1.
Gershwin Theatre
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The Gershwin Theatre is a Broadway theatre located at 222 West 51st Street in midtown-Manhattan in the Paramount Plaza building. The theatre is named after brothers George Gershwin, a composer, and Ira Gershwin and it has the largest seating capacity of any Broadway theatre, with 1,933 seats. It opened as the Uris Theatre on November 28,1972 with the musical Via Galactica starring Raul Julia and it proved to be an inauspicious start for the venue, with the first show to lose a million dollars closing after only seven performances. From 1974-76 it served as a hall for limited engagements by a number of legendary pop music. The American Theatre Hall of Fame is located in the lobby, during the 37th Tony Awards ceremony held June 5,1983, the theatre was rechristened to honor the Gershwins. The Gershwin has been home to the blockbuster musical Wicked since 2003,2003, Wicked Wicked set a box office record for the Gershwin Theatre. The production grossed $3,201,333 over nine performances for the week ending December 29,2013 and this was also the highest one-week box office gross income made by any show in Broadway history, until that time. Official website New York Theatre Guide Gershwin Theatre at the Internet Broadway Database
2.
New York City
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The City of New York, often called New York City or simply New York, is the most populous city in the United States. With an estimated 2015 population of 8,550,405 distributed over an area of about 302.6 square miles. Located at the tip of the state of New York. Home to the headquarters of the United Nations, New York is an important center for international diplomacy and has described as the cultural and financial capital of the world. Situated on one of the worlds largest natural harbors, New York City consists of five boroughs, the five boroughs – Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, The Bronx, and Staten Island – were consolidated into a single city in 1898. In 2013, the MSA produced a gross metropolitan product of nearly US$1.39 trillion, in 2012, the CSA generated a GMP of over US$1.55 trillion. NYCs MSA and CSA GDP are higher than all but 11 and 12 countries, New York City traces its origin to its 1624 founding in Lower Manhattan as a trading post by colonists of the Dutch Republic and was named New Amsterdam in 1626. The city and its surroundings came under English control in 1664 and were renamed New York after King Charles II of England granted the lands to his brother, New York served as the capital of the United States from 1785 until 1790. It has been the countrys largest city since 1790, the Statue of Liberty greeted millions of immigrants as they came to the Americas by ship in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and is a symbol of the United States and its democracy. In the 21st century, New York has emerged as a node of creativity and entrepreneurship, social tolerance. Several sources have ranked New York the most photographed city in the world, the names of many of the citys bridges, tapered skyscrapers, and parks are known around the world. Manhattans real estate market is among the most expensive in the world, Manhattans Chinatown incorporates the highest concentration of Chinese people in the Western Hemisphere, with multiple signature Chinatowns developing across the city. Providing continuous 24/7 service, the New York City Subway is one of the most extensive metro systems worldwide, with 472 stations in operation. Over 120 colleges and universities are located in New York City, including Columbia University, New York University, and Rockefeller University, during the Wisconsinan glaciation, the New York City region was situated at the edge of a large ice sheet over 1,000 feet in depth. The ice sheet scraped away large amounts of soil, leaving the bedrock that serves as the foundation for much of New York City today. Later on, movement of the ice sheet would contribute to the separation of what are now Long Island and Staten Island. The first documented visit by a European was in 1524 by Giovanni da Verrazzano, a Florentine explorer in the service of the French crown and he claimed the area for France and named it Nouvelle Angoulême. Heavy ice kept him from further exploration, and he returned to Spain in August and he proceeded to sail up what the Dutch would name the North River, named first by Hudson as the Mauritius after Maurice, Prince of Orange
3.
Andy Williams
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Howard Andrew Andy Williams was an American popular music singer. He recorded 44 albums in his career,15 of which have been gold-certified and he was also nominated for six Grammy Awards. He hosted The Andy Williams Show, a variety show, from 1962 to 1971. The Andy Williams Show garnered three Emmy awards, the Moon River Theatre in Branson, Missouri, is named after the song he is most known for singing—Johnny Mercer and Henry Mancinis Moon River. He sold more than 100 million records worldwide, including 10.5 million certified units in the United States, Williams was born in Wall Lake, Iowa, the son of Jay Emerson and Florence Williams. While living in Cheviot, Ohio, Williams attended Western Hills High School in Cincinnati and he finished high school at University High School, in West Los Angeles, because of his familys move to California. Williams had three older brothers—Bob, Don, and Dick Williams and his first performance was in a childrens choir at the local Presbyterian church. Moving to Los Angeles in 1943, the Williams Brothers sang with Bing Crosby on the hit record Swinging on a Star and they appeared in four musical films, Janie, Kansas City Kitty, Something in the Wind and Ladies Man. A persistent myth is that as a teenager the future singing star dubbed the singing for Lauren Bacall in the 1944 feature film To Have and Have Not, according to authoritative sources, including Howard Hawks and Bacall herself, this was not true. Williams and some female singers were tested to dub for Bacall, but those fears were overshadowed by the desire to have Bacall do her own singing despite her less-than-perfect vocal talent. This myth is refuted in Leonard Maltins Movie Guide in the entry for this film, when Bob completed his military service, Kay hired all four brothers to sing on the soundtrack to Good News. They made their debut in Las Vegas in 1947 and became an overnight sensation, within a year, they were the highest paid nightclub act in the world, breaking records wherever they appeared. Williams revealed in his memoir Moon River and Me that he and Thompson became romantically involved while on tour, the act broke up in 1949 but reunited for another hugely successful tour from the fall of 1951 through the summer of 1953. After that, the four went their separate ways. A complete itinerary of both tours is listed on the Kay Thompson biography website, Williams and Thompson, however, remained very close, both personally and professionally. She mentored his emergence as a singing star. She coached him, wrote his arrangements, and composed songs that he recorded. Using her contacts in the business, Thompson helped Williams land his breakthrough television gig as a singer for two-and-a-half years on The Tonight Show starring Steve Allen
4.
Grammy Award
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A Grammy Award, or Grammy, is an honor awarded by The Recording Academy to recognize outstanding achievement in the mainly English-language music industry. The annual presentation ceremony features performances by prominent artists, and the presentation of awards that have a more popular interest. It shares recognition of the industry as that of the other performance awards such as the Emmy Awards, the Tony Awards. The first Grammy Awards ceremony was held on May 4,1959, to honor, following the 2011 ceremony, The Academy overhauled many Grammy Award categories for 2012. The 59th Grammy Awards, honoring the best achievements from October 2015 to September 2016, was held on February 12,2017, the Grammys had their origin in the Hollywood Walk of Fame project in the 1950s. The music executives decided to rectify this by creating a given by their industry similar to the Oscars. This was the beginning of the National Academy of Recording Arts, after it was decided to create such an award, there was still a question of what to call it, one working title was the Eddie, to honor the inventor of the phonograph, Thomas Edison. They finally settled on using the name of the invention of Emile Berliner, the gramophone, for the awards, the number of awards given grew and fluctuated over the years with categories added and removed, at one time reaching over 100. The second Grammy Awards, also held in 1959, was the first ceremony to be televised, the gold-plated trophies, each depicting a gilded gramophone, are made and assembled by hand by Billings Artworks in Ridgway, Colorado. In 1990 the original Grammy design was revamped, changing the traditional soft lead for a stronger alloy less prone to damage, Billings developed a zinc alloy named grammium, which is trademarked. The trophies with the name engraved on them are not available until after the award announcements. By February 2009,7,578 Grammy trophies had been awarded, the General Field are four awards which are not restricted by genre. Album of the Year is awarded to the performer and the team of a full album if other than the performer. Record of the Year is awarded to the performer and the team of a single song if other than the performer. Song of the Year is awarded to the writer/composer of a single song, Best New Artist is awarded to a promising breakthrough performer who releases, during the Eligibility Year, the first recording that establishes the public identity of that artist. The only two artists to win all four of these awards are Christopher Cross, who won all four in 1980, and Adele, who won the Best New Artist award in 2009 and the other three in 2012 and 2017. Other awards are given for performance and production in specific genres, as well as for other such as artwork. Special awards are given for longer-lasting contributions to the music industry, the many other Grammy trophies are presented in a pre-telecast Premiere Ceremony earlier in the afternoon before the Grammy Awards telecast
5.
