• 4813
• Articles
• 31 Gen 2012

Georges Bizet formally Alexandre César Léopold Bizet, (25 October 1838 – 3 June 1875) was a French composer, mainly of operas. In a career cut short by his early death, he achieved few successes before his final work, “Carmen”, became one of the most popular and frequently performed works in the entire opera repertory. During […]

• 1536
• Articles
• 29 Gen 2012

Shirley Verrett (May 31, 1931 – November 5, 2010) was an African-American operatic mezzo-soprano who successfully transitioned into soprano roles i.e. soprano sfogato. Verrett enjoyed great fame from the late 1960s through the 1990s, particularly well-known for singing the works of Verdi and Donizetti. Born into an African-American family of devout Seventh-day Adventists in New […]

• 1505
• Articles
• 28 Gen 2012

“Mitridate, re di Ponto” (“Mithridates, King of Pontus”), K. 87 (74a), is an early opera seria in three acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The libretto is by Vittorio Amadeo Cigna-Santi after Giuseppe Parini’s Italian translation of Jean Racine. Mozart wrote Mitridate while touring Italy in 1770. The musicologist Daniel E. Freeman has recently demonstrated that […]

• 1189
• Articles
• 28 Gen 2012

La clemenza di Tito (English: The Clemency of Titus), K. 621, is an opera seria in two acts composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to an Italian libretto by Caterino Mazzolà, after Metastasio. It was started after the bulk of The Magic Flute, the last opera that Mozart worked on, was already written (Mozart completed The […]

• 1519
• Articles
• 26 Gen 2012

Lorraine Hunt (Mezzo-Soprano). Born: March 1, 1954 – San Francisco, California, USA. Died: July 3, 2006 – Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA. Lorraine Hunt began focussing fully on singing only when she was 26, what may account for the musical depth and intelligence of her vocal artistry. Her breakthrough as a singer came with the […]

• 1186
• Articles
• 24 Gen 2012

“Serse” (“Xerxes”, HWV 40) is an opera seria in three acts by George Frederick Händel. It was first performed in London on 15 April 1738. The Italian libretto was adapted by an unknown hand from that by Silvio Stampiglia for an earlier opera of the same name by Giovanni Bononcini in 1694. Stampiglia’s libretto was […]

• 1848
• Articles
• 23 Gen 2012

Dame Joan Alston Sutherland, OM, AC, DBE (7 November 1926 – 10 October 2010) was an Australian dramatic coloratura soprano noted for her contribution to the renaissance of the bel canto repertoire from the late 1950s through to the 1980s. One of the most remarkable female opera singers of the 20th century, she was dubbed […]

• 3860
• Articles
• 23 Gen 2012

“Händel is the greatest composer who ever lived. I would bare my head and kneel at his grave”. ( L. v. Beethoven -1824) Most music lovers have encountered George Frederick Händel through holiday-time renditions of the “Messiah”‘s “Hallelujah” chorus. And many of them know and love that oratorio of Christ’s life and death, as well […]

• 1341
• Articles
• 19 Gen 2012

Marilyn Horne (born January 16, 1934, Bradford, Pennsylvania) is an American mezzo-soprano opera singer. She specialized in roles requiring a large sound, beauty of tone, excellent breath support, and the ability to execute difficult coloratura passages. Horne was born in Bradford, Pennsylvania, but moved with her parents to Long Beach, California, when she was 11. […]

• 1316
• Articles
• 17 Gen 2012

Benedetto Marcello (31 July or 1 August 1686 – 24 July 1739) was a Venetian composer, writer, advocate, magistrate, and teacher. Born in Venice, Benedetto Marcello was a member of a noble family and his compositions are frequently referred to as Patrizio Veneto. Although he was a music student of Antonio Lotti and Francesco Gasparini, […]