L'elisir d'amore
L'elisir d'amore is a comic opera in two acts by the Italian composer Gaetano Donizetti. Felice Romani wrote the Italian libretto, after Eugène Scribe's libretto for Daniel Auber's Le philtre; the opera premiered on 12 May 1832 at the Teatro della Canobbiana in Milan. Written in haste in a six-week period, L'elisir d'amore was the most performed opera in Italy between 1838 and 1848 and has remained continually in the international opera repertory. Today it is one of the most performed of all Donizetti's operas: it appears as number 13 on the Operabase list of the most-performed operas worldwide in the five seasons between 2008 and 2013. There are a large number of recordings, it contains the popular tenor aria "Una furtiva lagrima", a romanza that has a considerable performance history in the concert hall. Donizetti insisted on a number of changes from the original Scribe libretto; the best known of these was the insertion of "Una furtiva lagrima" and the duet between Adina and Nemorino in the first act, "Chiedi all'aura lusinghiera".
The melody to the duet "Io son ricco e tu sei bella" in act 2, scene 1 recurs in the final scene of the opera sung by Dulcamara as a solo aria with new scabrous lyrics. The central narrative theme, the triumph of sincerity, is essential to the Romantic outlook. There is personal history in this opera. Donizetti's military service was bought by a rich woman, so that, unlike his brother Giuseppe, he did not have to serve in the Austrian army; the premiere of L'elisir d'amore took place at the Teatro della Canobbiana, Milan, on 12 May 1832. Today, the opera is part of the standard repertory. Place: A small village in the Basque Country Time: The end of the 18th century Nemorino, a poor peasant, is in love with Adina, a beautiful landowner, who torments him with her indifference; when Nemorino hears Adina reading to her workers the story of Tristan and Isolde, he is convinced that a magic potion will help him to gain Adina's love. The self-important Sergeant Belcore appears with his regiment and sets about courting Adina in front of everyone.
Nemorino becomes anxious and, alone with Adina, reveals his love for her. Yet Adina rebuffs him, saying she wants a different lover every day and following her example would do Nemorino better. Nemorino declares; the travelling quack doctor, arrives, selling his bottled cure-all to the townspeople. Nemorino innocently asks Dulcamara. Despite failing to recognise the name "Isolde", Dulcamara's commercial talents enable him to sell a bottle of the cure-all – in reality only cheap wine – to Nemorino, withdrawing all his savings. To make a safe escape, Dulcamara tells Nemorino the potion needs 24 hours to take effect – by which time, the doctor will be long gone. Nemorino drinks the potion in a haste. Emboldened by the "elixir", Nemorino feigns indifference when he encounters Adina, as he expects that the elixir will facilitate his conquest of Adina the following day, she becomes annoyed. Belcore proposes marriage to Adina. Still riled by Nemorino and wishing to give him a lesson, Adina falsely promises to marry Belcore in six days' time.
Yet Nemorino only laughs in response: such confidence is sustained in the belief in the magic potion. However, when Belcore learns that his regiment must leave the next morning, Adina promises to marry him before his departure; this of course panics Nemorino. Adina, invites everyone to the wedding. Adina and Belcore's wedding party is in full swing. Dr. Dulcamara encourages Adina to sing a duet with him to entertain the guests; the notary arrives to make the marriage official. Adina is annoyed to see that Nemorino has not appeared, for the whole deal has been intended only to punish him. While everyone goes to witness the signing of the wedding contract, Dulcamara stays behind, helping himself to food and drink. Having seen the notary, Nemorino depressed, as he believes that he has lost Adina, he frantically begs him for a more powerful, faster-acting elixir. Although Dulcamara is proud to boast of his philanthropy, upon discovering that Nemorino now has no money he changes his tune and marches off, refusing to supply him anything.