Olivia Newton-John
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Olivia Newton-John, AO, OBE is a British-Australian singer, songwriter and actress. She is a four-time Grammy award winner who has amassed five number-one and ten other Top Ten Billboard Hot 100 singles, eleven of her singles and fourteen of her albums have been certified gold by the RIAA. She has sold an estimated 100 million records worldwide, making her one of the worlds best-selling artists of all time and she starred in Grease, which featured one of the most successful soundtracks in Hollywood history. Newton-John has been a long-time activist for environmental and animal rights issues, since surviving breast cancer in 1992, she has been an advocate for health awareness becoming involved with various charities, health products and fundraising efforts. Her business interests have included launching several product lines for Koala Blue and she is the mother of one daughter, Chloe Rose Lattanzi, with her first husband, actor Matt Lattanzi. Her second husband is John Easterling, Newton-John was born in Cambridge, England, to Irene Helene, the eldest child of the Nobel Prize-winning physicist Max Born and Welsh father, Brinley Bryn Newton-John. Her mothers family had left Germany before World War II to avoid the Nazi regime and she is a third cousin of comedian Ben Elton. Her maternal great-grandfather was jurist Victor Ehrenberg and her matrilineal great-grandmothers father was jurist Rudolf von Jhering. Newton-John is the youngest of three children, following brother Hugh, a doctor, and sister Rona, an actress who was married to Grease co-star Jeff Conaway from 1980 until their divorce in 1985. Newton-Johns father was an MI5 officer on the Enigma project at Bletchley Park who took Rudolf Hess into custody during the Second World War. In 1954, when she was six, Newton-Johns family emigrated to Melbourne, Australia and she attended Christ Church Grammar School, and then University High School, adjacent to Ormond College. At fourteen, Newton-John formed a short-lived all-girl group, Sol Four and she became a regular on local Australian radio and television shows including HSV-7s The Happy Show where she performed as Lovely Livvy. She also appeared on the Go Show where she met future partner, Pat Carroll. Newton-John was initially reluctant to use the prize she had won, a trip to Britain, Newton-John recorded her first single, Till You Say Youll Be Mine Forever, in Britain for Decca Records in 1966. While in Britain, Newton-John missed her then-boyfriend, Ian Turpie, with whom she had co-starred in the Australian telefilm, Newton-John repeatedly booked trips back to Australia that her mother subsequently cancelled. Newton-Johns outlook changed when Pat Carroll also moved to the UK, the two formed a duo called Pat and Olivia and toured nightclubs in Europe. After Carrolls visa expired forcing her to return to Australia, Newton-John remained in Britain to pursue solo work until 1975 and she became engaged to The Shadows guitarist Bruce Welch, but they never married. Newton-John was recruited for the group Toomorrow formed by American producer Don Kirshner, in 1970, the group starred in a science fiction musical film and recorded an accompanying soundtrack album both named after the group
6.
I Honestly Love You
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I Honestly Love You was a worldwide pop hit single for Olivia Newton-John in 1974. The song was Newton-Johns first number-one single in the United States, released on the Long Live Love album in the United Kingdom by EMI, it was eventually released on the album If You Love Me, Let Me Know in the United States on MCA. The song was written by Jeff Barry and the Australian composer Peter Allen and it also appears in the musical about Allens life, The Boy from Oz. VH1 placed the song at No.11 on its 40 Most Softsational Soft-Rock Songs list, the song won Newton-John both the Grammy Award for Record of the Year and the Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance at the 17th Grammy Awards. Andy Williams released a version in 1974 on his album, You Lay So Easy on My Mind, a snippet of the song plays over Chief Brodys radio in the second shark attack in 1975s Jaws, moments before Alex Kitner and Pippet the dog disappear beneath the waves. The song topped the charts in the US on 5 October 1974 and it also reached number one on the Adult Contemporary chart. And number six on the Country charts, the song won bums Grammy Awards for Female Pop Vocal Performance and Record of the Year. The songs success helped propel its parent album, If You Love Me, Let Me Know. By contrast, the failed to reach the top-twenty in the United Kingdom. The song also re-charted on the Adult Contemporary chart at No.49, the 1998 version also charted on the AC chart at No.18 and in Country Music Sales at No.16. Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics
7.
John Lennon
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John Winston Ono Lennon, MBE was an English singer and songwriter who co-founded the Beatles, the most commercially successful and musically influential band in the history of popular music. He and fellow member Paul McCartney formed a songwriting partnership. Born and raised in Liverpool, Lennon became involved in the craze as a teenager, his first band, the Quarrymen, first became the Silver Beatles. After his marriage to Yoko Ono in 1969, he added Ono as one of his middle names, Lennon disengaged himself from the music business in 1975 to raise his infant son Sean, but re-emerged with Ono in 1980 with the new album Double Fantasy. He was murdered three weeks after its release, Lennon revealed a rebellious nature and acerbic wit in his music, writing, drawings, on film and in interviews. By 2012, Lennons solo album sales in the United States exceeded 14 million and, as writer, co-writer, or performer, he is responsible for 25 number-one singles on the US Hot 100 chart. In 2002, a BBC poll on the 100 Greatest Britons voted him eighth and, in 2008, Rolling Stone ranked him the fifth-greatest singer of all time. He was posthumously inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1987, and into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice, in 1988 as a member of the Beatles and in 1994 as a solo artist. Lennon was born in war-time England, on 9 October 1940 at Liverpool Maternity Hospital, to Julia and Alfred Lennon, a merchant seaman of Irish descent and his parents named him John Winston Lennon after his paternal grandfather, John Jack Lennon, and then-Prime Minister Winston Churchill. When he eventually came home six months later, he offered to look after the family, after her sister, Mimi Smith, twice complained to Liverpools Social Services, Julia handed the care of Lennon over to her. In July 1946 Lennons father visited Smith and took his son to Blackpool, Julia followed them—with her partner at the time, Bobby Dykins—and after a heated argument his father forced the five-year-old to choose between them. Lennon twice chose his father, but as his mother walked away, he began to cry and followed her, according to author Mark Lewisohn, Lennons parents agreed that Julia should take him and give him a home as Alf left again. A witness who was there that day, Billy Hall, has said the scene often portrayed with a young John Lennon having to make a decision between his parents never happened. It would be 20 years before he had contact with his father again, Throughout the rest of his childhood and adolescence he lived at Mendips,251 Menlove Avenue, Woolton with his aunt and uncle, Mimi and George Smith, who had no children of their own. His aunt purchased volumes of stories for him, and his uncle. In September 1980, Lennon commented about his family and his rebellious nature, Part of me would like to be accepted by all facets of society, but I cannot be what I am not. I was the one who all the other boys parents—including Pauls father—would say, the parents instinctively recognised I was a troublemaker, meaning I did not conform and I would influence their children, which I did. I did my best to disrupt every friends home, partly out of envy that I didnt have this so-called home
8.
Paul Simon
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Paul Frederic Simon is an American musician, singer-songwriter and actor. Simons fame, influence, and commercial success began as part of the duo Simon & Garfunkel, formed in 1964 with musical partner Art Garfunkel. Simon wrote nearly all of the songs, including three that reached No.1 on the U. S. singles charts, The Sound of Silence, Mrs. Robinson. In 1986, he released Graceland, an inspired by South African township music. Simon also wrote and starred in the film One-Trick Pony and co-wrote the Broadway musical The Capeman with the poet Derek Walcott. On June 3,2016, Simon released his 13th solo album, titled Stranger to Stranger, which debuted at #1 on the Billboard Album Chart and the UK charts. Simon has earned sixteen Grammys for his solo and collaborative work, in 2001, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and in 2006 was selected as one of the 100 People Who Shaped the World by Time magazine. In 2011, Rolling Stone magazine named Simon as one of the 100 Greatest Guitarists, in 2015, he was named as one of the 100 Greatest Songwriters by Rolling Stone. Among many other honors, Simon was the first recipient of the Library of Congresss Gershwin Prize for Popular Song in 2007, in 1986, Simon was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Music degree from Berklee College of Music, where he currently serves on the Board of Trustees. Simon was born on October 13,1941, in Newark, New Jersey and his father, Louis, was a college professor, double bass player, and dance bandleader who performed under the name Lee Sims. His mother, Belle, was a school teacher. In 1945, his family moved to the Kew Gardens Hills section of Flushing, Queens, the musician Donald Fagen has described Simons childhood as that of a certain kind of New York Jew, almost a stereotype, really, to whom music and baseball are very important. I think it has to do with the parents, Simon, upon hearing Fagens description, said it isnt far from the truth. Simon says about his childhood, I was a ballplayer, Id go on my bike, and Id hustle kids in stickball. He adds that his father was a New York Yankees fan and he didnt play with me as much as I played with my kids. He was at work until late at night, Simons musical career began after meeting Art Garfunkel when they were both 11. They performed in a production of Alice in Wonderland for their sixth-grade graduation and their idols were the Everly Brothers, whom they imitated in their use of close two-part harmony. Simon also developed an interest in jazz, folk, and blues, especially in the music of Woody Guthrie and Lead Belly
9.
