Il pastor fido is an opera seria in three acts by George Frideric Handel. It was set to a libretto by Giacomo Rossi based on the famed and widely familiar pastoral poem of the 'Il pastor fido' by Giovanni Battista Guarini. It had its first performance on 22 November 1712 at the Queen's Theatre in the Haymarket, London.
Silvio Varviso was a Swiss conductor who spent most of his career devoted to conducting opera. He began his conducting career working in minor opera houses in Switzerland in the mid-1940s. He became the principal conductor of the opera house in Basel in 1956 where he served for six years. In the late 1950s he began appearing with major opera houses on the international stage as a guest conductor. During the 1960s, he became a fixture at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City and at the Royal Opera House in London. In 1965 he became the music director of the Royal Swedish Opera, and later in his career served as the music director of the Staatsoper Stuttgart and the Paris Opera. During the early 1990s he became a permanent guest conductor at the Vlaamse Opera where he remained active up until his death.
Stefan Dimitrov was a basso opera singer. Born in the Black Sea town of Burgas, Bulgaria, he was of Greek origin. He won four international singing competitions at the very beginning of his career: those in Toulouse, the "Erkel" in Budapest, the "s’Hertogenbosch" in the Netherlands, and the "Young Opera Singers" in Sofia. In 1965 Stefan Dimitrov met the piano accompanist and répétiteur, Malina Dimitrova, who graduated at this time and took her first steps in the opera accompanying field. They were later to be married. The couple had one son, Liuben, who graduated as solo pianist and later become part of the Genova & Dimitrov piano duo.
Silvio Sergio Bonaccorsi Barbato was an Italian-Brazilian opera conductor and composer. He died on board Air France Flight 447.
Susanna Rigacci is a Swedish-born Italian singer/soprano.
Martina Janková is a Czech operatic soprano. She has been successful in a number of opera contests, including winning first prize at the competition Neue Stimmen in Gütersloh. She has been a member of the Zürich Opera since 1998. She is particularly known for her portrayals in operas by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and George Frideric Handel.
Francesco Cilluffo is an Italian conductor and composer.
Gabriel Garrido is an Argentinian conductor specialising in Italian baroque and the recovery of the baroque musical heritage of Latin America.
Marcello Abbado was an Italian pianist, composer, conductor and academic teacher. His compositions include several orchestral works, two ballets, numerous pieces for solo piano, and chamber music. As a pianist, he played in major concert halls of the world. He taught composition at several conservatories, ultimately at the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory. In 1989 he was awarded the gold medal for Meritorious Culture and Art by the Government of Italy.
The Conservatorio Statale di Musica "Gioachino Rossini" is a music conservatory in Pesaro, Italy. Founded in 1869 with a legacy from the composer Gioachino Rossini, the conservatory officially opened in 1882 with 67 students and was then known as the Liceo musicale Rossini. By 2010 it had an enrollment of approximately 850 students studying for higher diplomas in singing, instrumental performance, composition, musicology, choral conducting, jazz or electronic music. The conservatory also trains music teachers for secondary schools and holds regular master classes. Its seat is the 18th century Palazzo Olivieri–Machirelli on the Piazza Oliveri in Pesaro. Amongst its past Directors are the composers Carlo Pedrotti, Pietro Mascagni, Riccardo Zandonai and Franco Alfano. Mascagni's opera Zanetto had its world premiere at the conservatory in 1896.
Rocco Filippini was a Swiss classical cellist.
Massimiliano Frani was an Italian pianist, composer and music pedagogue. He founded the project MET – Music Education Therapy and was director of the Armoniæ Centro Internazionale di Musica e Cultura. He also worked as a musical art teacher at Elevations RTC, a residential treatment center in Syracuse, Utah, and lived in the state.
Luca Francesconi is an Italian composer. He studied at the Milan Conservatory, then with Karlheinz Stockhausen and Luciano Berio.
Mariangela Vacatello is an Italian classical concert pianist from Naples.
Eteri Lamoris is an operatic soprano and voice teacher. Of Georgian descent and now a Spanish citizen, she initially studied with her mother Lamara Chkonia in Tbilisi and later in Madrid. Lamoris made her operatic debut as Desdemona in Otello at the Tbilisi Opera and Ballet Theatre where she later sang roles including Violetta in La traviata and Gilda in Rigoletto. She made her international debut as Musetta in Franco Zeffirelli's production of La bohème at La Scala. She went on to perform leading roles in both European and North American opera houses.
Ugo Benelli is an Italian operatic tenor. Born in Genoa and trained at La Scala, Benelli had an international career singing leading tenore di grazia roles from the early 1960s through the 1980s. In his later years he sang character roles and began a career as a singing teacher. He retired from the stage in 2004.
Clara Perra was an Italian solo percussionist, music educator, pianist and composer.
Massimo Carpegna is an Italian conductor.
Joonatan Jürgenson is an Estonian classical pianist from Tõravere. He made his debut at the age of 12 after receiving the 1st prize at the "Young Musician" competition in Tallinn, 2004.
Marco Attura is an Italian composer, pianist and conductor.
