Tchaikovsky's Centennial Deathday Musical Memorial MP4 Download DVD
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A Celebration Of The Life And Works Of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Considered The Greatest Of All Russian Composers, On The Occasion Of His November 6, 1993 Centennial Death Anniversary, With Excerpts From Some Of His Best-Loved Compositions -- The Ballets Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty And The Nutcraker, The Operas Eugin Onegin And The Maid Of Orleans, And A Complete Performance Of His Symphony No. 4 Conducted By Royal Philharmonic Orchestra -- Featuring The Mariinsky Ballet (The Kirov Ballet), Lyric Opera Of Chicago, The Bolshoi Opera, The Royal Ballet And The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. And Performances By Sopranos Mirella Freni And Nina Rautio, And Prima Ballerina Irina Kolpakova! An Evening Of Spectacular Performances Hosted For A & E Stage By Elliott Forrest, The Venerable Weekday Afternoon Host On New York City's Classical Music Station WQXR-FM (105.9 FM), And Presented In The Highest DVD Quality MPG Video Format Of 9.1 MBPS As An MP4 Video Download Or Archival Quality All Regions Format DVD! (Color, November 6, 1993, 1 Hour 36 Minutes.)
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Russian composer of the Romantic period, the first Russian composer whose music would make a lasting impression internationally (May 7, 1840 - November 6, 1893) was born in Votkinsk, a small town in Vyatka Governorate (present-day Udmurtia) near the banks of the Kama River, and not far from the Ural Mountains in the Russian Empire, into a family with a long history of military service. Tchaikovsky wrote some of the most popular concert and theatrical music in the current classical repertoire, including the ballets Swan Lake and The Nutcracker, the 1812 Overture, his First Piano Concerto, Violin Concerto, the Romeo and Juliet Overture-Fantasy, several symphonies, and the opera Eugene Onegin. Although musically precocious, Tchaikovsky was educated for a career as a civil servant as there was little opportunity for a musical career in Russia at the time and no system of public music education. When an opportunity for such an education arose, he entered the nascent Saint Petersburg Conservatory, from which he graduated in 1865. The formal Western-oriented teaching that Tchaikovsky received there set him apart from composers of the contemporary nationalist movement embodied by the Russian composers of The Five with whom his professional relationship was mixed. Tchaikovsky's training set him on a path to reconcile what he had learned with the native musical practices to which he had been exposed from childhood. From that reconciliation, he forged a personal but unmistakably Russian style. The principles that governed melody, harmony, and other fundamentals of Russian music ran completely counter to those that governed Western European music, which seemed to defeat the potential for using Russian music in large-scale Western composition or for forming a composite style, and it caused personal antipathies that dented Tchaikovsky's self-confidence. Russian culture exhibited a split personality, with its native and adopted elements having drifted apart increasingly since the time of Peter the Great. That resulted in uncertainty among the intelligentsia about the country's national identity, an ambiguity mirrored in Tchaikovsky's career. Despite his many popular successes, Tchaikovsky's life was punctuated by personal crises and depression. Contributory factors included his early separation from his mother for boarding school followed by his mother's early death, the death of his close friend and colleague Nikolai Rubinstein, his failed marriage with Antonina Miliukova, and the collapse of his 13-year association with the wealthy patroness Nadezhda Von Meck. Tchaikovsky's homosexuality, which he kept private, has traditionally also been considered a major factor though some scholars have played down its importance. His dedication of his Sixth symphony to his nephew Vladimir "Bob" Davydov and his feelings expressed about Davydov in letters to others, especially following Davydov's suicide, have been cited as evidence for a romantic love between the two. Tchaikovsky's sudden death at the age of 53 is generally ascribed to cholera, but there is an ongoing debate as to whether cholera was indeed the cause and whether the death was accidental or intentional. While his music has remained popular among audiences, critical opinions were initially mixed. Some Russians did not feel it was sufficiently representative of native musical values and expressed suspicion that Europeans accepted the music for its Western elements. In an apparent reinforcement of the latter claim, some Europeans lauded Tchaikovsky for offering music more substantive than exoticism, and said he transcended the stereotypes of Russian classical music. Others dismissed Tchaikovsky's music as deficient because they did not stringently follow Western principles. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky died in Saint Petersburg, Russia, nine days after he conducted the premiere of his Sixth Symphony, the Pathetique, aged 53. He is interred in Tikhvin Cemetery at the Alexander Nevsky Monastery, near the graves of fellow-composers Alexander Borodin, Mikhail Glinka, and Modest Mussorgsky; later, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and Mily Balakirev were also buried nearby. Tchaikovsky's death is attributed to cholera, caused by drinking unboiled water at a local restaurant. In the 1980s in Britain, however, there was academic speculation that he killed himself, either with poison or by contracting cholera intentionally; it has been alleged that a secret jury of his musical peers directed him to commit suicide to atone for a homosexual relationship, then very taboo in Russia; in the New Grove Dictionary of Music, Roland John Wiley wrote: "the polemics over Tchaikovsky's death have reached an impasse. As for illness, problems of evidence offer little hope of satisfactory resolution: the state of diagnosis; the confusion of witnesses; disregard of long-term effects of smoking and alcohol. We do not know how Tchaikovsky died. We may never find out."
