The lyric coloratura soprano Lisette Oropesa has achieved worldwide acclaim for her seamless vocal technique, expressive musicality, linguistic affinity, and stylistic integrity. According to critics, “she has a technique without weakness, and everything she touches turns into gold.” She sang
On This Day
On the occasion of the recent wedding of Louis XV and Maria Leszczyńska, daughter of the deposed king of Poland, the Hamburg Opera am Gänsemarkt saw the premiere of Georg Philipp Telemann’s intermezzos Pimpinone on 27 September 1725. The Telemann
Béla Bartók was diagnosed with Leukaemia in April 1944, and as his body gradually failed, he found creative energy and produced a final set of masterpieces inspired by Yehudi Menuhin, Fritz Reiner, and Serge Koussevitzky. Bartók died at age 64,
In 1575, Torquato Tasso wrote his epic poem Gerusalemme liberate (Jerusalem Delivered). Set during the first crusade, the sorceress Armida ensnares the Christian knight Rinaldo and holds him captive on an island. When she raises her dagger to kill him,
For some listeners and critics, Henryk Szeryng’s “steely tenacity and intellectual firepower lurked just behind the gracious surfaces.” However, as pianist Arthur Rubinstein famously stated, “Szeryng’s playing reduce me to tears… Real music lovers want emotion, great moments, which Szeryng’s
2024 marks the 150th anniversary of Gustav Holst, born in Cheltenham on 21 September 1874. He devoted his life to teaching and composition, crafting nearly 300 works in a variety of genres including orchestral music, chamber music, brass and military
American pianist, writer, and teacher Jonathan Biss experienced an extreme panic attack in the middle of playing a recital. He had wrestled with anxiety around performing music for many years, and he felt ashamed of it. As he explained in
Isang Yun’s Symphony V premiered on the composer’s 70th birthday, on 17 September 1987, with Hans Zender conducting the Berlin Philharmonic and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau as the soloist. Using poems by Nelly Sachs, Yun makes an unambiguous statement of his intentions.