Michael Laurence Nyman, CBE is an English composer of minimalist music, pianist and musicologist, known for numerous film scores, his multi-platinum soundtrack album to Jane Campion's The Piano. He has written a number including The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, he has written six concerti, five string quartets, many other chamber works, many for his Michael Nyman Band. He is a performing pianist. Nyman prefers to write opera rather than other forms of music. Nyman was born in London to a family of Polish secular Jewish furriers. Nyman was educated at Walthamstow, he studied at King's College London and at the Royal Academy of Music, with Alan Bush and Thurston Dart, focusing on piano and seventeenth-century baroque music. He won the Howard Carr Memorial Prize for composition in July 1964. In 1965–66 Nyman secured a residency in Romania, to study folk-song, supported by a British Council bursary. Nyman says he discovered his aesthetic playing the aria, "Madamina, il catalogo è questo" from Mozart's Don Giovanni on his piano in the style of Jerry Lee Lewis, which "dictated the dynamic and texture of everything I've subsequently done."

It subsequently became the base for his 1977 piece In Re Don Giovanni. In 1969, Nyman provided the libretto of Harrison Birtwistle's opera Down by the Greenwood Side and directed the short film Love Love Love before settling into music criticism, where he is acknowledged to have been the first to apply the term "minimalism" to music, he wrote introductions for George Frideric Handel's Concerti Grossi, Op. 6 and interviewed George Brecht in 1976. One of his earliest film scores was the British sex comedy Keep It Up Downstairs, he has since scored numerous films, many of them European art films, including several of those directed by Peter Greenaway. Nyman drew on early music sources in his scores for Greenaway's films: Henry Purcell in The Draughtsman's Contract and The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover, Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber in A Zed & Two Noughts, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in Drowning by Numbers, John Dowland in Prospero's Books at the request of the director, he wrote settings to various texts by Mozart for Letters and Writs, part of Not Mozart.

He produced a soundtrack for the silent film Man with a Movie Camera. Nyman's popularity increased after he wrote the score to Jane Campion's award-winning 1993 film The Piano; the album became a classical music best-seller. He was nominated for both a Golden Globe, his few forays into Hollywood have been Gattaca and The End of the Affair. Among Nyman's other works are the opera Noises, Sounds & Sweet Airs, for soprano, alto and instrumental ensemble. In 2000, he produced a new opera on the subject of cloning on a libretto by Victoria Hardie titled Facing Goya, an expansion of their one-act opera Vital Statistics; the lead, a widowed art banker, is written for contralto and the role was first created by Hilary Summers. His newest operas are Boy: Dada and Love Counts, both on libretti by Michael Hastings, he has composed the music for the children's television series Titch, based on the books written and illustrated by Pat Hutchins. Many of Nyman's works are written for his own ensemble, the Michael Nyman Band, a group formed for a 1976 production of Carlo Goldoni's Il Campiello.

Made up of old instruments such as rebecs and shawms alongside more modern instruments like the saxophone to produce as loud a sound as possible without amplification, it switched to a amplified line-up of string quartet, three saxophones, horn, bass trombone, bass guitar and piano. This line up has been variously augmented for some works. Nyman published an influential book in 1974 on experimental music called Experimental Music: Cage and Beyond, which explored the influence of John Cage on classical composers. In the 1970s, Nyman was a member of the Portsmouth Sinfonia – the self-described World's Worst Orchestra – playing on their recordings and in their concerts, he was the featured pianist on the orchestra's recording of Bridge Over Troubled Water on the Martin Lewis-produced 20 Classic Rock Classics album on which the Sinfonia gave their unique interpretations of the pop and rock repertoire of the 1950s–1970s. Nyman created a similar group called Foster's Social Orchestra, which specialised in the work of Stephen Foster.

