Top Opera Artists on Rhapsody Online

Giacomo Puccini

Thu, 31 Dec 2009 11:23:52 -0800

Writing music was a family tradition for the Puccini's of Lucca and little Giacomo was the fifth in a line of composers, playing organ and writing masses for local churches at 14. It was Verdi's Aida that inspired him to follow his instinct for composing opera; he entered his first one-act opera in a competition while a student at the Milan Conservatory. It failed to win, but brought interest in a second, which led to Puccini's life long association with the publishing house of Ricordi.

The third time was a charm though, and Puccini found huge international success pairing with the librettist team of Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa for the 1893 production of Manon Lescaut. With the help of Illica and Giacosa, Puccini's widely-performed masterpiece La Bohem followed in 1896, and another work of consequence, Madam Butterfly, was produced in 1904. Late in life he developed throat cancer, leaving the masterful Turandot unfinished at his death in 1924. He died a widely celebrated Italian hero and has left a number of enduring operas that weave passion, pathos, despair, and sensuality with singular savvy. - Nate Cavalieri

Luciano Pavarotti

Fri, 25 Dec 2009 11:17:23 -0800

The Caruso of our times, Italian lyric tenor Luciano Pavarotti (1935-2007) was beloved by millions of vocal music fans. He was known equally for his leading roles in 19th century Italian operas and for his album collections of popular, folk and love songs. His voice had a quintessential Italianate character and a passionate delivery. He was known as the "King of the High Cs" for his effortless range, as displayed in his favorite roles as Rodolfo in Puccini's La Boheme, Nemorino in Donizetti's L'Elisir d'Amore, and Riccardo in Verdi's Un Ballo Maschera. His greatest success was as one of the the Three Tenors, a group of noted opera singers (including Placido Domingo, Jose Carreras) who performed at the 1990 FIFA World Cup. The recording of Carreras - Domingo - Pavarotti: the Three Tenors in Concert holds the record as best selling classical album. Born to a poor family in Modena, Italy, Pavarotti lived in a two room house listening to his father, a baker by trade but fine tenor as well, as well as to popular opera stars of the day. Pavarotti began his music study, unable to read music, at the age of 19. A disastrous concert early in his life almost convinced him to quit, but in 1961 he was encouraged once again by winning the Achille Peri Competition. From there, he began a 40-year professional career as an opera singer. Pavarotti died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 71 in Modena where his funeral was attended by thousands. Flags flew at half mast and signs in windows read "Adieu maestro." - Daphne Carr

Richard Wagner

Thu, 31 Dec 2009 11:23:51 -0800

Richard Wagner's idea for "Gesamtkunstwerk" (literally "total artwork") demonstrates the scale on which the German composer operated: with 18-hour operatic cycles, orchestras that were more powerful than any ever assembled, and librettos examining the tragedy and heroism of existence, his legacy is utterly titanic. Born in 1813, Wagner was introduced to the theater by his stepfather and, after brief musical training, began composing operas. Dissonant chromaticism and expansive orchestral technique resulted in mid-career triumphs including 1845's Tannhauser and 1848's Lohengrin. After finding a benefactor in King Ludwig II, Wagner wrote his masterwork, Der Ring des Nibelungen (known commonly as "The Ring Cycle"). A set of operas based loosely on Norse mythology, the Ring birthed the stereotypical marriage of Viking helmets and stout sopranos, included the "Flight of the Valkyries," and was appropriated by Nazi ideologues for its heroic depiction of the German nation. After finishing Parsifal, Wagner died of a heart attack on February 13, 1883. While striving for Gesamtkunstwerk, Wagner made profound achievements in his creative expression. - Nate Cavalieri

Placido Domingo

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 16:25:16 -0700

Few classically trained singers have had the continued crossover success that Placido Domingo enjoys. He's reached the top of the charts with both his solo selections and his immensely popular collaborations with Pavarotti and Carreras. His strength as a performer is the classic love scene, as audiences melt to hear his powerful versions of great themes by Verdi, Wagner, and others. Outside of Opera, Domingo has enjoyed success with traditional Spanish love songs, as well as with pop music ("Perhaps Love" with John Denver and "Till I Loved You" with Jennifer Rush were huge chart toppers). In regard to Christmas music, it's just another day, another dollar for Domingo: his nearly annual holiday releases satisfy discerning listeners who are tired of Manheim Steamroller, while filling his coffers all the more. But let's not knock his talent for making money. Domingo is a true talent -- perhaps one of the greatest of the modern age. - Jessy Terry

