Opera
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The Life You Give: Shirley Verrett *March 31 1931
Shirley Verrett was one of America’s finest opera stars and recital singers, and was one of the remarkable generation of great African-American singers who came to international prominence in the 1950s and 1960s. She studied voice in Los Angeles with Anna Fitziu and Hall Johnson. In 1955, she won the nationally broadcast CBS program Arthur…
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The Life You Give: Dolora Zajick *March 24 1952
Dolora Zajick (ZAH-chik) is among the world’s leading dramatic mezzo-sopranos, unsurpassed in Verdi’s mezzo roles. Birgit Nilsson in 1991 stated that “Zajick’s voice is the only one existing today without any competition in the world.” She comes from a large family of Czech descent. As a pre-medical student at the University of Nevada, she took…
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The Life You Give: Modest Mussorgsky *1839
Modest Mussorgsky, born Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky, on March 9 [March 21, New Style], 1839, in Karevo, Russia, was the composer noted particularly for his opera Boris Godunov (final version first performed 1874), his songs, and his piano piece Pictures from an Exhibition (1874). Mussorgsky, along with Aleksandr Borodin, Mily Balakirev, Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, and César Cui,…
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The Counter Tenor
Iestyn Davies is one of today’s most in-demand singers. And unusually for a top opera star, he’s a countertenor. We spoke to him about his unusual voice type in a beautiful 18th-century house in Spitalfields First things first: what is a countertenor? One question I’m often asked is “how high do you go?” Because people…
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The Life You Give: Rosalind Elias *1931
Mezzo-soprano Rosalind Elias had a long, leading career in opera on the international scene. She was most often heard at the Metropolitan Opera, where she spent more than 40 years as part of its company. There, and elsewhere, she performed in many American and world premieres. Opera, Blood, and Tears presents The Life You Give:…
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“Don Carlo” (Verdi) premiered on this day in 1867
Verdi’s grand opera Don Carlos is a story of love and devotion conflicting with political and religious upheaval. Lost on a hunting expedition, Elisabeth de Valois runs into the young Prince of Spain, Don Carlos. They immediately fall in love, and are delighted to find out that they are actually betrothed. Their happiness is not…
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The Life You Give: Antonio Vivaldi *1678
Antonio Vivaldi, born Antonio Lucio Vivaldi, on March 4 1678, in Venice, Republic of Venice [Italy], is the composer and violinist who left a decisive mark on the form of the concerto and the style of late Baroque instrumental music. Vivaldi’s main teacher was probably his father, Giovanni Battista, who in 1685 was admitted as…
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“Carmen” (Bizét) premiered today in 1875
Opéra comique in four actsComposer: Georges BizétLibrettists: Ludovic Halévy, Henri MeilhacLanguage: FrenchBased on “Carmen” by Prosper MériméePremiere: 3 March 1875, at the Opéra-Comique, Paris With a plot based on the 1845 novella of the same name by Prosper Mérimée, Bizet’s Carmen was groundbreaking in its realism, and it rapidly became one of the most popular…
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The Life You Give: Simon Estes *March 2 1938
One of just a few African-American male singers who has had a top-rank international operatic career, bass-baritone Simon Estes grew up in Iowa in a house without heat or indoor plumbing. He sang in church as a youth, but when he enrolled at the University of Iowa in the late ’50s he had never heard…
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The Virtuous Black XXVIII: Jessye Norman
Jessye Norman, born Jessye Mae Norman, on September 15 1945 in Augusta, Georgia, U.S.A., was operatic soprano, one of the finest of her day, who also enjoyed a successful concert career. After winning the Bavarian Radio Corp. International Music Competition in 1968, Norman made her operatic debut as Elisabeth in Richard Wagner’s Tannhäuser in 1969…
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The Life You Give / Virtuous Black XXVII — Marian Anderson *1897
Marian Anderson, born on February 27 1897, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.A., was one of the finest contraltos of her time. Anderson displayed vocal talent as a child, but her family could not afford to pay for formal training. From the age of six, she was tutored in the choir of the Union Baptist Church, where…
Sila Blume 