Theodore Christman is an American composer of classical music. He is most noted for his operas and other vocal music.
His first operas, A Special Secret Someone and The Dreamer, were premiered in 2015. In 2016, he founded the Christman Opera Company. The company's inaugural performance took place at Opera America's National Opera Center in 2016 and featured a double bill of Dido and Aeneas and Christman's third opera, Adriana McMannes. [1] His fourth opera, A Metamorphosis, was premiered by the COC in 2018. [2] OperaWire named this performance one of the “Top 5 Operas to See” in North America. [3] In 2019, it was announced that Christman and librettist Donna Gay Anderson had written a dramatic musical, Unfolded, about the life and work of Susie Scott Krabacher. In October 2019, selections from the musical were premiered in a benefit concert for Krabacher's humanitarian organization, HaitiChildren. During the COVID-19 pandemic, COC's virtual benefit concert for HaitiChildren featured premieres of music by Christman and Paula Kimper, performed by mezzo-soprano Madison Marie McIntosh and pianist Gregory Ritchey. COC also launched the series Voices Raising Voices, which featured virtual performances of vocal works by composers such as Mira J. Spektor, Gladys Smuckler Moskowitz, Jerrell R. Gray, Sonia Megías, and Greg Bartholomew.
In January 2021, COC presented a virtual performance of Christman's opera The Impresario and the Dueling Divas, with pianist Eve Queler. On May 7 of the same year, COC hosted a virtual concert to benefit The American Prize, in which 2020 TAP winner Madison Marie McIntosh and Gregory Ritchey premiered works by Theodore Christman, Antonio Covello, Ted Ganger, Michael J. Polo, Kevin Scott, Amy Scurria, Myron Silberstein, and Webster Young.
This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1905.
William Elden Bolcom is an American composer and pianist. He has received the Pulitzer Prize, the National Medal of Arts, a Grammy Award, the Detroit Music Award and was named 2007 Composer of the Year by Musical America. He taught composition at the University of Michigan from 1973 until 2008. He is married to mezzo-soprano Joan Morris.
Renée Lynn Fleming is an American soprano and actress, 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 18 Grammy Awards and has won five times. In June 2023, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts announced that Fleming would be one of the five artists recognized at the 2023 Kennedy Center Honors, which she received in December 2023. Other notable honors won by Fleming have included the Crystal Award from the World Economic Forum in Davos, 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. In May, 2023, Fleming was appointed by the World Health Organization as a Goodwill Ambassador for Arts and Health. On April 9, 2024, Penguin Random House published Fleming's anthology Music and Mind: Harnessing the Arts for Health and Wellness, a collection of essays about the health benefits of music and the arts, by scientists from leading research institutions, practitioners, educators, arts leaders, musicians, artists and writers.
Lowell Liebermann is an American composer, pianist and conductor.
The Mannes School of Music, originally called the David Mannes Music School and later the Mannes Music School, Mannes College of Music, the Chatham Square Music School, and Mannes College: The New School for Music, is a music conservatory in The New School, a private research university in New York City. In the fall of 2015, Mannes moved from its previous location on Manhattan's Upper West Side to join the rest of the New School campus in Arnhold Hall at 55 W. 13th Street.
Louis Quilico, was a Canadian opera singer. One of the leading dramatic baritones of his day, he was an ideal interpreter of the great Italian and French composers, especially Giuseppe Verdi. He was often referred to as "Mr Rigoletto" in reference to the Verdi opera. During his 45-year-long career he shared performing credits with opera's greatest stars. He spent 25 consecutive years at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. After his retirement from the stage in 1998 he continued to perform and record, most often with his second wife, pianist Christina Petrowska Quilico,, with whom he made four CDs. The couple also toured together extensively in concerts until Quilico's death in 2000. Quilico received the Governor General's Performing Arts Award, Canada's highest honour in the performing arts, in November 1999 for his lifetime contribution to classical music.