Georges Bizet

Thu, 31 Dec 2009 11:23:11 -0800

The name Georges Bizet is synonymous with his brilliant opera Carmen. This work embraced both beauty and vivid ultra-reality and managed to shock even Paris' sophisticated audiences in the 1870s. While Carmen cast of crooks and killers seems tamer by today's standards it remains a compelling and richly romantic work. Sadly, Bizet died not long after its debut and we can only guess in what ways he would further enrich the musical world had he lived a longer life. A renown pianist, his other orchestral works, solo pieces, and operas all show the richness and vibrancy of Carmen, but none can match its artistic triumph. - Nick Dedina

Maria Callas

Thu, 31 Dec 2009 11:23:52 -0800

Maria Callas is one of Opera's immortal stars. At the peak of her career, her international fame rivaled that achieved by Caruso or Chaliapin, and the continuing dominance of her recordings is a testament to her talent. Like few Opera stars before or since, Callas lived each role, riveting all who saw her with absolutely mesmerizing sympathy for her characters. Every inflection is a carefully inspired dramatic act made surprisingly real. She was integral in reviving the popularity of Italian opera, though she did not limit herself to the form, and remains an icon to Verdi fans around the world. - Doug Russell

Giuseppe Verdi

Thu, 31 Dec 2009 11:23:54 -0800

When nearly 30,000 people lined the streets of Milan in January of 1901 to mourn the funeral procession of Verdi, it must have had the epic quality of one of his famously grand operas. Born in 1813, he had his first success with the 1842 production of Nabucco, which demonstrates Verdi's ample gifts for matching expressive melodies with human tragedy and heroism. These were embraced as theme music for Italy's struggle for national unity, though there is little evidence of political motives within Verdi's music.

The so-called "Galley Years" of the 1840s produced nearly a dozen monumental operas, including Ernani, Macbeth, and Luisa Miller, all with strong, somber stories and vigorous vocal writing. Despite constant trouble from censors, this period ended with his three immense works from 1851 to 1853: Rigoletto, Il Trovatore, and his most intimate, La Traviata. His Aida was produced at the Cairo Opera House in 1871 to mark the opening of the Suez Canal. Because he left stage-writing for other musical pursuits, his last operas came with 1887's Othello and 1893's Falstaff, his only comedy. - Nate Cavalieri

Cecilia Bartoli

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 11:00:30 -0700

Paul Potts

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 10:09:11 -0800

Gioachino Rossini

Thu, 31 Dec 2009 11:23:12 -0800

Though it's his galloping overture to Guillaume (William) Tell that's widely known today, Gioachino Rossini (1792-1868) was an enormously influential Italian opera composer, admired by both Beethoven and Verdi and known for his supremely elegant operatic comedies, especially Il barbiere di Siviglia and La Cenerentola. He began his opera career when, at 18, he wrote a one-act comedy for Venice and first tasted success when La pietra del paragone was a hit at La Scala in 1812. Over the next three years he wrote over a dozen operas, many of them comedies, and won international acclaim. His ability to fuse lyrical expression and dramatic need, his crystalline melodies, and delicately shaded orchestral writing only increased his reputation. Among the mid-career works of note are Maometto II (1820) and, Semiramide (1823). Guillaume Tell followed as the composer moved to Paris. At 37, he retired from opera composition, soon left Paris, and suffered a prolonged illness in Italy which led to a significant decline in his productivity. Returning to Paris late in life he wrote a quantity of pieces for piano and voice, and died, universally revered, in 1868. - Nate Cavalieri

Renee Fleming

Sat, 10 Oct 2009 10:13:32 -0700

Metropolitan Opera

Sat, 28 Mar 2009 15:58:35 -0700

Since offering its debut performance of Faust in 1883, the Metropolitan Opera, aka "The Met," has earned a place among the most renowned classical institutions in the world. At its founding, the Met was the scrappy underdog of New York society, featuring ad hoc performances from second-tier European performers. But over the next four decades the institution flourished under the leadership of Maurice Grau, Heinrich Conried and Giulio Gatti-Casazza, three directors who established its pristine reputation by attracting internationally celebrated singers and directors, including Enrico Caruso, the era's most illustrious tenor, and conductor Arturo Toscanini. Surviving the depression and two world wars, its popularity soared after initiating radio broadcasts with a production of Engelbert Humperdinck's Hansel und Gretel on Christmas day, 1931. James Levine has guided the institution though recent years after becoming principle conductor in 1973 and taking on additional responsibilities as the Musical Director two years later. Today, the Metropolitan Opera holds a residency at the Lincoln Center and offers more than 200 performances a year. - Nate Cavalieri