Belcore emerges, musing about why Adina has put off the wedding and signing of the contract. He asks his rival why he is depressed; when Nemorino says he needs cash, Belcore suggests joining the army, as he'll receive funds on the spot. Belcore tries to excite Nemorino with tales of military life, while Nemorino only thinks of getting the potion and thus winning Adina, if only for a day before departure. Belcore produces a contract. Nemorino vows to rush and buy more potion, while Belcore muses about how sending Nemorino off to war has so dispatched his rival. After the two men have left, Giannetta gossips with the women of the village. Swearing them all to secrecy, she reveals that Nemorino's uncle has just died and left his nephew a large fortune. However, neither Nemorino nor Adina is yet aware of this. Nemorino enters, having spent his military signing bonus on – and consumed – a large amount of the fake elixir from Dr. Dulcamara. Hoping to share hi
The Marriage of Figaro
The Marriage of Figaro, K. 492, is an opera buffa in four acts composed in 1786 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with an Italian libretto written by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It premiered at the Burgtheater in Vienna on 1 May 1786; the opera's libretto is based on a stage comedy by Pierre Beaumarchais, La folle journée, ou le Mariage de Figaro, first performed in 1784. It tells how the servants Figaro and Susanna succeed in getting married, foiling the efforts of their philandering employer Count Almaviva to seduce Susanna and teaching him a lesson in fidelity; the opera is a cornerstone of the repertoire and appears among the top ten in the Operabase list of most performed operas. Beaumarchais's earlier play The Barber of Seville had made a successful transition to opera in a version by Paisiello. Beaumarchais's Mariage de Figaro was at first banned in Vienna. Mozart's librettist managed to get official approval from the emperor for an operatic version which achieved great success; the opera was the first of three collaborations between Da Ponte.
It was Mozart who selected Beaumarchais's play and brought it to Da Ponte, who turned it into a libretto in six weeks, rewriting it in poetic Italian and removing all of the original's political references. In particular, Da Ponte replaced Figaro's climactic speech against inherited nobility with an angry aria against unfaithful wives. Contrary to the popular myth, the libretto was approved by the Emperor before any music was written by Mozart; the Imperial Italian opera company paid Mozart 450 florins for the work. Da Ponte was paid 200 florins. Figaro premiered at the Burgtheater in Vienna on 1 May 1786, with a cast listed in the "Roles" section below. Mozart himself directed the first two performances, conducting seated at the keyboard, the custom of the day. Performances were conducted by Joseph Weigl; the first production was given eight further performances, all in 1786. Although the total of nine performances was nothing like the frequency of performance of Mozart's success, The Magic Flute, which for months was performed every other day, the premiere is judged to have been a success.
The applause of the audience on the first night resulted in five numbers being encored, seven on 8 May. Joseph II, who, in addition to his empire, was in charge of the Burgtheater, was concerned by the length of the performance and directed his aide Count Rosenberg as follows: To prevent the excessive duration of operas, without however prejudicing the fame sought by opera singers from the repetition of vocal pieces, I deem the enclosed notice to the public to be the most reasonable expedient. You will therefore cause some posters to this effect to be printed; the requested posters were printed up and posted in the Burgtheater in time for the third performance on 24 May. The newspaper Wiener Realzeitung carried a review of the opera in its issue of 11 July 1786, it alludes to interference produced by paid hecklers, but praises the work warmly: Mozart's music was admired by connoisseurs at the first performance, if I except only those whose self-love and conceit will not allow them to find merit in anything not written by themselves.
The public, however... did not know on the first day where it stood. It heard many a bravo from unbiased connoisseurs, but obstreperous louts in the uppermost storey exerted their hired lungs with all their might to deafen singers and audience alike with their St! and Pst. Apart from that, it is true that the first performance was none of the best, owing to the difficulties of the composition, but now, after several performances, one would be subscribing either to the cabal or to tastelessness if one were to maintain that Herr Mozart's music is anything but a masterpiece of art. It contains so many beauties, such a wealth of ideas, as can be drawn only from the source of innate genius; the Hungarian poet Ferenc Kazinczy was in the audience for a May performance, remembered the powerful impression the work made on him: Storace, the beautiful singer, enchanted eye and soul. -- Mozart directed the orchestra. Where could words be found that are worthy to describe such joy? Joseph Haydn appreciated the opera writing to a friend that he heard it in his dreams.
