegende Hollaender'' ( Richard Wagner) - "Erik" San Jose Opera * '' Carmen'' ( Georges Bizet) - "Don Julio" Manaus Music Festival, Brazil * ''Die Walküre'' Richard Wagner - "Siegmund" Opera San Jose * ''Rigoletto'' ( Giuseppe Verdi) - "Duke" * ''La bohème'' (Giacomo Puccini - "Moman" * ''Eugene Onegin'' (Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky) - "Lenski" * '' La traviata'' ( Giuseppe Verdi) - "Alfredo" * '' Carmen'' ( Georges Bizet) - "Don Jose" * '' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
_-_Archivio_Storico_Ricordi_ICON012449.jpg "Click for more on -> Lucia Di Lammermoor")
