MUSIClassical ALLEGRO
Topic: MILESTONESJun-Dec07
Canadian tenor Gary Rideout, an opera singer who performed on stages around the world, has died. The New Brunswick-born singer died 29 SEP 2007, after a brief, unexpected illness. He was 55. Rideout, was one of the finest operatic singing actors, won praise not only for the power, beauty and clarity of his voice, but for his incredible interpretive ability. In 2000-2001, Mr. Rideoout made his Metropolitan Opera debut in Bussoni's Doktor Faust, followed by Lulu and The Gambler. The following season, he returned to the Met to sing the Prince, Marquis and Manservant in Lulu, with James Levine conducting (radio broadcast) and to sing in War and Peace. Gary's exemplary work in the two Prokofiev operas led to his being invited by Valery Gergiev to sing Siegfried for the Kirov Opera. Mr. Rideout sang both the premiere of Siegfried and of Gotterdamerung at the Mariinsky Theatre with Maestro Gergiev conducting, during the 2002-2003 season, an experience that Gary claims was both life changing and affirming. That same year, Gary sang the world premiere of Deborah Drattel's opera Nicholas and Alexandra with Los Angeles Opera, Rostropovich conducting; Der Liebe der Danae at the Concergebouw, Edo de Waart conducting; Die Fledermaus with Utah Opera and the role of The Tempter/Abbott at the Benjamin Britten Festival in Ontario, Canada. 
1955 Birth of Chinese-American cellist Yo-Yo MA in Paris, France. 
Like Beethoven’s Ninth, it began as a soft hum. A buzz, almost. Then, crescendo! Now it’s loud, the local flap over the national media blitz surrounding Marin Alsop’s appointment as music director of the Baltimore Symphony. A big story Monday in the New York Times trumpeted that Alsop was “the first woman to lead a major American orchestra.” What about JoAnn Falletta? Buffalonians want answers. In 1998, Falletta made news when she was named music director of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra. At the time, the Associated Press said she was the first woman to take the helm of a world-class orchestra. 
1927 Birth of Austrian pianist Paul BADURA-SKODA in Vienna. 
In 1956 the fledgling Lyric Opera of Chicago hired Bruno Bartoletti, a young Italian conductor making a name for himself in his native Florence. Bartoletti's October 15th departure comes amid the stir caused by Lyric's firing of temperamental soprano for missing rehearsals. 
Composer Philip Glass is an ambitious man who at age 70 is debuting an opera about the Civil War, the bloodiest conflict in U.S. history, whose legacy still haunts the country more than 140 years later. Glass, whose inspirations for more than 20 operas have ranged from a vision of Albert Einstein strolling on the beach to Gandhi preaching nonviolence, says the new opera, "Appomattox," is different from his other works. 
Despite the firing of Romanian soprano Angela Gheorghiu a scant four days before opening night, not only did the show go on Monday at Lyric Opera of Chicago, the company's production of Puccini's "La boheme" actually managed to go on as if nothing had happened. As if the internationally acclaimed Gheorghiu had not skipped out on six of 10 rehearsals and jetted off to New York to be with her husband, tenor Roberto Alagna, who is singing Romeo in Gounod's "Romeo et Juliette'' at the Metropolitan Opera. As if her understudy, Cuban-American soprano Elaine Alvarez, [photo], who blossomed into a luminous performance on Monday, had been Lyric's choice for Puccini's doomed Mimi all along. 
Romanian baritone David Ohanesian, 80, passed away on Sunday night, 30 SEP 2007. Ohanesian has sung on the most famous world stages, accompanying celebrities like Luciano Pavarotti, Montserrat Caballe, Placido Domingo, Leontyne Price or Brigitte Nilsson. According to NewsIn, Ohanesian took part in more than 2000 opera shows and played about 40 roles, among which the memorable Oedipus of George Enescu, Romania’s most famous composer. Ohanesian was present on most of the stages in the world like Paris, Athens, Berlin, Sofia, Stockholm, Moscow or Lausanne. 