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Axel Köhler
Axel Köhler (born 1960 in Schwarzenberg, Saxony, East Germany) is a German countertenor and opera director. In 1994, he won the Handel Prize. Since 2009, he has been Artistic Director of the Halle Opera House. Early life Axel Köhler studied violin pedagogy and singing at the Hochschule für Musik Carl Maria von Weber Dresden. In 1987 he made his singing debut as Eustazio in Peter Konwitschny's production of ''Rinaldo''. A number of demanding countertenor roles followed, especially in Handel's operas, as Köhler guested at international festivals and concerts, and in compact disc, radio and opera productions. Singing career Since 1984, Köhler has belonged to the ensemble Halle an der Saale, first as a baritone and later as a countertenor. In 1995, Köhler sang at the Royal Opera House in London at the premiere of ''Arianna'' by Alexander Goehr. In 1998 he took over the title role in the world premiere of ''Farinelli'' by Siegfried Matthus. In 2001, he played the devil in Detlev ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Schwarzenberg, Saxony
Schwarzenberg () is a town in the district of Erzgebirgskreis in Saxony’s Ore Mountains, near the German–Czech border. The town lies roughly 15 km southeast of Aue, Saxony, Aue, and 35 km southwest of Chemnitz. Founded in the 12th century to protect a trade road, the small mountain town became the centre of a territory known as ''Herrschaft Schwarzenberg'' and later ''Amt Schwarzenberg''. During the History of Germany (1945–1990), division of Germany, Schwarzenberg was part of East Germany and became the greatest producer of washing machines in Eastern Europe. Schwarzenberg became more widely known in 1987, when Stefan Heym coined the term Free Republic of Schwarzenberg for a small gap between the Soviet and American Allied-occupied Germany, occupation zones in May/June 1945. Geography Schwarzenberg is in the southwestern Ore Mountains. It lies at elevations stretching from above sea level. The Old Town with church and castle is located on a rock (the Schlossbe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Johann Adolf Hasse
Johann Adolph Hasse (baptised 25 March 1699 – 16 December 1783) was an 18th-century German composer, singer and teacher of music. Immensely popular in his time, Hasse was best known for his prolific operatic output, though he also composed a considerable quantity of sacred music. Married to soprano Faustina Bordoni and a friend of librettist Pietro Metastasio, whose libretti he frequently set, Hasse was a pivotal figure in the development of ''opera seria'' and 18th-century music. Early career Hasse was baptised in Bergedorf near Hamburg where his family had been church organists for three generations. His career began in singing when he joined the Hamburg Oper am Gänsemarkt in 1718 as a tenor. In 1719 he obtained a singing post at the court of Brunswick, where in 1721 his first opera, ''Antioco'', was performed; Hasse himself sang in the production. He is thought to have left Germany during 1722. During the 1720s he lived mostly in Naples, dwelling there for six or sev ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Emmerich Kálmán
Emmerich Kálmán ( ; 24 October 1882 – 30 October 1953) was a Kingdom of Hungary, Hungarian composer of operettas and a prominent figure in the development of Operetta#Austria–Hungary, Viennese operetta in the 20th century. Among his most popular works are ''Die Csárdásfürstin'' (1915) and ''Countess Maritza, Gräfin Mariza'' (1924). Influences on his compositional style include Hungarian folk music (such as the csárdás), the Viennese style of precursors such as Johann Strauss II and Franz Lehár, and, in his later works, American jazz. As a result of the ''Anschluss,'' Kálmán and his family fled to Paris and then to the United States. He eventually returned to Europe in 1949 and died in Paris in 1953. Biography Kálmán was born Imre Koppstein in Siófok, then in Austria-Hungary, on the southern shore of Lake Balaton, to a Jewish family. Kálmán initially intended to become a concert piano, pianist, but because of early-onset arthritis, he focused on composition in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Augsburg
