"Margaret Ritchie (soprano) Margaret Ritchie (1903–69) was an English soprano who sang opera, oratorio and song. She created a number of operatic roles. In 1946 she was the first Lucia in ""The Rape of Lucretia"" by Benjamin Britten, and in 1947 she was the first Miss Wordsworth in the same composer's ""Albert Herring"". She was one of four singers, together with Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Oda Slobodskaya and Tatiana Makushina, to record a selection of Nikolai Medtner's songs accompanied by the composer: theirs was the premier recording of the ""Sonata-Vocalise"" Op. 41 No. 1, which is introduced by a setting of the"
"Wuthering Heights (1951 opera) Wuthering Heights is the sole opera written by Bernard Herrmann. He worked on it from 1943 to 1951. It is cast in a prologue, 4 acts, and an epilogue that repeats the music of the prologue. The opera was recorded in full by the composer in 1966, but it had to wait until April 2011, the centenary of the composer's birth, for a complete theatrical performance (there was an abridged stage production in 1982 and a concert version in 2010). The libretto was by Herrmann's first wife, Lucille Fletcher, based on the first part of Emily"
"Albert Herring (Britten, Copenhagen Opera House); La Voix Humaine (Cocteau/Poulenc, Stockholm Opera House, awarded Best Contemporary Opera production in Sweden); Powder Her Face (Thomas Adès, Ystad Opera, awarded Best Contemporary Opera Production in Sweden); Potent Shakespeare (Andrew Toovey, Festival Hall, London); Pascal Dusapin's To Be Sung (world premiere, Banff Centre); Puccini's Madama Butterfly (New Zealand Opera); Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress, Bizet's Carmen, Verdi's Macbeth, Beethoven's Fidelio, Massenet's Werther (all English Touring Opera); Barber's A Hand of Bridge; Gershwin's Blue Monday; and Bernstein's Trouble in Tahiti (all Barbican Centre, designed by Chevara); Mozart's Magic Flute (Holland Park Opera, London); Dvořák's The"
"Britten's ""Albert Herring"" (Decca), with the composer conducting, and his recording of ""Nessun Dorma"" from ""Turandot"" are all that remain to stir the memory. He married Nan (née Walters, died December 1998) on 19 August 1939. Their son Huw died in June 1999, and Evans had two grandchildren; Rebecca and Edward. Evans himself died in Northwick Park Hospital Harrow. Edgar Evans (tenor) Edgar Evans (9 June 191222 February 2007) was a Welsh opera singer. His most famous role was Hermann in Tchaikovsky's ""The Queen of Spades"" at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Evans was born in Cwrtnewydd, Cardiganshire, Wales."
"of the British Empire (CBE). In 1999, he was knighted. Both awards were for his services to opera. In 1998 he was named a member of the Royal Opera's Opera Advisory Board, the first time a singer had been given such an appointment. Allen's first book, ""Foreign Parts – A Singer's Journal"" was published in 1993. In November 2002, he directed for the first time in Britten's ""Albert Herring"" at the Royal College of Music. Other directorial credits include Mozart's ""Così fan tutte"" and ""Don Giovanni"" (for Samling, of which he is the patron) at the Sage Music Centre in"
"the Edinburgh Festival. She also sang Nancy in ""Albert Herring"" with Benjamin Britten's English Opera Group at the Cheltenham Festival in 1951. In 1953, she sang the roles of the Rhinemaiden Flosshilde in ""Das Rheingold"" and ""Götterdämmerung"" and the Valkyrie Rossweisse in ""Die Walküre"" in Rudolf Kempe's Covent Garden production of Wagner's ring cycle (also recording these roles) and Magdalena in Rafael Kubelík's Covent Garden production of ""Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg"". With Kubelík, she also recorded Gustav Mahler's ""Third Symphony"". In 1960, she created the role of Hermia in Benjamin Britten's opera, ""A Midsummer Night's Dream"", which she performed at"
"and China. His repertoire includes Handel's ""Messiah"", Bach's Passions, Haydn's ""The Creation"", Britten's ""War Requiem"" and Elgar's ""Dream of Gerontius"". A review in the ""Wellington Post"" wrote about his performance as the Evangelist: ""Most remarkable of the soloists was David Hamilton. His words tumbled out as if he was dramatizing a remarkable event of last week with a voice of wide range and power and a particularly arresting top."" On the opera stage, he has performed in the title role of Britten's ""Albert Herring"", Tamino in Mozart's ""Die Zauberflöte"" and Loge in Wagner's ""Das Rheingold"". In 2007 he performed at"
