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Sona Ghazarian
Sona Ghazarian (born September 2, 1945) is a Lebanese-Austrian operatic soprano. A Kammersängerin of the Republic of Austria, she has sung over 70 roles in the major opera houses of both Europe and the United States. Biography Sona Ghazarian was born in Beirut in 1945, where she studied psychology at the American University of Beirut and singing at the National Conservatory. After further study at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena and the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome, she joined the Vienna State Opera in 1972 and sang there for many years where her roles have included Oscar in '' Un ballo in maschera'' and Violetta in '' La Traviata''. She made her Salzburg Festival debut in 1973 as Barbarina in ''Le nozze di Figaro'' and subsequently sang there in 1975 as Blonde in ''Die Entführung aus dem Serail'' and in 1983 as Marzelline in ''Fidelio''. Her Metropolitan Opera debut came in 1987 as Adina in ''L'elisir d'amore''. She returned there in 1989 as Musetta in ''La bohè ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lebanese People
The Lebanese people ( / Romanization of Arabic, ALA-LC: ', ) are the people inhabiting or originating from Lebanon. The term may also include those who had inhabited Mount Lebanon and the Anti-Lebanon Mountains prior to the creation of the modern Lebanese state. The major religious groups among the Lebanese people within Lebanon are Lebanese people (Shia Muslims), Shia Muslims (27%), Lebanese people (Sunni Muslims), Sunni Muslims (27%), Lebanese people (Maronite Christians), Maronite Christians (21%), Lebanese people (Greek Orthodox Christians), Greek Orthodox Christians (8%), Lebanese people (Melkite Christians), Melkite Christians (5%), Lebanese people (Druze followers), Druze (5%), Lebanese people (Protestant Christians), Protestant Christians (1%). The largest contingent of Lebanese, however, comprise a Lebanese diaspora, diaspora in North America, South America, Europe, Australia and Africa, which is predominantly Maronite Christian. As the relative proportion of the vario ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Die Entführung Aus Dem Serail
' () (Köchel catalogue, K. 384; ''The Abduction from the Seraglio''; also known as ') is a singspiel in three acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The German libretto is by Gottlieb Stephanie, based on Christoph Friedrich Bretzner's . The plot concerns the attempt of the hero Belmonte, assisted by his servant Pedrillo, to rescue his beloved Constanze from the seraglio of Pasha Selim. The work premiered on 16 July 1782 at the Vienna Burgtheater, with the composer conducting. Origins The opera loosely refers to the practice of the North African Barbary corsairs, who operated primarily in the western Mediterranean, of hijacking ships belonging to Christian states. Under the pretext of jihad, the ship and cargo were sold or returned only after a ransom was paid. The actual goal, however, was the kidnapping of crew and passengers, to extort ransom money or to sell them into slavery. It was also common to force affected seafaring nations of non-Muslim faith to pay protection money or tribut ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tugomir Franc
Tugomir Franc (8 February 1932 – 5 January 1983), was a Yugoslavian opera singer (bass). Life Born in Zagreb, Kingdom of Yugoslavia, Franc was trained at the Zagreb Conservatory by Zlatko Sir and Lav Vrbanik and then in Vienna by Elisabeth Radó. From the end of the 1950s he sang frequently at the Vienna State Opera and at the Bayreuth Festival, among others under the direction of Herbert von Karajan (as Titurel in ''Parsifal'' in 1961, and in ''Tannhäuser'' in 1963). From 1964 to 1965 he also sang at the Salzburg Festival. As a guest he was active in Bordeaux, Nancy, Toulouse, Rome, Turin, Frankfurt am Main, Stockholm, Geneva, Belgrade and Zagreb as well as at the Vienna Volksoper. on Operaclass.com Franc had a warm, deep voice and clear diction, despite a slight Balkan accent ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Agnes Baltsa
