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Eurydice (Aucoin)
''Eurydice'' is an opera composed by Matthew Aucoin with a libretto by Sarah Ruhl based on her 2003 play of the same name, a retelling of the legend of Orpheus and Eurydice. It had its premiere at the Los Angeles Opera on February 1, 2020, with Aucoin conducting. It had its Metropolitan Opera premiere on November 23, 2021. Composition history The work was co-commissioned and co-produced by the Metropolitan Opera, and was mostly written while Aucoin was serving as the Los Angeles Opera's artist in residence. The ''Los Angeles Times'' noted that this production, "the world's newest major opera", is on the same subject as the world's oldest surviving opera, Jacopo Peri's '' Euridice,'' which premiered 420 years earlier in 1600. Roles Synopsis This opera retells the legend of Orpheus and Eurydice from Eurydice's point of view. Ruhl explained that "in the myth, we never hear from Eurydice – she is always a cipher. I'm interested in her voice, a voice that hasn't been heard befo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Danielle De Niese
Danielle de Niese (born 11 April 1979) is an Australian-American lyric soprano. After success as a young child in singing competitions in Australia, she moved to the United States where she developed her operatic career. From 2005 she came to widespread public attention with her performances as Cleopatra in '' Giulio Cesare'' at Glyndebourne Festival Opera, England. Early life De Niese was born in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, after her parents, Chris and Beverly, had migrated from Sri Lanka to Australia as teenagers. She is a Sri Lankan Burgher with some Dutch and Scottish heritage. In 1988, at the age of nine, she became the youngest winner of the Australian TV talent competition, '' Young Talent Time''. In the competition, she was singing a Whitney Houston medley, for which the prize was A$ 5,000 and a Yamaha baby grand piano, which she still owns. In 1990, her family moved to Los Angeles, where she became a regular guest host of the TV programme ''L.A. Kids'' for whic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rod Gilfry
Rodney Gilfry is a leading American operatic baritone. After launching his career at Frankfurt Opera in 1987, Gilfry quickly established a reputation for stylish singing and acting. A renowned Mozart specialist, he has given acclaimed performances as Don Giovanni, Count Almaviva, Guglielmo, and Papageno, and is also known for his work in roles from the standard baritone repertoire ( Pelléas, Valentin, Orestes, Belcore, Billy Budd). Early years and training Rod Gilfry was born 11 March 1959 in Covina, California, and grew up in West Covina and Claremont. He received a bachelor's degree in music education from Cal State Fullerton and a master's degree in voice from the Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California. He studied at the Music Academy of the West with Martial Singher with whom he also studied privately for six years. In 1999 he sought further refinement of his technique and studied in Manhattan with Armen Boyajian, teacher of Samuel Ramey and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Matthew Aucoin
Matthew Aucoin (born April 4, 1990) is an American composer, conductor, pianist, and writer best known for his operas. Aucoin has been commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera, Carnegie Hall, Lyric Opera of Chicago, the American Repertory Theater, the Peabody Essex Museum, Harvard University, and NPR's ''This American Life''. He was appointed as Los Angeles Opera's first-ever Artist-in-Residence in 2016. He is a 2018 MacArthur Fellow. Biography Aucoin was born and raised in the Boston area. While attending Medfield High School, he was the keyboardist in an indie rock band, Elephantom. He attended Harvard College, where he studied poetry, graduating ''summa cum laude'' in 2012. His mentors at Harvard included Jorie Graham and Helen Vendler. As an undergraduate, Aucoin conducted productions of ''Die Fledermaus'' and ''Le Nozze di Figaro'' with the Dunster House Opera Society, now known as Harvard College Opera. Aucoin then received a graduate diploma from The Juilliard School, wher ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Countertenor
A countertenor (also contra tenor) is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range is equivalent to that of the female contralto or mezzo-soprano voice types, generally extending from around G3 to D5 or E5, although a sopranist (a specific kind of countertenor) may match the soprano's range of around C4 to C6.A sopranist is a term, widely used falsely, used to describe a countertenor whose vocal range is so high it is equivalent to that of a soprano. Countertenors often have tenor or baritone chest voices, but sing in falsetto or head voice much more often than they do in their chest voice. The nature of the countertenor voice has radically changed throughout musical history, from a modal voice, to a modal and falsetto voice, to the primarily falsetto voice that is denoted by the term today. This is partly because of changes in human physiology ( increase in body height) and partly because of fluctuations in pitch. The term first came into use in England during ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of the longest-running newspapers in the United States, the ''Times'' serves as one of the country's Newspaper of record, newspapers of record. , ''The New York Times'' had 9.13 million total and 8.83 million online subscribers, both by significant margins the List of newspapers in the United States, highest numbers for any newspaper in the United States; the total also included 296,330 print subscribers, making the ''Times'' the second-largest newspaper by print circulation in the United States, following ''The Wall Street Journal'', also based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' is published by the New York Times Company; since 1896, the company has been chaired by the Ochs-Sulzberger family, whose current chairman and the paper's publ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anthony Tommasini
Anthony Carl Tommasini (born April 14, 1948) is an American music critic and author who specializes in classical music. Described as "a discerning critic, whose taste, knowledge and judgment have made him a must-read", Tommasini was the chief classical music critic for ''The New York Times'' from 2000 to 2021. Also a pianist, he has released two CDS and two books on the music of his colleague and mentor, the composer and critic Virgil Thomson. A classical music enthusiast since his youth, Tommasini attended both Yale University and Boston University to study piano, and then taught music at Emerson College. In 1986 he left academia to write music criticism for ''The Boston Globe''. Tommasini joined the ''Times'' in 1996 and became their chief classical music critic in 2000 for over two decades. He traveled to cover important premieres of contemporary classical music, encouraged diversity in both classical repertoire and ensembles, and wrote books covering influential operas and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mark Swed