One of their pieces appeared in the film Ravenous and an additional work, not used in the film, appeared on the soundtrack album. He has recorded pop music with the Flying Lizards. On 7 July 2007, Nyman perfor

The Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada is the largest multi-professional labour union in Canada, representing some 60,000 public service professionals employed at the federal and some provincial and territorial levels of government. It was founded in 1920; the Institute was founded to protect the interests of professional public employees and became a bargaining agent following the implementation of the Public Service Staff Relations Act in 1967. The Institute is the bargaining agent for more than 41 knowledge-based groups and negotiates with 27 different employers in six different jurisdictions; the Institute serves its members with 140 full-time staff in its national office in Ottawa, regional offices in Halifax, Montréal, Winnipeg and Vancouver. PIPSC on Facebook PIPSC on Twitter

Pope Stephen III was Bishop of Rome and ruler of the Papal States from 7 August 768 to his death in 772. Stephen was a Benedictine monk. In the midst of a tumultuous contest by rival factions to name a successor to Pope Paul I, Stephen was elected with the support of the Roman officials, he summoned the Lateran Council of 769, which sought to limit the influence of the nobles in papal elections. The Council opposed iconoclasm. A Greek born in Sicily, Stephen III was the son of a man named Olivus. Coming to Rome during the pontificate of Pope Gregory III, he was placed in the monastery of St. Chrysogonus, where he became a Benedictine monk. During the pontificate of Pope Zachary, he was ordained a priest, after which the pope decided to keep him to work at the Lateran Palace. Stephen rose to high office in the service of successive popes, was at the bedside of the dying Pope Paul I as powerful factions began manoeuvring to ensure the election of their own candidate in late June 767; the next year was consumed by the rival claims of antipopes Constantine II and Philip, who were forced out of office by the efforts of Christophorus, the Primicerius of the notaries, his son Sergius, the Treasurer of the Roman church.

With the capture of Constantine II, Christophorus set about organising a canonical election, on 1 August he summoned not only the Roman clergy and army, but the people to assemble before the Church of St. Adrian in the area of the old Comitium. Here the combined assembly elected Stephen as pope, they proceeded to the Church of Santa Cecilia in Trastevere, where they acclaimed Stephen as pope-elect, escorted him to the Lateran Palace. At this point, supporters of the pope-elect Stephen began brutally to attack key members of Constantine’s regime, including Constantine himself, hounded through the streets of Rome, with heavy weights attached to his feet. Bishop Theodore, Constantine’s Vice-dominus, was blinded and had his tongue cut out, while Constantine’s brother, was blinded. After Constantine was dethroned on 6 August, Stephen was consecrated pope on the following day, 7 August 768. Retributions continued after the consecration of Stephen. On the orders of the papal Chartularius, Constantine was removed from his monastic cell and left on the streets of Rome with specific instructions that no-one should aid him.

On a charge of conspiring to kill Christophorus and many other nobles, with the intent of handing over the city to the Lombards, the priest Waldipert, the prime mover in the elevation of the Antipope Philip, was arrested and soon died of his wounds. The role of Stephen III in these events is somewhat obscure. According to the historian Horace Mann, Stephen was an impotent observer, that the responsible agent was in reality the Chartularius, Gratiosus. However, according to Louis Marie DeCormenin, Stephen was the key person responsible for issuing the orders, took great delight in destroying his rival and his supporters. A middle position was taken by the historian Ferdinand Gregorovius, who observed that Stephen, while he may not have instigated or ordered the atrocities, did not seek to prevent them either, either through self-interest or the weakness of his position. What is clear, however, is that the recent creation of the Papal States had seen the traditional rivalries of the ruling families of Rome transformed into a murderous desire to control this new temporal power in Italy, dragging the papacy with it.

With Constantine’s supporters dealt with, Stephen wrote to the Frankish king, Pepin the Short, notifying him of his election, asking for a number of bishops to participate in a council he was seeking to hold to discuss the recent confusion. As Pepin had died, it was Charlemagne and Carloman I who agreed to send twelve bishops to participate in the Lateran Council of 769; the council saw the final condemnation of Constantine II, beaten and had his tongue removed before being returned to his monastic cell. All clerical appointments made by Constantine were declared void, it set about establishing strict rules for papal elections, thereby restricting the involvement of the nobility in subsequent elections. The rulings of the Council of Hieria were rejected, the practice of devotion to icons was confirmed. In 770, Stephen was asked to confirm the election of a layperson, as Archbishop of Ravenna. In fact, Michael, in league with the Lombard king Desiderius, the Duke of Rimini had imprisoned Leo, elected first.