Agni Baltsa (; also known as Agnes Baltsa; born 19 November 1944) is a leading Greek mezzo-soprano singer. Baltsa was born in Lefkada. She began playing piano at the age of seven, before moving to Athens in 1958 to concentrate on singing. She graduated from the Greek National Conservatoire in 1965 and then travelled to Munich to continue studying on a Maria Callas scholarship. Baltsa made her first appearance in an opera in 1968 as Cherubino in ''The Marriage of Figaro'' at Frankfurt Opera, before going on to appear as Octavian in ''Der Rosenkavalier'' at the Vienna State Opera in 1970. Under the guidance of Herbert von Karajan, she became a regular at the prestigious Salzburg Festival. She became ''Kammersängerin'' of the Vienna State Opera in 1980. Her best-known performance is that of Carmen by Georges Bizet, which she has sung a number of times with noted tenors such as José Carreras, Neil Shicoff, and others. She has also sung works by Mozart (notably ''Così fan tutte ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
I Capuleti E I Montecchi
''I Capuleti e i Montecchi'' (''The Capulets and the Montagues'') is an Italian opera (''tragedia lirica'') in two acts by Vincenzo Bellini. The libretto by Felice Romani was a reworking of the story of ''Romeo and Juliet'' for an opera by Nicola Vaccai called ''Giulietta e Romeo (Vaccai), Giulietta e Romeo'' and based on the play of the same name by Luigi Scevola written in 1818, thus an Italian source rather than taken directly from William Shakespeare. Bellini was persuaded to write the opera for the 1830 Carnival of Venice, Carnival season at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice, with only a month and a half available for composition. He succeeded by appropriating a large amount of music previously written for his unsuccessful opera ''Zaira (opera), Zaira''. The first performance of ''I Capuleti e i Montecchi'' took place on 11 March 1830. Composition history After ''Zaira'' Following the poor reception which ''Zaira'' received in Parma, Bellini returned to Milan by the end of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Decca Records
Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis (Decca), Edward Lewis after his acquisition of a gramophone manufacturer, The Decca Gramophone Company. It set up an American subsidiary under the Decca name, which became an independent company just before the Second World War. The American spin-off became a subsidiary of MCA Inc. in 1962. Known for its technical innovations, the British parent company grew to become the second most successful recording company in Britain and celebrated fifty years of existence in 1979, shortly before being sold to PolyGram. Both Decca and its former subsidiary were subsequently acquired by Universal Music. Decca and its American spin-off both built up strong catalogues of popular music. In their first two decades their artists included Gertrude Lawrence, George Formby, Jack Hylton and Vera Lynn in Britain and Bing Crosby, Al Jolson, the Andrews Sisters and the Mills Brothers in the US. Later performers in their popular ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sir Georg Solti
Sir Georg Solti ( , ; born György Stern; 21 October 1912 – 5 September 1997) was a Hungarian-British orchestral and operatic conductor, known for his appearances with opera companies in Munich, Frankfurt, and London, and as a long-serving music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Born in Budapest, he studied there with Béla Bartók, Leó Weiner, and Ernő Dohnányi. In the 1930s, he was a ''répétiteur'' at the Hungarian State Opera and worked at the Salzburg Festival for Arturo Toscanini. His career was interrupted by the rise of the Nazis' influence on Hungarian politics, and being Jewish, he fled the increasingly harsh Hungarian anti-Jewish laws in 1938. After conducting a season of Russian ballet in London at the Royal Opera House, he found refuge in Switzerland, where he remained during the Second World War. Prohibited from conducting there, he earned a living as a pianist. After the war, Solti was appointed musical director of the Bavarian State Opera ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) is an American symphony orchestra based in Chicago, Illinois. Founded by Theodore Thomas in 1891, the ensemble has been based in the Symphony Center since 1904 and plays a summer season at the Ravinia Festival. Klaus Mäkelä was named music director-designate in 2024, with his first contractual season to begin in 2027. The orchestra's most recent music director is Riccardo Muti, whose tenure spanned the seasons from 2010 to 2023, and he continues to perform on occasion as director-emeritus. The CSO is one of the American orchestras commonly referred to as the " Big Five". History In 1890, Charles Norman Fay, a Chicago businessman, invited Theodore Thomas to establish an orchestra in Chicago. Under the name "Chicago Orchestra", the orchestra played its first concert October 16, 1891, at the Auditorium Theater. It is one of the oldest orchestras in the United States, along with the New York Philharmonic, the Boston Symphony Orchest ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gwynne Howell