Art Garfunkel
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Arthur Ira Art Garfunkel is an American singer, poet and actor. He is best known for his partnership in his years with Paul Simon in the folk rock duo Simon & Garfunkel. Through his solo and collaborative work, Garfunkel has earned six Grammys, in 1990, he and Simon were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Arthur Ira Garfunkel was born in Forest Hills, Queens, New York City, the son of Rose and Jacob Jack Garfunkel, Art is a middle child with two brothers, the older named Jules and the younger named Jerome. Jacobs parents had immigrated to the United States at the turn of the century. Before his career in sales, Jacob worked as an actor in Dayton, Garfunkel is Jewish, his paternal grandparents emigrated from Iași in Romania. His maternal cousin was Lou Pearlman, founder of N Sync, according to the Across America DVD, Garfunkels love for singing originated in the first grade. Later, Garfunkels father bought him a wire recorder and from then on, Garfunkel spent his afternoons singing, recording, at his Bar Mitzvah in 1954, Garfunkel sang as a cantor and performed over four hours of his repertoire for his family. As a young teen, Garfunkel was struck with a lung infection and he explained in a 1998 Interview, In the summer of 55, I had a lung infection. I couldnt run around, but I loved basketball and there was a hoop nearby, Much of the summer I spent methodically hitting 96,98 foul shots out of 100. I never played on a team after Junior High School, just 3 against 3, half court pick up games in the schoolyard. He met his singing partner Paul Simon in the sixth grade at PS164. It has been said by Garfunkel that Simon first became interested in singing after hearing Garfunkel sing a rendition of Nat King Coles Too Young in a talent show. Between 1956 and 1962, the two performed together as Tom & Jerry, occasionally performing at school dances and their idols were The Everly Brothers, whom they imitated in their use of close two-part vocal harmony. In 1957, Simon & Garfunkel recorded the song Hey, Schoolgirl under the name Tom & Jerry, the single reached forty-ninth on the pop charts. Garfunkel chose his nickname because he liked to track, or graph hits and he also released some singles as a solo artist under the name Artie Garr, a shortened version of his name. In interviews, Garfunkel has noted how these early singles distinguished him as a crooner, with songs like Beat Love. Garfunkel was a member in tennis, skiing, fencing, and bowling at the College and also joined the all-male a cappella group on campus
10.
Stevie Wonder
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Stevland Hardaway Morris, known by his stage name Stevie Wonder, is an American musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, and multi-instrumentalist. A child prodigy, he is considered to be one of the most critically and commercially successful musical performers of the late 20th century, Wonder signed with Motowns Tamla label at the age of 11, and he continued performing and recording for Motown into the 2010s. He has been blind since shortly after birth, Wonder is also noted for his work as an activist for political causes, including his 1980 campaign to make Martin Luther King Jr. s birthday a holiday in the United States. In 2009, Wonder was named a United Nations Messenger of Peace, in 2013, Billboard magazine released a list of the Billboard Hot 100 All-Time Top Artists to celebrate the US singles charts 55th anniversary, with Wonder at number six. Stevie Wonder was born in Saginaw, Michigan, in 1950, the third of six children of Calvin Judkins and Lula Mae Hardaway, when Wonder was four, his mother left his father and moved to Detroit with her children. She changed her back to Lula Hardaway and later changed her sons surname to Morris. Wonder has retained Morris as his legal surname and he began playing instruments at an early age, including piano, harmonica and drums. He formed a partnership with a friend, calling themselves Stevie and John, they played on street corners. Before signing, producer Clarence Paul gave him the name Little Stevie Wonder, because of Wonders age, the label drew up a rolling five-year contract in which royalties would be held in trust until Wonder was 21. He and his mother would be paid a stipend to cover their expenses, Wonder received $2.50 a week. Wonder was put in the care of producer and songwriter Clarence Paul, tribute to Uncle Ray was recorded first, when Wonder was still 11 years old. Mainly covers of Ray Charless songs, it included a Wonder and Paul composition, the Jazz Soul of Little Stevie was recorded next, an instrumental album consisting mainly of Pauls compositions, two of which, Wondering and Session Number 112, were co-written with Wonder. At the end of 1962, when Wonder was 12 years old, he joined the Motortown Revue, at the Regal Theater, Chicago, his 20-minute performance was recorded and released in May 1963 as the album Recorded Live, The 12 Year Old Genius. A single, Fingertips, from the album was released in May. The song, featuring a confident and enthusiastic Wonder returning for a spontaneous encore that catches out the replacement bass player, was a No.1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 when Wonder was aged 13, making him the youngest artist ever to top the chart. The single was simultaneously No.1 on the R&B chart and his next few recordings, however, were not successful, his voice was changing as he got older, and some Motown executives were considering cancelling his recording contract. During 1964, Wonder appeared in two films as himself, Muscle Beach Party and Bikini Beach, but these were not successful either, sylvia Moy persuaded label owner Berry Gordy to give Wonder another chance. He also began to work in the Motown songwriting department, composing songs both for himself and his mates, including The Tears of a Clown, a No.1 hit for Smokey Robinson
11.
Fulfillingness' First Finale
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Fulfillingness First Finale is a 1974 album by Stevie Wonder, widely considered one of the albums from his classic period. Released on July 22,1974 on the Tamla label, it is Wonders nineteenth album overall, subsequent to the epic sweep and social consciousness of Innervisions, this set projected a reflective, decidedly somber tone. While largely a stripped down, more personal sounding record, Wonder had not completely foregone social commentary on the world around him. The No.1 hit You Havent Done Nothin launched a pointed criticism of the Nixon administration bolstered by funky clavinet, drum machine, the album received three Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year, in 1974. Fulfillingness First Finale won Grammy Awards for Best Male Pop Vocal, Best Male Rhythm and Blues Vocal Performance, all songs written by Stevie Wonder, except where noted. O. N. T. O. O. N. T. O. Too Shy to Say - George Michael performed the song in his Faith Tour, creepin - Later recorded by Luther Vandross for The Night I Fell in Love in 1985. They Wont Go When I Go - Later recorded by George Michael for Listen Without Prejudice and they Wont Go When I Go - Later recorded by Kevin Max for The Blood in 2007. Boogie On Reggae Woman - Later regularly performed live by Phish, boogie On Reggae Woman - Later recorded by Marcus Miller for Silver Rain in 2005. You Havent Done Nothing - Later recorded by Curumin for Achados e Perdidos, Billboard Chart information by Billboard VNU eMedia Album Singles List of number-one albums of 1974 List of number-one R&B albums of 1974 Hughes, Tim. Extensive musicological analysis of You Havent Done Nothing in Groove and Flow, Six Analytical Essays On The Music Of Stevie Wonder Stevie Wonder interview by Pete Lewis, Blues & Soul March 1995
12.
Marvin Hamlisch
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Marvin Frederick Hamlisch was an American composer and conductor. Hamlisch was one of twelve people to win Emmy, Grammy, Oscar. This collection of all four is referred to as an EGOT and he is one of only two people to have won those four prizes and a Pulitzer Prize. Hamlisch was born in Manhattan, to Viennese-born Jewish parents Lilly and his father was an accordionist and bandleader. Hamlisch was a prodigy, and, by age five. A few months before he turned seven, in 1951, he was accepted into what is now the Juilliard School Pre-College Division and his first job was as a rehearsal pianist for Funny Girl with Barbra Streisand. Shortly afterward, he was hired by producer Sam Spiegel to play piano at Spiegels parties and this connection led to his first film score, The Swimmer. His favorite musicals growing up were My Fair Lady, Gypsy, West Side Story, Hamlisch attended Queens College, earning his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1967. Although Liza Minnellis debut album included The Travelin Life, a song he wrote in his teens and this song, Sunshine, Lollipops, and Rainbows, co-written with Howard Liebling, was recorded by Lesley Gore and reached #13 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the summer of 1965. His first film score was for The Swimmer, after the films producer Sam Spiegel hired Hamlisch based on a piano performance Hamlisch did at a party, later he wrote music for several early Woody Allen films such as Take the Money and Run and Bananas. In addition, Hamlisch co-wrote the song California Nights, which was recorded by Lesley Gore for her 1967 hit album of the same name. Among his better-known works during the 1970s were adaptations of Scott Joplins ragtime music for the motion picture The Sting, including its theme song, The Entertainer. It hit #1 on Billboard′s Adult Contemporary chart and #3 on the Hot 100, selling nearly 2 million copies in the U. S. alone. He had great success in 1973, winning two Academy Awards for the song and the score for the motion picture The Way We Were. He won four Grammy Awards in 1974, two for The Way We Were, in 1975, he wrote what, for its first 12 years, would be the original theme music for Good Morning America---it was built around four notes. He co-wrote Nobody Does It Better for The Spy Who Loved Me with his then-girlfriend Carole Bayer Sager, in the 1980s, he had success with the scores for Ordinary People and Sophies Choice. He also received an Academy-Award nomination in 1986 for the version of A Chorus Line. His last projects included The Informant, starring Matt Damon and directed by Steven Soderbergh
13.
