Barbara Brandt

Last updated

Barbara Brandt (born 1936) is an American spinto soprano, known especially for her association with contemporary opera.

Brand won both the local and regional Metropolitan Opera Auditions in 1966. Active at Minnesota Opera since 1967, [1] she appeared in a number of world premieres with the company during her career. These include:

She also created the role of the Bird Woman in The Wanderer by Paul and Martha Boesing for Houston Grand Opera in 1970. Brandt sang with the Minnesota Orchestra, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Aspen Festival Orchestra, and the Kansas City Philharmonic during her career, and performed a wide variety of roles on stage; among these were Pamina in The Magic Flute , the Countess in Le nozze di Figaro , and Elle in La voix humaine . [1]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dario Argento</span> Italian film director and screenwriter

Dario Argento is an Italian film director, screenwriter and producer. His influential work in the horror genre during the 1970s and 1980s, particularly in the subgenre known as giallo, has led him to being referred to as the "Master of the Thrill" and the "Master of Horror".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Janet Baker</span> English mezzo-soprano

Dame Janet Abbott Baker is an English mezzo-soprano best known as an opera, concert, and lieder singer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frederica von Stade</span> American mezzo-soprano

Frederica von Stade is a semi-retired American classical singer. Best known for her work in opera, she was also a recitalist and concert artist, and she recorded more than a hundred albums and videos. She is especially associated with operas by Mozart and Rossini, and also with music by French and American composers, most notably Jake Heggie. A Chevalier of France's Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, twice the winner of a Grand Prix du Disque and nominated nine times for a Grammy award, she is widely regarded as the pre-eminent lyric mezzo-soprano of her generation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dominick Argento</span> American composer (1927–2019)

Dominick Argento was an American composer known for his lyric operatic and choral music. Among his best known pieces are the operas Postcard from Morocco, Miss Havisham's Fire, The Masque of Angels, and The Aspern Papers. He also is known for the song cycles Six Elizabethan Songs and From the Diary of Virginia Woolf; the latter earned him the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 1975. In a predominantly tonal context, his music freely combines tonality, atonality and a lyrical use of twelve-tone writing. None of Argento's music approaches the experimental, stringent avant-garde fashions of the post-World War II era.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Schoenfield</span> American composer

Paul Schoenfield, also spelled Paul Schoenfeld or Pinchas Schoenfeld, was born January 24, 1947, in Detroit, Michigan and died April 29, 2024, in Jerusalem, Israel. He was a classical composer and pianist known for combining popular, folk, and classical music forms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Catherine Malfitano</span> American opera singer

Catherine Malfitano is an American operatic soprano and opera director. Malfitano was born in New York City, the daughter of a ballet dancer mother, Maria Maslova, and a violinist father, Joseph Malfitano. She attended the High School of Music and Art and studied at the Frank Corsaro Studio and Manhattan School of Music, graduating in 1971. She often mentions that she was rejected from The Juilliard School.

Michael Chioldi is an American opera singer who has performed leading baritone roles in the opera houses and festivals of North and South America, Europe and Asia. He first appeared at New York's Metropolitan Opera in 1995 when he was a winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Competition.

Postcard from Morocco is an opera in one act composed by Dominick Argento and libretto written by John Donahue under a commission from the Center Opera Company. The opera is based on A Child's Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson. The opera premiered on October 14, 1971, at the Cedar Village Theater, Minneapolis, Minnesota, conducted by Philip Brunelle with stage direction by John Donahue. The opera was a success and continues to be performed around the world.

The Center for Contemporary Opera (CCO) is a professional opera company based in New York City, and a member of OPERA America. The company focuses on producing and developing new opera and music theater works and reviving rarely seen American operas written after the second World War. The Center for Contemporary Opera has staged the premieres of many works written during the latter half of the twentieth century. Works are performed at all stages of development from readings to workshops to full productions on the professional stage. In line with its mission to promote an interest in new operatic and music-theater culture among the American public, the company presents panel discussions and colloquia, and publishes a bi-annual newsletter Opera Today. Since 2004, the company has been a regular participant in the New York City Opera's annual festival, "Vox: Showcasing American Composers".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marilyn Cotlow</span> American opera singer (born 1924)

Marilyn Cotlow is an American lyric coloratura soprano best remembered for creating the role of Lucy in Gian Carlo Menotti's The Telephone in both the original Broadway and West End productions. She sang professionally during the 1940s and 1950s in the United States and Europe, performing with such companies as the Metropolitan Opera, Theater Bremen, Theater Basel, and the Wexford Festival Opera. After 1957, Cotlow mainly retired from performance to devote time to teaching voice and being a mother; although she continued to perform periodically in recitals, on the stage, and on disc up into the 1990s. She has taught vocal music on the faculties of the Peabody Conservatory, the University of Michigan, and Catholic University of America in addition to teaching privately from her home in Northern Virginia. Several of her students have had successful careers, including Alessandra Marc and Jennifer Wilson.