Charles Gounod

Thu, 31 Dec 2009 11:23:37 -0800

Charles Gounod was a French composer who was born in Paris in 1818 and studied at the Paris Conservatoire. His works for the stage brought French opera to new heights and had indelible influence on the succeeding generation of French composers, including Bizet, Faure and especially Massenet. As a young man, he considered joining the priesthood and his fervent spiritual life is evident in his supple 1885 work Messe solennelle de Ste Cecile. His small operas remain his most widely-performed, including three works written between 1858 and 1860, Le medecin malgre lui, Faust and Philemon et Baucis, as well as the hugely successful Romeo et Juliette. In 1870, Gounod took refuge in England from the Franco-Prussian War, composing for chorus to satisfy British audiences and serving as the founding conductor of the Royal Albert Hall Choral Society. But he experienced considerable intrigue in his private life, including an allegation of plagiarism, effectively marking the end of his life fruitfulness as a composer. He died in 1893. - Nate Cavalieri

Pietro Mascagni

Thu, 17 Dec 2009 10:45:23 -0800

Orchestra Sinfonica E Coro Della Radio Italiana

Sat, 23 Aug 2008 06:22:46 -0700

Leontyne Price

Thu, 31 Dec 2009 11:23:51 -0800

Anna Netrebko

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 12:39:10 -0800

Ukranian soprano Anna Netrebko performed as Donna Anna in Don Giovanni for the first time at the Salzburg Festival in 2002 and quickly captured the attention of the international community with her rich, dark voice. Born in 1971, she was trained at the St. Petersburg Conservatory and studied with Renata Scotto, but the rapid ascent of her career is due in large part to conductor Valery Gergiev, who helped her secure early roles with the Kirov Opera. At only 24, she made her American debut as Lyudmila in Glinka's Ruslan and Lyudmila with the San Francisco Opera and found herself on stage at the Met in 2002. Her simple, commanding collection of Opera Arias came one year after that debut, in 2003, followed by a collection of Russian songs that was widely popular. In 2007, she became the first opera singer to be placed on Time magazine's list of 100 most influential people. - Nate Cavalieri

Anne-sofie Von Otter

Thu, 17 Dec 2009 10:45:44 -0800

Bryn Terfel

Thu, 17 Dec 2009 10:45:46 -0800

Jules Massenet

Thu, 31 Dec 2009 11:23:44 -0800

(born: Montand, St Etienne, 12 May 1842; died: Paris, 13 Aug 1912).

French composer. His family moved to Paris in 1847 and he entered the Conservatoire at the age of 11 as a piano pupil of Adolphe Laurent. He later studied harmony with Reber and composition with Ambroise Thomas, winning the Prix de Rome in 1863. In Rome he got to know Liszt and, through him, Constance de Sainte Marie, who became his pupil and, in 1866 after his return to Paris, his wife. The following year his opera La grandtante was given at the OpÃÂ©ra-Comique, and in1873 Marie-Magdeleine at the ThÃÂ©ÃÂ¢tre de lOdÃÂ©on initiated a series of drames sacrÃÂ©s based on the lives of female biblical characters. Many of his secular operas, too, are in effect portraits of women.

In 1878 Massenet was made a teacher of composition at the Conservatoire, where he remained all his life, influencing many younger French composers, including Charpentier, Koechlin, PiernÃÂ© and Hahn. In his own music he began to move away from the suave, sentimental melodic style derived from Gounod and to adopt a more Wagnerian type of lyrical declamation. The change is apparent in Manon (1884), which placed Massenet in the forefront of French opera composers, and still more in Werther (1892).

But as early as 1877, in HÃÂ©rodiade, Massenet had begun to modify the symmetry and loosen the syntax of his melodies to give them a more speaking, intimate, conversational character. Repetitions are usually masked or transferred to the orchestra while the voice takes a lyrical recitative line in the Wagnerian manner; literal repetitions are carefully calculated to provide an insistent, emotional quality. Often his melodies have a swaying, hesitant character (9/8 or 6/8) - first and most effectively used in Act 1 of Manon to express a girl's hesitant yet delighted awareness of her own charms. By Werther, the relationship of voice and orchestra is more sophisticated, and that opera contains clear examples of Massenet's dissolution of formal melody into rhapsodic recitative-like writing as evolved by Wagner. Massenet's music is harmonically conservative, rarely venturing beyond modest chromaticisms; rhythmically, it is original in the variations he uses to give the melody a more caressing, intimate character. He had a characteristically French ear for orchestral nuance. Though primarily a lyrical composer, he was also a master of scenes of action, as for example at the opening of Manon.