In summer 1790 Haydn attempted to produce the work with his own company at Eszterháza, but was prevented from doing so by the death of his patron, Nikolaus Esterházy. The Emperor requested a special performance at his palace theater in Laxenburg, which took place in June 1786; the opera was produced in Prague starting in December 1786 by the Pasquale Bondini company. This production was a tremendous success. Local music lovers paid for M
2011 Summer Universiade
The 2011 Summer Universiade, the XXVI Summer Universiade, was hosted in Shenzhen, China. The cities of Kazan, Kaohsiung, Shenzhen, Murcia and Poznań, Poland were in contention for the Games. On 16 January 2007, FISU announced at the conference prior to the 2007 Winter Universiade, that the host would be Shenzhen. With five candidates, it was the most competitive race to host a Universiade. Edmonton, Canada was posed to make a serious bid, but withdrew. Shenzhen was not considered a favorite, as several other sporting competitions have been assigned to China in recent years, including the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, the 2009 Winter Universiade in Harbin, the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou; as a city, Shenzhen was only 30 years old as of 2010 and lacked experience in hosting a major sporting competition, compared to the other candidates. In preparation for the event, Shenzhen built numerous infrastructure objects, including several new lines of Shenzhen Metro; the preparation cost was estimated to exceed 180 billion RMB, including 75 billion RMB spent on new subway lines, 12 billion RMB on facelifting buildings and streets and 4.1 billion RMB spent on the 60,000-seat stadium.
Added were 200 of BYD's all-electric eBUS's and 300 of BYD's all-electric e6’s, making this new-energy fleet the largest of its kind in the world. After the conclusion of the international multi-sport events at the 2011 Universiade Games, the eBUS's and eTaxi's continued serving as public transportation for Shenzhen City. On the down side, 80,000 residents were evicted from the city for reasons such as lack of regular employment because they were deemed a'threat' to the Universiade; the move was controversial and sparked a debate on the legality of the policy. Residents of apartment buildings close to the stadium were ordered to leave their houses for five hours but to leave the lights on. 15,000 paramilitary police from other cities were deployed in Shenzhen, in addition to Shenzhen's own 5,000-strong force. Shenzhen Airport was ordered affecting up to 290 flights. According to the head of Shenzhen's Communist Party division, Wang Rong, all this was done to prevent embarrassment of China in front of the world, as many foreigners were to be present in the city during the Games.
The mascot of 2011 Summer Universiade is called UU. Its design is related to the logo of the Universiade, the Happy U, it represents a smiling face, with the image of the first letter "U" in the word "Universiade". Its relationship with the logo, the "Happy U" breaks the traditional mascot design idea to be realistic, comforts to the spirit of the Universiade. Delegations could obtain complementary tickets before 23 May; as of 24 May, the ticket sale was not yet started. It was announced that tickets will cost between 30 and 300 RMB. In July 2011, tickets went on sale to the general public in several phases. Tickets for the opening and closing ceremonies would not be sold to the general public. Early reports promised the city would build 12 new stadiums and gyms in the Futian and Luohu districts. A new International Olympic Centre featuring a 60,000-seat main stadium, a 18,000-seat gym, a 13.4-square-kilometre park and other facilities were established in Longgang District. By the end, 21 new venues and stadiums were completed.
The 2011 Summer Universiade used 54 stadiums including 25 training halls. Avant company is the only sports seating facility supplier; the universiade including Universiade 2011 Shenzhen Sports Center, Shenzhen Sports Center-natatorium, Shenzhen Stadium, Sports City, Shenzhen Gym, Shenzhen natatorium, Shenzhen Sports Team Training Hall, Longgang International Velodrome, Luohu Gym, Bao’an Sports Center, Nanshan Recreation and Sports Activities Center, Shenzhen University Gym, etc. Main gymnasium of Universiade center has an area of 45,000 square meters, 4 layers, allowing more than 18,000 spectators to watch matches. Many basketball matches and championships were held here, so it satisfied all standards and specifications of FIBA. Stands were constructed around the whole basketball gymnasium. Shenzhen Swimming and Diving Gym - Aquatics Diving Universiade Center Aquatic Center - Aquatics Swimming Bao’an Natatorium - Aquatics Water polo Seven Star Bay - Aquatics Open Water Swimming, Sailing Shenwanyi Road Football Pitch - Archery New Shenzhen Stadium - Athletics, Football Roads of Longgang - Athletics Shenzhen Institute of Information Technology gym - Badminton Universiade sports center Basketball court - Basketball Gymnasium of Pingshan Sports Center - Basketball Shenzhen Luohu Gymnasium - Basketball Gymnasium of the Senior High Division of Shenzhen Foreign Languages School - Basketball Dameisha Park - Beach Volleyball Shenzhen Conference and Exhibition Center - Chess, Judo, Taekwondo Longgang Sports Center - Cycling Bao'an Xixiang Sports Center - Football Shenzhen Sport School - Football, Weightlifting Shenzhen University Town - Football Shenzhen Bao‘an Stadium - Football Shenzhen Institute of Information Technology - Football Mission Hills Golf Club - Golf Bao'an District Gym - Gymnastics Futain Sports Park Gym - Gymnastics Shenzhen Maritime Sports Base & Sailing School - Sailing Shenzhen Shooting Hall and Clay-pigeon Shooting Field - Shooting Shenzhen Bay Sport Center - Table tennis Longgang Tennis Center - Tennis Shenzhen Tennis Center - Tennis Shenzhen Gym - Volleyball Following is a list of the sports that were contested at the 2011 Summer Universiade: 150 countries participated in 2011 Summer Universiade.
