Giulietta Simionato was an Italian mezzo-soprano. Her career spanned the period from the 1930s until her retirement in 1966.
Grace Melzia Bumbry, an American opera singer, is considered one of the leading mezzo-sopranos of her generation, as well as a major soprano earlier in her career. She is a member of a pioneering generation of African-American opera and classical singers who followed Marian Anderson in the world of opera and classical music paving the way for future African-American opera and concert singers. Bumbry's voice was rich and dynamic, possessing a wide range, and was capable of producing a very distinctive plangent tone.
Attila is an opera in a prologue and three acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Temistocle Solera, based on the 1809 play Attila, König der Hunnen by Zacharias Werner. The opera received its first performance at La Fenice in Venice on 17 March 1846.
Martina Arroyo is an American operatic soprano who had a major international opera career from the 1960s through the 1980s. She was part of the first generation of black opera singers to achieve wide success.
Antonino Votto, sometimes spelled Antonio Votto, was an Italian operatic conductor and vocal coach. Votto developed an extensive discography with the Teatro alla Scala in Milan during the 1950s, when EMI produced the bulk of its studio recordings featuring Maria Callas. Though Votto was a dependable conductor, critics frequently faulted his recordings for their lack of emotional immediacy. This may have been an occupational hazard of working in the studio, as his live sets with Callas, including a Norma and La sonnambula are considered to be great performances. Among his pupils was soprano Claudia Pinza Bozzolla.
Giovanni Martinelli was an Italian operatic tenor. He was associated with the Italian lyric-dramatic repertory, although he performed French operatic roles to great acclaim as well. Martinelli was one of the most famous tenors of the 20th century, enjoying a long career at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City and appearing at other major international theatres.
Sofia Scalchi was an Italian operatic contralto who could also sing in the mezzo-soprano range. Her career was international, and she appeared at leading theatres in both Europe and America.
Renato Bruson is an Italian operatic baritone. Bruson is widely considered one of the most important Verdi baritones of the late 20th and early 21st century. He was born in Granze near Padua, Italy.
Antonio Pini-Corsi was an Italian operatic baritone of international renown. He possessed a ripe-toned voice of great flexibility and displayed tremendous skill at patter singing. Pini-Corsi participated in numerous operatic premieres, portraying on stage such characters as Ford in Giuseppe Verdi's Falstaff and Schaunard in Giacomo Puccini's La bohème. Part of the first generation of recorded musicians, Pini-Corsi was one of the finest buffo singers of his era.
Adriana Ferrarese del Bene was an Italian operatic soprano. She was one of the first performers of Susanna in Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro and the first performer of Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte.
Rosalind Anne Plowright is an English opera singer who spent much of her career as a soprano but in 1999 changed to the mezzo-soprano range.
Marie Gutheil-Schoder was an important German soprano.
Dennis O'Neill CBE is a Welsh operatic tenor and recording artist.
Felice Varesi was a French-born Italian baritone with an illustrious singing career that began in the 1830s and extended into the 1860s. He is best remembered today for his close association with several famous operas composed by Giuseppe Verdi, whose birth year he shared.
Carlo Galeffi was a leading Italian baritone, particularly associated with the operatic works of Giuseppe Verdi and the various verismo composers.
Francesco Graziani was an Italian baritone and voice teacher. Graziani has been called the first modern baritone because his vocal attributes were well suited to the high-lying operatic parts composed by Giuseppe Verdi, with whom he worked.
Lodovico Graziani was an Italian operatic tenor. According to John Warrack and Ewan West, writing in The Oxford Dictionary of Opera: "His voice was clear and vibrant, but he lacked dramatic gifts." He is now mainly remembered for having created the role of Alfredo Germont in the world premiere of Giuseppe Verdi's La traviata in 1853.
Elvira Casazza was an Italian mezzo-soprano opera singer. One of Toscanini's favourite singers, she was considered an outstanding interpreter of Mistress Quickly in Verdi's Falstaff during the 1920s and created several roles in Italian operas of the early 20th century.
Barbara Kemp was a German soprano and opera singer. After a successful stage career, she retired to teach and also directed performances at the Berlin State Opera.
In opera, a banda refers to a musical ensemble which is used in addition to the main orchestra and plays the music which is actually heard by the characters in the opera. A banda sul palco was prominently used in Rossini's Neapolitan operas. Verdi used the term banda to refer to a banda sul palco, as in the score for Rigoletto. He used the term banda interna, to refer to a band which is still separate from the orchestra but heard from the off-stage wings. The early scores of La traviata use a banda interna.
