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‘There are a lot of people who probably think that I’m never going to sing again, so I will come for them and kick their arses!’ Adele joked with a reporter on the red carpet pre-Grammys. Her phenomenal success that night wasn’t restricted to winning six awards though: Adele’s knockout performance confirmed her famous voice had been unaffected by ...

Source: Adele: Songbird, by Alice Hudson

The Queen of Spades, based on another story by Pushkin, was Tchaikovsky’s penultimate opera and one in which western influences were particularly evident. It was first produced at the Maryinsky Theatre in St Petersburg on 19 December 1890. However, 20 years passed before it was staged at the Metropolitan Opera, New York on 5 March 1910 and ...

Source: Definitive Opera Encyclopedia, founding editor Stanley Sadie

Queen guitarist Brian May is among the most recognizable players in the world. His distinctive tones, created by the home-made guitar he built when he was 16 and has used throughout his career, are integral to the sound of Queen. Many of the sounds he produced were so innovative that the first seven Queen albums pointedly stated that no ...

Source: Rock Guitar Heroes, consultant editor Rusty Cutchin

The gorgeously flamboyant Queen were formed in 1970 in London by singer Freddie Mercury (born Farrokh Bulsara, 5 September 1946), guitarist Brian May (born 19 July 1947) and drummer Roger Taylor (born Roger Meddows-Taylor, 26 July 1949), with bassist John Deacon (born 19 August 1951) completing the line up in 1971. They spent two years developing their style while ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Rock, general editor Michael Heatley

Chinese gong; the splash cymbal (15 cm/6 in diameter); and the sizzle cymbal. In the late 1970s and the 1980s, drummers of stadium-rock bands like Asia, Kiss, Queen and Styx used very large drum kits that might include 25 to 30 items, among them two bass drums, two hi-hats, extra tom toms, bongos and roto-toms ...

Source: The Illustrated Complete Musical Instruments Handbook, general editor Lucien Jenkins

The piano has occupied a special place in music and, since the advent of amplification, musicians have sought ways in which its expressive, versatile sound could be made louder in order to carry above the sound of other amplified instruments and also how it could be packaged into an instrument more easily transportable than the traditional acoustic piano. ...

Source: The Illustrated Complete Musical Instruments Handbook, general editor Lucien Jenkins

a stress-inducing choice of styles, including ‘Sheraton, Jacobean, Tudor, Gothic, Louis XIII, XIV, XV and XVI, Flemish Renaissance, Elizabethan cinquecento, Queen Anne, Empire and Moorish’. The ingenious Henri Pape of Paris could provide instruments of almost any size and shape. Round, oval, hexagonal, pyramidic, concealed within ...

Source: The Illustrated Complete Musical Instruments Handbook, general editor Lucien Jenkins

The sole remaining mystery of the virginals is its name – and its singular plurality. A virginals ? Nor need there be two instruments to speak of a ‘pair’ of virginals. This was common parlance in Tudor times. Origins of the Virginals As to the singular or plural form, both are acceptable these days – but why ‘virginal’ in the ...

Source: The Illustrated Complete Musical Instruments Handbook, general editor Lucien Jenkins

Bill Keith and Dan Tyminski). Canada has also produced its share of artists: long-time Grand Ole Opry favourite Hank Snow, easy listening country-pop diva Anne Murray and alternative country queen k.d. lang. Although Charley Pride is the only African-American to achieve enduring stardom in mainstream country, other eminently gifted African-American singers like DeFord Bailey (whose firing from the ...

Source: The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Music, general editor Paul Du Noyer

the twentieth century. A broader, less politically motivated relation of European cabaret, with the emphasis on accessible song-and-dance routines and innuendo, the style had a charismatic cockney queen in the shape of Marie Lloyd. At the French revues, costumed divas such as Mistinguett added an extra dimension of flamboyance and theatrical zest. And, while music hall’s ...

Source: The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Music, general editor Paul Du Noyer

within the larger work. Composed: 1959–60 Premiered: 1960, Aldeburgh Libretto by the composer and Peter Pears, after William Shakespeare’s play Act I Oberon and Tytania, King and Queen of the Fairies, are quarrelling. Oberon orders Puck, his sprite, to find a flower with juice that makes everyone fall in love with the first creature they ...

Source: Definitive Opera Encyclopedia, founding editor Stanley Sadie

I A herald tells the grieving crowd gathered in the square next to the palace of Admetus, King of Thessaly, that the king is near to death. His queen, Alcestis, enters and beseeches the gods to relent and have pity on her and her children. She then invites the crowd to join her in the temple of ...

Source: Definitive Opera Encyclopedia, founding editor Stanley Sadie

Carthage, having been shipwrecked on his way to Italy, where he was bound by Fate to found a new Troy. Belinda, lady-in-waiting and confidante of Dido, Queen of Carthage, sees Aeneas approaching the castle and requests that the court present him with an entertainment. There follows an allegorical dance featuring Phoebus and Venus. Act I Dido ...

Source: Definitive Opera Encyclopedia, founding editor Stanley Sadie

‘low’ characters, the children of nature, Papageno and Papagena, contrast with the Moor Monostatos, who sings in a frenetic buffo style. The hard glitter of the Queen of Night’s music is set against the grave nobility of the numbers for Sarastro and the priests. At the centre are the two lovers, Pamina and Tamino, and ...

Source: Definitive Opera Encyclopedia, founding editor Stanley Sadie

the cause. Meanwhile, Princess Eboli sings to the ladies of the court. Elisabeth arrives and Rodrigo hands her a note from Carlos, requesting a meeting. Carlos and the queen are left alone; he declares his love for her, but she explains that nothing can be done; he leaves. Philip enters; angry at finding Elisabeth unattended, he dismisses ...

Source: Definitive Opera Encyclopedia, founding editor Stanley Sadie
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