Gwynne Howell (born 13 June 1938) is a Welsh operatic bass, known particularly for his performances of Verdi and Wagner roles. Life and career Born in Gorseinon, Wales, he studied at the RMCM, where he sang Leporello in concert, and Hunding, Fasolt, and Pogner in staged performances. He joined the Sadler's Wells Theatre in 1968, and the Royal Opera House in 1970. He was also a regular guest at the English National Opera and the Welsh National Opera. His roles have included most of the major bass roles of the Verdi and Wagner repertories, such as: Miller, Sparafucile, Ferrando, Padre Guardiano, Phillip II, Landgrave, Hans Sachs, Gurnemanz, etc. He continued into his seventies to sing small roles on stage: Simone in ''Gianni Schicchi'' at the Royal Opera House in 2009 and 2016, Titurel from ''Parsifal'' at the Royal Opera House in 2007 under Bernard Haitink, and Schigolch in ''Lulu'' at the Metropolitan Opera in 2010. Howell took part in the premieres of two of Peter Max ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peter Hofmann
Peter Hofmann (22 August 1944 – 30 November 2010) was a German tenor who had a successful performance career within the fields of opera, rock music, rock, pop music, pop, and musical theatre. He first rose to prominence as a heldentenor at the Bayreuth festival's ''Jahrhundertring'' (''Centenary Ring'') in 1976, where he drew critical acclaim for his performance of Siegmund in Richard Wagner's ''Die Walküre''. He was active as one of the world's leading Wagnerian tenors over the next decade, performing roles like Lohengrin, Parsifal, Siegmund and Tristan at major opera houses and festivals internationally. Hofmann's busy and demanding schedule in combination with an "imperfect vocal technique", led to intermittent vocal problems which became more prominent in the singer's opera performances in the late 1980s. These difficulties led him to completely abandon his opera career in 1989 in favor of pursuing a full-time career in popular music. Hofmann had already spent portions of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hildegard Behrens
Hildegard Behrens (9 February 1937 – 18 August 2009) was a German operatic soprano with a wide repertoire including Wagner, Weber, Mozart, Richard Strauss, and Alban Berg roles. She performed at major opera houses around the world, and received several Grammy Awards for performances with the Metropolitan Opera. Life and career Behrens was born in Varel in 1937. She graduated from the University of Freiburg as a junior barrister before becoming serious about her talents as a singer, studying at first with Ines Leuwen at the Freiburg Academy Of Music. Her stage debut was as the Countess in Mozart's '' Le nozze di Figaro'' in Freiburg in 1971. Anthony Tommasini"Hildegard Behrens, Soprano Acclaimed for Wagner, Is Dead at 72" ''The New York Times'' (obituary), 19 August 2009 In 1973, she joined the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf. In the 1975–76 season, while rehearsing for Alban Berg's '' Wozzeck'', she was "discovered" by Herbert von Karajan, who was then looking for ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Theo Adam
Theo Adam (1 August 1926 – 10 January 2019) was a German operatic bass-baritone and bass singer who had an international career in opera, concert and recital from 1949. He was a member of the Staatsoper Dresden for his entire career, and sang at the Bayreuth Festival from 1952 to 1980. He particularly excelled in portraying roles by Richard Wagner, especially Wotan in ''Der Ring des Nibelungen'', which he also performed at the Metropolitan Opera, among others. In concert, he was a much admired Bach singer and also drew acclaim for his interpretation of the title character of Mendelssohn's '' Elijah''. He was a voice teacher at the Musikhochschule Dresden. Career Born in Dresden, Adam sang with the Dresdner Kreuzchor as a boy from 1936 to 1942. He served in the German Army in World War II. He studied singing privately with Rudolf Dietrich between 1946 and 1949. He made his professional debut at the Staatsoper Dresden as Czernikowski in Mussorgsky's '' Boris Godunov'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