Swan Lake (Russian:Lebedinoje Ozero), Op. 20, is a ballet composed by Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in 1875-76. Despite its initial failure, it is now one of the most popular ballets of all time. The scenario, initially in two acts, was fashioned from Russian and German folk tales and tells the story of Odette, a princess turned into a swan by an evil sorcerer's curse. The choreographer of the original production was Julius Reisinger (Vaclav Reisinger). The ballet was premiered by the Bolshoi Ballet on March 4 [O.S. February 20] ,1877 at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow. Although it is presented in many different versions, most ballet companies base their stagings both choreographically and musically on the 1895 revival of Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov, first staged for the Imperial Ballet on January 15, 1895, at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg. For this revival, Tchaikovsky's score was revised by the St. Petersburg Imperial Theatre's chief conductor and composer Riccardo Drigo.
The Mariinsky Ballet (Russian: Balet Mariinskogo Teatra), formerly known as The Kirov Ballet (Russian: Balet Kirova Teatra) is the resident classical ballet company of the Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Founded in the 18th century and originally known as the Imperial Russian Ballet, the Mariinsky Ballet is one of the world's leading ballet companies. Internationally in some quarters, the Mariinsky Ballet continues to be known by its former Soviet name The Kirov Ballet. The Mariinsky Ballet is the parent company of the Vaganova Ballet Academy, a leading international ballet school.
Eugene Onegin (Russian: Yevgeny Onegin), Op. 24, is an opera (designated as "lyrical scenes") in 3 acts (7 scenes), composed by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. The libretto, organised by the composer himself, very closely follows certain passages in Alexander Pushkin's 1825-1832 novel in verse, retaining much of his poetry. Tchaikovsky's friend Konstantin Shilovsky contributed M. Triquet's verses in Act 2, Scene 1, while Tchaikovsky himself arranged the text for Lensky's arioso in Act 1, Scene 1, and almost all of Prince Gremin's aria in Act 3, Scene 1. Eugene Onegin is a well-known example of lyric opera, to which Tchaikovsky added music of a dramatic nature. The story concerns a selfish hero who lives to regret his blase rejection of a young woman's love and his careless incitement of a fatal duel with his best friend. The opera was first performed in Moscow in 1879. There are several recordings of it, and it is regularly performed. The work's title refers to the protagonist.
Lyric Opera Of Chicago is an American opera company based in Chicago, Illinois. The company was founded in Chicago in 1954, under the name 'Lyric Theatre Of Chicago' by Carol Fox, Nicola Rescigno and Lawrence Kelly, with a season that included Maria Callas's American debut in Norma. Fox re-organized the company in 1956 under its present name. Lyric is housed in a theater and related spaces in the Civic Opera Building. These spaces are now owned by Lyric.
Mirella Freni OMRI (born Mirella Fregni, February 27, 1935 - February 9, 2020) was an Italian operatic soprano who had a career of 50 years and appeared at major international opera houses. She received international attention at the Glyndebourne Festival, where she appeared as Mozart's Zerlina in Mozart's Don Giovanni and Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro, and as Adina in Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore. Freni is associated with the role of Mimi in Puccini's La boheme, which featured in her repertoire from 1957 to 1999 and which she sang at La Scala in Milan and the Vienna State Opera in 1963, conducted by Herbert von Karajan. She also performed the role in a film of the production and as her debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City in 1965. In the earliest opera DVDs, she portrayed her characters convincingly in both acting and singing. Freni was married to the Bulgarian bass Nicolai Ghiaurov, with whom she performed and recorded. Her obituary from The New York Times described her as a "matchless Italian prima donna".