Joseph Louis Wilfrid Pelletier, was a Canadian conductor, pianist, composer, and arts administrator. He was instrumental in establishing the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, serving as the orchestra's first artistic director and conductor from 1935 to 1941. He had a long and fruitful partnership with the Metropolitan Opera in New York City that began with his appointment as a rehearsal accompanist in 1917; ultimately working there as one of the company's conductors in mainly the French opera repertoire from 1929 to 1950. From 1951 to 1966, he was the principal conductor of the Orchestre Symphonique de Québec. He was also a featured conductor for a number of RCA Victor recordings, including an acclaimed reading of Gabriel Fauré's Requiem featuring baritone Mack Harrell and the Montreal Symphony Orchestra and chorus.
Tobias Picker is an American composer, pianist, and conductor, noted for his orchestral works Old and Lost Rivers, Keys To The City, and The Encantadas, as well as his operas Emmeline, Fantastic Mr. Fox, An American Tragedy and Lili Elbe, among many other works.
Opera America, styled OPERA America, is a New York–based service organization promoting the creation, presentation, and enjoyment of opera in the United States. Almost all professional opera companies and some semi-professional companies in the United States are members of the organization including such opera companies as the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, and Dallas Opera. Opera America also includes opera companies from Canada.
Troubled Island is an American opera in three acts composed by William Grant Still, with a libretto begun by poet Langston Hughes and completed by Verna Arvey. She married the composer following their collaboration.
Laura Elise Schwendinger was the first composer to win the American Academy in Berlin's Berlin Prize.
Inga Kashakashvili in Kutaisi, Georgia, is a Georgian classical pianist.
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.
Sharon Azrieli is a soprano singer and Cantor from Montreal, Quebec. She moved to New York City after attending Vassar College, from which she graduated with a degree in Art History. She also holds degrees from Juilliard School and the University of Montreal.
Robert Stuart Hamilton, CM, Hon. LL.D, A.R.C.T. was an award-winning Canadian accompanist, vocal coach, and opera producer based in Toronto. He was a well-known advocate of post-Baroque French opera. He was recognized nationally for his work as the longtime quiz master for CBC Radio's Saturday Afternoon at the Opera, he taught opera repertoire and diction at the University of Toronto.
The Phoenicia International Festival of the Voice is an annual festival of vocal music held in Phoenicia, New York during the first week of August. The Festival was founded in 2010 and includes a variety of vocal music performances including opera, gospel music, world music, and musical theatre. In 2012 the Ulster County Regional Chamber of Commerce awarded the festival "Best Cultural Event of the year". Its Mission: Elevate the human spirit and enhance community through the power of voice and music. The Phoenicia International Festival of the Voice is a program of The Phoenicia Festival of The Voice Foundation.
Crosby's Opera House (1865–1871) was an opera house in Chicago, Illinois, United States. It was founded by Uranus H. Crosby in 1865 with the goal of advancing the arts in Chicago by bringing opera to the city. The five-story building was designed by William W. Boyington and contained statues of painting, sculpture, music and commerce that welcomed visitors as they entered through the arch of the building. After holding only occasional performances, Crosby ran into many business difficulties that resulted in a decision to sell the building in 1866. The Crosby Opera House Art Association was formed to help Crosby sell the building by lottery. The lottery distributed over 210,000 tickets, awarding purchasers great works of art and even the building itself. After being sold back to Crosby by the lottery winner, A.H. Lee, the hall began producing more consistent performances. The opera house stood for less than six and a half years before it was destroyed in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 and was never rebuilt.
Riki Turofsky is a Canadian concert and opera soprano, broadcaster, and video producer. She has sung leading roles with opera companies in Canada, the United States, and Europe, and has performed on the concert stage with major ensembles throughout North America. In 1978 she expanded her career into broadcasting as a host for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation program Summer Festival. She has since appeared as a host on numerous programs for the CBC and the CTV Television Network. She also owns and operates the company Riki Productions which produces arts related programing for Canadian television.
The Newman & Oltman Guitar Duo is an American classical guitar ensemble formed in 1978. Known for adventurous programming and collaborations as well as their contributions to the repertoire of the guitar duo ensemble, the Duo was founded by Michael Newman and Laura Oltman, who have performed together since it was formed.