Biography of Luciano Pavarotti

One of the most successful and admired opera singers of all time, Luciano Pavarotti was king among tenors from the late 1960s through the 1990s. His voice was noted for its exciting upper register, and tailor-made for the operas of Verdi, Bellini, Donizetti, and Puccini, and as it darkened slightly over the years, for the verismo composers as well. His vocal longevity, which kept him singing youthfully well into his sixties, and still beautifully after that, was a credit to his commanding technique and artistry, and remarkable considering his nearly 40 years of performing.Pavarotti's father was a baker, and his mother worked in a cigar factory. As a boy, he sang alto in the cathedral choir, and when his voice changed he joined the Modena city choir. He had brief careers as a schoolteacher and an insurance agent; during that time, his major extracurricular activity was not music but soccer, and his play made him a local star. However, increased involvement in the choir (which took prizes in international competitions) led him to pursue vocal studies, and he eventually settled on singing as his aspiration.Pavarotti studied voice with Arrigo Polo in Modena, then with Ettore Campogalliani in Mantua. His operatic debut was as Rodolfo in La Bohème in Reggio Emilia (April 19, 1961), and soon increasing success led to a debut in Amsterdam on January 18, 1963, as Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor. After singing the same role with Joan Sutherland in Miami in 1965, he was engaged to travel with her in the Sutherland Williamson International Grand Opera Company, touring Australia. In 1966 he appeared at Covent Garden as Tonio in La fille du régiment, where his seemingly effortless handling of the nine successive high Cs in the aria "Pour mon âme" sent his career into high orbit. He repeated the feat at the Metropolitan Opera in 1972, and for more than two decades after that he was a fixture on the operatic scene, appearing in nearly every major European and American house, and even China, where he performed Puccini's La bohème in the 1980s.Pavarotti appeared in the first "Live from the Met" broadcast on the PBS network and was the most consistent draw on that series for years. His outstanding catalogue of recordings on the London (Decca) record label preserves nearly every role he ever performed and is hard to match for its quality and scope. His charity work included AIDS benefit concerts and world hunger gala events, as well as his "Pavarotti and Friends" concerts to benefit children, especially in the former Yugoslav states. He also founded a quadrennial contest to identify talented young singers and boost their careers. And, as one of the "Three Tenors," he brought operatic singing to a wider popular audience than previously might have been thought possible. In 2003 he released his first solo crossover CD, Ti adoro. He was diagnosed with cancer in 2006, yet remained positive and hopeful of still being able to record and perform until his death.

Biography of Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

The last orchestra nurtured by famed conductor Thomas Beecham, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra is one of five world-class orchestras based in London, a city where concert life in its modern form has roots three centuries deep. In 1813, a group of professional musicians founded the Philharmonic Society to organize regular concerts of orchestral music, and a century later. this Society was granted a royal charter by King George V, making it the Royal Philharmonic Society (RPS). Nevertheless, it took the independently wealthy Beecham to keep the group from collapsing during World War I.In 1926, Beecham planned to form a permanent Royal Philharmonic Orchestra to serve the BBC and the RPS, but the BBC instead started its own BBC Symphony Orchestra. In 1932, Beecham founded the London Philharmonic Orchestra, financially backed by recording contracts and a contract to serve as the RPS's concert orchestra. Beecham left to take a position with the Seattle Symphony Orchestra when World War II broke out, and the LPO transformed itself into a self-governing organization.Beecham returned to Britain in 1944 and formed a new orchestra, giving its first concert at the Davis Theatre in Croydon on September 15, 1946, just three weeks after Beecham started hiring musicians. Again, he placed the new orchestra under the RPS rubric, enabling it to take the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra name. In 1948, the RPO became the resident orchestra of the summer Glyndebourne Festival Opera, and in 1950 it became the first British orchestra to tour the United States since before World War I. Feeling his advancing age, Beecham engaged Rudolf Kempe as assistant conductor. When Beecham died in 1961, Kempe became principal conductor.The orchestra's financial situation immediately worsened. Glyndebourne and the RPS itself declined to renew their contracts, and the RPO was excluded from the London Orchestral Concert Board's schedule of concerts in the new halls on the South Bank. The orchestra re-formed as a self-governing organization, but had to give its concerts in a movie house on the north side of London. Kempe received the titles of Artistic Director in 1964, and Conductor for Life in 1970.Things took a turn for the better in 1966 when Queen Elizabeth II granted the orchestra its own Royal Charter, enabling it to continue calling itself the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. After a difficult period following the death of Kempe, the orchestra appointed Antal Dorati, noted for building orchestral discipline and morale, as Conductor-in-Chief (1975-1978). He has been followed by Walter Weller (1980-1985), André Previn (Conductor-in Chief, 1985-1987, and Principal Conductor, 1987-1992), and Vladimir Ashkenazy (Music Director, 1987-1994). Yuri Temirkanov became Principal Conductor in 1992 and remains as Emeritus Principal Conductor. Daniele Gatti, a young and exciting Italian conductor, became Music Director in 1996.The orchestra is now firmly back in the center of London concert life. It plays its main series at the Royal Albert Hall with a few concerts also given at the Barbican Centre in the City of London. In addition, in an innovative move, it also established itself as the resident orchestra of the Royal Concert Hall in Nottingham, where it gives a series of ten concert programs a year.The RPO has a 125-release contract with Tring International, the largest contract in history between one orchestra and a record company. It has a close association with Classic FM, the largest commercial radio company in Britain. It has formed two sub-ensembles. The Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra is essentially the RPO's "Pops" (or as the British say, "light classical") orchestra. Sharp Edge, a flexible ensemble of 10 to 30 musicians, plays innovative concerts of the newest music.