The Maid Of Orleans (Russian: Orleanskaja Deva, "Virgin Of Orleans") is an opera in 4 acts and 6 scenes by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. It was composed during 1878-1879 to a Russian libretto by the composer, based on several sources: Friedrich Schiller's The Maid Of Orleans as translated by Vasily Zhukovsky; Jules Barbier's Jeanne d'Arc; Auguste Mermet's libretto for his own 1876 opera; and Henri Wallon's biography of Joan Of Arc. Dedicated to conductor Eduard Napravnik, this work represents the composer's closest approach to French grand opera, albeit in the Russian language, notably with its inclusion of a ballet in act 2.
The Bolshoi Opera, along with The Bolshoi Ballet, are among the oldest and best known ballet and opera companies in the world. It is housed in The Bolshoi Theatre (Russian: Bol'shoy Teatr, "The Grand Theater") an historic opera house in Moscow, Russia, originally designed by architect Joseph Bove. Before the October Revolution it was a part of the Imperial Theatres of the Russian Empire along with Maly Theatre (Small Theatre) in Moscow and a few theatres in Saint Petersburg (Hermitage Theatre, Bolshoi (Kamenny) Theatre, later Mariinsky Theatre and others).
Nina Rautio (b. September 21, 1957) is a Russian operatic soprano. For the first nineteen years of her life, Nina Rautio lived in Petrozavodsk (Republic of Karelia, Russia). She graduated as a pianist from the Petrozavodsk School of Music, and then completed a Dual Degree, studying theory and singing at the K.E. Rautio Music College. She began her operatic career in earnest in 1984, performing a number of leading roles as part of the Mikhaylovsky Theatre (formerly the Maly Opera Theatre) in St. Petersburg. After competing in the Tchaikovsky Competition she was invited to join the Bolshoi Theatre company. One of the directors of the Bolshoi company, V.G. Milkov, offered this appraisal of Nina Rautio's talent: "She wields a voice possessed of the most radiant timbre, imbued with a wide palette of shades and hues, all underpinned by an acting ability of great resolve and persuasion". She first sang in the West in 1991 when she travelled to the Metropolitan Opera, New York, and the Edinburgh festival with the Bolshoi Company. In the early 1990s Nina relocated to London and has since performed across the world. She made many critically acclaimed appearances on the stage of the Royal Opera House, London, as Amelia ("Un Ballo in maschera"), as the eponymous heroine in "Aida", Desdemona in "Othello" (all under Daniele Gatti), as well as Abigaille in Verdi's "Nabucco"; performed "Aida" with Daniel Oren at the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma; took on the title roles in "Tosca" and "Aida" for the New York Metropolitan Opera productions; sang the role of Lisa in Opera Bastille's production of "The Queen of Spades" (dir. A.S. Konchalovsky); appeared as Aida and performed the soprano solo part in Verdi's "Requiem", with Zubin Mehta conducting the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. Back in Russia, Nina Rautio has been involved in a number of projects, such as the "Golden Voices of the Opera" festival in Moscow; the "Stars of the Operatic Stage" concerts, Moscow; the International M.D. Mikhailov Opera Festival in Chebokhsary; the "Aliabyevskaya Musikalnaya Osen"[6] festival. In 2002-2003, in the role of artistic director of the Musical Theatre of Karelia, Nina Rautio directed their production of Mascagni's "Cavalleria rusticana", as well as taking on the part of Santuzza. Nina Rautio currently resides in the United Kingdom, London.
The Sleeping Beauty (Russian: Spyashchaya Krasavitsa) is a ballet in a prologue and three acts to music by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, his Opus 66, completed in 1889. It is the second of his three ballets and, at 160 minutes, his second-longest work in any genre. The original scenario was by Ivan Vsevolozhsky after Perrault's La belle au bois dormant, or The Beauty Sleeping in the Forest; the first choreographer was Marius Petipa. The premiere took place at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg on January 15, 1890, and from that year forward The Sleeping Beauty has remained one of the most famous ballets of all time.
Irina Kolpakova (b. May 22, 1933), Soviet and Russian ballerina, choreographer and pedagogue, People's Artist of the USSR (1965) and Hero of Socialist Labour (1983), was the prima ballerina of the Kirov State Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet (now the Mariinsky Theatre) in Saint Petersburg. From 1974 to 1979, Irina Aleksandrovna Kolpakova served as a deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. In the 1990s, she worked for several seasons as choreographer and coach at the American Ballet Theatre in New York City. She is currently a professor of classical dance at the Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet in Saint Petersburg and a ballet coach at American Ballet Theatre. She is married to the noted ballet dancer Vladilen Semyonov, also a People's Artist of the USSR. They live in the Tolstoy House building in Saint Petersburg.