The medal count is as follows: * Host nation Sports in China Official website Shenzhen 2011 Universiade – Photos stadiums and schedule
Opera
Opera is a form of theatre in which music has a leading role and the parts are taken by singers, but is distinct from musical theater. Such a "work" is a collaboration between a composer and a librettist and incorporates a number of the performing arts, such as acting, scenery and sometimes dance or ballet; the performance is given in an opera house, accompanied by an orchestra or smaller musical ensemble, which since the early 19th century has been led by a conductor. Opera is a key part of the Western classical music tradition. Understood as an sung piece, in contrast to a play with songs, opera has come to include numerous genres, including some that include spoken dialogue such as musical theater, Singspiel and Opéra comique. In traditional number opera, singers employ two styles of singing: recitative, a speech-inflected style and self-contained arias; the 19th century saw the rise of the continuous music drama. Opera originated in Italy at the end of the 16th century and soon spread through the rest of Europe: Heinrich Schütz in Germany, Jean-Baptiste Lully in France, Henry Purcell in England all helped to establish their national traditions in the 17th century.
In the 18th century, Italian opera continued to dominate most of Europe, attracting foreign composers such as George Frideric Handel. Opera seria was the most prestigious form of Italian opera, until Christoph Willibald Gluck reacted against its artificiality with his "reform" operas in the 1760s; the most renowned figure of late 18th-century opera is Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who began with opera seria but is most famous for his Italian comic operas The Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni, Così fan tutte, as well as Die Entführung aus dem Serail, The Magic Flute, landmarks in the German tradition. The first third of the 19th century saw the high point of the bel canto style, with Gioachino Rossini, Gaetano Donizetti and Vincenzo Bellini all creating works that are still performed, it saw the advent of Grand Opera typified by the works of Auber and Meyerbeer. The mid-to-late 19th century was a golden age of opera and dominated by Giuseppe Verdi in Italy and Richard Wagner in Germany; the popularity of opera continued through the verismo era in Italy and contemporary French opera through to Giacomo Puccini and Richard Strauss in the early 20th century.
During the 19th century, parallel operatic traditions emerged in central and eastern Europe in Russia and Bohemia. The 20th century saw many experiments with modern styles, such as atonality and serialism and Minimalism. With the rise of recording technology, singers such as Enrico Caruso and Maria Callas became known to much wider audiences that went beyond the circle of opera fans. Since the invention of radio and television, operas were performed on these mediums. Beginning in 2006, a number of major opera houses began to present live high-definition video transmissions of their performances in cinemas all over the world. Since 2009, complete performances are live streamed; the words of an opera are known as the libretto. Some composers, notably Wagner, have written their own libretti. Traditional opera referred to as "number opera", consists of two modes of singing: recitative, the plot-driving passages sung in a style designed to imitate and emphasize the inflections of speech, aria in which the characters express their emotions in a more structured melodic style.
