Giacomo Puccini was an Italian composer known primarily for his operas. Regarded as the greatest and most successful proponent of Italian opera after Verdi, he was descended from a long line of composers, stemming from the late-Baroque era. Though his early work was firmly rooted in traditional late-19th-century Romantic Italian opera, he later developed his work in the realistic verismo style, of which he became one of the leading exponents.
La Scala is a historic opera house in Milan, Italy. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and was originally known as il Nuovo Regio Ducale Teatro alla Scala. The premiere performance was Antonio Salieri's Europa riconosciuta.
Renata Tebaldi was an Italian lirico-spinto soprano popular in the post-war period, and especially prominent as one of the stars of La Scala, San Carlo and, especially, the Metropolitan Opera. Often considered among the great opera singers of the 20th century, she focused primarily on the verismo roles of the lyric and dramatic repertoires. Italian conductor Arturo Toscanini called her voice "la voce d'angelo", and La Scala music director Riccardo Muti called her "one of the greatest performers with one of the most extraordinary voices in the field of opera."
The German Fach system is a method of classifying singers, primarily opera singers, according to the range, weight, and color of their voices. It is used worldwide, but primarily in Europe, especially in German-speaking countries and by repertory opera houses.
The Canadian Opera Company (COC) is an opera company in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the largest opera company in Canada and one of the largest producers of opera in North America. The COC performs at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, which was purpose-built for opera and ballet and is shared with the National Ballet of Canada. For forty years until April 2006, the COC had performed at the O'Keefe Centre.
The following discography contains information regarding some of the published recordings by Enrico Caruso made from 1902 through 1920 as have been made available in selected compact disc compilations.
Giuseppe Patanè was an Italian opera conductor.
Maria Antonietta Stella was an Italian operatic soprano, and one of the most prominent Italian spinto sopranos of the 1950s and 1960s. She made her debut in Spoleto in 1950, as Leonora in Verdi's Il trovatore, a year later at Rome Opera, as Leonora in La forza del destino, in 1954 at La Scala in Milan, as Desdemona in Otello, in 1955 at the Royal Opera House in London as Aida, and in 1956 at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City, in the same role.
Vytautas Juozapaitis is a Lithuanian singer (baritone), recipient of Lithuanian National Prize, a soloist of Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre and Kaunas State Musical Theatre, a professor of Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre and a docent of Vilnius College of Higher Education, and a television personality. He has performed in many international venues and is considered the most famous contemporary Lithuanian baritone.
Francesco Molinari-Pradelli was a prominent Italian opera conductor. He studied piano and composition at Bologna, and graduated from the Accademia di Santa Cecilia, Rome in 1938. He made his debut at La Scala in 1946 and his Covent Garden debut in 1955. His account of Puccini's Turandot with Birgit Nilsson and Franco Corelli is commonly regarded as one of the greatest recordings of that work.
Anda-Louise Bogza is a celebrated Romanian opera soprano. In 1994, she won both the First Prize and the Audience Prize at the Vienna International Singing Competition. In 2007, she was honored with the Thalia Award.
Wiesław Ochman is a Polish tenor.
Carlo Colombara is an Italian operatic bass. He has sung leading roles in many major opera houses including Teatro alla Scala ; the Vienna State Opera ; the Real Teatro di San Carlo ; the Arena di Verona ; the Royal Opera House, and the Metropolitan Opera.
Nina Rautio is a Russian operatic soprano.
Tyley Ross is a Grammy nominated recording artist, the co-founder of the Universal Records recording act The East Village Opera Company, and a Dora Award winning musical theater actor. He is based in New York City.
Sigutė Stonytė is a Lithuanian soprano and professor at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre.
Ricardo Bernal is a Mexican lyric tenor.
Peter Kiesewalter is a Canadian arranger and multi-instrumentalist who plays sax, clarinet, keyboard, and accordion.
Christine Mielitz is a German theatre and opera director.
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.