The Royal Ballet is a British internationally renowned classical ballet company, based at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London, England. The largest of the five major ballet companies in Great Britain, the Royal Ballet was founded in 1931 by Dame Ninette de Valois. It became the resident ballet company of the Royal Opera House in 1946, and has purpose-built facilities within these premises. It was granted a royal charter in 1956, becoming recognised as Britain's flagship ballet company. The Royal Ballet was one of the foremost ballet companies of the 20th century, and continues to be one of the world's most famous ballet companies to this day, generally noted for its artistic and creative values. The company employs approximately 100 dancers. The official associate school of the company is the Royal Ballet School, and it also has a sister company, the Birmingham Royal Ballet, which operates independently. The Prima ballerina assoluta of the Royal Ballet is the late Dame Margot Fonteyn.
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 4 in F minor, Op. 36, was written between 1877 and 1878. Its first performance was at a Russian Musical Society concert in Moscow on February 22 (or the 10th using the calendar of the time), 1878, with Nikolai Rubinstein as conductor. In Central Europe it sometimes receives the nickname "Fatum", or "Fate". In the words of host Elliott Forest, during the final years of Tchaikovsky's life, he "repeatedly and consistently wrote about fate; he wrote about it in his diaries, in his correspondence and in his music. 'It is inescapable', he said, 'and can never be overcome'. So what were these daemons that persued him right up to the end? What did he mean by 'fate'? As usual with Tchaikovsky, the answer is contained in his music, and the Fourth Symphony is the clearest definition he ever gave us of this thing that he called 'fate'."
The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London, England. The RPO was established by Thomas Beecham in 1946. In its early days, the orchestra secured profitable recording contracts and important engagements including the Glyndebourne Festival Opera and the concerts of the Royal Philharmonic Society. After Beecham's death in 1961, the RPO's fortunes declined steeply. The RPO battled for survival until the mid-1960s, when its future was secured after a report by the Arts Council of Great Britain recommended that it should receive public subsidy. A further crisis arose in the same era when it seemed that the orchestra's right to call itself "Royal" could be withdrawn. In 2004, the RPO acquired its first permanent London base, at Cadogan Hall in Chelsea. The RPO also gives concerts at the Royal Festival Hall, the Royal Albert Hall and venues around the United Kingdom and other countries. Since the start of the 2021-2022 season, the orchestra's musical director has been Vasily Petrenko.
Vladimir Ashkenazy (Russian: Vladimir Davidovich Ashkenazi) (b. July 6, 1937) is a Soviet-born Icelandic pianist, chamber music performer, and conductor. Ashkenazy has collaborated with well-known orchestras and soloists. In addition, Vladimir Davidovich Ashkenazy has recorded a large repertoire of classical and romantic works. His recordings have earned him seven Grammy Awards and Iceland's Order of the Falcon.
Elliott Forrest was born on January 20, 1957 in San Angelo, Texas, USA. He is the weekday afternoon host on WQXR. Elliott Forrest discovered the storytelling power of classical music in the formative years of his music education through Rimsky-Korsakov's exquisite Scheherazade. He had always loved telling stories, and he had decided early on that he would pursue a career in show business that would allow him to do just that for a living. At the age of 17, Elliott was a high school student with big dreams working a part-time job at a gas station. The problem was, he hated it. So, he did what any other teenager in his situation would do: He walked right into the local television station without a meeting and asked, "You guys don't need anybody, do you?" Turns out, they did, and he became the production assistant. The following summer, the same line got him his first ever radio job as the overnight announcer at his local station, and when work at a Kansas City theater company led to a brief commercial recording session, his signature query landed him his first gig with a classical station. Today, as the weekday afternoon host of WQXR, Elliott provides the soundtrack to listeners' daily commutes, offering them a window to the arts. His wildly popular brainchild The Score at Four - inspired by his love of film - has become a weekday staple, and he continues to push the boundaries of what it means to be a classical music radio station with similarly novel programming initiatives. Beyond the studio, Elliott works as a director, producer, and television host, and he also serves as Executive and Artistic Director of ArtsRock, a Not-For-Profit organization in Rockland County. He is also a director and actor, known for Face to Face: Forgotten Voices Heard (2022), La Folia (2017) and Considering Matthew Shepard (2018).
