Nathaniel Hawthorne was an American novelist and short story writer. His works often focus on history, morality, and religion.
Beatrice is a female given name. The English variant is derived from the French Béatrice, which came from the Latin Beatrix, which means "blessed one".
"Rappaccini's Daughter" is a Gothic short story by Nathaniel Hawthorne first published in the December 1844 issue of The United States Magazine and Democratic Review in New York, and later in various collections. It is about Giacomo Rappaccini, a medical researcher in Padua who grows a garden of poisonous plants. He brings up his daughter to tend the plants, and she becomes resistant to the poisons, but in the process she herself becomes poisonous to others. The traditional story of a poisonous maiden has been traced back to India, and Hawthorne's version has been adopted in contemporary works.
Daniel Catán Porteny was a Mexican composer, writer and professor known particularly for his operas and his contribution of the Spanish language to the international repertory.
Griselda is a figure in European folklore noted for her patience and obedience.
Christopher Keene was an American conductor.
The Poisoned Kiss, or The Empress and the Necromancer is an opera in three acts by the English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams. The libretto, by Evelyn Sharp, is based on Richard Garnett's The Poison Maid and Nathaniel Hawthorne's 1844 short story Rappaccini's Daughter.
La hija de Rappaccini is an opera in two acts composed by Daniel Catán to a libretto by Juan Tovar based on the play by Octavio Paz and the 1844 short story by Nathaniel Hawthorne. It premiered at the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City in 1991 and had its US premiere in 1994 at San Diego Opera. Upon its premiere in San Diego, Rappaccini's Daughter became the first work by a Mexican composer to be produced by a major opera house in the United States. Although Catán's second opera, Rappaccini's Daughter was his first commercial success.
Cincinnati Opera is an American opera company based in Cincinnati, Ohio and the second oldest opera company in the United States. Beginning with its first season in 1920, Cincinnati Opera has produced operas in the summer months of June and July with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra providing orchestral accompaniment.
Gunlöd is an opera in three acts by composer Peter Cornelius. Cornelius also authored the work's libretto which is based on the story of Hávamál in the version found in the Edda, a literary work from Medieval Iceland which details Old Norse legends. The opera's story and psychology has some striking similarities to Richard Wagner's Ring Cycle; with the opera Lohengrin being a clear influence.
The Sickness of Antiochus or Stratonice and Antiochus is an 1840 painting by the French artist Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres. It is now in the Musée Condé in Chantilly.
Frank Porretta Jr. was an American tenor who had an active career performing in operas, musicals, and concerts from 1952 through 1971. He had a particularly fruitful relationship with the New York City Opera from 1956 to 1970 where he sang a highly diverse repertoire; including roles in new operas by composers Norman Dello Joio, Carlisle Floyd, Vittorio Giannini, and Robert Ward. For the NBC Opera Theatre he portrayed The Astronaut in the world premiere of Gian Carlo Menotti's Labyrinth.
The Pennsylvania Opera Theater (TPOT) was an American opera company located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1975 by Barbara Silverstein, the company presented an annual season of opera until it closed due to financial reasons in 1993. The company was dedicated to presenting new and more rarely performed works in the English language. Most of the company's performances were staged at the Merriam Theater. Silverstein served as the company's Artistic Director during its 18-year history.
Margaret Garwood was an American composer who is best known for her operas.
Heidi Stober is an American operatic soprano who has performed leading roles in major opera houses internationally, including the Dutch National Opera, the Garsington Opera, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Metropolitan Opera, the Municipal Theatre of Santiago, the Semperoper, and the Vienna State Opera. She has been particularly active with the Houston Grand Opera where she has performed in more than a dozen operas since 2004, including the world premieres of Daniel Catán's Salsipuedes: a Tale of Love, War and Anchovies (2004), Mark Adamo's Lysistrata (2005), and Ricky Ian Gordon's The House without a Christmas Tree (2017). She has also performed in more than ten operas with the San Francisco Opera since 2010. Since 2008 she has been a resident artist at the Deutsche Oper Berlin where she has primarily performed roles from the lyric soprano repertoire. Also active as a concert soprano on the international stage, she has performed with the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, the Houston Symphony, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the New York Philharmonic, the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Oslo Philharmonic, and the Radio Filharmonisch Orkest among other orchestras. She is particularly admired for her interpretations of the works of George Frideric Handel and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
Werner Haseleu was a German operatic bass-baritone and academic voice teacher. He was a long-term member of the Staatsoper Dresden and the Komische Oper Berlin, often with director Harry Kupfer at both houses. He was known for leading roles in world premieres and contemporary opera.
Thomas Jamerson is an American baritone who had an active international career as an opera and concert performer from the 1960s through the 1990s. He first drew distinction in the field of opera in 1968 when he recorded the role of Baron Douphol in Giuseppe Verdi's La traviata for RCA with conductor Georges Prêtre, the RCA Italiana Orchestra, and Montserrat Caballé as Violetta and Carlo Bergonzi as Alfredo. In 1969 he portrayed roles in the United States premieres of two operas at the Santa Fe Opera: Der Auserwählte in Arnold Schoenberg's Die Jakobsleiter and Captain of the Royal Guard in Hans Werner Henze's The Bassarids. He was a principal artist with the New York City Opera from 1969 to 1984. In 1971 he notably created the role of Professor Bolental in the world premiere of Gian Carlo Menotti's The Most Important Man. He currently teaches voice on the faculty at the Music Conservatory of Westchester in White Plains, New York.
Joseph Evans is an American tenor, stage director, and music educator. Trained at the University of North Texas, Evans made his professional opera debut with the Fort Worth Opera in December 1966 in the world premiere of Julia Smith's The Shepherdess and the Chimney Sweep. In his early career he worked as a music teacher in Dallas and Houston while working part time as a performer. With the encouragement and support of Sarah Caldwell he pursued a full time singing career. He was a principal tenor in Caldwell's Opera Company of Boston from 1974 to 1988.
Vivian Greenstein Ferleger Kresch, known on the stage as Gabrielle Hunt, was an American contralto and voice teacher. She trained under Estelle Liebling at the Curtis Institute of Music and was a leading performer with the Philadelphia Opera Company in the early 1940s. She is best remembered for performing the role of Miss Todd in the first staging of Gian Carlo Menotti's The Old Maid and the Thief in 1941, and later as a celebrated singing teacher at first the Philadelphia Conservatory of Music and then the Settlement Music School. She also created the role of Dolores in the world premiere of Deems Taylor's Ramuntcho in 1942.
The Garden of Mystery is an English-language American opera in one act and three scenes. The composer was Charles Wakefield Cadman with a libretto by Nelle Richmond Eberhart. The opera was based on Nathaniel Hawthorne's 1844 short story "Rappaccini's Daughter".