The Way We Were (song)
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The Way We Were is a song recorded by American vocalist Barbra Streisand for her fifteenth studio album, The Way We Were. It was physically released as the lead single on September 27,1973 through Columbia Records. The recording was written by Alan Bergman, Marilyn Bergman and Marvin Hamlisch, the Way We Were was specifically produced for the record, in addition to three other tracks, including her then-upcoming single All in Love Is Fair. Its lyrics detail the relationship between the two main characters in the 1973 film of the same name. Its appeal was noted by music critics, who felt its impact helped revive Streisands career. It also won two Academy Awards, which were credited to the songwriters of the track, the single was also a commercial success, topping the charts in both Canada and the United States, while peaking in the top 40 in Australia and the United Kingdom. Additionally, The Way We Were was 1974s most successful recording in the United States and it has since been certified Platinum by the RIAA for sales of over one million units. Streisand has also included The Way We Were on various albums, with it most recently appearing on 2010s Barbra. Several renditions and versions of the single exist, including one by American singer Andy Williams, American band Gladys Knight & the Pips also recorded a cover for I Feel a Song. It was commercially successful, reaching number four in the United Kingdom and their version was blended with the song Try to Remember and features the B-side track The Need to Be. American composer and producer Marvin Hamlisch created the melody for The Way We Were. Streisand had asked Hamlisch to produce a composition in minor key, shortly following the commercial success of The Way We Were, Columbia Records began compiling tracks for the singers then-upcoming fifteenth studio album. Since time was limited, the record consists of several non-album compositions recorded by Streisand, including the aforementioned title, the recording and two other variants were also included on the original soundtrack for the film, the original, the instrumental, and the Finale version. A cover of the 1969 Michael Dees song, Hamlisch and Alan and Marilyn Bergman wrote The Way We Were while Marty Paich handled its production. In particular, the lyrics detail the life of Katie Morosky. In the beginning of what seems to be a bridge, she whispers, however, he was more critical of the singer ignor the line-by-line variations in songs meaning. Nevertheless, the appeal of the single was labeled by Turner Classic Moviess Andrea Passafiume as one of the most recognizable songs in the world. It also won the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song in 1974, according to the National Endowment for the Arts and Recording Industry Association of America in their list of the top 365 Songs of the Century, the single was placed at number 298
14.
Barbra Streisand
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Barbara Joan Barbra Streisand is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and filmmaker. She is among a group of entertainers who have been honored with an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony Award. Streisand is one of the music artists of all time, with more than 68.5 million albums in the United States. She starred in the critically acclaimed Funny Girl, for which she won the Academy Award, with the release of Yentl in 1983, Streisand became the first woman to write, produce, direct, and star in a major studio film. The film won an Oscar for Best Score and a Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture Musical, Streisand received the Golden Globe Award for Best Director, the first woman to win that award. The RIAA and Billboard recognize Streisand as holding the record for the most top 10 albums of any recording artist. According to Billboard, Streisand holds the record for the female with the most number one albums, Billboard also recognizes Streisand as the greatest female of all time on its Billboard 200 chart and one of the greatest artists of all time on its Hot 100 chart. Barbara Joan Streisand was born on April 24,1942, in Brooklyn, New York and her mother had been a soprano singer in her youth and considered a career in music, but later became a school secretary. Her father was a school teacher at the same school. Streisands family was Jewish, her grandparents emigrated from Galicia and her maternal grandparents from the Russian Empire. Her father earned a degree from City College of New York in 1928 and was considered athletic. As a student, he spent his summers outdoors, once working as a lifeguard, hed try anything, his sister Molly said. He married Ida in 1930, two years after graduating, and became a respected educator with a focus on helping underprivileged. In August 1943, a few months after Streisands first birthday, her father died suddenly at age 34 from complications from an epileptic seizure, the family fell into near-poverty, with her mother working as a low-paid bookkeeper. As an adult, Streisand remembered those early years as always feeling like an outcast, explaining and her mother tried to pay their bills but could not give her daughter the attention she craved, When I wanted love from my mother, she gave me food, Streisand says. Streisand recalls that her mother had a voice and sang semi-professionally on occasion. During a visit to the Catskills when Streisand was thirteen, she told Rosie ODonnell, she and that session was the first time Streisand ever asserted herself as an artist, which also became her first moment of inspiration as an artist. She has a brother, Sheldon, and a half-sister
15.
Grammy Award for Best New Artist
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The Grammy Award for Best New Artist has been awarded since 1959. Years reflect the year in which the Grammy Awards were handed out, the award was not presented in 1967. The official guidelines are as follows, For a new artist who releases, during the Eligibility Year, note that this is not necessarily the first album released by an artist. It is sometimes asserted, with varying degrees of sincerity, that winning the award is a curse, as several award winners were never able to duplicate the success they experienced in their debut year. This viewpoint was expressed by former Starland Vocal Band member Taffy Danoff in a 2002 interview for VH1s 100 Greatest One Hit Wonders, so that was basically the kiss of death and I feel sorry for everyone whos gotten it since. The category is also notable for being the one of its kind in which a Grammy Award was vacated. This occurred in 1990 after it was revealed winners Milli Vanilli did not contribute their own vocals on their debut album, the award was revoked, but was not handed out to another artist. Of the 54 awards presented in the category since its inception, the honor has been presented to 25 solo female artists,18 duos or groups, between 1997 and 2003, all the winners were solo female artists. Also, from 1993 to 2005, no winner was a male artist. In 2006, John Legend broke this trend, which started with Marc Cohn in 1992. Only four artists have won both Best New Artist and Album of the Year in the year, Bob Newhart in 1961, Christopher Cross in 1981, Lauryn Hill in 1999. Of all the winners, only three have been country artists, in 1997, LeAnn Rimes became the first country artist to win the award. She was followed by Carrie Underwood in 2007 and Zac Brown Band in 2010, additionally,2017 marked the first time that two country artists were nominated in this category in the same year. 1984 marked the first time all of the nominees were from outside of the United States. Over the years, the eligibility rules for this category have changed several times, in 2010, Lady Gagas exclusion from the Best New Artist category caused the Recording Academy to change eligibility requirements for the next ceremony. She was ineligible for the nomination because her hit Just Dance had been nominated in 2008, the new rule stated that an artist can be nominated as long as that artist has not previously released an entire album and has subsequently not won a Grammy. To be eligible in the category of Best New Artist, the artist, duo, or group, Must have released a minimum of five singles/tracks or one album, but no more than 30 singles/tracks or three albums. May not have entered into this more than three times, including as a performing member of an established group
16.
Sebastian Cabot (actor)
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He was also known for playing the Wazir in the film Kismet and Dr. Carl Hyatt in the CBS-TV series Checkmate. Cabot was also a performer in many Disney animated films. Not long thereafter, he brought life to Bagheera in The Jungle Book, Cabot was born in London, England. At the age of 14, he left school to work in an automotive garage, Cabot became interested in theatre, and after becoming acquainted with other actors and having worked for Pettingell, he joined a repertory company. Cabot admitted that in gaining employment as an actor he lied about previous acting credits, Cabot stated later in a 1968 interview that he believed acting was a type of lying, and he had gained a smoothness in his speech while serving as Pettingells dressing room butler. At this time, Cabot developed a love of cooking and, at the urging of his father, however, after wrecking a car, Cabot left the garage and had to look for acting work on his own. He initially used an agency to find acting employment, without attending any drama school, Cabot learned the hard way, having been fired on his first day in a show called On The Spot. However, finding work, Cabots confidence in his acting skills increased. He and his wife Kathleen had three children, two daughters, Annette and Yvonne, and a son, Christopher and his formal acting career began with a bit part in Foreign Affaires, his first screen credit was in Alfred Hitchcocks Secret Agent. Other British films followed such as Love on the Dole, Pimpernel Smith, Old Mother Riley Overseas and Old Mother Riley Detective, in 1946, he portrayed Iago in a condensed short film version of Othello. In George Pals production of H. G. Wells The Time Machine he was Dr. Hillyer who doubts the time travellers story, meanwhile, Cabot had begun to work as a voice actor. He also did voice parts for animated films such as Disneys The Sword In The Stone as Sir Ector, Jungle Book as Bagheera. Cabot had a period as one of the three leads as college professor Dr. Carl Hyatt on Eric Amblers detective show Checkmate, which co-starred Anthony George. As Checkmate fit into the CBS Saturday schedule, Cabot appeared as Eric Whitaker in the 1960 episode Five OClock Friday on the ABC adventure series, Cabot was a regular panellist on the television game show, Stump the Stars. He appeared on the NBC interview programme Heres Hollywood, Cabot was also the host of Journey to Midnight as well as other work from the period. He was so vividly etched as French in viewers minds that he never shook the image even after Family Affair ended production in 1971 and he received another role as the host of Ghost Story, a supernatural anthology. Following the series demise, Cabot played Kris Kringle in the remake of Miracle on 34th Street. He also released an album of spoken recitations of songs by Bob Dylan, as Sebastian Cabot, actor/Bob Dylan, poet, two tracks from this album appear on the Rhino Records compilation Golden Throats, The Great Celebrity Sing Off
17.