#JCKaelin here: I listen to Elliott Forrest on WQXR literally every weekday afternoon, and have done for many years :D
A Celebration Of The Life And Works Of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Considered The Greatest Of All Russian Composers, On The Occasion Of His November 6, 1993 Centennial Death Anniversary, With Excerpts From Some Of His Best-Loved Compositions -- The Ballets Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty And The Nutcraker, The Operas Eugin Onegin And The Maid Of Orleans, And A Complete Performance Of His Symphony No. 4 Conducted By Royal Philharmonic Orchestra -- Featuring The Mariinsky Ballet (The Kirov Ballet), Lyric Opera Of Chicago, The Bolshoi Opera, The Royal Ballet And The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. And Performances By Sopranos Mirella Freni And Nina Rautio, And Prima Ballerina Irina Kolpakova! An Evening Of Spectacular Performances Hosted For A & E Stage By Elliott Forrest, The Venerable Weekday Afternoon Host On New York City's Classical Music Station WQXR-FM (105.9 FM), And Presented In The Highest DVD Quality MPG Video Format Of 9.1 MBPS As An MP4 Video Download Or Archival Quality All Regions Format DVD! (Color, November 6, 1993, 1 Hour 36 Minutes.)
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Russian composer of the Romantic period, the first Russian composer whose music would make a lasting impression internationally (May 7, 1840 - November 6, 1893) was born in Votkinsk, a small town in Vyatka Governorate (present-day Udmurtia) near the banks of the Kama River, and not far from the Ural Mountains in the Russian Empire, into a family with a long history of military service. Tchaikovsky wrote some of the most popular concert and theatrical music in the current classical repertoire, including the ballets Swan Lake and The Nutcracker, the 1812 Overture, his First Piano Concerto, Violin Concerto, the Romeo and Juliet Overture-Fantasy, several symphonies, and the opera Eugene Onegin. Although musically precocious, Tchaikovsky was educated for a career as a civil servant as there was little opportunity for a musical career in Russia at the time and no system of public music education. When an opportunity for such an education arose, he entered the nascent Saint Petersburg Conservatory, from which he graduated in 1865. The formal Western-oriented teaching that Tchaikovsky received there set him apart from composers of the contemporary nationalist movement embodied by the Russian composers of The Five with whom his professional relationship was mixed. Tchaikovsky's training set him on a path to reconcile what he had learned with the native musical practices to which he had been exposed from childhood. From that reconciliation, he forged a personal but unmistakably Russian style. The principles that governed melody, harmony, and other fundamentals of Russian music ran completely counter to those that governed Western European music, which seemed to defeat the potential for using Russian music in large-scale Western composition or for forming a composite style, and it caused personal antipathies that dented Tchaikovsky's self-confidence. Russian culture exhibited a split personality, with its native and adopted elements having drifted apart increasingly since the time of Peter the Great. That resulted in uncertainty among the intelligentsia about the country's national identity, an ambiguity mirrored in Tchaikovsky's career. Despite his many popular successes, Tchaikovsky's life was punctuated by personal crises and depression. Contributory factors included his early separation from his mother for boarding school followed by his mother's early death, the death of his close friend and colleague Nikolai Rubinstein, his failed marriage with Antonina Miliukova, and the collapse of his 13-year association with the wealthy patroness Nadezhda Von Meck. Tchaikovsky's homosexuality, which he kept private, has traditionally also been considered a major factor though some scholars have played down its importance. His dedication of his Sixth symphony to his nephew Vladimir "Bob" Davydov and his feelings expressed about Davydov in letters to others, especially following Davydov's suicide, have been cited as evidence for a romantic love between the two. Tchaikovsky's sudden death at the age of 53 is generally ascribed to cholera, but there is an ongoing debate as to whether cholera was indeed the cause and whether the death was accidental or intentional. While his music has remained popular among audiences, critical opinions were initially mixed. Some Russians did not feel it was sufficiently representative of native musical values and expressed suspicion that Europeans accepted the music for its Western elements. In an apparent reinforcement of the latter claim, some Europeans lauded Tchaikovsky for offering music more substantive than exoticism, and said he transcended the stereotypes of Russian classical music. Others dismissed Tchaikovsky's music as deficient because they did not stringently follow Western principles. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky died in Saint Petersburg, Russia, nine days after he conducted the premiere of his Sixth Symphony, the Pathetique, aged 53. He is interred in Tikhvin Cemetery at the Alexander Nevsky Monastery, near the graves of fellow-composers Alexander Borodin, Mikhail Glinka, and Modest Mussorgsky; later, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and Mily Balakirev were also buried nearby. Tchaikovsky's death is attributed to cholera, caused by drinking unboiled water at a local restaurant. In the 1980s in Britain, however, there was academic speculation that he killed himself, either with poison or by contracting cholera intentionally; it has been alleged that a secret jury of his musical peers directed him to commit suicide to atone for a homosexual relationship, then very taboo in Russia; in the New Grove Dictionary of Music, Roland John Wiley wrote: "the polemics over Tchaikovsky's death have reached an impasse. As for illness, problems of evidence offer little hope of satisfactory resolution: the state of diagnosis; the confusion of witnesses; disregard of long-term effects of smoking and alcohol. We do not know how Tchaikovsky died. We may never find out."
