(Credit: Marc Brenner) “The Life and Death of Alexander Litvinenko” is a two-act opera composed by the former investment fund manager, investor, and composer Anthony Bolton, with a libretto by British composer and playwright Kit Hesketh-Harvey. History The opera was originally written by Bolton during the period of 2012 to 2020, whose story was based on the controversial assassination of {…}
Yma Súmac was born in Sept. 13, 1922 as Zoila Emperatriz Chávarri Castillo. She was worldwide known for her five octave vocal range. She was a true diva, also known as the “Incan Princess.” She was born in El Callao, a city next to Lima, but grew up and spent her childhood in Ichocán, a district of the region Cajamarca {…}
(Credit: ALAN NAHIGIAN) “Rituals” is a five-act monodrama for mezzo-soprano and 10 instrumentalists composed by American composer John Zorn. The History The opera received its first performance at the 1988 Bayreuth Opera Festival, of which Wagner’s Parsifal (conducted by the late James Levine) opened the festival’s activities and where the late German opera director Harry Kupfer premiered a controversial-yet-innovative reimagining of {…}
(Image Source: Official Website) With a modest cast of only two, and composed as a modern compliment to Bela Bartok’s expressionist opera “Bluebeard’s Castle”, composed in 1918 and reading as a complex, minor-second analogy of Bartok’s inner turmoil at the time, Hungarian composer Péter Eötvös’ 12th one-act opera “Senza sangue” is a pearl of the new operatic epoch, a testament {…}
On the 29th of August 1775, Joseph Haydn’s seventh opera, “L’Incontro Improvviso” (The Unexpected Encounter – Hob 28:6) was premiered at “Eszterháza,” the Hungarian palace of Prince Nikolaus Esterházy, principle patron of Haydn and a strong advocate of Haydn’s symphonic repertoire. The work had accompanied a four-day visit by Archduke Ferdinand Karl of Austria-Este and his consort Maria Beatrice d’Este. {…}
Considered one of his best works with a total of 70 arias in just three acts, Giovanni Legrenzi’s 16th opera “Il Giustino,” premiered on February 7th in 1683 at the Teatro San Salvador in Venice, was once one of the best pieces of operatic literature in the 17th century. Having made its revival in 2007, the opera is now shelved, with {…}
On August 12th, 1626, the 17th century Venetian composer Giovanni Legrenzi (1626-1690) was born. Regarded as one of the most important Venetian composers of the late-Baroque era and widely acclaimed for his operas and instrumental works, especially his sonatas and sacred music, Legrenzi has become one of the many unsung heroes of music history, and his music was even used {…}
Louise Angelique Bertin was born in Les Roches, France in 1805 and embarked on a career as an opera composer in nineteenth-century Paris. Her work was closely tied to composer Hector Berlioz and author Victor Hugo. She is best remembered as the composer of “La Esmeralda,” an opera based on Hugo’s famous novel “The Hunchback of Notre-Dame.” Though Hugo, one {…}
Francesca Caccini, also nicknamed “La Cecchina,” was a Florentine composer and music teacher who distinguished herself as an important figure of the early Baroque era in Italy. Though Caccini is credited with many compositions throughout her career, only one opera—a comedy called “La liberazione di Ruggerio,” or “The Liberation of Ruggiero from the island of Alcina”—survived to the present day. {…}
American conductor and composer Victoria Bond is one of the most popular artists of opera and classical music today. Over a long career that has included conducting stints around the world and dozens of original compositions, Bond is also notable for her distinction as the first woman to receive a doctorate in orchestral conducting from the Juilliard School. Bond was {…}
(Credit: Bryan Sheffield) Scottish-American composer Thea Musgrave has distinguished herself over the course of a long and prolific career. Many of her works have emerged as some of the most important operas of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Musgrave was born outside of Edinburgh in 1928 and later studied at the University of Edinburgh. As a burgeoning music {…}