"of the century"" and in 1983 staged ""Albert Herring"" as part of the December Nights Festival at Moscow's Pushkin Museum. The opera was performed at Buenos Aires's Teatro Colón in 1972. In 2008–2010, over 55 performances were given by companies such as those at Glyndebourne and the Portland Opera in Oregon (2008 season); the Opéra-Comique in Paris and the Opéra de Normandie in Rouen (2009);and, for 2010, at the Landestheater in Linz, the Finnish National Opera in Helsinki and the Santa Fe Opera. The Santa Fe production was given by the Los Angeles Opera in 2011. Vancouver Opera presented the"
"Topi Lehtipuu Topi Lehtipuu (born 24 March 1971 in Brisbane, Australia) is a Finnish operatic tenor. He has sung a variety of roles from different periods, including the title role in Benjamin Britten's ""Albert Herring"" at the Finnish National Opera, several roles in Mozart operas, including Belmonte in ""Die Entführung aus dem Serail"" and Tamino in ""Die Zauberflöte"", both at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris, and Ferrando in ""Così fan tutte"" at the 2006 Glyndebourne Festival. He has also appeared in Handel's ""Ariodante"" (Paris Opera) and as Hylas in Berlioz' ""Les Troyens"" (conducted by John Eliot Gardiner). He has"
"""Les troyens"" to name just a few. The American Opera Society was founded in 1950 by two young musicians at the Juilliard School: Allen Sven Oxenburg and Arnold Gamson. Oxenburg served as the AOS's Artistic Director throughout the company's entire history. Gamson served as the AOS's Music Director and principal conductor between 1951–1960 and later returned to conduct several performances with the AOS in the late 1960s; including a lauded production of Handel's ""Giulio Cesare"" with Montserrat Caballé as Cleopatra in 1967. Composer Samuel Barlow notably served as the President of the board during much of the 1950s. The AOS"
"Opera’s Young Artist program from 2007 to 2010. In 2010 Hart again studied with Marilyn Horne, at the Music Academy of the West, where she won the Marilyn Horne Song Competition. Marilyn Horne has since remained Hart's teacher. Hart's operatic repertoire spans Baroque roles such as Handel's Alcina, and Almirena in his ""Rinaldo"", leading ladies in Mozart operas such as the Countess in ""Le nozze di Figaro"", Donna Anna in ""Don Giovanni"", and Fiordiligi in ""Così fan tutte"". She appeared in roles from the 20th century, such as Lady Billows in Britten's ""Albert Herring"", the title role in Poulenc's ""La"
"London. The opera is based upon the story of the Roman Emperor Alexander Severus. Notes Sources Alessandro Severo Alessandro Severo (Alexander Severus, HWV A13) is an opera by George Frideric Handel composed in 1738. It is one of Handel's three pasticcio works, made up of the music and arias of his previous operas ""Giustino"", ""Berenice"" and ""Arminio"". Only the overture and recitatives (as well as the words) were new. The impresario Johann Jacob Heidegger probably selected the 1717 libretto by Apostolo Zeno, originally written for Antonio Lotti and re-used by many composers thereafter. ""Alessandro Severo"" was not a success at"
"2001), ""Eugen Onegin"" (Daniel Harding/Irina Brook), ""The Love of Three Oranges"" (Tugan Sokhiev/Philippe Calvario, 2004), ""Così fan tutte"" (Daniel Harding/Patrice Chéreau, 2005) and ""Written on Skin"" (George Benjamin/Martin Crimp, 2012.) A residency contract with Ferrara Musica was signed in 1998, providing for two concert series a year. In addition to opera projects with Claudio Abbado, concert series with MCO music director Daniel Harding and renowned guest conductors such as Christopher Hogwood, Philippe Herreweghe, Paavo Järvi, Murray Perahia and Vladimir Ashkenazy also take place here. Soloists such as Cecilia Bartoli, Martha Argerich, Christian Tetzlaff or Emanuel Ax join the orchestra for"