Swan Lake (Russian:Lebedinoje Ozero), Op. 20, is a ballet composed by Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in 1875-76. Despite its initial failure, it is now one of the most popular ballets of all time. The scenario, initially in two acts, was fashioned from Russian and German folk tales and tells the story of Odette, a princess turned into a swan by an evil sorcerer's curse. The choreographer of the original production was Julius Reisinger (Vaclav Reisinger). The ballet was premiered by the Bolshoi Ballet on March 4 [O.S. February 20] ,1877 at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow. Although it is presented in many different versions, most ballet companies base their stagings both choreographically and musically on the 1895 revival of Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov, first staged for the Imperial Ballet on January 15, 1895, at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg. For this revival, Tchaikovsky's score was revised by the St. Petersburg Imperial Theatre's chief conductor and composer Riccardo Drigo.
The Mariinsky Ballet (Russian: Balet Mariinskogo Teatra), formerly known as The Kirov Ballet (Russian: Balet Kirova Teatra) is the resident classical ballet company of the Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Founded in the 18th century and originally known as the Imperial Russian Ballet, the Mariinsky Ballet is one of the world's leading ballet companies. Internationally in some quarters, the Mariinsky Ballet continues to be known by its former Soviet name The Kirov Ballet. The Mariinsky Ballet is the parent company of the Vaganova Ballet Academy, a leading international ballet school.
Eugene Onegin (Russian: Yevgeny Onegin), Op. 24, is an opera (designated as "lyrical scenes") in 3 acts (7 scenes), composed by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. The libretto, organised by the composer himself, very closely follows certain passages in Alexander Pushkin's 1825-1832 novel in verse, retaining much of his poetry. Tchaikovsky's friend Konstantin Shilovsky contributed M. Triquet's verses in Act 2, Scene 1, while Tchaikovsky himself arranged the text for Lensky's arioso in Act 1, Scene 1, and almost all of Prince Gremin's aria in Act 3, Scene 1. Eugene Onegin is a well-known example of lyric opera, to which Tchaikovsky added music of a dramatic nature. The story concerns a selfish hero who lives to regret his blase rejection of a young woman's love and his careless incitement of a fatal duel with his best friend. The opera was first performed in Moscow in 1879. There are several recordings of it, and it is regularly performed. The work's title refers to the protagonist.
Lyric Opera Of Chicago is an American opera company based in Chicago, Illinois. The company was founded in Chicago in 1954, under the name 'Lyric Theatre Of Chicago' by Carol Fox, Nicola Rescigno and Lawrence Kelly, with a season that included Maria Callas's American debut in Norma. Fox re-organized the company in 1956 under its present name. Lyric is housed in a theater and related spaces in the Civic Opera Building. These spaces are now owned by Lyric.
Mirella Freni OMRI (born Mirella Fregni, February 27, 1935 - February 9, 2020) was an Italian operatic soprano who had a career of 50 years and appeared at major international opera houses. She received international attention at the Glyndebourne Festival, where she appeared as Mozart's Zerlina in Mozart's Don Giovanni and Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro, and as Adina in Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore. Freni is associated with the role of Mimi in Puccini's La boheme, which featured in her repertoire from 1957 to 1999 and which she sang at La Scala in Milan and the Vienna State Opera in 1963, conducted by Herbert von Karajan. She also performed the role in a film of the production and as her debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City in 1965. In the earliest opera DVDs, she portrayed her characters convincingly in both acting and singing. Freni was married to the Bulgarian bass Nicolai Ghiaurov, with whom she performed and recorded. Her obituary from The New York Times described her as a "matchless Italian prima donna".