Augsburg ( , ; ; ) is a city in the Bavaria, Bavarian part of Swabia, Germany, around west of the Bavarian capital Munich. It is a College town, university town and the regional seat of the Swabia (administrative region), Swabia with a well preserved Altstadt (historical city centre). Augsburg is an Urban districts of Germany, urban district and home to the institutions of the Augsburg (district), Landkreis Augsburg. It is the List of cities in Bavaria by population, third-largest city in Bavaria (after Munich and Nuremberg), with a population of 304,000 and 885,000 in its metropolitan area. After Neuss, Trier, Worms, Germany, Worms, Cologne and Xanten, Augsburg is one of Germany's oldest cities, founded in 15 BC by the Romans as Augsburg#Early history, Augusta Vindelicorum and named after the Roman emperor Augustus. It was a Free Imperial City from 1276 to 1803 and the home of the patrician (post-Roman Europe), patrician Fugger and Welser families that dominated European ban ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Margravial Opera House
The Margravial Opera House () is a Baroque opera house in the town of Bayreuth, Germany. Built between 1745 and 1750, it is one of Europe's few surviving theatres of the period and has been extensively restored. On 30 June 2012, the opera house was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List because of its exceptional Baroque architecture. Description Located in a widened part of the street so that carriages could pull up in front, the opera house is 71.5 meters long, 31 meters wide, and 26 meters tall. The building was constructed according to plans designed by the French architect (ca. 1709 – 1754), court builder of the Hohenzollern margrave Frederick of Brandenburg-Bayreuth and his wife Princess Wilhelmine of Prussia. The sandstone façade was designed to blend with the surrounding buildings and to reference the Place Vendôme in Paris, with large Corinthian columns. A balustrade stretched across the entire façade, with sculptures of Minerva, Apollo, and 6 Muses placed at ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wilhelmine Of Bayreuth
Princess Wilhelmine of Prussia (Friederike Sophie Wilhelmine; 3 July 170914 October 1758) was a Prussian princess and composer. She was the eldest daughter of Frederick William I of Prussia and Sophia Dorothea of Hanover, and a granddaughter of George I of Great Britain. She was the older sister of Frederick the Great. In 1731, she married Frederick, Margrave of Brandenburg-Bayreuth. The baroque buildings and parks built during her tenure shape much of the present appearance of the town of Bayreuth, Germany. Early life Born in Berlin, Wilhelmine shared the unhappy childhood of her brother, Frederick the Great, whose friend and confidante she remained all her life, with the exception of one short interval. She was fiercely beaten and abused by her governess during her childhood. Wilhelmine later wrote: "Not a day passed that she he governessdid not prove upon me the fearful power of her fists." The mistreatment continued until the prince's governess finally said to their mother ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
François Adrien Boieldieu
François () is a French masculine given name and surname, equivalent to the English name Francis. People with the given name * François Amoudruz (1926–2020), French resistance fighter * François-Marie Arouet (better known as Voltaire; 1694–1778), French Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher * François Beauchemin (born 1980), Canadian ice hockey player for the Anaheim Ducks * François Blanc (1806–1877), French entrepreneur and operator of casinos * François Bonlieu (1937–1973), French alpine skier * François Cevert (1944–1973), French racing driver * François Chau (born 1959), Cambodian American actor * François Clemmons (born 1945), American singer and actor * François Corbier (1944–2018), French television presenter and songwriter * François Coty (1874–1934), French perfumer * François Coulomb the Elder (1654–1717), French naval architect * François Coulomb the Younger (1691–1751), French naval architect * François Couperin (1668–17 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Magic Flute
''The Magic Flute'' (, ), K. 620, is an opera in two acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. It is a ''Singspiel'', a popular form that included both singing and spoken dialogue. The work premiered on 30 September 1791 at Schikaneder's theatre, the Freihaus-Theater auf der Wieden in Vienna, just two months before Mozart's death. It was Mozart's last opera. It was an outstanding success from its first performances, and remains a staple of the opera repertory. In the opera the Queen of the Night persuades Prince Tamino to rescue her daughter Pamina from captivity under the high priest Sarastro; instead, he learns the high ideals of Sarastro's community and seeks to join it. Separately, then together, Tamino and Pamina undergo severe trials of initiation, which end in triumph, with the Queen and her cohorts vanquished. The earthy Papageno, who accompanies Tamino on his quest, fails the trials completely but is rewarded anyway with the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Don Giovanni