"Theatre). He also composed and arranged music from his early years. He started with traditional forms like a ""String Quartet in B minor"" in 1920 but became more famous in later years for his work on light classical music and music for films. A well-known work is the operetta ""A Kiss in Spring"", which was originally composed by Emmerich Kálmán, but for a performance series at the Alhambra Theatre in 1932 Herbert Griffiths reworked the score together with Constant Lambert. The performance also included some ballet scenes choreographed by Frederick Ashton and was danced by Alicia Markova, Harold Turner, Walter"
"Albert Hall creative team, the original creative team, as well as the original leads from both the London and Broadway productions, and the original London cast, including Michael Crawford and Sarah Brightman. Brightman sings ""The Phantom of the Opera"" with four Phantoms: Colm Wilkinson from the original workshop and the Canadian production, Anthony Warlow from the Australian production, Peter Jöback, who has now played the role in the West End, Broadway, and Sweden, John Owen-Jones from the London and 25th Anniversary Tour productions. The performance concludes when Ramin Karimloo joins the four Phantoms to sing ""The Music of the Night"","
"Alessandro Severo Alessandro Severo (Alexander Severus, HWV A13) is an opera by George Frideric Handel composed in 1738. It is one of Handel's three pasticcio works, made up of the music and arias of his previous operas ""Giustino"", ""Berenice"" and ""Arminio"". Only the overture and recitatives (as well as the words) were new. The impresario Johann Jacob Heidegger probably selected the 1717 libretto by Apostolo Zeno, originally written for Antonio Lotti and re-used by many composers thereafter. ""Alessandro Severo"" was not a success at its premiere under the direction of the composer on 25 February 1738 at the King's Theatre,"
"Allegro (musical) Allegro is a musical by Richard Rodgers (music) and Oscar Hammerstein II (book and lyrics), their third collaboration for the stage. Opening on Broadway on October 10, 1947, the musical centers on the life of Joseph Taylor, Jr., who follows in the footsteps of his father as a doctor, but is tempted by fortune and fame at a big-city hospital. After the immense successes of the first two Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals, ""Oklahoma!"" and ""Carousel"", the pair sought a subject for their next play. Hammerstein had long contemplated a serious work which would deal with the problems of"
"You Like It"", ""Coriolanus"", ""Romeo and Juliet"", ""The Tempest"", ""King Lear"", ""Julius Caesar"", ""Henry V"", and ""A Midsummer Night’s Dream""; Bertolt Brecht's ""Life of Galileo"", ""The Wedding"", ""Arturo Ui"", ""Three Penny Opera"", and the opera ""The Rise and Fall of the City Mahagonny""; Harold Pinter's ""The Homecoming"", ""Betrayal"", ""Landscape"",""Silence"",""One for the Road"", ""Ashes to Ashes"", ""The New World Order"", ""Party Time"", and ""Mountain Language""; C. P. Taylor's ""Good"" by C. P. Taylor; Engelbert Humperdinck's 1983 opera ""Hänsel und Gretel""; ""Wild Honey"", an untitled work by Anton Chekhov adapted by Michael Frayn; and ""Agamemnon"", by Aeschylus, as adapted by Steven Berkoff;"
"Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, Nicholas McGegan, conductor. Recorded 2005. Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra CD's. Notes Sources Atalanta (opera) Atalanta (HWV 35) is a pastoral opera in three acts by George Frideric Handel composed in 1736. It is based upon the mythological female athlete, Atalanta, the libretto (which is in Italian) being derived from the book ""La Caccia in Etolia"" by Belisario Valeriani. The identity of the librettist is not known. Handel composed it for the London celebrations of the marriage in 1736 of Frederick, Prince of Wales, eldest son of King George II, to Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha. The first performance took"
"(1953), Lukas Foss' ""Griffelkin"" (1955), Norman Dello Joio's ""The Trial at Rouen"" (1956), Leonard Kastle's ""The Swing"", Stanley Hollingsworth's ""La Grande Bretèche"" (1957), Menotti's ""Maria Golovin"" (1958), Philip Bezanson's ""Golden Child"" (1960), Kastle's ""Deseret"" (1961) and Menotti's ""Labyrinth"" (1963). Most NBC Opera telecasts were sponsored by Texaco, who was also the longtime sponsor of radio broadcasts of the Metropolitan Opera. Nearly all NBCOT presentations after the middle 1950s were broadcast in color. NBC Opera Theatre The NBC Opera Theatre (sometimes mistakenly spelled NBC Opera Theater and sometimes referred to as the NBC Opera Company) was an American opera company operated"