The Maid Of Orleans (Russian: Orleanskaja Deva, "Virgin Of Orleans") is an opera in 4 acts and 6 scenes by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. It was composed during 1878-1879 to a Russian libretto by the composer, based on several sources: Friedrich Schiller's The Maid Of Orleans as translated by Vasily Zhukovsky; Jules Barbier's Jeanne d'Arc; Auguste Mermet's libretto for his own 1876 opera; and Henri Wallon's biography of Joan Of Arc. Dedicated to conductor Eduard Napravnik, this work represents the composer's closest approach to French grand opera, albeit in the Russian language, notably with its inclusion of a ballet in act 2.
The Bolshoi Opera, along with The Bolshoi Ballet, are among the oldest and best known ballet and opera companies in the world. It is housed in The Bolshoi Theatre (Russian: Bol'shoy Teatr, "The Grand Theater") an historic opera house in Moscow, Russia, originally designed by architect Joseph Bove. Before the October Revolution it was a part of the Imperial Theatres of the Russian Empire along with Maly Theatre (Small Theatre) in Moscow and a few theatres in Saint Petersburg (Hermitage Theatre, Bolshoi (Kamenny) Theatre, later Mariinsky Theatre and others).
Nina Rautio (b. September 21, 1957) is a Russian operatic soprano. For the first nineteen years of her life, Nina Rautio lived in Petrozavodsk (Republic of Karelia, Russia). She graduated as a pianist from the Petrozavodsk School of Music, and then completed a Dual Degree, studying theory and singing at the K.E. Rautio Music College. She began her operatic career in earnest in 1984, performing a number of leading roles as part of the Mikhaylovsky Theatre (formerly the Maly Opera Theatre) in St. Petersburg. After competing in the Tchaikovsky Competition she was invited to join the Bolshoi Theatre company. One of the directors of the Bolshoi company, V.G. Milkov, offered this appraisal of Nina Rautio's talent: "She wields a voice possessed of the most radiant timbre, imbued with a wide palette of shades and hues, all underpinned by an acting ability of great resolve and persuasion". She first sang in the West in 1991 when she travelled to the Metropolitan Opera, New York, and the Edinburgh festival with the Bolshoi Company. In the early 1990s Nina relocated to London and has since performed across the world. She made many critically acclaimed appearances on the stage of the Royal Opera House, London, as Amelia ("Un Ballo in maschera"), as the eponymous heroine in "Aida", Desdemona in "Othello" (all under Daniele Gatti), as well as Abigaille in Verdi's "Nabucco"; performed "Aida" with Daniel Oren at the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma; took on the title roles in "Tosca" and "Aida" for the New York Metropolitan Opera productions; sang the role of Lisa in Opera Bastille's production of "The Queen of Spades" (dir. A.S. Konchalovsky); appeared as Aida and performed the soprano solo part in Verdi's "Requiem", with Zubin Mehta conducting the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. Back in Russia, Nina Rautio has been involved in a number of projects, such as the "Golden Voices of the Opera" festival in Moscow; the "Stars of the Operatic Stage" concerts, Moscow; the International M.D. Mikhailov Opera Festival in Chebokhsary; the "Aliabyevskaya Musikalnaya Osen"[6] festival. In 2002-2003, in the role of artistic director of the Musical Theatre of Karelia, Nina Rautio directed their production of Mascagni's "Cavalleria rusticana", as well as taking on the part of Santuzza. Nina Rautio currently resides in the United Kingdom, London.
The Sleeping Beauty (Russian: Spyashchaya Krasavitsa) is a ballet in a prologue and three acts to music by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, his Opus 66, completed in 1889. It is the second of his three ballets and, at 160 minutes, his second-longest work in any genre. The original scenario was by Ivan Vsevolozhsky after Perrault's La belle au bois dormant, or The Beauty Sleeping in the Forest; the first choreographer was Marius Petipa. The premiere took place at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg on January 15, 1890, and from that year forward The Sleeping Beauty has remained one of the most famous ballets of all time.
Irina Kolpakova (b. May 22, 1933), Soviet and Russian ballerina, choreographer and pedagogue, People's Artist of the USSR (1965) and Hero of Socialist Labour (1983), was the prima ballerina of the Kirov State Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet (now the Mariinsky Theatre) in Saint Petersburg. From 1974 to 1979, Irina Aleksandrovna Kolpakova served as a deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. In the 1990s, she worked for several seasons as choreographer and coach at the American Ballet Theatre in New York City. She is currently a professor of classical dance at the Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet in Saint Petersburg and a ballet coach at American Ballet Theatre. She is married to the noted ballet dancer Vladilen Semyonov, also a People's Artist of the USSR. They live in the Tolstoy House building in Saint Petersburg.