Vocal duets and other ensembles occur, choruses are used to comment on the action. In some forms of opera, such as singspiel, opéra comique and semi-opera, the recitative is replaced by spoken dialogue. Melodic or semi-melodic passages occurring in the midst of, or instead of, are referred to as arioso; the terminology of the various kinds of operatic voices is described in detail below. During both the Baroque and Classical periods, recitative could appear in two basic forms, each of, accompanied by a different instrumental ensemble: secco recitative, sung with a free rhythm dictated by the accent of the words, accompanied only by basso continuo, a harpsichord and a cello. Over the 18th century, arias were accompanied by the orchestra. By the 19th century, accompagnato had gained the upper hand, the orchestra played a much bigger role, Wagner revolutionized opera by abolishing all distinction between aria and recitative in his quest for what Wagner termed "endless melody". Subsequent composers have tended to follow Wagner's example, though some, such as Stravinsky in his The Rake's Progress have bucked the trend.
The changing role of the orchestra in opera is described in more detail below. The Italian word opera means "work", both in the sense of the labour done and the result produced; the Italian word derives from the Latin opera, a singular noun meaning "work" and the plural of the noun opus. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the Italian word was first used in the sense "composition in which poetry and music are combined" in 1639. Dafne by Jacopo Peri was the earliest composition considered opera, it was writt
Così fan tutte
Così fan tutte, ossia La scuola degli amanti, K. 588, is an Italian-language opera buffa in two acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart first performed on 26 January 1790 at the Burgtheater in Vienna, Austria. The libretto was written by Lorenzo Da Ponte who wrote Le nozze di Figaro and Don Giovanni. Although it is held that Così fan tutte was written and composed at the suggestion of the Emperor Joseph II, recent research does not support this idea. There is evidence that Mozart's contemporary Antonio Salieri tried to set the libretto but left it unfinished. In 1994, John Rice uncovered two terzetti by Salieri in the Austrian National Library; the short title, Così fan tutte means "So do they all", using the feminine plural to indicate women. It is translated into English as "Women are like that"; the words are sung by the three men in scene 13, just before the finale. Da Ponte had used the line "Così fan tutte le belle" earlier in Le nozze di Figaro; the first performance of Mozart's setting took place at the Burgtheater in Vienna on 26 January 1790.
It was given only five times before the run was stopped by the death of the Emperor Joseph II and the resulting period of court mourning. It was performed twice in June 1790 with the composer conducting the second performance, again in July and August. After that it was not performed in Vienna during Mozart's lifetime; the first British performance was in May 1811 at London. Così fan tutte was not performed in the U. S. until 1922, when it was given at the Metropolitan Opera. According to William Mann, Mozart disliked prima donna Adriana Ferrarese del Bene, da Ponte's arrogant mistress for whom the role of Fiordiligi had been created. Knowing her idiosyncratic tendency to drop her chin on low notes and throw back her head on high ones, Mozart filled her showpiece aria Come scoglio with constant leaps from low to high and high to low in order to make Ferrarese's head "bob like a chicken" onstage; the subject-matter did not offend Viennese sensibilities of the time, but in the 19th and early 20th centuries was considered risqué, immoral.
The opera was performed, when it did appear it was presented in one of several bowdlerised versions. After World War II it regained a place in the standard operatic repertoire and is now performed. While the use of modern fach titles and voice categories for these roles has become customary, Mozart was far more general in his own descriptions of the voice types: Fiordiligi, Guglielmo, Ferrando and Don Alfonso; these modern voice types are varied in performance practice. Don Alfonso is performed by baritones such as Thomas Allen and Bo Skovhus and Dorabella is always performed by a mezzo-soprano. In the ensembles, Guglielmo's music lies lower than Alfonso's, accordingly has been performed by basses such as James Morris and Wladimiro Ganzarolli, Despina is performed by a mezzo, such as Cecilia Bartoli, Frederica von Stade, Agnes Baltsa and Ann Murray. Ferrando and Fiordiligi, can only be sung by a tenor and a soprano because of the high tessitura of their roles; the instrumentation is as follows: Woodwinds: 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons.
