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Vivica Genaux
Vivica Genaux (; born July 10, 1969) is an American coloratura mezzo-soprano. She was born in Fairbanks, Alaska. She has sung in major operas such as ''The Barber of Seville'' at the Metropolitan Opera, ''L'italiana in Algeri'' at Opéra National de Paris, and ''La Cenerentola'' with Dallas Opera and the Bavarian State Opera. Education Vivica Genaux was born on July 10, 1969, in Fairbanks. Her father was a biochemistry professor at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and her Mexico-born mother was a language teacher. She began her vocal studies as a young girl with American dramatic soprano Dorothy Dow. She then studied with the late Nicola Rossi-Lemeni and Virginia Zeani at Indiana University Bloomington and for many years with Claudia Pinza Bozzolla (daughter of bass Ezio Pinza) in Pittsburgh. Singing career Genaux began her professional career specializing in charming portrayals of Rossini comic heroines (Rosina in '' Il barbiere di Siviglia'', Isabella in ''L'italiana ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fabio Biondi
Fabio Biondi (born 15 March 1961) is an Italian violinist and conductor. He is a specialist in Baroque and early music. Biography Born in Palermo, Sicily, Biondi had a late start, having never even held a violin till age 11, but by the following year he had advanced so quickly that he played a concerto with the RAI Symphony Orchestra.Cosic, Miriam (17-18 October 1999). "Baroque con brio", '' The Weekend Australian'', Review, p. 19 When he was 16, he performed Johann Sebastian Bach's violin concertos at the Musikverein in Vienna. Since then, he has performed with a number of baroque ensembles including La Capella Reial, Musica Antiqua Wien, Seminario Musicale, La Chapelle Royale and Les Musiciens du Louvre. In 1990 Biondi founded Europa Galante, an Italian ensemble specializing in baroque music, that he directs. Biondi's recordings include Antonio Vivaldi's ''Il cimento dell'armonia e dell'inventione'' including '' The Four Seasons'' and the opera '' Bajazet'', Arcangelo Corelli' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Indiana University Bloomington
Indiana University Bloomington (IU Bloomington, Indiana University, IU, IUB, or Indiana) is a public university, public research university in Bloomington, Indiana, United States. It is the flagship university, flagship campus of Indiana University and its largest campus, with over 48,000 students. Established as the state's seminary in 1820, the name was changed to "Indiana College" in 1829 and to "Indiana University" in 1838. Indiana University is a member of the Association of American Universities and is Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity". Its schools and programs include the Jacobs School of Music, Kelley School of Business, Indiana University School of Education, School of Education, Indiana University School of Informatics, Luddy School of Informatics, O'Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana University School of Public Health-Bloomington, School of Pu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhattan), 57th Streets. Designed by architect William Burnet Tuthill and built by its namesake, industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, it is one of the most prestigious venues in the world for both classical music and popular music. Carnegie Hall has its own artistic programming, development, and marketing departments and presents about 250 performances each season. It is also rented out to performing groups. Carnegie Hall has 3,671 seats, divided among three auditoriums. The largest one is the Stern Auditorium, a five-story auditorium with 2,804 seats. Also part of the complex are the 599-seat Zankel Hall on Seventh Avenue, as well as the 268-seat Joan and Sanford I. Weill Recital Hall on 57th Street. Besides the auditoriums, Carnegie Hall ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Los Angeles Opera
The Los Angeles Opera, originally called the Los Angeles Music Center Opera, is an American opera company in Los Angeles, California. It is the fourth-largest opera company in the United States. The company's home base is the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, part of the Los Angeles Music Center. Leadership Spanish tenor and conductor Plácido Domingo was general director of Los Angeles Opera from 2003 to 2019. Domingo sang 27 different roles with the company. He has also conducted 16 different operas and numerous concerts with the company. Domingo resigned in October 2019 following numerous accusations of sexual misconduct. Los Angeles Opera subsequently hired the law firm of Gibson Dunn, under the leadership of former United States Attorney and Superior Court Judge Debra Wong Yang, to conduct an independent investigation of the accusations. After interviewing 44 individuals, Gibson Dunn found that Domingo neither engaged in sexual quid pro quo nor any professional retaliation agai ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Orfeo Ed Euridice
(; French: '; English: ''Orpheus and Eurydice'') is an opera composed by Christoph Willibald Gluck, based on the myth of Orpheus and set to a libretto by Ranieri de' Calzabigi. It belongs to the genre of the '' azione teatrale'', meaning an opera on a mythological subject with choruses and dancing. The piece was first performed at the Burgtheater in Vienna on 5 October 1762, in the presence of Empress Maria Theresa. ''Orfeo ed Euridice'' is the first of Gluck's "reform" operas, in which he attempted to replace the abstruse plots and overly complex music of ''opera seria'' with a "noble simplicity" in both the music and the drama. The opera is the most popular of Gluck's works, and was one of the most influential on subsequent German operas. Variations on its plot—the underground rescue mission in which the hero must control, or conceal, his emotions—can be found in Mozart's ''The Magic Flute'', Beethoven's ''Fidelio'', and Wagner's ''Das Rheingold''. Though originally s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alessandro Scarlatti
Pietro Alessandro Gaspare Scarlatti (2 May 1660 – 22 October 1725) was an Italian Baroque music, Baroque composer, known especially for his operas and chamber cantatas. He is considered the most important representative of the Neapolitan school of opera. Nicknamed by his contemporaries "the Italian Orpheus", he divided his career between Naples and Rome; a significant part of his works was composed for the papal city. He is often considered the founder of the Neapolitan school, although he has only been its most illustrious representative: his contribution, his originality and his influence were essential, as well as lasting, both in Italy and in Europe. Particularly known for his operas, he brought the Italian dramatic tradition to its maximum development, begun by Claudio Monteverdi, Monteverdi at the beginning of 17th century and continued by Antonio Cesti, Cesti, Francesco Cavalli, Cavalli, Giacomo Carissimi, Carissimi, Giovanni Legrenzi, Legrenzi and Alessandro Stradell ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