Sterling Holloway
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Sterling Price Holloway Jr. was an American actor and voice actor who appeared in over 100 films and 40 television shows. He was also an actor for The Walt Disney Company, well known for his distinctive tenor voice. Born in Cedartown, Georgia, Holloway was named after his father, Sterling Price Holloway and he had a younger brother named Boothby. The family owned a store in Cedartown, where his father served as mayor in 1912. After graduating from Georgia Military Academy in 1920 at the age of fifteen, he left Georgia for New York City, while there, he befriended actor Spencer Tracy, whom he considered one of his favorite working colleagues. A talented singer, he introduced Manhattan in 1925, and the following year sang Mountain Greenery and he moved to Hollywood in 1926 to begin a film career that lasted almost 50 years. His bushy red hair and high pitched voice meant that he almost always appeared in comedies and his first film was The Battling Kangaroo, a silent picture. Over the following decades, Holloway would appear with Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck, Lon Chaney Jr, Clark Gable, Joan Crawford, Bing Crosby, and John Carradine. In 1942, during World War II, Holloway enlisted in the United States Army at the age of 37 and was assigned to the Special Services. He helped develop a show called Hey Rookie, which ran for nine months, in 1945, Holloway played the role of a medic assigned to an infantry platoon in the critically acclaimed film A Walk in the Sun. During 1946 and 1947, he played the sidekick in five Gene Autry Westerns. Walt Disney originally considered Holloway for the voice of Sleepy in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, holloways voice work in animated films began in 1941 when he was first heard in Dumbo, as the voice of Mr. Stork. Holloway was the voice of the adult Flower in Bambi, the narrator of the Antarctic penguin sequence in The Three Caballeros and the narrator in the Peter and he is perhaps best remembered as the voice of Winnie the Pooh in Disneys Winnie-the-Pooh featurettes through 1977. He was honored as a Disney Legend in 1991, the first one to receive the award in the Voice category. In the late 1940s, he could be heard in various roles on NBCs Fibber McGee and his distinctive tenor voice retained a touch of its Southern drawl and was very recognizable. Holloway was chosen to narrate many childrens records, including Uncle Remus Stories, Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes, Walt Disney Presents Rudyard Kiplings Just so Stories and Peter, Holloway easily made the transition from radio to television. He appeared on the Adventures of Superman as Uncle Oscar, an eccentric inventor, during the 1970s, Holloway did commercial voice-overs for Purina Puppy Chow dog food and sang their familiar jingle, Puppy Chow/For a full year/Till hes full-grown. He also provided the voice for Woodsy Owl in several 1970s and 1980s United States Forest Service commercials, in 1982 he auditioned for the well known comic book character Garfield but lost to Lorenzo Music
18.
Paul Winchell
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Paul Winchell was an American ventriloquist, comedian, actor, humanitarian, and inventor whose career flourished in the 1950s and 1960s. From 1950 to 1954, he hosted The Paul Winchell Show, from 1965–1968, Winchell hosted the childrens television series, Winchell-Mahoney Time. In animation, he was the voice of Tigger, Dick Dastardly, Gargamel. Winchell, who had medical training, was also an inventor, becoming the first person to build and patent a mechanical artificial heart and he has been honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his work in television. Winchell was born Paul Wilchinsky in New York City on December 21,1922, to Solomon Wilchinsky and his father was a tailor, his grandparents were Jewish immigrants from Russian Poland and Austria-Hungary. Winchells initial ambition was to become a doctor, but the Depression wiped out any chance of his familys ability to afford medical school tuition, at age 13, he contracted polio, while recovering, he happened upon a magazine advertisement offering a ventriloquism kit for ten cents. Back at school, he asked his art teacher, Jero Magon, Mr. Magon was agreeable, and Winchell named his creation Jerry Mahoney, by way of thanks. Winchell went back to reading magazines, gathering jokes from them and putting together a comedy routine, a touring offer, playing various theaters with the Major Bowes Review, was part of the prize. Bandleader Ted Weems saw the young Winchell while on tour, he visited Winchell, Winchell accepted and became a professional at age 14. Winchells best-known ventriloquist dummies were Jerry Mahoney and Knucklehead Smiff, Mahoney was carved by Chicago-based figure maker Frank Marshall. Sometime later Winchell had basswood copies of Jerrys head made by a commercial duplicating service, one became the upgraded Jerry Mahoney that is seen primarily throughout Winchells television career. He modified two other copies to create Knucklehead Smiff, the original Marshall Jerry Mahoney and one copy of Knucklehead Smiff are in storage at the Smithsonian Institution. The other two figures are in the collection of illusionist David Copperfield, Winchells first show as a ventriloquist was on radio with Jerry Mahoney in 1943. The program was short-lived, however, as he was overshadowed by Edgar Bergen, Winchell also created Ozwald, a character that resembled Humpty Dumpty. The effect was accomplished by painting eyes and a nose on his chin, then adding a body covering the rest of his face, in 1948, Winchell and Joseph Dunninger were featured on Floor Show on NBC. Recorded via kinescope and replayed on WNBQ-TV in Chicago, Illinois, central Time show on Thursdays was the stations first mid-week program. During the 1950s, Winchell hosted childrens and adult programs with his figures for NBC Television, the NBC Saturday morning program, sponsored by Tootsie Roll, featured a clubhouse motif and a theme song co-written by Winchell and his longtime bandleader and on-air sidekick, Milton DeLugg. The theme song was entitled HOORAY, HOORAH which featured the secret password SCOLLY WALLY DOO DOO, an ending song entitled Friends, Friends, Friends was sung by the children in the audience
19.
Georg Solti
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Born in Budapest, he studied there with Béla Bartók, Leó Weiner and Ernő Dohnányi. In the 1930s, he was a répétiteur at the Hungarian State Opera and his career was interrupted by the rise of the Nazis, and being of Jewish background he fled the increasingly restrictive anti-semitic laws in 1938. After conducting a season of Russian ballet in London at the Royal Opera House he found refuge in Switzerland, prohibited from conducting there, he earned a living as a pianist. After the war, Solti was appointed director of the Bavarian State Opera in Munich in 1946. In 1952 he moved to the Frankfurt Opera, where he remained in charge for nine years and he took West German citizenship in 1953. In 1961 he became director of the Covent Garden Opera Company. During his ten-year tenure, he introduced changes that raised standards to the highest international levels, under his musical directorship the status of the company was recognised with the grant of the title the Royal Opera. He became a British citizen in 1972, in 1969 Solti became music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, a post he held for 22 years. He relinquished the position in 1991 and became the music director laureate. Known in his early years for the intensity of his music making and he recorded many works two or three times at various stages of his career, and was a prolific recording artist, making more than 250 recordings, including 45 complete opera sets. The most famous of his recordings is probably Deccas complete set of Wagners Der Ring des Nibelungen, Soltis Ring has twice been voted the greatest recording ever made, in polls for Gramophone magazine in 1999 and the BBCs Music Magazine in 2012. Solti was repeatedly honoured by the industry with awards throughout his career. Solti also received the Academy’s 1995 Lifetime Achievement Award, Solti was born György Stern on Maros utca, in the Hegyvidék district of the Buda side of Budapest. He was the younger of the two children of Móricz Stern and his wife Teréz, née Rosenbaum, both of whom were Jewish, in the aftermath of the First World War it became the accepted practice in Hungary for citizens with Germanic surnames to adopt Hungarian ones. The right wing regime of Admiral Horthy enacted a series of Hungarianisation laws, Mor Stern, a self-employed merchant, felt no need to change his surname, but thought it prudent to change that of his children. He renamed them after Solt, a town in central Hungary. His sons given name, György, was acceptably Hungarian and was not changed, Solti described his father as a kind, sweet man who trusted everyone. He shouldnt have, but he did, jews in Hungary were tremendously patriotic
20.
