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Wexford Opera Festival
Wexford Festival Opera () is an opera festival that takes place in the town of Wexford in south-eastern Ireland during the months of October and November. The festival began in 1951 under Tom Walsh and a group of opera lovers who quickly generated considerable interest by programming unusual and rare works, a typical festival staging three operas. This concept has been maintained over the company's history under the direction of seven different artistic directors. From the beginning, the company embraced new and upcoming young singers, many of whom were Irish, but it also included new international names who made first appearances there. By the 1960s Czech and Russian operas entered the repertory, while the 1970s saw an interest in the operas of Jules Massenet under director Thomson Smillie, followed by an emphasis on Italian operas from the end of that decade. However, into the mix there appeared more modern operas by Benjamin Britten and Carlisle Floyd while Elaine Padmore' ...
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Wexford Theatre Royal 2002
Wexford () is the county town of County Wexford, Ireland. Wexford lies on the south side of Wexford Harbour, the estuary of the River Slaney near the southeastern corner of the island of Ireland. The town is linked to Dublin by the M11/N11 National Primary Route; and to Rosslare Europort, Cork and Waterford by the N25. The national rail network connects it to Dublin and Rosslare Europort. It had a population of 20,188 according to the 2016 census. History The town was founded by the Vikings in about 800 AD. They named it ''Veisafjǫrðr'', meaning "inlet of the mudflats", and the name has changed only slightly into its present form. According to a story recorded in the ''Dindsenchas'', the name "Loch Garman" comes from a man named '' Garman mac Bomma Licce'' who was chased to the river mouth and drowned as a consequence of stealing the queen's crown from Temair during the feast of Samhain. For about three hundred years it was a Viking town, a city-state, largely independen ...
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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 viva ...
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Heather Harper
Heather Mary Harper (8 May 1930 – 22 April 2019) was a Northern Irish operatic soprano. She was active internationally in both opera and concert. She performed roles such as Helena in Benjamin Britten's ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' at the Royal Opera House, Elsa in Wagner's ''Lohengrin'' at the Bayreuth Festival, and the Countess in Mozart's ''The Marriage of Figaro'' at the Metropolitan Opera. She became known internationally when she stepped in for the world premiere of Britten's ''War Requiem'' in 1962, and remained associated with the composer's work, but also sang other premieres. Early life and education Heather Harper was born on 8 May 1930 in Belfast, the daughter of Mary (née Robb) and Hugh Harper, a lawyer. She and her three siblings received early musical training. She studied piano at the Trinity College of Music in London on a scholarship, with viola and cello as additional subjects. When the opportunity to study voice came up, she won another scholarship. Sh ...
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Paolo Pedani
Paolo is both a given name and a surname, the Italian form of the name Paul. Notable people with the name include: People with the given name Paolo Art * Paolo Alboni (1671–1734), Italian painter *Paolo Abbate (1884–1973), Italian-American sculptor *Paolo Antonio Barbieri (1603–1649), Italian painter * Paolo Buggiani (born 1933), Italian contemporary artist * Paolo Carosone (born 1941), Italian painter and sculptor *Paolo Moranda Cavazzola (1486–1522), Italian painter *Paolo Farinati (c. 1524–c. 1606), Italian painter * Paolo Fiammingo (c. 1540–1596), Flemish painter *Paolo Domenico Finoglia (c. 1590–1645), Italian painter *Paolo Grilli (1857–1952), Italian sculptor and painter *Paolo de Matteis (1662–1728), Italian painter * Paolo Monaldi, Italian painter *Paolo Pagani (1655–1716), Italian painter *Paolo Persico (c. 1729–1796), Italian sculptor *Paolo Pino (1534–1565), Italian painter *Paolo Gerolamo Piola (1666–1724), Italian painter *Paolo Porpora (16 ...
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Franco Calabrese
Franco Calabrese (22 July 1923 in Palermo – 13 November 1992 in Lucca) was an Italian bass singer. Biography Calabrese grew up in Lucca, graduating from the Boccherini Institute In 1947. He made his stage debut at the Teatro Comunale in Florence. In 1952, he debuted at La Scala as Angelloti in the famous de Sabata Tosca. He was particularly renowned for his Mozart and Rossini roles, and notably those of Don Alfonso in ''Cosi fan tutte'' and the Count Almaviva in The Marriage of Figaro. Calabrese appeared in this latter role in the noted 1955 recording, with Sesto Bruscanini, Graziella Sciuti and The Glyndebourne festival orchestra, under the baton of Vittorio Gui. After retiring from singing, he taught stagecraft at the same Boccherini Institute in Lucca, where his students included, among others, Graziano Polidori, Giancarlo Ceccarini, Francesco Facini and Enrico Facini. Discography (Incomplete) * Tosca, with Maria Callas and Giuseppe di Stefano. Victor de Sabata ...
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Afro Poli
Afro Poli (22 December 1902 in Pisa – 22 February 1988 in Rome) was an Italian operatic baritone, particularly associated with the Italian repertory. Kutsch, Karl J. and Riemens, Leo (2004)"Poli, Afro" ''Großes Sängerlexikon'' 4th Edition, Vol. 1, p. 3715. Walter de Gruyter. Life and career Poli began his vocal studies when he joined the "Società Corale Pisana" in 1925, where he was a pupil of Bruno Pizzi. He made his stage debut in 1927 at the Teatro Verdi in Pisa, as Germont. He then went to Milan to further his studies with Gino Neri, and later joined the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma in 1930. He was a leading baritone at La Scala in Milan from 1937 to 1955, where he sang in a wide repertoire from Mozart to verismo, including; ''Le nozze di Figaro'', ''Così fan tutte'', ''Il barbiere di Siviglia'', ''Lucia di Lammermoor'', ''Rigoletto'', ''Simon Boccanegra'', ''L'amico Fritz'', ''Manon Lescaut'', ''La bohème'', ''Tosca'', ''Adriana Lecouvreur'', as well as Italian versi ...
