Barbara Quintiliani (born September 24, 1976) is an American operatic soprano.
Born in Quincy, Massachusetts, Quintiliani graduated from the New England Conservatory of Music before joining young artists programs, first with the Houston Grand Opera and the Washington National Opera. In 1999 she took a National Grand Prize in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions; in 2006 she took first prize in the International Singing Contest Francisco Viñas, becoming the first American woman in over a quarter-century to do so. Her American operatic debut came in 2002 with Washington National Opera, when she performed Elettra in Idomeneo ; this was also the role of her international debut in 2006, with the Liceu. Quintiliani has specialized in the works of Giuseppe Verdi and Gaetano Donizetti. In particular, she has become associated with the title role in the latter's Maria Padilla , which she first performed at the Wexford Festival in 2009. As a concert artist she has performed such works as the Ninth Symphony of Ludwig van Beethoven and Knoxville: Summer of 1915 , and for the Naxos label she has recorded the Three Poems of Fiona MacLeod by Charles Tomlinson Griffes. [1]
Quintiliani has multiple sclerosis and Churg–Strauss syndrome. [2] [3]
Geoff Edgers was awarded a New England Emmy in June 2013 for work on a video for The Boston Globe entitled "Behind the Curtain: Act One of Barbara Quintiliani's Story", a ten-minute documentary about Quintiliani's life and career; he shared the award with producer Darren Durlach. [4] [2]
Seiji Ozawa is a Japanese conductor known for his advocacy of modern composers and for his work with the San Francisco Symphony, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and the Boston Symphony Orchestra where he served as music director for 29 years. He is the recipient of numerous international awards.
The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum is an art museum in Boston, Massachusetts, which houses significant examples of European, Asian, and American art. Its collection includes paintings, sculpture, tapestries, and decorative arts. It was founded by Isabella Stewart Gardner, whose will called for her art collection to be permanently exhibited "for the education and enjoyment of the public forever".
Boston Lyric Opera (BLO) is an American opera company based in Boston, Massachusetts, founded in 1976. BLO is the largest and longest-lived opera company in New England. BLO employs nearly 350 artists and creative professionals annually—vocalists, artisans, stagehands, costumers, and scenic designers—many of whom are members of the Boston community.
Renée Lynn Fleming is an American soprano, known for performances in opera, concerts, recordings, theater, film, and at major public occasions. A recipient of the National Medal of Arts, Fleming has been nominated for 17 Grammy Awards and has won four times. Other notable awards have included the Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur from the French government, Germany's Cross of the Order of Merit, Sweden's Polar Music Prize and honorary membership in England's Royal Academy of Music. Unusual among artists whose careers began in opera, Fleming has achieved name recognition beyond the classical music world.
Kathleen Deanna Battle is an American operatic soprano known for her distinctive vocal range and tone. Born in Portsmouth, Ohio, Battle initially became known for her work within the concert repertoire through performances with major orchestras during the early and mid-1970s. She made her opera debut in 1975. Battle expanded her repertoire into lyric soprano and coloratura soprano roles during the 1980s and early 1990s, until her eventual dismissal from the Metropolitan Opera in 1994. She later has focused on recording and the concert stage. After a 22-year absence from the Met, Battle performed a concert of spirituals at the Metropolitan Opera House in November 2016.
Audra Ann McDonald is an American actress and singer. Primarily known for her work on the Broadway stage, she has won six Tony Awards, more performance wins than any other actor, and is the only person to win all four acting categories. She has performed in musicals, operas, and dramas such as A Moon for the Misbegotten, 110 in the Shade, Carousel, Ragtime, Master Class and Porgy and Bess.
Ana María Martínez is a Puerto Rican soprano.
Robert Woodruff is an American theater director.
James Lawrence Levine was an American conductor and pianist. He was music director of the Metropolitan Opera from 1976 to 2016. He was formally terminated from all his positions and affiliations with the Met on March 12, 2018, over sexual misconduct allegations, which he denied.
Suzanna Guzmán is an American mezzo-soprano and Emmy Award winning television host. Currently she is the host of the weekly radio program Opera at Noon and On Broadway on 105.1HD4 KMozart. She was also seen as host on television's KCET's weekly series Open Call. As a singer she has performed with international and American opera companies as a principal artist: La traviata at the Metropolitan Opera, La favorite in Montpellier, France, and Goya at the Spoleto Festival in Italy. She is known for her portrayal of the title role in Carmen for Houston Grand Opera's multimedia production, a role she has performed more than 200 times. Recent appearances have been with Spoleto Festival USA, SIFA- Singapore Festival of the Arts, Opera Santa Barbara, Los Angeles Philharmonic and with Latino Theatre Company for 17 seasons as La Virgen in the annual pageant Diós Inatzin: La Virgen de Tepeyac.
