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Grace Davidson
Grace Davidson (born 29 November 1977) is an English soprano from London who specialises in the performance of historically informed music from the Renaissance and Baroque periods. She has also recorded for prominent contemporary composers such as Max Richter, Eric Whitacre, Michael Price, and Paul Mealor, and has performed on over 140 soundtracks to date. Highlights include solos on The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug (Howard Shore, 2015), Over The Moon (Michael Price, 2020), Gunpowder Milkshake (Frank Ilfman, 2021) and The Last Duel (Harry Gregson Williams, 2021). Early years and education Davidson was born in Richmond, London and began her musical life playing the piano, violin and viola. She started singing at the Youth Music Centre in Hampstead Garden Suburb, before studying singing at the Junior Guildhall School of Music and Drama with Mollie Petrie. While training for a year as a chef at Prue Leith's School of Food and Wine in 1998, Davidson auditioned for Lon ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Soprano
A soprano () is a type of classical female singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hz to "high A" (A5) = 880 Hz in choral music, or to "soprano C" (C6, two octaves above middle C) = 1046 Hz or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which often encompasses the melody. The soprano voice type is generally divided into the coloratura, soubrette, lyric, spinto, and dramatic soprano. Etymology The word "soprano" comes from the Italian word '' sopra'' (above, over, on top of),"Soprano" '' |
Claudio Monteverdi
Claudio Giovanni Antonio Monteverdi (baptized 15 May 1567 – 29 November 1643) was an Italian composer, choirmaster and string player. A composer of both secular and sacred music, and a pioneer in the development of opera, he is considered a crucial transitional figure between the Renaissance and Baroque periods of music history. Born in Cremona, where he undertook his first musical studies and compositions, Monteverdi developed his career first at the court of Mantua () and then until his death in the Republic of Venice where he was '' maestro di cappella'' at the basilica of San Marco. His surviving letters give insight into the life of a professional musician in Italy of the period, including problems of income, patronage and politics. Much of Monteverdi's output, including many stage works, has been lost. His surviving music includes nine books of madrigals, large-scale religious works, such as his '' Vespro della Beata Vergine'' (''Vespers for the Blessed Vi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Abbey Road Studios
Abbey Road Studios (formerly EMI Recording Studios) is a recording studio at 3 Abbey Road, St John's Wood, City of Westminster, London, England. It was established in November 1931 by the Gramophone Company, a predecessor of British music company EMI, which owned it until Universal Music Group (UMG) took control of part of it in 2013. It is ultimately owned by UMG subsidiary Virgin Records Limited (until 2013 by EMI Records Limited, nowadays known as Parlophone Records and owned by UMG's competitor Warner Music Group). The studio's most notable client was the Beatles, who used the studio – particularly its Studio Two room – as the venue for many of the innovative recording techniques that they adopted throughout the 1960s. In 1976, the studio was renamed from EMI in honour of their final recorded album, '' Abbey Road''. In 2009, Abbey Road came under threat of sale to property developers. In response, the British Government protected the site, granting it Engl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Collegium Vocale Gent
Collegium Vocale Gent is a Belgian musical ensemble of vocalists and supporting instrumentalists, founded by Philippe Herreweghe. The group is dedicated to historically informed performance. Founding and program Collegium Vocale Gent was founded in 1970 by a group of friends studying at the University of Ghent, on Philippe Herreweghe’s initiative. They were one of the first vocal ensembles to use new ideas about baroque performance practice. Their authentic, text-oriented and rhetorical approach gave the ensemble the transparent sound with which it would acquire world fame and perform at major concert venues and music festivals of Europe, Israel, the United States, Russia, South America, Japan, Hong Kong and Australia. Repertoire Collegium Vocale Gent has grown organically into an ensemble whose wide repertoire encompasses a range of different stylistic periods. German Baroque music, particularly J. S. Bach’s vocal works, quickly became a speciality of the group. The gr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Polyphony (choir)
Polyphony is a small English choir formed by Stephen Layton for one particular concert put on in King's College, Cambridge in 1986. They have released many critically acclaimed recordings, the most recent of which is '' Esenvalds - Passion & Resurrection''. They record and perform a wide range of music mainly on Hyperion Records. Every year they perform Handel's ''Messiah'' and Bach's ''St John Passion'' in St John's Smith Square to sell-out audiences. Many of their recordings have been ''Gramophone'' editor's choice. Including many talented musicians such as Tom Williams (English counter tenor), Polyphony have performed many times in the BBC Proms and performed works by John Tavener on his 60th Birthday in the Barbican as part of its ''Great Performers'' series. They have also premiered and released prominent recordings of the music of Arvo Pärt. Stephen Layton The director of Polyphony, Stephen Layton founded the choir in 1986 and has directed it since. He is also the direc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
London Voices
London Voices is a London-based choral ensemble founded by Terry Edwards (1939-2022) in 1973. In its early years, it also incorporated the London Opera Chorus and London Sinfonietta Voices and Chorus. In 2004, Ben Parry, became co-director of the ensemble and in 2021 the Director and manager. Ben is currently artistic director of the National Youth Choirs of Great Britain, and was formerly assistant director of Music at King's College, Cambridge. London Voices has been involved in many performances, recordings of operas and CD and film soundtracks, including ''The Hobbit'', ''Hunger Games'', the prequel trilogy of ''Star Wars'', ''The Lord of the Rings'' and ''Harry Potter'' series, '' The Iron Lady'', ''Enemy at the Gates'', ''La traviata'', and ''The Passion of the Christ''. They have recorded with such diverse artists as Luciano Pavarotti, Dave Brubeck, Sir Paul McCartney, Queen, Deaf Havana, Sting, Renée Fleming, Bryn Terfel and Roger Waters and have performed in concert v ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tenebrae (choir)