René Jacobs
René Jacobs (born 30 October 1946) is a Belgian musician. He came to fame as a countertenor, but later in his career he became known as a conductor of baroque and classical opera. Biography Countertenor Born in Ghent, Jacobs began his musical career as a boy chorister at the Cathedral. Later he studied classical philology at the University of Ghent while continuing to sing in Brussels and in The Hague. The Kuijken brothers, Gustav Leonhardt and Alfred Deller all encouraged him to pursue a career as a countertenor, and he quickly became known as one of the best of his time. He recorded a large amount of less-known Baroque music by such composers as Antonio Cesti, d'India, Ferrari, Marenzio, Lambert, Guédron, William Lawes and others. He also sang in much-acclaimed recordings of the major works of Bach (such as the '' St Matthew Passion'' led by Gustav Leonhardt and Philippe Herreweghe). Conductor In 1977, he founded the ensemble Concerto Vocale. As a conductor, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Castrato
A castrato (Italian; : castrati) is a male singer who underwent castration before puberty in order to retain a singing voice equivalent to that of a soprano, mezzo-soprano, or contralto. The voice can also occur in one who, due to an endocrinological condition, never reaches sexual maturity. Castration before puberty (or in its early stages) prevents the larynx from being transformed by the normal physiological events of puberty. As a result, the vocal range of prepubescence (shared by both sexes) is largely retained, and the voice develops into adulthood in a unique way. Prepubescent castration for this purpose diminished greatly in the late 18th century. Methods of castration used to terminate the onset of puberty varied. Methods involved using opium to medically induce a coma, then submerging the boy into an ice or milk bath where the procedure of either twisting the testicles until they atrophied, or complete removal via surgical cutting was performed (however the comp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Breeches Role
In theater, a breeches role or breeches part (also pants role, pants part, trouser role, trouser part, and Hosenrolle) is a role in which a female actor performs in male clothing. Breeches, tight-fitting knee-length pants, were a standard male garment when these roles were introduced. The theatrical term '' travesti'' covers both this sort of cross-dressing and also male actors dressing as female characters. Both are part of the long history of cross-dressing in music and opera and later in film and television. In opera, a breeches role refers to any male character that is sung and acted by a female singer. Most often the character is an adolescent or a very young man, sung by a mezzo-soprano or contralto. Budden J., "Breeches part" in: '' The New Grove Dictionary of Opera''. Macmillan, London and New York, 1997. The operatic concept assumes that the character is male, and the audience accepts him as such, even knowing that the actor is not. Cross-dressing female characters ( ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arminio
''Arminio'' ( HWV 36) is an opera composed by George Frideric Handel. The libretto is based on a libretto of the same name by Antonio Salvi, which had been set to music by Alessandro Scarlatti. It is a fictionalisation of events surrounding the Germanic leader Arminius, who defeated the Romans under Publius Quinctilius Varus at the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest in AD 9, and his wife Thusnelda. The opera was performed for the first time at the Covent Garden Theatre on 12 January 1737. Background The German-born Handel had brought Italian opera to London stages for the first time in 1711 with his opera '' Rinaldo''. An enormous success, ''Rinaldo'' created a craze in London for Italian opera seria, a form focused overwhelmingly on solo arias for the star virtuoso singers. Handel had presented new operas in London for years with great success. One of the major attractions in Handel's operas was the star castrato Senesino whose relationship with the composer was often stormy and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
San Francisco Opera
The San Francisco Opera (SFO) is an American opera company founded in 1923 by Gaetano Merola (1881–1953) based in San Francisco, California. History Gaetano Merola (1923–1953) Merola's road to prominence in the Bay Area began in 1906 when he first visited the city. In 1909, he returned as the conductor of the International Opera Company of Montreal, one of the many visiting troupes that frequented the bustling city. Continued visits over the next decade convinced him that an opera company in San Francisco was viable. Merola moved back into the city in 1921 while living with Mrs. Oliver Stine's support Oliver Stine. He drafted plans for a new, locally-owned opera company that would not rely on visiting troupes, a common practice for some opera companies since the Gold Rush. By the next year, Merola organized a trial season at Stanford University. The first performance occurred in the Stanford Cardinal's football stadium on June 3, 1922, with operatic tenor Giovanni Mart ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Il Barbiere Di Siviglia
''The Barber of Seville, or The Useless Precaution'' ( ) is an ''opera buffa'' (comic opera) in two acts composed by Gioachino Rossini with an Italian libretto by Cesare Sterbini. The libretto was based on Pierre Beaumarchais's French comedy ''The Barber of Seville'' (1775). The premiere of Rossini's opera (under the title ''Almaviva, o sia L'inutile precauzione'') took place on 20 February 1816 at the Teatro Argentina, Rome, with designs by Angelo Toselli. Rossini's ''Barber of Seville'' is considered to be one of the greatest masterpieces of comedy within music, and has been described as the opera buffa of all "opere buffe". After two centuries, it remains a popular work. Composition history Rossini's opera recounts the events of the first of the three plays by French playwright Pierre Beaumarchais that revolve around the clever and enterprising character named Figaro, the barber of the title. Mozart's opera ''The Marriage of Figaro,'' composed 30 years earlier in 1786, i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
