AUTHORITATIVE | CURATED | First 500 words Free

• Personalities
• Classical
• Conductor
• Modern Era

1878–1968 Italian conductor Serafin was principal conductor at La Scala, Milan, 1909–14 and 1917–18, and conductor at the Metropolitan Opera, New York, 1924–34. After World War II he returned to La Scala, where he conducted the Italian premiere of Britten’s Peter Grimes. At Covent Garden in 1959 he conducted Joan Sutherland in her triumphant performance ...

• Personalities
• Classical
• Contemporary Classical
• Singer

joined the Covent Garden company in 1952 and sang many roles, including Jenifer in the premiere of Tippett’s The Midsummer Marriage. Her performance as Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor under Serafin in 1959 launched her career as an international star in the bel canto repertory, with debuts in the role at Paris (1960), La Scala (1961) and the Metropolitan Opera ...

• Personalities
• Classical
• Composer
• Late Romantic
• Librettist

debate, as explored in Boito’s second opera Nerone, completed and first performed posthumously in 1924. Recommended Recording: Mefistofele, soloists, Santa Cecilia Chorus & Orchestra (cond) Tullio Serafin (Decca) Introduction | Late Romantic | Classical Personalities | Alexander Borodin | Late Romantic | Classical ...

• Personalities
• Classical
• Composer
• Late Romantic

was sung by Licia Albanese, who had seven Puccini heroines in her repertory. Recommended Recording: La bohème, soloists, Accademia di Santa Cecilia Chorus & Orchestra (cond) Tullio Serafin (Decca) Introduction | Late Romantic | Classical Personalities | Sergey Vasilyevich Rachmaninov | Late Romantic | Classical ...

• Personalities
• Modern Era
• Opera

1926–2010, Australian Dubbed ‘La Stupenda’ in Milan, this great coloratura soprano was capable of flawless trills and vocal pyrotechnics that were best suited to the bel canto repertoire, especially Bellini and Donizetti heroines. Sutherland’s musical engagements began at a young age in Sydney and culminated in her winning Australia’s foremost voice competition. Thereafter she studied at London’s Royal ...

• Personalities
• Classical
• Modern Era
• Singer

for Greece in 1937, and made her debut as Tosca in Athens in 1942. Her early post-war repertory included Wagner’s Brünnhilde and Isolde, but under the guidance of Serafin she concentrated on the Italian repertory. She was a singing actress of great power who made an indelible impression as Bellini’s Norma, the part in which she made her ...

• Personalities
• Modern Era
• Opera

Greece when she was 13. She made her debut in Athens at the age of 17, singing the role of Tosca. Her repertoire remained diverse until Italian conductor Tullio Serafin redirected her towards the coloratura bel canto works of Bellini and Donizetti. Callas’s personal life and difficult temperament were often as dramatic as her stage roles. She married Giovanni Meneghini ...

• Personalities
• Classical
• Conductor
• Modern Era

beyond his retirement in 1957. He conducted fiery performances of Wagner and Verdi, and made an outstanding recording of Tosca. Introduction | Modern Era | Classical Personalities | Tullio Serafin | Modern Era | Classical ...

• Personalities
• Classical
• Composer
• Early Romantic

, from rich elegiac lyricism to more forceful and imposing drama. Recommended Recording: Norma, soloists incl. Maria Callas, Chorus & Orchestra of La Scala, Milan (cond) Tullio Serafin (EMI/Warner) Introduction | Early Romantic | Classical Personalities | Louis-Hector Berlioz | Early Romantic | Classical ...

• Personalities
• Early Romantic
• Opera

1797–1848, Italian Gaetano Donizetti, who was born in Bergamo, wrote seven operas, some of them while still a student in Bologna, and several of them unproduced, before he scored his first success with Zoraide di Grenata (‘Zoraide of Granada’, 1822), which was performed in Rome. Zoraide attracted the attention of impresario Domenico Barbaia, who ...