Mario Frangoulis

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 11:48:48 -0800

Rolando Villazon

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 12:38:39 -0800

Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau

Wed, 23 Dec 2009 13:31:48 -0800

The German baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau was born in Berlin in 1925 and has enjoyed a reputation as one of the finest lieder singers of his generation. Fischer-Dieskau has created definitive recordings of a great number of operatic roles and has enjoyed praise for his sideline career as a conductor. - Nate Cavalieri

Bedrich Smetana

Thu, 31 Dec 2009 11:22:55 -0800

As important as composers Dvorak, Janacek and Martinu were, they owed much of their style to the great Czech composer Bedrich Smetana. He performed in his first string quartet at the age of five, and wrote his first symphony at eight, displaying a deep talent that was only to grow over the years. The humorous Opera The Bartered Bride was perhaps his most important composition, combining folksy dances and melodies with music rich with nationalist tendencies. This approach became a hallmark of many Romantic composers -- exploring different harmonies while reaching back to their ancestral roots to create something altogether new. Unfortunately, as if summing up the fate of many Romantic composers, Smetana went deaf from a serious syphilis infection and finished the remainder of his life in an insane asylum. - Jessy Terry

The Celtic Tenors

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 16:25:09 -0700

Natalie Dessay

Thu, 31 Dec 2009 11:23:54 -0800

Karl Bohm

Sat, 22 Aug 2009 09:35:46 -0700

Peter Ilyitch Tchaiko

Thu, 24 Dec 2009 13:15:25 -0800

Jacques Offenbach

Thu, 31 Dec 2009 11:23:21 -0800

Born in Cologne, Germany, in 1819, Jacques Offenbach, the son of a Jewish cantor, spent most of his adult life in France and became one of the most popular romantic composers of the 19th century. Among his most well-loved and enduring works for stage are highly melodic, humorous operettas that popularized the genre throughout Europe. His comic subjects could sugarcoat biting commentary on society and politics with humorous quotes from well-known operatic music and brassy climaxes. Offenbach's rare gift for melody is immediately apparent in his famous overture and can-can to Orphee aux enfers, which has remained his best-known operetta. He died in October 1880 at the age of 61. - Nate Cavalieri

Thomas Hampson

Fri, 25 Dec 2009 11:18:02 -0800

Anna Moffo

Sun, 25 Oct 2009 10:21:40 -0700

Anton Bruckner

Thu, 24 Dec 2009 13:14:53 -0800

Given their complexity, great length, and harmonic density, Brukner's symphonic works might be the best representative of the magnificent, challenging endgame of Austro-German Romanticism.

There are two very different accounts of Brukner's reputation -- he was either a bumpkinly fish out of the cosmopolitan waters of Vienna, or a musical radical who chewed up tonal traditionalism and spit out the sharp harmonic modulations marking the death of Romanticism. Maybe Gustav Holst's attempt to reconcile this polarity was most accurate when he said, "Brukner: half simpleton, half God."

Brukner's lasting popularity is mostly from his symphonies, masses and motets, and his most popular works for orchestra include his breakthrough Symphony No. 4 in E flat major (1874, with a revision in 1878) the Overture in G minor and Symphonies No. 5, 7 and 9. - Nate Cavalieri

Jon Vickers

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 10:52:18 -0800

Angela Gheorghiu

Fri, 18 Dec 2009 12:08:02 -0800

Enrico Caruso

Wed, 16 Dec 2009 11:55:50 -0800

Caruso was a brilliant tenor who demonstrated that personal interpretation is just as important to Opera as it is to technical feats. He was a major star, as well as one of music's first international sex symbols. - Nick Dedina

