Composed in 1944–45 and first performed on 7 June 1945, Peter Grimes reopened London’s Sadler’s Wells Theatre following the Second World War – at the request of managing director, soprano Joan Cross. This opera, and its success, provided the momentum that the post-war arts environment needed. From the moment Britten read ‘The Borough’ he began making plans ...
Alternative-rock guitarist Peter Buck (b. 1956) was born in Berkeley, California. After dropping out of college, he moved to Athens, Georgia, where he met singer Michael Stipe while working in a record shop. The pair discovered that they had similar tastes in music: punk rock, Patti Smith and Television. Together with Mike Mills (bass) and ...
Peter Tosh (1944–87), born Winston Hubert McIntosh, was the guitarist in the original Wailing Wailers. His mercurial temperament, provocative advocacy of the Rastafari movement and untimely death drew attention from his role in the most important band in the history of reggae. Tosh grew up in Kingston, Jamaica. His height (6ft 5in/2m) and temperament earned him the nickname ...
Blues-rock guitarist Peter Green was born Peter Greenbaum in Bethnal Green, London in 1946. He began playing guitar at the age of 10. Among his early influences were Hank Marvin, Muddy Waters and B.B. King. After Green played bass in several semi-pro outfits, keyboardist Peter Bardens invited him to play lead in his band. Three months later ...
Peter Frampton (b. 1950) rode a slow-developing wave of popularity that transported him from British teen idol to international pop megastar, only to see the wave crash in a show-business wipeout of legendary proportions. In the ensuing 30 years, Frampton has managed to mix a fair number of successes with disappointments while navigating much calmer musical seas. Frampton got ...
(Pa’-ter Kôr-nal’-yoos) 1824–74 German composer Although gifted as an actor, Cornelius studied music in Berlin and joined Liszt’s circle in Weimar (1852), alongside Bülow, Joachim and others. He was a vociferous literary champion of the ‘New German School’ of Liszt and Wagner, yet his own works are surprisingly un-Wagnerian. They include many attractive Lieder, to his own poetry ...
(Piano, b. 1925) Canadian pianist Oscar Peterson made his name on ‘Jazz At The Philharmonic’ (JATP) tours in the early 1950s, and formed his own trio in 1952. His most famous line-up (1953–58) featured Herb Ellis (guitar) and Ray Brown (bass); he replaced the guitar with more conventional drums from 1958. His extravagant improvisations combined pre-bop and bop elements. ...
(Keyboards, guitar, bass, drums, trumpet, vocals, b. 1963) Born Judge Kenneth Peterson in Buffalo, New York, this child prodigy keyboardist had played on The Ed Sullivan Show by the age of six. His father is soul bluesman James Peterson. At 17, Lucky became Little Milton’s bandleader and then played with Bobby Bland. ...
(Vocals, guitar, b. 1942) Peter Rowan was a member of Bill Monroe And The Blue Grass Boys from 1964 to 1967 and that stint gave him a solid, traditional foundation for everything he did after that, no matter how wild, whether it was the art-rock band Earth Opera (with David Grisman), the folk-rock band Sea Train ...
1824–74, German The German composer Peter Cornelius first intended to be an actor, but instead chose music after studying in Mainz, his home town, and Berlin. In 1852, Cornelius went to Weimar, where he encountered Liszt, then Kapellmeister to the grand duke. While admiring him, Cornelius was wary of the influence of Wagner ...
The city of St Petersburg was founded in 1703 by Peter the Great as his ‘window on the West’ – part of his plan to connect backward Russia to the modern world. A court theatre was included as part of Peter’s modernizing policy, but plays were being performed there for more than 30 years before the first opera was staged. ...
1910–86, English England’s leading tenor from 1945 to 1960, Pears created many of Benjamin Britten’s leading roles, including Peter Grimes, Albert Herring, The Male Chorus (The Rape of Lucretia) and Aschenbach (Death in Venice). An oratorio specialist, he performed the Evangelist in the Bach Passions with distinction, while in recitals, often accompanied by ...
b. 1934 English composer Early use of serialism (Trumpet Sonata, 1955) led Davies to a less systematic method of composing with smaller sets of pitches (Prolation, 1958). Alongside this grew a fascination for the pre-Baroque. Davies makes particular use of plainsong themes, which he then subjects to quasi-serial transformations. A peculiar leaning towards parody was central to Davies’s ...
1929–2014 Australian composer Following a period of study in Oxford (1958–1960), Sculthorpe returned to Australia, where he remained until his death. A slightly self-conscious style of writing, whereby he added together many tiny parts, gave his work a clear personal stamp. Sculthorpe had a strong relationship with Aboriginal culture, writing works that were evocative of places (Mangrove ...
1910–86 English tenor Pears was the life-long companion of Britten, who wrote all his tenor roles and many of his concert works for him. He was a choral singer in the 1930s; in 1943, after returning with Britten from the US, he joined Sadler’s Wells Opera, singing mainly lyrical parts. At Covent Garden in the 1950s his ...
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David Bowie
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