The Tenebrae Choir is a London-based professional vocal ensemble founded and directed by former King's Singer Nigel Short. Co-founded by Short and Barbara Pollock in 2001, its repertoire covers works from the 16th to the 21st centuries. The choir was launched in 2001 with a performance of Nigel Short's own composition, ''The Dream of Herod'', created to demonstrate a more "theatrical" style of performing within religious buildings, involving movement around the performance venue as well as dramatic use of lighting and ambiance. In 2006 it toured Joby Talbot's ''Path of Miracles'' to the churches in Spain on the Camino route, and formed an association with the London Symphony Orchestra, making recordings for LSO Live with the conductor Colin Davis. The choir's albums include ''Allegri: Miserere'', which includes choral works ranging from Gregorio Allegri's Miserere to works by Benjamin Britten and John Tavener, released on the Signum Classics label. When Tenebrae toured New Yo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cambridge Singers
The Cambridge Singers is an English mixed voice chamber choir formed in 1981 by their director John Rutter with the primary purpose of making recordings under their own label Collegium Records. The group initially comprised former singers from the Choir of Clare College, Cambridge, where Rutter had previously been the music director. They have been involved in the last four Fresh Aire albums (about "mankind's curiosities") of the Mannheim Steamroller band, by composer Chip Davis, but they are primarily a classical choral group. They have recorded several highly acclaimed Christmas albums, including ''Christmas Day in the Morning'', '' Christmas Night: Carols of the Nativity'', ''Christmas Star'', ''Christmas with the Cambridge Singers'', and ''The Cambridge Singers Christmas Album''. List of albums * ''Gloria'' (1983 and 2005) with Philip Jones Brass Ensemble and City of London Sinfonia * ''Fauré: Requiem and other sacred music'' (1984, 1988 and 2010) * ''Hurry to Beth ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The English Concert
The English Concert is a baroque orchestra playing on period instruments based in London. Founded in 1972 and directed from the harpsichord by Trevor Pinnock for 30 years, it is now directed by harpsichordist Harry Bicket. Nadja Zwiener has been orchestra leader ( concertmaster) since September 2007. The English Concert and Choir The English Concert was founded by Trevor Pinnock and others in November 1972. The date of foundation is often given as 1973, probably because they started with seven people and only later progressed onto the orchestral repertoire as their number increased. They were one of the first orchestras dedicated to performing baroque and classical music on period instruments, their repertoire from then to now ranging approximately from Monteverdi to Mozart. Their London debut was at the English Bach Festival in 1973, which led to their first recording in 1974, ''Sons of Bach harpsichord concertos'', on CRD records. They first played at The Proms in 1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Tallis Scholars
The Tallis Scholars is a British professional early music vocal ensemble normally consisting of two singers per part, with a core group of ten singers. They specialise in performing '' a cappella'' sacred vocal music. History The group was formed in 1973 by Peter Phillips, who in 1972-1975 was an organ scholar at St John's College, Oxford and studied music with David Wulstan and Denis Arnold. Phillips invited the members of chapel choirs from Oxford and Cambridge to form an amateur Renaissance vocal music ensemble, which turned professional after ten years of concert-giving. From the first performance in the Church of St. Mary Magdalen, Oxford on November 3, 1973, Phillips aimed to produce a distinctive sound, influenced by choirs he admired, in particular the renowned Clerkes of Oxenford, directed by David Wulstan. Since winning a Gramophone Award in 1987, the Tallis Scholars have been recognised as one of the world's leading ensembles in Renaissance polyphony.Libbey, Theod ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Monteverdi Choir
The Monteverdi Choir was founded in 1964 by Sir John Eliot Gardiner for a performance of the '' Vespro della Beata Vergine'' in King's College Chapel, Cambridge. A specialist Baroque ensemble, the Choir has become famous for its stylistic conviction and extensive repertoire, encompassing music from the Renaissance period to Classical music of the 20th century. They often appear with John Eliot Gardiner's orchestras, the English Baroque Soloists and Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique. In 2000, the 250th anniversary of Johann Sebastian Bach's death, the choir undertook the Bach Cantata Pilgrimage, performing and recording most of his church cantatas in more than 60 historic churches throughout Europe, and some in the U.S. On 5 March 2014 the Choir celebrated its 50th anniversary with a repeat performance of the Monteverdi Vespers from King's College Chapel, in a live broadcast live by BBC Radio 3. Bach Cantata Pilgrimage In 2000 the Choir, with the English Baroque ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ex Cathedra
Papal infallibility is a dogma of the Catholic Church which states that, in virtue of the promise of Jesus to Peter, the Pope when he speaks '' ex cathedra'' is preserved from the possibility of error on doctrine "initially given to the apostolic Church and handed down in Scripture and tradition". It does not mean that the pope cannot sin or otherwise err in most situations. This doctrine, defined dogmatically at the First Vatican Council of 1869–1870 in the document '' Pastor aeternus'', is claimed to have existed in medieval theology and to have been the majority opinion at the time of the Counter-Reformation. The doctrine of infallibility relies on one of the cornerstones of Catholic dogma, that of papal supremacy, whereby the authority of the pope is the ruling agent as to what are accepted as formal beliefs in the Catholic Church. The use of this power is referred to as speaking ''ex cathedra''. "Any doctrine 'of faith or morals' issued by the pope in his cap ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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