The Royal Ballet is a British internationally renowned classical ballet company, based at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London, England. The largest of the five major ballet companies in Great Britain, the Royal Ballet was founded in 1931 by Dame Ninette de Valois. It became the resident ballet company of the Royal Opera House in 1946, and has purpose-built facilities within these premises. It was granted a royal charter in 1956, becoming recognised as Britain's flagship ballet company. The Royal Ballet was one of the foremost ballet companies of the 20th century, and continues to be one of the world's most famous ballet companies to this day, generally noted for its artistic and creative values. The company employs approximately 100 dancers. The official associate school of the company is the Royal Ballet School, and it also has a sister company, the Birmingham Royal Ballet, which operates independently. The Prima ballerina assoluta of the Royal Ballet is the late Dame Margot Fonteyn.
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 4 in F minor, Op. 36, was written between 1877 and 1878. Its first performance was at a Russian Musical Society concert in Moscow on February 22 (or the 10th using the calendar of the time), 1878, with Nikolai Rubinstein as conductor. In Central Europe it sometimes receives the nickname "Fatum", or "Fate". In the words of host Elliott Forest, during the final years of Tchaikovsky's life, he "repeatedly and consistently wrote about fate; he wrote about it in his diaries, in his correspondence and in his music. 'It is inescapable', he said, 'and can never be overcome'. So what were these daemons that persued him right up to the end? What did he mean by 'fate'? As usual with Tchaikovsky, the answer is contained in his music, and the Fourth Symphony is the clearest definition he ever gave us of this thing that he called 'fate'."
The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London, England. The RPO was established by Thomas Beecham in 1946. In its early days, the orchestra secured profitable recording contracts and important engagements including the Glyndebourne Festival Opera and the concerts of the Royal Philharmonic Society. After Beecham's death in 1961, the RPO's fortunes declined steeply. The RPO battled for survival until the mid-1960s, when its future was secured after a report by the Arts Council of Great Britain recommended that it should receive public subsidy. A further crisis arose in the same era when it seemed that the orchestra's right to call itself "Royal" could be withdrawn. In 2004, the RPO acquired its first permanent London base, at Cadogan Hall in Chelsea. The RPO also gives concerts at the Royal Festival Hall, the Royal Albert Hall and venues around the United Kingdom and other countries. Since the start of the 2021-2022 season, the orchestra's musical director has been Vasily Petrenko.
Vladimir Ashkenazy (Russian: Vladimir Davidovich Ashkenazi) (b. July 6, 1937) is a Soviet-born Icelandic pianist, chamber music performer, and conductor. Ashkenazy has collaborated with well-known orchestras and soloists. In addition, Vladimir Davidovich Ashkenazy has recorded a large repertoire of classical and romantic works. His recordings have earned him seven Grammy Awards and Iceland's Order of the Falcon.
Elliott Forrest was born on January 20, 1957 in San Angelo, Texas, USA. He is the weekday afternoon host on WQXR. Elliott Forrest discovered the storytelling power of classical music in the formative years of his music education through Rimsky-Korsakov's exquisite Scheherazade. He had always loved telling stories, and he had decided early on that he would pursue a career in show business that would allow him to do just that for a living. At the age of 17, Elliott was a high school student with big dreams working a part-time job at a gas station. The problem was, he hated it. So, he did what any other teenager in his situation would do: He walked right into the local television station without a meeting and asked, "You guys don't need anybody, do you?" Turns out, they did, and he became the production assistant. The following summer, the same line got him his first ever radio job as the overnight announcer at his local station, and when work at a Kansas City theater company led to a brief commercial recording session, his signature query landed him his first gig with a classical station. Today, as the weekday afternoon host of WQXR, Elliott provides the soundtrack to listeners' daily commutes, offering them a window to the arts. His wildly popular brainchild The Score at Four - inspired by his love of film - has become a weekday staple, and he continues to push the boundaries of what it means to be a classical music radio station with similarly novel programming initiatives. Beyond the studio, Elliott works as a director, producer, and television host, and he also serves as Executive and Artistic Director of ArtsRock, a Not-For-Profit organization in Rockland County. He is also a director and actor, known for Face to Face: Forgotten Voices Heard (2022), La Folia (2017) and Considering Matthew Shepard (2018).
#JCKaelin here: I listen to Elliott Forrest on WQXR literally every weekday afternoon, and have done for many years :D