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
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The Chicago Symphony Orchestra, based in Chicago, was formed by Theodore Thomas in 1891. The Symphony makes its home at Orchestra Hall in Chicago and plays a season at the Ravinia Festival. The music director is Riccardo Muti, who began his tenure in 2010, the CSO is one of five American orchestras commonly referred to as the Big Five. Since Thomas, the orchestra has had ten music directors, including Rafael Kubelík, Fritz Reiner, Sir Georg Solti, from 2010 to the present, the incumbent conductor is Riccardo Muti. In 1890 Charles Norman Fay, a Chicago businessman, invited Theodore Thomas to establish an orchestra in Chicago, under the name Chicago Orchestra, the orchestra played its first concert October 16,1891 at the Auditorium Theater. It is one of the oldest orchestras in the United States, along with the New York Philharmonic, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Hall, now a component of the Symphony Center complex, was designed by Chicago architect Daniel H. Burnham and completed in 1904. Maestro Thomas served as director for thirteen years until his death shortly after the orchestras newly built residence was dedicated December 14,1904. The orchestra was renamed Theodore Thomas Orchestra in 1905 and today, in 1905, Frederick Stock became music director, a post he held until his death in 1942. The orchestra was renamed the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 1913, subsequent music directors have included Désiré Defauw, Artur Rodziński, Rafael Kubelík, Fritz Reiner, Jean Martinon, Georg Solti, and Daniel Barenboim. His contract has been renewed for five years, through the 2020 season. Many of these guests have also recorded with the orchestra, carlos Kleiber made his only symphonic guest appearances in America with the CSO, in October 1978 and June 1983. The three principal guest conductors of the orchestra have been Carlo Maria Giulini, Claudio Abbado, the CSO holds an annual fundraiser, originally known as the Chicago Symphony Marathon, more recently as Radiothon and Symphonython, in conjunction with Chicago radio station WFMT. As part of the event, from 1986 through 2008, the released tracks from their broadcast archives on double LP/CD collections. The Chicago Symphony Orchestra maintains a home at Ravinia in Highland Park. The CSO helped to inaugurate the first season of the Ravinia Festival in August 1936 and has been in residence at the Festival every summer since, as of 2005, James Conlon holds the title of Ravinia music director. The Chicago Symphony has amassed an extensive discography, recordings by the CSO have earned 62 Grammy Awards from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. These include several Classical Album of the Year awards, awards in Best Classical Performance in vocal soloist, choral, instrumental, engineering and orchestral categories. On May 1,1916, Frederick Stock and the orchestra recorded the Wedding March from Felix Mendelssohns music to A Midsummer Nights Dream for what was known as the Columbia Graphophone Company
21.
Hector Berlioz
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Hector Berlioz was a French Romantic composer, best known for his compositions Symphonie fantastique and Grande messe des morts. Berlioz made significant contributions to the orchestra with his Treatise on Instrumentation. He specified huge orchestral forces for some of his works, and he also composed around 50 songs. His influence was critical for the development of Romanticism, especially in composers like Richard Wagner, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Franz Liszt, Richard Strauss. Hector Berlioz was born in France at La Côte-Saint-André in the département of Isère, Louis was an agnostic, with a liberal outlook, his mother, Marie-Antoinette, was a devout Roman Catholic. He had five siblings in all, three of whom did not survive to adulthood, the other two, Nanci and Adèle, remained close to Berlioz throughout his life. Berlioz was not a prodigy, unlike some other famous composers of the time, he began studying music at age 12, writing small compositions. As a result of his fathers discouragement, he never learned to play the piano and he became proficient at guitar, flageolet and flute. He learned harmony from textbooks alone—he was not formally trained, the majority of his early compositions were romances and chamber pieces. While yet at age twelve, as recalled in his Mémoires, he experienced his first passion for a woman and he also began to visit the Paris Conservatoire library, seeking out scores of Glucks operas and making personal copies of parts of them. He recalled in his Mémoires his first encounter with Luigi Cherubini, Cherubini attempted to throw the impetuous Berlioz out of the library since he was not a formal music student at that time. Berlioz also heard two operas by Gaspare Spontini, a composer who influenced him through their friendship, and whom he later championed when working as a critic, from then on, he devoted himself to composition. He was encouraged in his endeavors by Jean-François Le Sueur, director of the Royal Chapel, in 1823, he wrote his first article—a letter to the journal Le corsaire defending Spontinis La vestale. Despite his parents disapproval, in 1824 he formally abandoned his studies to pursue a career in music. This work was rehearsed and revised after the rehearsal but not performed until the following year, Berlioz later claimed to have burnt the score, but it was re-discovered in 1991. Later that year or in 1825, he began to compose the opera Les francs-juges, the work survives only in fragments, the overture has been much recorded and is sometimes played in concert. In 1826 he began attending the Conservatoire to study composition under Jean-François Le Sueur and he also submitted a fugue to the Prix de Rome, but was eliminated in the primary round. Winning the prize would become an obsession until he won it in 1830
22.
Leontyne Price
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Mary Violet Leontyne Price is an American soprano. Born and raised in Laurel, Mississippi, she rose to acclaim in the 1950s and 1960s. Time magazine called her voice Rich, supple and shining, it was in its capable of effortlessly soaring from a smoky mezzo to the pure soprano gold of a perfectly spun high C. A lirico spinto soprano, she was considered well suited to the roles of Giuseppe Verdi and Giacomo Puccini. After her retirement from the stage in 1985, she continued to appear in recitals. In October 2008, she was one of the recipients of the first Opera Honors given by the National Endowment for the Arts, Leontyne Price was born in Laurel, Mississippi. Her father James worked in a mill and her mother Katie was a midwife who sang in the church choir. They had waited 13 years for a child, and Leontyne became the focus of intense pride, given a toy piano at the age of three, she began piano lessons with a local teacher. When she was in kindergarten, her parents traded in the family phonograph as the payment on an upright piano. At 14, she was taken on a trip to hear Marian Anderson sing in Jackson. Meanwhile, she visited the home of Alexander and Elizabeth Chisholm. Mrs. Chisholm encouraged the early piano playing. During World War II, Price worked as a maid in the Chisholms household where she was allowed to play the piano. Mrs. Chisholm noticed her singing voice and accompanied her in several early recitals. Aiming for a career, Price enrolled in the music education program at the all-black Wilberforce College in Wilberforce. Her success in the club led to solo assignments. She sang in the choir with another singer, Betty Allen. With the help of the Chisholms and the famous bass Paul Robeson and she won a scholarship and was admitted to the studio of Florence Page Kimball, who would remain her principal teacher and advisor throughout the 1960s
23.
Richard Strauss
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Richard Georg Strauss was a leading German composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras. Strauss was also a prominent conductor in Western Europe and the Americas, enjoying quasi-celebrity status as his compositions became standards of orchestral and operatic repertoire. Strauss was born on 11 June 1864 in Munich, the son of Josephine and Franz Strauss, in his youth, he received a thorough musical education from his father. He wrote his first composition at the age of six and continued to write music almost until his death, during his boyhood Strauss attended orchestra rehearsals of the Munich Court Orchestra, where he received private instruction in music theory and orchestration from an assistant conductor. In 1872 he started receiving violin instruction at the Royal School of Music from Benno Walter, in 1874 Strauss heard his first Wagner operas, Lohengrin and Tannhäuser. The influence of Wagners music on Strausss style was to be profound, but at first his musically conservative father forbade him to study it. Indeed, in the Strauss household, the music of Richard Wagner was viewed with deep suspicion, in later life, Strauss said that he deeply regretted the conservative hostility to Wagners progressive works. Nevertheless, Strausss father undoubtedly had a influence on his sons developing taste. In early 1882 in Vienna he gave the first performance of his Violin Concerto in D minor, playing a piano reduction of the part himself. The same year he entered Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, where he studied philosophy and art history, Strauss learned the art of conducting by observing Bülow in rehearsal. Bülow was very fond of the man and decided that Strauss should be his successor as conductor of the Meiningen Court Orchestra when Bülow resigned in 1885. Strausss compositions at time were indebted to the style of Robert Schumann or Felix Mendelssohn. 1, Op.11, is representative of this period and is a staple of modern horn repertoire, Strauss married soprano Pauline de Ahna on 10 September 1894. She was famous for being irascible, garrulous, eccentric and outspoken, throughout his life, from his earliest songs to the final Four Last Songs of 1948, he preferred the soprano voice to all others, and all his operas contain important soprano roles. The Strausses had one son, Franz, in 1897, Franz married Alice von Grab-Hermannswörth, daughter of a Jewish industrialist, in a Roman Catholic ceremony in 1924. Franz and Alice had two sons, Richard and Christian, some of Strausss first compositions were solo instrumental and chamber works. After 1890 Strauss composed very infrequently for chamber groups, his energies being almost completely absorbed with large-scale orchestral works and operas. Four of his pieces are actually arrangements of portions of his operas, including the Daphne-Etude for solo violin and the String Sextet
24.