"Michael Ching Michael Ching (born September 29, 1958) is an American composer, conductor, and music administrator. A prolific and eclectic composer, he is best known nationally as the composer of innovative operas, including his ""a cappella"" adaptation of Shakespeare's ""A Midsummer Night's Dream"" (2011). His other major operas include ""Buoso's Ghost"" (1996), ""Corps of Discovery"" (2003), ""Slaying the Dragon"" (2012), ""Speed Dating Tonight!"" (2013), and ""Alice Ryley"" (2015). He has also written the librettos of a number of his own operas. Michael Ching was born in 1958 in Honolulu, Hawaii. Before he was one year old his family left Honolulu,"
"Opera in 2007, and by Vertical Player Repertory Opera in 2009, starring William Browning as Eddie. The opera was first performed in Europe at Theater Hagen in 2003 in German translation. The first English (original) language version produced in Europe opened at the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma in Rome on January 18, 2011. L.A. Theatre Works released a radio adaptation of the play in 1998. BBC Radio 3 produced a radio adaptation in 2017. A View from the Bridge A View from the Bridge is a play by American playwright Arthur Miller. It was first staged on September 29, 1955,"
"operas by Francesco Cavalli. In 1963 he composed the original score for Peter Brook's ""Lord of the Flies"", the film adaptation of William Golding's novel of the same name. His original score for the 1969 film ""Alfred the Great"" was released by MGM Records in the UK, and vinyl copies are now highly collectible. In November 1969, he made his USA debut conducting the Westminster Choir and New York Philharmonic, at which occasion he also appeared as soloist in the Joseph Haydn's Harpsichord Concerto in D major. In 1973 he became principal conductor of the BBC Northern Symphony Orchestra in"
"Gore and Prudence Hyman. Herbert Griffiths also composed the music and conducted the orchestra for an ice skating and cabaret show titled ""St. Moritz – Ice Musical Spectacle"" that took place at the London Coliseum in 1937. Herbert Griffths worked also for films and created music for ""Such Is the Law"" (1930), ""Black in the Face"" (1954), ""Five O'Clock Finish"" (1954), ""That's an Order"" (1955), ""Playground Express"" (1955), ""The Stripes of Sgt. Schweiger"" (1956) and ""The Baroness"" (1956). Herbert Griffiths Herbert Griffiths (14 April 1899 – 1969) was a British organist and composer and arranger of classical music, theatre music"
"Much younger that her husband, Isména survived him by nearly 60 years. She died in October 2004, aged 101. His early theatre compositions included incidental music for Shakespeare's ""The Two Gentlemen of Verona"", additional songs for Leo Fall's operetta ""The Merry Farmer"" (1907) and the children's opera ""King Goldemar"" (1902). But Holland composed in almost all major classical forms. For orchestra he wrote ""Gavotte Pastorale"", the tone poem ""Evening on the Lake"" (1908), a violin concerto in one movement, ""Ellingham Marshes"" for viola and orchestra, the ""Spring Sinfonietta"" (1943) and the ""Threnody"" for cello and orchestra (1945), which was not"
"Atalanta (opera) Atalanta (HWV 35) is a pastoral opera in three acts by George Frideric Handel composed in 1736. It is based upon the mythological female athlete, Atalanta, the libretto (which is in Italian) being derived from the book ""La Caccia in Etolia"" by Belisario Valeriani. The identity of the librettist is not known. Handel composed it for the London celebrations of the marriage in 1736 of Frederick, Prince of Wales, eldest son of King George II, to Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha. The first performance took place on 12 May 1736 in the Covent Garden Theatre. It closed with a"