Quynh Nguyen is a Vietnamese-American classical pianist based in New York City. She has performed extensively throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia, to wide critical acclaim. For her Carnegie Recital Hall debut, the New York Concert Review commented: “Ms. Nguyen’s pianism and music making are graced with beauty and exuberance. She is a real artist; a wonderfully communicative performer. What a compendium of intellect, sophistication and taste!” Dr. Quynh Nguyen currently serves on the piano faculty of Hunter College and the International Keyboard Institute and Festival in New York City.
D'Anna Fortunato is an American mezzo-soprano. She has long been an admired favorite on the American orchestral-concert scene, while establishing herself as a respected operatic artist as well. Of her New York City Opera debut in Handel's Alcina, the New Yorker called her "a Handelian of crisp accomplishment".
Gwendolyn Holbrow, is an American artist. Primarily a sculptor, she works in a variety of media and addresses an eclectic array of topics, with exploration of boundaries a recurring theme: between the tangible and intangible worlds; between the genders; between the individual and society. Humor and satire abound in Holbrow's art.
Alyson Cambridge is an American operatic soprano. In addition to opera, she sings classical song, jazz, and American songbook and popular song. She is also known for her work as a model, actress, and host.
Barbara Smith Conrad was an American opera singer. A mezzo-soprano, she performed with the Metropolitan Opera, Vienna State Opera, Teatro Nacional in Venezuela, and many others. She was also an educator, co-directing the Wagner Theater Program, which she co-founded, and maintaining a private studio as well as taking up multiple artist residencies.
James Maddalena is an American baritone who is chiefly associated with contemporary American opera. He gained international recognition in 1987 when he originated the role of Richard Nixon at the premiere of John Adams's opera Nixon in China at Houston. He has since reprised the role on many occasions, and recorded it for the Nonesuch Records release of the opera in 1987. In addition to Maddelena's role as Nixon, he has originated two other Adams characters: the Captain in The Death of Klinghoffer and Jack Hubbard in Doctor Atomic. He has also performed roles in the premieres of operas by Paul Moravec and Stewart Wallace among other American composers.
Geoff Edgers is an American journalist, author, filmmaker, television host, and podcast host. He is currently the national arts reporter for The Washington Post and was previously a staff arts reporter for The Boston Globe. Edgers currently hosts the Edge of Fame podcast, a collaboration between The Washington Post and WBUR-FM, Boston's NPR National. In addition, Edgers produced and starred in the 2010 music documentary Do It Again. His articles have appeared in magazines such as GQ and Wired, and he has worked as a reporter for several newspapers, including the Boston Phoenix, Raleigh News and Observer, The Boston Globe, and The Washington Post. Edgers has also published children's books on Elvis, The Beatles, and Stan Lee, and co-wrote a book on Julia Child with his wife, Carlene Hempel. In 2013, he hosted a Travel Channel reality TV series called Edge of America, and in June 2013 he was awarded a New England Emmy for work on a video for The Boston Globe. He also hosted the military history series Secrets of the Arsenal on the American Heroes Channel. Edgers joined The Washington Post in September 2014 as the paper's national arts reporter.
Barbara Bosworth is an American artist, educator, and photographer. Bosworth works primarily with a large-format, 8x10 view camera and focuses on the relationship between humans and nature. Her works have been included in magazines, journals, books and permanent collections, and shown in solo exhibits nationally and internationally.
Lidiya Yankovskaya is a Russian-American opera and symphonic conductor and the Music Director of Chicago Opera Theater. She is currently the only female music director of a major American opera company.
Agnieszka Beata Mikołajczyk, better known by her stage name Aga Mikolaj, was a Polish operatic soprano who made an international career. She was a member of the Bavarian State Opera in Munich from 2002 to 2007, focusing on Mozart roles, especially Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni, and performed from San Francisco to Tokyo. She performed and recorded Four Last Songs by Richard Strauss, Penderecki's The Seven Gates of Jerusalem, and Detlev Glanert's Requiem for Hieronymus Bosch, live in Rotterdam in 2016 in its first recording.