Fiordiligi's aria "Per pietà, ben mio, perdona", act 2, contains a rare instance of clarinets in B-natural. Score. In most modern editions this is made into a part for A clarinets; the NMA keeps the notation for the B clarinet. There is evidence that some of the clarinet writing was intended for basset clarinet due to its low range. Brass: 2 horns, 2 trumpets. Percussion: 2 timpani – an additional military drum is used on stage. Strings: first violins, second violins, violoncellos, double basses. Basso continuo in secco recitatives of harpsichord and violoncello. Mozart and Da Ponte use the theme of "fiancée swapping". Elements from Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew are present. Furthermore, it incorporates elements of the myth of Procris. Place: Naples Time: the 18th century Scene 1: A coffeehouse In a cafe and Guglielmo express certainty that their fiancées will be eternally faithful. Don Alfonso expresses skepticism and claims, he lays a wager with the two officers, claiming he can prove in a day's time that those two, like all women, are fickle.
The wager is accepted: the two officers will pretend to have been called off to war. The scene shifts to the two women. Alfonso arrives to announce the bad news: the officers have been called off to war. Ferrando and Guglielmo arrive and bid farewell; as the boat with the men sails off to sea and the sisters wish them safe travel. Alfonso, left alone, gloatingly predicts that the women
José Carreras
Josep Maria Carreras i Coll, better known as José Carreras, is a Spanish tenor, known for his performances in the operas of Verdi and Puccini. Born in Barcelona, he made his debut on the operatic stage at 11 as Trujamán in Manuel de Falla's El retablo de Maese Pedro and went on to a career that encompassed over 60 roles, performed in the world's leading opera houses and in numerous recordings, he gained fame with a wider audience as one of the Three Tenors along with Plácido Domingo and Luciano Pavarotti in a series of mass concerts that began in 1990 and continued until 2003. Carreras is known for his humanitarian work as the president of the José Carreras International Leukaemia Foundation, which he established following his own recovery from the disease in 1988. Carreras was born in a working class district in Barcelona, he was the youngest of Josep Carreras i Soler's three children. In 1951, his family emigrated to Argentina in an unsuccessful search for a better life. However, within a year they had returned to Sants where Carreras was to spend the rest of his childhood and teenage years.
He showed an early talent for music and singing, which intensified at the age of 6 when he saw Mario Lanza in The Great Caruso. The story recounted in his autobiography and numerous interviews is that after seeing the film, Carreras sang the arias incessantly to his family "La donna è mobile" locking himself in the family's bathroom when they became exasperated with his impromptu concerts. At that point, his parents, with the encouragement of his grandfather Salvador Coll, an amateur baritone, found the money for music lessons for him. At first he studied piano and voice with Magda Prunera, the mother of one of his childhood friends, at the age of 8, he started taking music lessons at Barcelona's Municipal Conservatory. At the age of 8, he gave his first public performance, singing "La donna è mobile" accompanied by Magda Prunera on the piano, on Spanish National Radio. A recording of this still exists and can be heard on the video biography, José Carreras – A Life Story. On 3 January 1958, at the age of 11, he made his debut in Barcelona's great opera house, the Gran Teatre del Liceu, singing the boy soprano role of Trujamán in Manuel de Falla's El retablo de Maese Pedro.
A few months he sang for the last time as a boy soprano at the Liceu in the second act of La Bohème. Throughout his teenage years, he continued to study music, moving on to the Conservatori Superior de Música del Liceu and taking private voice lessons, first with Francisco Puig and with Juan Ruax, whom Carreras has described as his "artistic father". Following the advice of his father and brother, who felt that he needed a'backup' career, he entered the University of Barcelona to study chemistry, but after two years he left the university to concentrate on singing. Juan Ruax encouraged Carreras to audition for what was to become his first tenor role at the Liceu, Flavio in Norma, which opened on 8 January 1970. Although only a minor role, the few phrases he sang caught the attention of the production's leading lady, the eminent soprano and fellow Catalan, Montserrat Caballé, she asked him to sing Gennaro with her in Donizetti's Lucrezia Borgia, which opened on 19 December 1970. It was his first principal adult role, the one which he considers to be his true debut as a tenor.
In 1971, he made his international debut in a concert performance of Maria Stuarda in London's Royal Festival Hall, again with Caballé singing the title role. Caballé was instrumental in promoting and encouraging his career for many years, appearing in over 15 different operas with him, while her brother and manager, Carlos Caballé, was Carreras's manager until the mid-1990s. During the 1970s Carreras's career progressed rapidly. In late 1971, he won first prize in Parma's prestigious Voci Verdiane competition which led to his Italian debut as Rodolfo in La bohème at the Teatro Regio di Parma on 12 January 1972; that year he made his American debut as Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly with the New York City Opera. Other major house debuts followed – the San Francisco Opera in 1973, as Rodolfo. By the age of 28, he had sung the tenor lead in 24 different operas in both Europe and North America, had an exclusive recording contract with Philips, which resulted in valuable recordings of several less performed Verdi operas, notably Il Corsaro, I due Foscari, La battaglia di Legnano, Un giorno di regno and Stiffelio.