"very positive critical attention. It has since been transferred to CD (Unicorn-Kanchana UKCD 2050). A live performance by the Orchestre National de Montpellier under Alain Altinoglu, with Daniel Boaz and Laura Aikin (Festival de Radio-France-Monpellier, July 2010) was released in October 2011 by the French label Accord/Universal. The 3-CD set received the Diapason d'Or-Découverte and the Diamand award from French magazines ""Diapason"" and ""Opéra"". ""Wuthering Heights"" quotes various themes from Herrmann's earlier film scores: Some themes from the opera were used in Herrmann's later scores: Wuthering Heights (1951 opera) Wuthering Heights is the sole opera written by Bernard Herrmann. He"
"composing ""The Taming of the Shrew"" in 1938 while finishing work on his earlier opera, ""The Scarlet Letter"". He worked sporadically on the opera over the next 12 years; often interrupted by a variety of other music projects and distractions related to World War II that took his attention away from the project. He completed ""The Taming of the Shrew"" in 1950. In 1954 the NBC Opera Theater filmed a shortened 90 minute version of the opera for television starring John Raitt as Petruchio and Susan Yager as Katharina under the baton of Peter Herman Adler. It was broadcast nationwide"
"Orlando (opera) Orlando (HWV 31) is an opera seria in three acts by George Frideric Handel written for the King's Theatre in London in 1733. The Italian-language libretto was adapted from Carlo Sigismondo Capece's ""L'Orlando"" after Ludovico Ariosto's ""Orlando Furioso"", which was also the source of Handel's operas ""Alcina"" and ""Ariodante"". More an artistic than a popular success at its first performances, ""Orlando"" is today recognised as a masterpiece. The opera was first given at the King's Theatre in London on 27 January 1733. There were 10 further performances and it was not revived. The first production since Handel's lifetime"
"Engelbert Humperdinck (composer) Engelbert Humperdinck (; 1 September 1854 – 27 September 1921) was a German composer, best known for his opera ""Hansel and Gretel"". Humperdinck was born at Siegburg in the Rhine Province in 1854. After receiving piano lessons, he produced his first composition at the age of seven. His first attempts at works for the stage were two singspiele written when he was 13. His parents disapproved of his plans for a career in music and encouraged him to study architecture. Nevertheless, he began taking music classes under Ferdinand Hiller and Isidor Seiss at the Cologne Conservatory in"
"in case others might think ill of it, it would be as well that it should be seen to stop."" Britten dedicated ""The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra"" to Humphrey and the other Maud children. Jonathan Gathorne-Hardy was another friend of Britten. Fourteen-year-old Jonny ""could not help flirting slightly"" and was ""at once aware I attracted him"". Jonny and his siblings and cousins provided the children's names for Britten's opera ""The Little Sweep"". David Spenser was thirteen years old when he had the role of Harry in Britten's opera ""Albert Herring"". When he first went to stay with Britten"
"more operettas for Broadway, ""The Wizard of the Nile"" (1895), ""The Serenade"" (1897), which enjoyed international success, and ""The Fortune Teller"" (1898), starring Alice Nielsen. Although these achieved popularity, Herbert did not produce any more stage works for several years, focusing on his work with the Pittsburgh Symphony until 1904. Just before leaving that orchestra, he returned to Broadway with his first major hit, ""Babes in Toyland"" (1903). Two more successes followed, ""Mlle. Modiste"" (1905) and ""The Red Mill"" (1906), which solidified Herbert as one of the best-known American composers. He was elected to the National Institute of Arts and"
"""Stop The Week"". His nephew is comedian John Oliver. Stephen Oliver (composer) Stephen Michael Harding Oliver (10 March 1950 – 29 April 1992) was an English composer, best known for his operas. Oliver was born in Chester, the son of Charlotte Hester (Girdlestone), a religious education adviser, and Osborne George Oliver, an electricity board official. His maternal great-grandfather was William Boyd Carpenter, a Bishop of Ripon and a court chaplain to Queen Victoria. Oliver was educated at St Paul's Cathedral, Ardingly College and at Worcester College, Oxford, where he read music under Kenneth Leighton and Robert Sherlaw Johnson. His first"