SOLTI Birth Centennial

The centennial of Hungarian conductor Georg Solti arrives on October 21st. 

Sir Georg Solti, KBE, /ˈdʒɔrdʒ ˈʃɒlti/ (21 October 1912 – 5 September 1997) was a Hungarian-British orchestral and operatic conductor and pianist, best known for his appearances with opera companies in Munich, Frankfurt and London, and as a long-serving music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Born in Hungary, he studied in Budapest with Béla Bartók, Leo Weiner and Ernő Dohnányi. In the 1930s, he was a répétiteur at the Hungarian State Opera and worked at the Salzburg Festival for Arturo Toscanini. His career was interrupted by the rise of the Nazis, and because he was a Jew 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, where he remained during the Second World War. Prohibited from conducting there, he earned a living as a pianist. More Wikipedia

Solti

Sir Georg Solti, KBE, ( /ˈdʒɔrdʒ ˈʃɒlti/; 21 October 1912 – 5 September 1997) was a Hungarian-British orchestral and operatic conductor. He was a major classical recording artist, holding the record for having received the most Grammy Awards, having personally won 31 as a conductor, including the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. In addition to his recordings he is probably best known for leading the Chicago Symphony Orchestra from 1969-91. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest conductors of the second half of the 20th century.

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ISAAC STERN birthday July 21

Isaac Stern (Ukrainian: Исаак Стерн, Russian: Айзек Стерн; 21 July 1920, Kremenets – 22 September 2001) was a Ukrainian-born violinist. He was renowned for his recordings and for discovering new musical talent.

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Alexander Slobodyanik

Mr. Slobodyanik was a Ukrainian-born pianist who earned stardom in the former Soviet Union with his virtuosity and emotional interpretations of Romantic composers...

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BEVERLY SILLS

(May 25, 1929 – July 2, 2007) Sills was an American operatic soprano whose peak career was between the 1950s and 1970s. In her prime she was the only real rival to Joan Sutherland as the leading bel canto stylist.
Although she sang a repertoire from Handel and Mozart to Puccini, Massenet, Wagner, and Verdi, she was known for her performances in coloratura soprano roles in live opera and recordings. Sills was largely associated with the operas of Donizetti, of which she performed and recorded many roles. Her signature roles include the title role in Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor, the title role in Massenet's Manon, Marie in Donizetti's La fille du régiment, the three heroines in Offenbach's Les contes d'Hoffmann, Rosina in Rossini's The Barber of Seville, and Violetta in Verdi's La traviata.
After retiring from singing in 1980, she became the general manager of the New York City Opera. In 1994, she became the Chairman of Lincoln Center and then, in 2002, of the Metropolitan Opera, stepping down in 2005. Sills lent her celebrity to further her charity work for the prevention and treatment of birth defects.

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LEOPOLD STOKOWSKI

Leopold Anthony Stokowski (April 18, 1882 – September 13, 1977) was a British-born, naturalised American orchestral conductor, well known for his free-hand performing style that spurned the traditional baton and for obtaining a characteristically sumptuous sound from many of the great orchestras he conducted.
In America, Stokowski performed with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the NBC Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, the Houston Symphony Orchestra, the Symphony of the Air and many others. He was also the founder of the All-American Youth Orchestra, the New York City Symphony, the Hollywood Bowl Symphony Orchestra and The American Symphony Orchestra. He conducted the music for and appeared in Disney's Fantasia along with being portrayed by Bugs Bunny in the 1949 Looney Tunes cartoon Long-Haired Hare. Stokowski, who made his official conducting debut in 1909, appeared in public for the last time in 1975 but continued making recordings until June 1977, a few months before his death at the age of 95.

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RAGNA SCHIRMER

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Born: 1972 - Hildesheim, Germany


The German pianist, Ragna Schirmer, studied from 1991 at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hannover in the class of Professor Karl-Heinz Kämmerling, and from 1993 with Professor Bernard Ringeissen in Paris. In 1995 she graduated with top marks, and in 1999 she completed her education with a solo concert exam. BIO |
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JOAN SUTHERLAND dead at 83

OBIT

Cesare Siepi - February 10, 1923 – July 5, 2010

Cesare Siepi

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The operatic bass fled Fascist Italy and later rose to fame both as a staple of the Metropolitan Opera and one of the most celebrated singers to play the title role in "Don Giovanni".
 He died in Atlanta at age 87 on July 5, 2010.

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Composer Elie Siegmeister

15 JANUARY 1909 Birth of American composer and pianist Elie SIEGMEISTER in NYC. d-Manhasset, NY 10 MAR 1991. His varied musical output showed his concern with the development of an authentic American musical vocabulary. Jazz, blues and folk melodies and rhythms are frequent themes in his many song cycles, his nine operas, his eight symphonies, and his many choral, chamber, and solo works. His 37 orchestral works have been performed by leading orchestras throughout the world.

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Eugen Suchoň

Eugen Suchoň was born on September 25, 1908 in Pezinok, Hungary (now Slovakia). His father, Ladislav Suchoň, was an organist and teacher. His mother, Serafĭna Suchoňovà, was a piano teacher, and it was from her that he received his first piano tuition. The house was always filled with music and, as a small child, he would listen from under the piano when his father rehearsed at home with other musicians. In 1920, at the age of twelve, he started taking piano lessons at the Bratislava School of Music with the distinguished musician Frico Kafenda. Later, from 1927–1931, he continued his studies with the same teacher at the newly established Academy of Music in Bratislava. His early works include several piano compositions and a choral work Vel’ky Pôst (The Great Fast). He graduated from his composition classes with the Sonata in A-flat for Violin and Piano and a String Quartet (op.2, 1931, revised 1939).

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