Top Results for Opera

Josef Krips was an Austrian conductor, born in 1902 and deceased in 1974, particularly associated with the music of Mozart and the Viennese classical tradition. After the Second World War, he played an important role in restoring musical life in Vienna and conducted the Vienna Philharmonic and Vienn...

Joseph Keilberth (1908-1968) was a German conductor associated with the German operatic and symphonic repertory. He served as chief conductor of the Bamberg Symphony for many years and conducted at institutions including the Saxon State Opera in Dresden and the Bavarian State Opera. Keilberth also p...

Karl Böhm was an Austrian conductor renowned for his interpretations of Classical and Romantic repertoire, particularly the operas and symphonies of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Richard Strauss. Throughout his career, he maintained close associations with the Vienna Philharmonic and the Vienna State...

The Paris Opera Ballet remains a cornerstone of classical ballet, renowned for its impeccable technique and adherence to tradition. While occasionally criticized for a perceived resistance to radical innovation, the company consistently delivers stunning performances of classic repertoire and showca...

Christoph Willibald Gluck was an 18th-century composer whose works fundamentally reformed the structure and aesthetic of European opera. In collaboration with librettist Ranieri de' Calzabigi, Gluck sought to eliminate the excessive vocal virtuosity and arbitrary plot devices of the traditional oper...

Thomas Adès is a British composer, pianist, and conductor whose works integrate traditional classical forms with highly complex harmonies and rhythms. He gained international recognition for his 1997 orchestral piece "Asyla" and is noted for his operatic compositions, including "The Tempest" (2004)...

Samuel Barber was an American composer renowned for his neo-Romantic style, characterized by lyrical melodies, rich harmonic textures, and traditional formal structures. He is best known for his "Adagio for Strings," an intensely emotional orchestral piece adapted from his String Quartet, Op. 11, wh...

Manuel de Falla was a Spanish composer who played a central role in establishing a distinct national school of 20th-century Spanish music. After studying in Paris, where he was influenced by Impressionist composers like Claude Debussy, Falla integrated the rhythms of Andalusian folk music, particula...

Kirill Kondrashin was a Soviet and later Russian conductor closely associated with twentieth-century orchestral music. He led the delayed 1961 premiere of Shostakovich's Fourth Symphony and the 1962 premiere of the Thirteenth, and he also recorded a complete Shostakovich symphony cycle. After leavin...

Christian Thielemann is a German conductor known especially for the operas and orchestral works of Richard Wagner and Richard Strauss, as well as the broader Austro-German Romantic repertory. He has held leadership positions with major German orchestras and has conducted repeatedly at the Bayreuth F...

Paul Dukas was a French composer, critic, and teacher whose surviving music is noted for precise construction and detailed orchestration. His best known work is the 1897 symphonic scherzo The Sorcerer's Apprentice, based on a ballad by Goethe. His other major compositions include the opera Ariane et...

Rusalka, Op. 114, is a three act Czech opera composed by Antonín Dvořák to a libretto by Jaroslav Kvapil. First performed in Prague in 1901, it draws on Slavic water spirit traditions and follows a water nymph who becomes human after falling in love with a prince. The score combines late Romantic or...

Serse is an Italian-language opera by George Frideric Handel, first performed in London in 1738 and based loosely on the Persian king Xerxes I. The work mixes serious, romantic, and comic situations more freely than conventional opera seria, centering on Serse's pursuit of Romilda despite the compet...

Il prigioniero is a one-act Italian opera by Luigi Dallapiccola, composed in the late 1940s to a libretto by the composer. Set during the Spanish Inquisition, it follows a prisoner whose jailer encourages hope of escape, only for that hope to become part of a calculated form of psychological torture...

Armide, LWV 71 is a tragédie en musique by Jean-Baptiste Lully, with a French libretto by Philippe Quinault, first performed in 1686. Drawn from Torquato Tasso's Jerusalem Delivered, it centers on the sorceress Armide, who intends to kill the crusader Renaud but falls in love with him and uses encha...