Sherrill Milnes
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Sherrill Milnes is an American operatic baritone most famous for his Verdi roles. From 1965 until 1997 he was associated with the Metropolitan Opera and his voice is a high dramatic baritone, combining good legato with an incisive rhythmic style. By 1965 he had made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera and his international debuts followed soon thereafter, and Milnes became one of the worlds prominent Verdi baritones of the 1970s and 1980s. Milnes was born in Downers Grove, Illinois and his mother and father were dairy farmers. As a child, he exhibited strong and varied musical talents, in addition to singing, he also played piano, violin, viola, double bass, clarinet, and tuba. Although his interests did not always lean toward opera, he spent many hours singing to his fathers cows and was found on a tractor practicing an operatic laugh. He attended North Central College before transferring to Drake University and Northwestern University, Milnes was awarded an honorary doctorate from North Central College in 2006. Milnes began his career with the Opera Company of Boston in 1960, joining Boris Goldovskys Opera Theater, from very early on in his career, Milnes was managed by well-known talent manager Herbert Barrett. In 1961, he made his debut at Ponselles Baltimore Opera as Gérard in Andrea Chénier. In 1964, Milnes made his first major breakthrough singing the role of Valentin in Gounods Faust at the New York City Opera, in 1967 he created the role of Captain Adam Brant in the world premiere of Marvin David Levys Mourning Becomes Electra at the Met. In 1964, Milnes also made his European debut singing Figaro from The Barber of Seville at the Teatro Nuovo in Milan, however, it was his performance as Miller in Verdis Luisa Miller in 1968 which catapulted him into international fame. In the early 1980s, Milnes experienced serious health problems. In 1984 he sang in the premiere of Act I of Sergei Rachmaninoffs opera Monna Vanna. Milnes was awarded Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia fraternitys Charles E. Lutton Man of Music Award at its 1982 national convention in Urbana and he had been initiated into the Fraternitys Alpha Beta chapter at Drake University in 1954. The orchestra, conducted by Zubin Mehta, performed in Central Park, in September 1996, Milnes was honored by the French government with the distinguished Chevalier de lOrdre des Arts et des Lettres. After 653 performances, he made his bow at the Met on March 22,1997 in Aida. In 1998, Milnes published a memoir, American Aria, Milnes is currently a professor emeritus in voice at Northwestern University. He is a recipient of Yale Universitys Sanford Medal and he is Artistic Advisor to Opera Tampa
25.
Ruggero Raimondi
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Ruggero Raimondi is an Italian bass-baritone opera singer who has also appeared in motion pictures. Ruggero Raimondi was born in Bologna, Italy, during World War II and his voice matured early into its adult timbre, and at the age of 15, he auditioned for conductor Francesco Molinari-Pradelli, who encouraged him to pursue an operatic career. He began vocal studies with Ettore Campogalliani, and was accepted at age 16 as a student at the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory in Milan and he then continued his studies in Rome, under the guidance of Teresa Pediconi and Armando Piervenanzi. After having won the National Competition for young singers in Spoleto. The young singer was very shy and stiff at first, but his early directors helped him, and he was soon an accomplished opera actor. His La Scala debut was as Timur in Turandot in 1968, his Metropolitan Opera debut was as Silva in Ernani in 1970, and his Covent Garden debut was as Fiesco in Simon Boccanegra in 1972. In 1975, he made his Paris Opera debut as Procida, followed by the role in Boris Godunov. In 1986, he first directed a production of Don Giovanni and he also made the television film Six characters in search of a singer. In 2008 he appeared in the Mini-Series Les Sanglot des Anges on French TV, in July 2011 he played the role of Pagano in Verdis I Lombardi alla prima crociata on the rooftop of the Duomo of Milan. The concert was organized to celebrate the 150th Anniversary of the Italian Unity by the Veneranda Fabbrica del Duomo di Milano. Raimondi website Profile of Raimondi dead link 01/11/10 Answers. com profile Ruggero Raimondi at the Internet Movie Database Interview with Ruggero Raimondi by Bruce Duffie, November 16,1987
26.
London Philharmonic Orchestra
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The London Philharmonic Orchestra is one of five permanent symphony orchestras based in London. It was founded by the conductors Sir Thomas Beecham and Malcolm Sargent in 1932 as a rival to the existing London Symphony, the founders ambition was to build an orchestra the equal of any European or American rival. Between 1932 and the Second World War the LPO was widely judged to have succeeded in this regard, after the outbreak of war the orchestras private backers withdrew and the players reconstituted the LPO as a self-governing cooperative. By the 1960s the LPO had regained its earlier standards, in 1993 it was appointed resident orchestra of the Royal Festival Hall on the south bank of the Thames, one of Londons major concert venues. Since 1995 the residency has been held with the Philharmonia. In addition to its work at the Festival Hall and Glyndebourne, the LPO performs regularly at the Congress Theatre, Eastbourne and the Brighton Dome, and tours nationally and internationally. Since Beecham, the orchestra has had ten principal conductors, including Sir Adrian Boult, Bernard Haitink, Sir Georg Solti, Klaus Tennstedt and Vladimir Jurowski. The orchestra has been active in recording studios since its earliest days, since 2005 the LPO has had its own record label, issuing live recordings of concerts. The orchestra has played on film soundtracks, including Lawrence of Arabia. In the 1920s the London Symphony Orchestra was the citys best-known concert, others were the Royal Albert Hall Orchestra, the orchestra of the Royal Philharmonic Society, the BBCs Wireless Symphony Orchestra and Sir Henry Woods Queens Hall Orchestra. All except the last of these were ad hoc ensembles, with little continuity of personnel. This became obvious in 1927 when the Berlin Philharmonic, under Wilhelm Furtwängler, the chief music critic of The Times later commented, the British public. Was electrified when it heard the disciplined precision of the Berlin Philharmonic and this apparently was how an orchestra could, and, therefore, ought to sound. In 1928 they opened discussions about jointly setting up such an ensemble, but after 18 months of negotiations it became clear that the corporation and the conductor had irreconcilable priorities. The BBC went ahead without him, and under its director of music, Adrian Boult, launched the BBC Symphony Orchestra in October 1930, to immense acclaim. Originally Sargent and Beecham envisaged a version of the LSO, but the orchestra. In 1932 Beecham lost patience and agreed with Sargent to set up a new orchestra from scratch, the BBC having attracted a large number of the finest musicians from other orchestras, many in the musical world doubted that Beecham could find enough good players. He was fortunate in the timing of the enterprise, the economy had severely reduced the number of freelance dates available to orchestral players
27.
Giacomo Puccini
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Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini was an Italian opera composer who has been called the greatest composer of Italian opera after Verdi. Puccinis early work was rooted in traditional late-19th-century romantic Italian opera, later, he successfully developed his work in the realistic verismo style, of which he became one of the leading exponents. Puccinis most renowned works are La bohème, Tosca, and Madama Butterfly, Puccini was born Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini in Lucca in Tuscany, in 1858. He was one of nine children of Michele Puccini and Albina Magi, the Puccini family was established in Lucca as a local musical dynasty by Puccinis great-great grandfather – also named Giacomo. This first Giacomo Puccini was maestro di cappella of the Cattedrale di San Martino in Lucca and he was succeeded in this position by his son, Antonio Puccini, and then by Antonios son Domenico, and Domenicos son Michele. Each of these men studied music at Bologna, and some additional musical studies elsewhere. Domenico Puccini studied for a time under Giovanni Paisiello, each composed music for the church. In addition, Domenico composed several operas, and Michele composed one opera, Puccinis father Michele enjoyed a reputation throughout northern Italy, and his funeral was an occasion of public mourning, at which the then-famed composer Giovanni Pacini conducted a Requiem. However, when Michele Puccini died in 1864, his son Giacomo was only six years old, as a child, he nevertheless participated in the musical life of the Cattedrale di San Martino, as a member of the boys choir and later as a substitute organist. Puccini was given an education at the seminary of San Michele in Lucca. One of Puccinis uncles, Fortunato Magi, supervised his musical education, Puccini got a diploma from the Pacini School of Music in Lucca in 1880, having studied there with his uncle Fortunato, and later with Carlo Angeloni, who had also instructed Alfredo Catalani. Puccini studied at the conservatory for three years, sharing a room with Pietro Mascagni, in 1880, at the age of 21, Puccini composed his Mass, which marks the culmination of his familys long association with church music in his native Lucca. Puccini wrote a piece called the Capriccio sinfonica as a thesis composition for the Milan Conservatory. Puccinis teachers Ponchielli and Bazzini were impressed by the work, and it was performed at a student concert at the conservatory on 14 July 1883, conducted by Franco Faccio. Puccinis work was reviewed in the Milanese publication Perseveranza. After the premiere of the Capriccio sinfonica, Ponchielli and Puccini discussed the possibility that Puccinis next work might be an opera, Ponchielli invited Puccini to stay at his villa, where Puccini was introduced to another young man named Fernando Fontana. Puccini and Fontana agreed to collaborate on an opera, for which Fontana would provide the libretto, the work, Le Villi, was entered into a competition sponsored by the Sozogno music publishing company in 1883. Although it did not win, Le Villi was later staged at the Teatro Dal Verme, G. Ricordi & Co. music publishers assisted with the premier by printing the libretto without charge