''Don Giovanni'' (; K. 527; full title: , literally ''The Rake Punished, or Don Giovanni'') is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. Its subject is a centuries-old Spanish legend about a libertine as told by playwright Tirso de Molina in his 1630 play '' El burlador de Sevilla y convidado de piedra''. It is a ''dramma giocoso'' blending comedy, melodrama and supernatural elements (although the composer entered it into his catalogue simply as ''opera buffa''). It was premiered by the Prague Italian opera at the National Theatre (of Bohemia), now called the Estates Theatre, on 29 October 1787. ''Don Giovanni'' is regarded as one of the greatest operas of all time and has proved a fruitful subject for commentary in its own right; critic Fiona Maddocks has described it as one of Mozart's "trio of masterpieces with librettos by Da Ponte". Composition and premiere The opera was commissioned after the success of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mecklenburg State Theatre
The Mecklenburg State Theatre () is the principal theatre of Schwerin in Germany. Its main theatre (or ''Großes Haus'') seats 650 people and is used for the performance of plays, opera, musical theatre and ballet. Designed by Georg Daniel, the present building was built between 1883 and 1886 after the previous court theatre had been destroyed by fire in 1882. It was inaugurated on 3 October 1886 with a performance of Gluck's ''Iphigénie en Aulide ''Iphigénie en Aulide'' (''Iphigeneia in Aulis (ancient Greece), Aulis'') is an opera in three acts by Christoph Willibald Gluck, the first work he wrote for the Paris stage. The libretto was written by François-Louis Gand Le Bland Du Roullet ...'' with Marie Wittich in the title role. The complex also includes the State Museum in Schwerin ('' Staatliche Museum Schwerin'') and a 240-seat concert hall, now used for performances of chamber works. All theatres were closed for the autumn season of 1944, with the staff drafted wherev ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tom Johnson (composer)
Thomas Floyd Johnson (November 18, 1939 – December 31, 2024) was an American composer and music critic associated with minimalism. After a religious upbringing in Colorado, he studied at Yale with Allen Forte and in New York City with Morton Feldman. There he covered the work of several noted composers, bringing them to wider attention in ''The Village Voice''. He found inspiration in the ideas of ancient and early modern mathematicians and philosophers, and collaborated with contemporary mathematicians, while incorporating theatrical and visual elements in his work. Johnson often sought to engage audiences by explaining or narrating the processes of his music in or as part of the musical experience. He relocated to Paris in 1983, where he remarried in 1986 and lived until his death. His works include '' An Hour for Piano'', ''The Four-Note Opera'', ''Riemannoper'', and the ''Bonhoeffer Oratorio''. Background and education Tom Johnson was born in Greeley, Colorado, on Novemb ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Benjamin Britten
Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten of Aldeburgh (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976) was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British music, with a range of works including opera, other vocal music, orchestral and chamber pieces. His best-known works include the opera ''Peter Grimes'' (1945), the ''War Requiem'' (1962) and the orchestral showpiece ''The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra'' (1945). Britten was born in Lowestoft, Suffolk, the son of a dentist. He showed talent from an early age. He studied at the Royal College of Music in London and privately with the composer Frank Bridge. Britten first came to public attention with the ''a cappella'' choral work ''A Boy Was Born'' in 1934. With the premiere of ''Peter Grimes'' in 1945, he leapt to international fame. Over the next 28 years, he wrote 14 more operas, establishing himself as one of the leading 20th-century composers in the genre. In addition to large ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