The State University of Music and Performing Arts Stuttgart (German: Staatliche Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Stuttgart) is a public conservatory in Stuttgart, Germany. Its origins date to 1857, making it one of Germany's oldest music schools. The institution offers programs in orchest...

Georg Solti was a Hungarian-born British conductor known for his work in both opera and the symphonic repertory. He served as music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra from 1969 to 1991 and made numerous recordings with that ensemble, while his operatic career included leadership roles in Mun...

The Méditation is an orchestral intermezzo from Jules Massenet's 1894 opera Thaïs, written for solo violin and orchestra, with an important harp part. It occurs between scenes in Act II while the title character reflects on the religious appeal made by the monk Athanaël, giving the music a dramatic...

Gaetano Donizetti was an Italian composer and a leading figure in nineteenth century bel canto opera. He wrote both comic and tragic stage works, including L'elisir d'amore, Don Pasquale, Lucia di Lammermoor, and La fille du régiment, creating demanding vocal roles shaped by lyrical melody and drama...

The Amphitheater of Avenches is an ancient Roman ruin located in Avenches, Switzerland, originally constructed in the 2nd century AD. The structure once held up to 8,000 spectators for gladiatorial contests and public spectacles in the Roman settlement of Aventicum. Today, the restored historic site...

The Indiana University Jacobs School of Music is a university-based music school in Bloomington, Indiana, with roots dating to 1921. It offers undergraduate and graduate study in performance, composition, music education, conducting, musicology, opera, jazz, ballet, and related fields, supported by...

Vladimir Jurowski is a Russian-born conductor known for work in both orchestral music and opera. He served as principal conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra from 2007 to 2021 and has held senior positions with organizations including the Bavarian State Opera, the Berlin Radio Symphony Orch...

Georges Bizet (1838-1875) was a French composer of the Romantic era who wrote operas, orchestral works, songs, and music for piano. His final opera, Carmen, combines memorable melodies and vivid orchestration with a story set in Seville, and it became one of the most frequently performed works in th...

Richard Hickox (1948-2008) was an English conductor whose career encompassed orchestral concerts, opera, choral music, and recording. He founded the City of London Sinfonia in 1971 and later held prominent roles with ensembles including the London Symphony Chorus and the BBC National Orchestra of Wa...

Charles Gounod's Faust is a French opera first performed in Paris in 1859, based loosely on Goethe's drama. Its ballet music for the Walpurgis Night scene includes a waltz associated with the supernatural revelry arranged by Méphistophélès. Distinct from the opera's earlier Kermesse music, the piece...

Alexander Borodin was a Russian Romantic composer and chemist who belonged to the group of nationalist composers known as The Five. His musical output, created alongside a scientific and academic career, includes two completed symphonies, two string quartets, the symphonic poem In the Steppes of Cen...

Dutch National Opera & Ballet is a performing-arts organization and venue in Amsterdam that houses Dutch National Opera and Dutch National Ballet. Its theater opened in 1986 as part of the Stopera complex on the Amstel, a combined building that also contains Amsterdam's city hall. The institution de...

Teatro dell'Opera di Roma is Rome's principal opera house and a venue for opera, ballet, and orchestral performances. It opened in 1880 as the Teatro Costanzi, named for its builder, Domenico Costanzi, and later came under municipal ownership. The theater occupies a historic building near Piazza del...

The International Vocal Competition 's-Hertogenbosch is a Netherlands-based competition for classical singers, founded in 1954 in the city also known as Den Bosch. It provides a public platform for emerging vocalists in opera and related concert repertoire, allowing singers to be assessed in a profe...

Carlo Maria Giulini was an Italian conductor known for performances of symphonic, sacred, and operatic repertory. After beginning his career as an orchestral violist, he conducted at institutions including La Scala and worked extensively with major European and American orchestras. He served as musi...