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Colin Davis
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Sir Colin Rex Davis CH CBE was an English conductor, known for his association with the London Symphony Orchestra, having first conducted it in 1959. His repertoire was broad, but among the composers with whom he was particularly associated were Mozart, Berlioz, Elgar, Sibelius, Stravinsky and he studied as a clarinettist, but was intent on becoming a conductor. He also held the musical directorships of Sadlers Wells Opera and the Royal Opera House and his guest conductorships included the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic and the Dresden Staatskapelle, among many others. As a teacher, Davis held posts at the Royal Academy of Music, London, Davis was born in Weybridge, Surrey, the youngest of three sons among seven siblings, to Reginald George and Lillian Davis. The family was musical, and he was exposed to music from an early age and he recalled, I can still see Sargent conducting the first concert I ever attended. I can still hear Melchior in the scene of Siegfried – an old 78 playing on my fathers gramophone. … I can also remember the moment I decided to make music my life, I was 13 or 14 at the time and the performance was of Beethovens Eighth. I became totally involved, even obsessed by music, although I was frightfully enclosed by my likes and dislikes and his fellow-students included Gervase de Peyer, but Davis developed a greater interest in conducting. He was, however, not eligible for the class at the college. Following compulsory military service and completing his studies at college, Davis served as a clarinettist in the band of the Life Guards, stationed at Windsor, he had continual opportunities to attend concerts in London under conductors including Sir Thomas Beecham and Bruno Walter. In 1949, he began his career as a musician where he remained until 1957. His first conducting work was with the Kalmar Orchestra, which he co-founded with other students of the Royal College. He was subsequently invited to conduct the recently founded Chelsea Opera Group in Don Giovanni, in the early years of his career, he also took some engagements as an orchestral clarinettist. What seemed at first to be a full-time conducting appointment, for the Original Ballet Russe in 1952 and his first breakthrough came in 1957 when, at his third attempt, he secured the post of assistant conductor of the BBC Scottish Orchestra. The chief conductor of the orchestra generally chose to conduct the standard repertoire pieces himself, Davis first found wide acclaim when he stood in for an ill Otto Klemperer in a performance of Don Giovanni, at the Royal Festival Hall in 1959. A year later, Beecham invited him to collaborate with him in preparing The Magic Flute at Glyndebourne, Beecham was taken ill, and Davis conducted the opera. After the Don Giovanni, The Times wrote, A superb conductor of Mozart declared himself last night at the Festival Hall…, mr Davis emerged as a conductor ripe for greatness. Neville Cardus in The Guardian was less enthusiastic but nevertheless considered that he had his triumphs in the performance
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London Symphony Orchestra
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The London Symphony Orchestra, founded in 1904, is the oldest of Londons symphony orchestras. It was set up by a group of players who left Henry Woods Queens Hall Orchestra because of a new rule requiring players to give the orchestra their exclusive services, the LSO itself later introduced a similar rule for its members. From the outset, the LSO was organised on co-operative lines and this practice continued for the orchestras first four decades. The profit-sharing principle was abandoned in the era as a condition of receiving public subsidy for the first time. In the 1950s the orchestra debated whether to concentrate on work at the expense of symphony concerts. By the 1960s the LSO had recovered its position, which it has retained subsequently. In 1966, to perform alongside it in works, the orchestra established the LSO Chorus, originally a mix of professional and amateur singers. As a self-governing body, the orchestra selects the conductors with whom it works, at some stages in its history, it has dispensed with a principal conductor and worked only with guests. Since 1982, the LSO has been based in the Barbican Centre in the City of London, among its programmes there have been large-scale festivals celebrating composers as diverse as Berlioz, Mahler and Bernstein. At the turn of the century there were no permanent salaried orchestras in London. The main orchestras were those of Covent Garden, the Philharmonic Society and he would then engage another player to deputise at him for the original concert and the rehearsals for it. The treasurer of the Philharmonic Society described the system thus, A and he sends B to the first rehearsal. B, without knowledge or consent, sends C to the second rehearsal. Not being able to play at the concert, C sends D, in 1904, the manager of the Queens Hall, Robert Newman and the conductor of his promenade concerts, Henry Wood, agreed that they could no longer tolerate the deputy system. After a rehearsal in which Wood was faced with dozens of unfamiliar faces in his own orchestra, Newman came to the platform and announced, Gentlemen, in future there will be no deputies. Orchestral musicians were not highly paid, and removing their chances of better-paid engagements permitted by the deputy system was a financial blow to many of them. The principal movers were three players and a trumpeter, John Solomon. Busby organised a meeting at St. Andrews Hall, not far from the Queens Hall, invitations were sent to present and former members of the Queens Hall Orchestra
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Maxim Shostakovich
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Maxim Dmitrievich Shostakovich is a Russian conductor and pianist. He is the child of the composer Dmitri Shostakovich and Nina Varzar. Since 1975, he has conducted and popularised many of his fathers lesser-known works and he was educated at the Moscow and Leningrad Conservatories where he studied with Igor Markevitch and Otto-Werner Mueller before becoming chief conductor of the Union Radio and TV Symphony Orchestra. While he was conductor of the Moscow Radio and Television Symphony Orchestra. On 12 April 1981 he defected to West Germany, and then settled in the United States. After spells conducting the New Orleans Symphony Orchestra and the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra he returned to St. Petersburg, in 1992 he made an acclaimed recording of the Myaskovsky Cello Concerto with Julian Lloyd Webber and the London Symphony Orchestra for Philips Classics. Maxim is the dedicatee and first performer of his fathers Piano Concerto No.2 in F Major and he has a son, Dmitri Maximovich Shostakovich who is a pianist. Maxim Shostakovich has recorded a cycle of his fathers 15 symphonies with the Prague Symphony Orchestra for the Czech label, list of Eastern Bloc defectors Interview with Maxim Shostakovich by Bruce Duffie,10 July 1992
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David Oistrakh
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David Fyodorovich Oistrakh was a renowned Soviet classical violinist and violist. He is considered one of the preeminent violinists of the 20th century and he was born in the cosmopolitan city of Odessa in the Russian Empire into a Jewish family. His father was David Kolker and his mother was Isabella Beyle, at the age of five, young Oistrakh began his studies of violin and viola as a pupil of Pyotr Stolyarsky. In 1914, at the age of six, Oistrakh performed his debut concert and he entered the Odessa Conservatory in 1923, where he studied until his graduation in 1926. In the Conservatory he also studied harmony with composer Mykola Vilinsky and his 1926 graduation concert consisted of Bachs Chaconne, Tartinis Devils Trill Sonata, Rubinsteins Viola Sonata, and Prokofievs Violin Concerto No.1 in D major. In 1927, Oistrakh relocated to Moscow, where he gave his first recital and met his future wife and they were married a year later, and had one child, Igor Oistrakh, who was born in 1931. In at least one of the recordings of Mozarts Sinfonia Concertante, Igor Oistrakh played violin, from 1934 onwards, David Oistrakh held a position teaching at the Moscow Conservatory, and was later made professor in 1939. Some of his colleagues while teaching at the Moscow Conservatory included Yuri Yankelevich, Oistrakh taught Oleg Kagan, Emmy Verhey, Gidon Kremer, Yulia Brodskaya, Zoya Petrosyan, Victor Danchenko, Cyrus Forough, Olga Parhomenko, and his son Igor Oistrakh. In 1950s, David Oistrah invited Yulia Brodskaya to be his assistant in teaching solo and chamber music, from 1940 to 1963, Oistrakh performed extensively in a trio that also included the cellist Sviatoslav Knushevitsky and the pianist Lev Oborin. It was sometimes called the Oistrakh Trio, Oistrakh collaborated extensively with Oborin, as well as Jacques Thibaud, a French violinist. During World War II, he was active in the Soviet Union, premiering new concerti by Nikolai Miaskovsky and he was also awarded the Stalin Prize in 1942. Oistrakhs career was set from this point, although the Soviet Union was protective of its people, however, other sources indicate that Oistrakh performed in Leningrad that winter. Whether Oistrakh performed in Stalingrad is unconfirmed, Oistrakh was allowed to travel after the end of the war. He traveled to the countries in the Soviet bloc and even to the West and his first foreign engagement was to appear at the newly founded Prague Spring Festival where he was met with enormous success. In 1949 he gave his first concert in the West – in Helsinki, by 1959, he was beginning to establish a second career as a conductor, and in 1960 he was awarded the coveted Lenin Prize. His Moscow conducting debut followed in 1962, and by 1967 he had established a partnership with the celebrated Soviet pianist Sviatoslav Richter, Oistrakh was now seen as one of the great violinists of his time, among such luminaries as Romanias George Enescu and Lithuanian-born Jascha Heifetz. Oistrakh suffered an attack as early as 1964. He survived and continued to work at a furious pace and he had already become one of the principal cultural ambassadors for the Soviet Union to the West in live concerts and recordings