Transformations is a chamber opera in two acts by the American composer Conrad Susa with a libretto of ten poems by Anne Sexton from her 1971 book Transformations, a collection of confessional poetry based on stories by the Brothers Grimm. Commissioned by Minnesota Opera, the work, which is described by its composer as "An Entertainment in 2 Acts", had its world premiere on 5 May 1973 at the Cedar Village Theater in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Anne Sexton, who had worked closely with Susa on the libretto, was in the audience. It went on to become one of the most frequently performed operas by an American composer with its chamber opera format of eight singers and an instrumental ensemble of eight musicians making it particularly popular with smaller opera companies and conservatories. The 2006 revival production of Transformations at the Wexford Opera Festival won The Irish Times Theatre Award for Best Opera Production.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alice Coote</span> British mezzo-soprano

Alice Coote OBE is a British mezzo-soprano. Known internationally for her performances in opera playing both female and male roles, and her recitals with piano and concerts with orchestra, Coote has performed extensively across Europe, North America and Asia. Her repertoire ranges from early and baroque music to contemporary works, and includes works which have been especially written for her. She was appointed OBE in the 2018 Birthday honours for services to music.

Brian Mulligan is an American operatic baritone who has performed in major opera houses and concert halls all over the world.

The Aspern Papers is a 1987 opera in two acts with music and libretto by Dominick Argento, commissioned by The Dallas Opera. It is based on the novella The Aspern Papers by Henry James. The opera premiered on November 19, 1988, in Dallas with a cast including Elisabeth Söderström, Frederica von Stade, and Richard Stilwell, conducted by Nicola Rescigno. The premiere was telecast in the United States on Great Performances on PBS.

Elaine Bonazzi was an American operatic mezzo-soprano who had an active international career from the 1950s through the 1990s. A singer with an unusually broad repertoire that encompassed both classical and contemporary works, she notably created roles in the world premieres of operas by composers Dominick Argento, David Carlson, Carlisle Floyd, Gian Carlo Menotti, Thomas Pasatieri, and Ned Rorem. In the United States she was particularly active with the New York City Opera, the Santa Fe Opera, and the Washington National Opera.

Miss Havisham's Fire is an opera in 2 acts by composer Dominick Argento with an English language libretto by John Olon-Scrymgeour. The work is loosely based on Charles Dickens' 1861 novel Great Expectations, and centers on an investigation of the circumstances surrounding the death of Aurelia Havisham. Commissioned by the New York City Opera, the work premiered on March 22, 1979, at the New York State Theater at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in Manhattan.

Vern Sutton is an American operatic tenor, opera director, and academic. A founding member of the Minnesota Opera, he has created roles in the world premieres of several contemporary operas with that company; including works composed for his voice by Dominick Argento, Libby Larsen, Eric Stokes, Conrad Susa, and Robert Ward. He was also a regularly featured singer on Garrison Keillor's A Prairie Home Companion for three decades, beginning with its first broadcast in 1974.

Beverly Hoch is an American coloratura soprano and music educator who has had an active performance career in operas, concerts, and on recordings since the late 1970s. She has been teaching at Texas Woman's University since 2007.

Tonio di Paolo is an American opera singer. He began his career in the 1970s as a baritone but since the late 1970s has portrayed roles as a leading tenor. His performance credits include appearances with the Metropolitan Opera, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the San Francisco Opera, the Houston Grand Opera, the Canadian Opera Company, and the Hamburg State Opera among other companies. He has created roles in the world premieres of operas by composers Samuel Adler, David Carlson, John Harbison, and Augusta Read Thomas. He retired from the stage in 2010.

<i>Casa Guidi</i> (album) 2002 studio album by Frederica von Stade

Casa Guidi: Frederica von Stade Sings Dominick Argento is a 78-minute studio album of contemporary classical music performed by von Stade, Burt Hara and the Minnesota Orchestra under the direction of Eiji Oue. It was released in 2002.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Franklin Mesa (7 May 2015). Opera: An Encyclopedia of World Premieres and Significant Performances, Singers, Composers, Librettists, Arias and Conductors, 1597-2000. McFarland. pp. 315–16. ISBN   978-1-4766-0537-1.
  2. Ericson, Raymond (Oct 16, 1971). "Minnesota Opera Begins Strongly". The New York Times. Retrieved Apr 27, 2019 via NYTimes.com.
  3. "Opera: Premiere of 'Claudia Legare'". The New York Times. Apr 17, 1978. Retrieved Apr 27, 2019 via NYTimes.com.