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Michael MacLiammoir
Michael may refer to: People * Michael (given name), a given name * Michael (surname), including a list of people with the surname Michael Given name "Michael" * Michael (archangel), ''first'' of God's archangels in the Jewish, Christian and Islamic religions * Michael (bishop elect), English 13th-century Bishop of Hereford elect * Michael (Khoroshy) (1885–1977), cleric of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada * Michael Donnellan (1915–1985), Irish-born London fashion designer, often referred to simply as "Michael" * Michael (footballer, born 1982), Brazilian footballer * Michael (footballer, born 1983), Brazilian footballer * Michael (footballer, born 1993), Brazilian footballer * Michael (footballer, born February 1996), Brazilian footballer * Michael (footballer, born March 1996), Brazilian footballer * Michael (footballer, born 1999), Brazilian footballer Rulers =Byzantine emperors= *Michael I Rangabe (d. 844), married the daughter of Emperor Nikephoros I *Mic ...
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John Pritchard (conductor)
Sir John Michael Pritchard, (born Stanley Frederick Pritchard, 5 February 1918 – 5 December 1989) was an English conductor. He was known for his interpretations of Mozart operas and for his support of contemporary music. Life and career Pritchard was born in Walthamstow, Essex, to a musical family. His father, Albert Edward Pritchard, was a violinist with the London Symphony Orchestra. The young Pritchard was educated at the Monoux School and studied violin, piano, and conducting in Italy.Ponsonby, Robert"Pritchard, Sir John Michael (1918–1989)" ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004, accessed 4 November 2007 Pritchard, as a conscientious objector, refused to serve in the Second World War, but was in any case unfit on medical grounds. In 1943 he took over the semi-professional Derby String Orchestra and was its principal conductor until 1951. He joined the music staff of Glyndebourne Festival Opera in 1947 and was appointed chorus mas ...
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Charles Mackerras
Mackerras in 2005 Sir Alan Charles MacLaurin Mackerras (; 1925 2010) was an Australian conductor. He was an authority on the operas of Janáček and Mozart, and the comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan. He was long associated with the English National Opera (and its predecessor) and Welsh National Opera and was the first Australian chief conductor of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. He also specialized in Czech music as a whole, producing many recordings for the Czech label Supraphon. Early life and education Mackerras was born in Schenectady, New York, to Australian parents, Alan Mackerras and Catherine MacLaurin. His father was an electrical engineer and a Quaker. Mackerras grew up in a very musical family and his mother was immensely cultured. In 1928, when Charles was aged two, the family returned to Sydney, Australia. They initially lived in the suburb of Rose Bay, and in 1933 they moved to the then semi-rural suburb of Turramurra. Mackerras was the eldest of seven ...
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Bryan Balkwill
Bryan Havell Balkwill (2 July 1922 – 24 February 2007) was an English orchestral conductor. Balkwill was born in London. He started to learn to play the piano at the age of four and was educated at Merchant Taylors' School. From there he won a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music. After service in the Second World War in Italy he was appointed as répétiteur for the New London Opera Company in 1947 where he became its assistant conductor.Obituary
''Daily Telegraph'', 9 March 2007, accessed 12 March 2007
With them he made his debut at the conducting



Nicola Monti
Nicola Monti (21 November 1920 – 1 March 1993) was an Italian opera singer, one of the leading tenori di grazia of the 1950s. Born in Milan, Italy, Monti studied voice from an early age, and made his debut in concert in Florence in 1941, and that same year sang his first major role, the Duke of Mantua, in Cagliari. His career was interrupted by the war, but he resumed his studies in 1950 by entering the "Scuola di Canta" of the Teatro alla Scala. In 1951, he made his official operatic debut at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples as Elvino in ''La sonnambula'', a role he will remain closely associated with throughout his career. He sang widely in Italy, appearing in ''Le comte Ory'' at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in Florence in 1952. In 1954, he appeared in an Italian television production of ''Il barbiere di Siviglia'', opposite Rolando Panerai and Antonietta Pastori. His career quickly took an international turn. He appeared as Elvino at the Wexford Festival in 1952, return ...
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Marilyn Cotlow
Marilyn Cotlow (born January 10, 1924) is an American lyric coloratura soprano best remembered for creating the role of Lucy in Gian Carlo Menotti's '' The Telephone'' in both the original Broadway and West End productions. She sang professionally during the 1940s and 1950s in the United States and Europe, performing with such companies as the Metropolitan Opera, Theater Bremen, Theater Basel, and the Wexford Festival Opera. After 1957, Cotlow mainly retired from performance to devote time to teaching voice and being a mother; although she continued to perform periodically in recitals, on the stage, and on disc up into the 1990s. She has taught vocal music on the faculties of the Peabody Conservatory, the University of Michigan, and Catholic University of America in addition to teaching privately from her home in Northern Virginia. Several of her students have had successful careers, including Alessandra Marc and Jennifer Wilson. Early life and education Marilyn Rose Cotlow was ...
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