Stephen refused to confirm Michael’s election. Michael refused, the stand-off continued for over a year, until the arrival of the Frankish ambassador in Ravenna along with the Papal legates encouraged Michael’s opponents to overthrow him, send him to Rome in chains. Leo followed soon after. Throughout his pontificate, Stephen was apprehensive about the expansionist plans of the Lombards. Placing his hope in the Franks, he attempted to mediate in the quarrels between Charlemagne and Carloman, which were only helping the Lombards' cause in Italy. In 769, he helped them reconcile, pressured them to support the still infant Papal States, by reminding them of the support that their father had given the Pa

The 2011 PartyPoker.com World Grand Prix was the fourteenth staging of the World Grand Prix. It was played from 3 -- 9 October 2011 at the Citywest Hotel in Republic of Ireland. James Wade was the defending champion, however, he lost in the semi-finals to Brendan Dolan who had the unique achievement of becoming the first player to achieve a televised nine-dart finish during a leg in which the players had to start on a double. However, he lost the final to Phil Taylor; the total prize fund was £350,000. This was the same for the third World Grand Prix tournament; the following was the breakdown of the fund: The field of 32 players were made up from the top 16 in the PDC Order of Merit on September 19, two weeks after the two Players Championships in Derby. The top 8 from these rankings were the seeded players; the remaining 16 places went to the top 14 non-qualified players from the Players Championship Order of Merit and to the top 2 non-qualified residents of the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland from the 2011 Players Championship Order of Merit who competed in at least six Players Championship events.

The tournament was screened by Sky Sports in high definition. PartyPoker.com sponsored the event for the first time. 2011 World grand Prix Netzone

Gerard Starkie is an English musician and former lead singer of Witness. After Witness split up in 2004, Gerard went on to record his debut album Drawbridge with former Witness band members, releasing it as a free download on his official MySpace site. Gerard released his second album Potions in July 2011 on UK indie label Lupine Records. Gerard has had several of his songs picked up for use on film around the world. "Here's One For You" featured on the soundtrack to American Pie 2, whilst Closing Up featured on Cougar Town in 2009. Witness were a British alternative rock band formed in Wigan, Greater Manchester in 1997; the band released two albums via Island Records between 1999 and 2001, before splitting up in 2004. Despite their brief time together, Witness received widespread critical acclaim, their debut album Before The Calm gained a 9/10 review in the NME. Their second album, Under A Sun was a departure to the stripped back sound of their debut, but again received critical acclaim across the media.

The well-respected Americana UK website went on to crown the LP their'Album of the Year' for 2001: Uncut magazine meanwhile gave it a 5 star review. Official Gerard Starkie website Official Witness website Gerard Starkie on IMDb

Morten Harry Olsen is a Norwegian author. Olsen made his literary debut in 1985 with the short story collection For alt hva vi er verdt, which won Tarjei Vesaas' debutantpris. Many of his books have been hits with critics. Olsen studied criminology at the University of Oslo and philosophy at the University of Tromsø, he has worked as a travel agent, taxi driver, night porter, translator, office worker, literary critic, education consultant, teacher. He was head of Norsk Forfattersentrum, head of arrangements for the Brage Prize and deputy head of the Norwegian Authors' Union. From 1988 to 1991 he was a member of the Norwegian Authors' Union's Literary Caucus. From 1992-1996 he was editor of Bokklubben krim og spenning. For alt hva vi er verdt – short stories Ganske enkelt sand – novel En dans til – short stories Tråder – essays Mississippi – novel Syndenes forlatelse – crime novel Mannen som hatet duer – play Begjærets pris – crime novel Tilfeldig utvalg – crime novel Naken for leseren, naken for Gud: et essay om romanen – literary criticism Mord og galskap – novel Mississippi.

Neo – novel Størst av alt – novel"Adrian Marconis Great Sorrow" (2010 "Skrivehåndverket - A practical Guide for Beginners" Tarjei Vesaas' debutantpris 1985, for For alt hva vi er verdt Riverton Prize 1993, for Begjærets pris Havmannprisen 2004, for Størst av alt Morten Harry Olsen's homepage Kreativ Prosa v/Morten Harry Olsen Morten Harry Olsen at NRK Forfatter Morten Harry Olsen at Dagbladet Forfatter Morten Harry Olsen at Aftenposten Alex