Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librettist and incorporates a number of the performing arts, such as acting, scenery, costume, and sometimes dance or ballet. The performance is typically given in an opera house, accompanied by an orchestra or smaller musical ensemble, which since the early 19th century has been led by a conductor. Although musical theatre is closely related to opera, the two are considered to be distinct from one another.
Richard Georg Strauss was a German composer and conductor best known for his tone poems and operas. Considered a leading composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras, he has been described as a successor of Richard Wagner and Franz Liszt. Along with Gustav Mahler, he represents the late flowering of German Romanticism, in which pioneering subtleties of orchestration are combined with an advanced harmonic style.
The Bayreuth Festival is a music festival held annually in Bayreuth, Germany, at which performances of stage works by the 19th-century German composer Richard Wagner are presented. Wagner himself conceived and promoted the idea of a special festival to showcase his own works, in particular his monumental cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen and Parsifal.
Joseph Keilberth was a German conductor who specialised in opera.
Otto Lohse was a German conductor and composer.
Milka Ternina was a Croatian dramatic soprano who enjoyed a high reputation in major American and European opera houses. Praised by audiences and music critics alike for the electrifying force of her acting and the excellence of her singing in both German and Italian works, her career was curtailed at its peak in 1906 by a medical condition which paralyzed a nerve in her face.
Heinrich Zöllner was a German composer and conductor.
The Halle Opera House is an opera house in Halle, Saxony-Anhalt. Originally named the Halle Town Theatre, the theatre was built in 1886 by Heinrich Seeling. A bomb attack on 31 March 1945 destroyed much of the original building. Restorative work ensued a few years later, and the theatre reopened in 1951 under the name Landestheater Halle. In January 1992 it was renamed to its current title. The theatre is currently used for performances of opera, ballet, and orchestral concerts. It is also the main performance venue for the annual summer Handel Festival held in the city.
Opernhaus Dortmund is the opera house of Dortmund, Germany, operated by the Theater Dortmund organisation. A new opera house opened in 1966, replacing an earlier facility which opened in 1904 and was destroyed during World War II. It was built on the former site of the Old Synagogue, which was demolished by the Nazi local government in the 1930s.
The Latvian National Opera and Ballet (LNOB) is an opera house and opera company at Aspazijas boulevard 3 in Riga. Its repertoire includes performances of opera and ballet presented during the season which lasts from mid-September to the end of May. During a typical season, LNOB presents almost 200 performances, including, on average, 6 new productions. The largest is the Great Hall which houses 946 seats, while the smaller ones – the New Hall, the Dress Circle Hall (Beletāžas zāle) and the Red Hall – have a maximum seating capacity of 338, 170 and 100 respectively. LNOB employs a total of approximately 600 people. The building is located on the bank of the Riga Canal, near the Freedom Monument. As of 5 November 2019, the chairman of the board is Egils Siliņš, a world renowned opera singer. The chief conductor since 2013 is Mārtiņš Ozoliņš who is also an associate professor at the Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music. The artistic director since 1993 is Aivars Leimanis.
The Staatstheater Nürnberg is a German theatre company in Nuremberg, Bavaria. The theatre is one of four Bavarian state theatres and shows operas, plays, ballets and concerts.
Heinrich Seeling was a German architect.
The Volkstheater Rostock is the municipal theatre of the Hanseatic city of Rostock. It has three venues: the Großes Haus, the Theater im Stadthafen and the Kleine Komödie and puts on plays, musical theatre/opera, ballet and orchestral concerts. Norddeutsche Philharmonie Rostock is the orchestra for musical theatre and concerts. There is a children's theatre and a theatre youth club.
Keith Warner is a British opera director, designer and translator. He is noted for his flamboyant stagings of Richard Wagner's operas.
Philharmonia Zurich is the orchestra of Zurich Opera. As an independent body of 116 contract players, it has existed since 1985 under the name of Zurich Opera Orchestra. It was renamed in 2012 with the appointment of director Andreas Homoki and general music director Fabio Luisi.
The Municipal Theatre of Bydgoszcz is a former theatre building which stood in Bydgoszcz, Poland from 1896 to 1946.
Spas Wenkoff was a Bulgarian-Austrian operatic tenor. He was known internationally for mastering the heldentenor roles by Wagner, such as Tristan and Tannhäuser. He appeared in his signature role Tristan first in 1975 at the Staatsoper Dresden, followed by the centenary Bayreuth Festival in 1976, and the Metropolitan Opera in 1981, among many others. He was a member of the Berlin State Opera from 1976 to 1984, and then appeared freelance at major opera houses. He was awarded the title Kammersänger in both Berlin and Vienna.
Robert Heinrich Friedrich Denzler was a Swiss composer and conductor. He was committed to the music of Richard Wagner and contemporary works.
The Norddeutsche Philharmonie Rostock, based in Rostock, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany, is the state's largest symphony orchestra and also the orchestra of the Volkstheater Rostock. Founded in 1897, the orchestra grew to 90 musicians by 1991. They were rewarded a prize for ambitious programs in 1993.
The largest city in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Rostock is an important cultural center in Northern Germany. Records of the history of music in Rostock stretch back to the 13th century.