Gaetano Donizetti

Thu, 31 Dec 2009 11:23:52 -0800

(born: Bergamo, 29 Nov 1797; died: there, 8 April 1848).
Italian composer. He was of humble origins but received help and a solid musical education (1806-14) from Mayr, producing apprentice operas and many sacred and instrumental works before establishing himself at Naples with La zingara (1822). Here regular conducting and a succession of new works (two to five operas a year) marked the real start of his career. With the international triumph of Anna Bolena (1830, Milan) he freed himself from Naples; the further successes of Lelisir damore and Lucrezia Borgia (1832, 1833, Milan), Marino Faliero (1835, Paris) and the archetype of Italian Romantic opera, Lucia di Lammermoor (1835, Naples), secured his pre-eminence. Some theatrical failures, however, as well as trouble with the censors and disappointment over losing the directorship of the Naples Conservatory to Mercadante, caused him to leave for Paris, where besides successful French versions of his earlier works he brought out in 1840 La fille du rÃÂÃÂ©giment and La favorite. His conducting of Rossini's Stabat mater (1842, Bologna) and enthusiasm in Vienna for Linda di Chamounix (1842) led to his appointment as Kapellmeister to the Austrian court. Declining health began to affect his work from this time, but in Don Pasquale (1843, Paris) he produced a comic masterpiece, and in the powerful Maria di Rohan (1843, Vienna), Dom SÃÂÃÂ©bastien, roi di Portugal (1843, Paris) and Caterina Cornaro (1844, Naples) some of his finest serious music.
Donizetti's reputation rests on his operas: in comedy his position has never been challenged but in the tragic genre, though his work sums up a whole epoch, no single opera can be considered an unqualified masterpiece. His works survive through the grace and spontaneity of their melodies, their formal poise, their effortless dramatic pace, their fiery climaxes and above all the romantic vitality underlying their artifice. Like Bellini, Donizetti epitomized the Italian Romantic spirit of the 1830s. Having imitated Rossini's formal, florid style for ten years (1818-28) he gradually shed heavily embellished male-voice parts, conceiving melodies lyrically and allowing the drama to determine ensemble structures. From 1839 his style was further enriched by fuller orchestration and subtler, more varied harmony. If he contributed nothing so distinctive to the post-Rossinian tradition as Bellini's 'heavenly' melody, he still showed a more fluent technique and a wider-ranging invention, from the brilliant to the expressive and sentimental. He was particularly responsive to the individual qualities of his singers, including Persiani (Lucia), Pasta and Ronzi de Begnis (Anna Bolena, Maria Stuarda, Roberto Devereux), the baritone Giorgio Ronconi and the tenors Fraschini and Moriani (Lelisir damore, Lucia). Although his practical facility and readiness to adapt scores themselves constructed of 'spare-part' set forms once brought criticism, since 1950 revivals and reassessment as well as a fuller understanding of the theatrical practices of his day have restored Donizetti to critical and popular favour. - Henry B.

Jose Carreras

Wed, 2 Dec 2009 11:07:30 -0800

Jose Carreras entered opera's golden circle with the Three Tenors, only to be immortalized as "the other one" on Seinfeld. The general public may not have embraced him as they have Pavarotti and Domingo, but Carreras is a massive talent who has thrilled Opera fans for nearly three decades. - Nick Dedina

RTE Sinfonietta

Fri, 30 May 2008 10:33:53 -0700

Ingvar Wixell

Thu, 30 Jul 2009 12:12:35 -0700

Marni Nixon

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 10:55:41 -0700

Kiri Te Kanawa

Wed, 10 Sep 2008 04:41:12 -0700

Beniamino Gigli

Thu, 31 Dec 2009 11:23:18 -0800

Gigli (1890-1957) has been recorded numerous times in performances of Verdi, Puccini, Leoncavallo and many others. The rich drama with which he infused all his performances was filled with barely restrained emotions, making him perfect for romantic leads. - Will Lerner

Hollywood Bowl Orchestra

Sun, 20 Dec 2009 09:42:31 -0800

Franz Lehar

Thu, 31 Dec 2009 11:23:46 -0800

Ruggero Raimondi

Thu, 5 Nov 2009 16:49:11 -0800

Montserrat Caballe

Fri, 18 Dec 2009 12:08:04 -0800

Vincenzo Bellini

Thu, 24 Dec 2009 13:15:48 -0800

You might be able to tell from his full name -- Vincenzo Salvatore Carmelo Francesco Bellini -- that this Sicilian opera composer had a taste for sweeping melodic lines and dramatic flourishes. Thanks to works like La sonnambula and I puritani, Bellini is considered one of the quintessential figures in bel canto opera. - Nate Cavalieri

Ruggiero Leoncavallo

Mon, 5 Oct 2009 10:16:56 -0700

Red Army Choir

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 12:07:03 -0700

Marilyn Horne

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 10:52:17 -0800

Born in 1934, Marilyn Horne is one of the most famous American mezzo-sopranos and is known for her great versatility. She debuted at the Met in 1970. - Nate Cavalieri