Mark Swed (born ) is an American music critic who specializes in classical music. Since 1996 he has been the chief classical music critic of the ''Los Angeles Times'' where his writings have made him a two-time finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism. Prior to his ''LA Times'' post, Swed was the chief music critic for the ''Los Angeles Herald Examiner'' and ''The Wall Street Journal'', and has contributed other writings to a variety of publications including '' The Orchestra'', an iPad application. He has a particular interest in contemporary classical music. Life and career Mark Swed was born and attended the University of California, Berkeley, receiving a Bachelor of Arts in music, and Mills College, receiving a Master of Arts. He was chief music critic at numerous newspapers, including the ''Los Angeles Herald Examiner'', ''The Wall Street Journal'' and ''7 Days''. In addition, he has written other music criticism for a variety of publications, including ''BBC Music' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Greek Chorus
A Greek chorus () in the context of ancient Greek tragedy, comedy, satyr plays, is a homogeneous group of performers, who comment with a collective voice on the action of the scene they appear in, or provide necessary insight into action which has taken place offstage. Historically, the chorus consisted of between 12 and 50 players, who variously danced, sang or spoke their lines in unison, and sometimes wore masks. The players used masks to change their emotions while they were performing. History A common theory for the origin of the Greek chorus stems from the ancient Greek poet Arion's invention of the tragedy, the stationary chorus, and satyrs' verses. In Aristotle's ''Poetics,'' he writes that " ragedy'sbeginnings, certainly, were in improvisation utoschediastikês as were also those for comedy, tragedy originating in impromptus by the leaders of dithyrambic choruses, and comedy in those of the leaders of the phallic performances which still remain customary in many ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Underworld
The underworld, also known as the netherworld or hell, is the supernatural world of the dead in various religious traditions and myths, located below the world of the living. Chthonic is the technical adjective for things of the underworld. The concept of an underworld is found in almost every civilization and "may be as old as humanity itself". Common features of underworld myths are accounts of living people making journeys to the underworld, often for some heroic purpose. Other myths reinforce traditions that the entrance of souls to the underworld requires a proper observation of ceremony, such as the ancient Greek story of the recently dead Patroclus haunting Achilles until his body could be properly buried for this purpose. People with high social status were dressed and equipped in order to better navigate the underworld. A number of mythologies incorporate the concept of the soul of the deceased making its own journey to the underworld, with the dead needing to be ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Raehann Bryce-Davis
Raehann Bryce-Davis (born May 17, 1986) is an American operatic mezzo-soprano and producer. Bryce-Davis was born in Mexico and raised in Keene, Texas. She attended the University of Texas at Arlington and the Manhattan School of Music, where she was a student of Cynthia Hoffmann. She is a winner of the 2018 George London Award at the George London Competition, the 2017 Concorso Lirico di Portofino, the 2016 Richard F. Gold Career Grant from Merola Opera Program, the 2015 International Hilde Zadek Competition in Vienna and the 2015 Sedat Gürel - Güzin Gürel International Voice Competition in Istanbul. Bryce-Davis has been acclaimed across Europe and North America for her portrayals of Verdi roles such as Eboli, Azucena, and Preziosilla, as well as bel canto heroines such as Leonora from Donizetti's ''La Favorite'' and Sara in ''Roberto Devereux''. In concert, solo highlights include performances of Verdi's Requiem at Carnegie Hall with the Oratorio Society of New York, conduc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mezzo-soprano
A mezzo-soprano (, ), or mezzo ( ), is a type of classical music, classical female singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the soprano and the contralto voice types. The mezzo-soprano's vocal range usually extends from the A below middle C to the A two octaves above (i.e. A3–A5 in scientific pitch notation, where middle C = C4; 220–880 Hz). In the lower and upper extremes, some mezzo-sopranos may extend down to the F below middle C (F3, 175 Hz) and as high as "high C" (C6, 1047 Hz). The mezzo-soprano voice type is generally divided into the coloratura, lyric, and dramatic. History While mezzo-sopranos typically sing secondary roles in operas, notable exceptions include the title role in Georges Bizet, Bizet's ''Carmen'', Angelina (Cinderella) in Gioachino Rossini, Rossini's ''La Cenerentola'', and Rosina in Rossini's ''The Barber of Seville, Barber of Seville'' (all of which are also sung by sopranos and contraltos). Many 19th-century French- ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stacey Tappan
Stacey Tappan (born June 13, 1973) is an American coloratura soprano. Tappan was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and grew up in Pasadena, California. Both her parents are instrumental musicians. She studied in the voice program at Chapman University (1991–1995) in Orange, California, the Manhattan School of Music (1995–1997), and Juilliard (1997–1999) in New York City. While at the Manhattan School and Juilliard, she studied with Cynthia Hoffmann. Tappan continued her professional training in the Young Artist Program at Santa Fe Opera (1997), the University of Miami in Salzburg program (1998), the Young Artist Program at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis (1999), Wolf Trap Opera Company (2000), and the Lyric Opera Center for American Artists (2001–2003) in Chicago. She has sung as a soloist with The Metropolitan Opera, Chicago Lyric Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Bangkok Opera, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Wolf Trap Opera Company, Glimmerglass Opera, Glyndebourne Opera Festiva ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