Carreras's leading ladies during the 1970s and 1980s included some of the most famous sopranos and mezzo-sopranos of the day: Montserrat Caballé, Birgit Nilsson, Viorica Cortez, Renata Scotto, Ileana Cotrubaş, Sylvia Sass, Teresa Stratas, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, Frederica von Stade, Agnes Baltsa, Teresa Berganza, Katia Ricciarelli. His artistic partnership with Ricciarelli began when they both sang in the 1972 La bohème at Parma and lasted for 13 years, both in the recording studio and on stage, they made a studio recording of La bohème for Philips Classics and can be heard together on over 12 other commercial recordings of both operas and recitals, predominantly on the Philips and Deutsche Grammophon labels. Of the many conductors he worked with during this period, the one with whom Carreras had the closest artis
2018 FIFA World Cup opening ceremony
The 2018 FIFA World Cup opening ceremony took place on Thursday, 14 June 2018, at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, Russia at 3:30, about a half hour before the opening match which Russia won 5–0 over Saudi Arabia. Zabivaka was the official mascot for the 2018 FIFA World Cup and was voted for by a 53 % margin; the design is of a wolf who represents fun and charecter. Former world cup winning, Brazilian striker Ronaldo was another mascot of the tournament. Ronaldo was the intended man to deliver the ceremonial first kick of the tournament but instead he gave that honour to the child mascot who passed the official match ball to Zabivaka™ in order to start the tournament; the match ball was sent into space with the International Space Station crew in March and came back to Earth in early June. Russian President Vladimir Putin gave the opening speech of the tournament in which he talked about an "open and friendly" Russia hosting the tournament, he described Russia's love for football, calling the tournament and the game "a unity which cannot be affected by different language, ideology or faith".
Putin ended by saying: “Our duty is to preserve this power of humanity for generations to come for the sake of developing sports and strengthening peace and mutual understanding between people. I wish all an unforgettable experience for the fans. Welcome to Russia.” Putin's speech was imediatly followed by a short speech from FIFA President Gianni Infantino who said: “Welcome to the Fifa World Cup here in Russia. As of today, for one month, football will conquer Russia and from Russia, football will conquer the world. Enjoy the biggest celebration on earth. Thank you President Putin, thank you Moscow, Spasibo Russia.” Following the two speeches the performance of the ceremony were allowed to commence before the opening match between Russia and Saudi Arabia. British pop singer Robbie Williams took centre stage at the end of the ceremony with a rendition of "Let Me Entertain You" before Russian soprano Aida Garifullina was carried out on to the pitch on the back of a "firebird" float. Williams sang a section of "Feel" before he and Garifullina performed a duet of "Angels" as performers emerged, dressed in the flags of all 32 teams and carrying a sign bearing the name of each nation.
Williams sung "Rock DJ" in an encore as the pitch was being cleared for the first match. During the encore, Williams "gave the finger". Fox in the US apologised for the incident; the incident was not shown on ITV in the UK. In addition, Williams sung, "Pimpin' ain't easy. Most of them fleece me, but I did this for free." The original lyrics were. Most of them fleece me, every night." Williams appeared on This Morning on 19 June and explained what happened, “It was one minute to kick off, I was under a lot of pressure, because there was one minute left and I didn't know how I was going to do half a minute, so I just did a one-minute countdown.” Asked by presenter Phillip Schofield whether he regrets it, he said: "Yeah, of course, yeah. I cannot trust me. I don't know. There's no, sort of, plan; the plan sing in key, don't fall over. That was the plan and 99% of the plan, I pulled off.” When asked did the idea just enter his head he responded, “Nothing pops into my head. There's a block between me and sense... something happens and five minutes I'm like,'Did I?
Yeah, I did, didn't I?”. Williams changing his lyrics "every night" is still unexplained
