(b Utica,
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Elizabeth Forbes
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Laurie Shulman
(b Paris, Dec 29, 1814; d Marseilles, Jan 23, 1850). French bass-baritone . He began his career as a violinist, studying under Chrétien Urhan, but switched to singing in 1834, enrolling at the Paris Conservatoire. After earning first prize there in 1836, he made his début the following year as Saint-Bris (Les Huguenots). Alizard was associated with the Opéra, primarily in minor roles, until 1842 when he accepted a two-year appointment in Brussels. A throat problem, possibly induced by higher baritone roles, forced him to take leave from 1844 to 1846. Following a short recuperative sojourn in Italy, he enjoyed a brief second success in Paris from 1846 to 1848. A recurrence of his ailment necessitated his permanent retirement to the balmier climate of Marseilles, where he died. Contemporary critics described his voice as powerful and of a flattering timbre. His short and overly muscular stature, however, compromised his popularity with the public....
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(Louise )
(b Campbell,
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Roger Covell
(b Melbourne, June 8, 1927). Australian baritone . He began his career with Gertrude Johnson’s National Theatre Movement. He left Australia in 1954 for further study in Paris and worked at Covent Garden from 1956; in 1959 he moved to Germany, where he was based for the next decade, appearing in Frankfurt, Hamburg, Berlin and Munich, and becoming a principal baritone at Cologne until ...
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David Cummings
(b Budapest, March 5, 1903). Hungarian soprano . After study with Laura Hilgermann she sang in Budapest from 1923. In Munich, Berlin and Vienna her agile coloratura was admired in the roles of Gilda, Rosina and the Queen of Night. She had her greatest success in operetta, appearing in Millöcker’s ...
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J.B. Steane
(b Obra, Poland, April 7, 1880; d New York, Jan 31, 1975). Polish-American soprano . Born of a French mother and Norwegian father, she trained in Breslau as a contralto and sang first in public at short notice and from memory in the St Matthew Passion. Her operatic début followed in ...
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David Cummings
(b Hildesheim, Oct 12, 1906; d Vienna, Oct 25, 1978). German bass . He studied at the Berlin Musikhochschule and made his début at Hagen in 1929 as Rocco. After engagements in Dessau and Wiesbaden he sang Gurnemanz at the Vienna Staatsoper in 1935, remaining with the company until ...
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Elizabeth Forbes
(Theresa )
(b La Habra,
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Elizabeth Forbes
(b Rio de Janeiro, June 10, 1947). Brazilian tenor . He studied in Rio, Rome and Vienna, making his début in 1970 at Linz as Don José. He has appeared in Vienna, Munich, Oslo and Rio, as the Duke, Alfredo, Gabriele Adorno, Don Carlos, Don Alvaro, Faust, Werther and Lensky. At Wexford he sang Konrad in ...
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Elizabeth Forbes
[Gourron, Raymond ]
(b nr Bordeaux, Jan 16, 1861; d Nice, Feb 26, 1933). French tenor . He studied in Paris and made his début in 1886 at Ghent as Gounod’s Faust. From 1892 until 1906 he was engaged at the Opéra, where he created Nicias in Massenet’s Thaïs (1894) and roles in Holmès’ La montagne noire (1895), Duvernoy’s Hellé (1896), Bruneau’s Messidor (1897), Vidal’s La burgonde (1898), Leroux’s Astarte (1901), Erlanger’s Le fils de l’étoile (1904) and Guiraud’s Frédégonde (1905). At Covent Garden he sang Leicester in the first performance of De Lara’s Amy Robsart (1903) and created Araquil in Massenet’s La navarraise (1904). In Monte Carlo he sang Paris in the first performance of Saint-Saëns’s Hélène (1904). His large repertory included Romeo, Samson, Don José, Fernand (La favorite...
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Alan Blyth
(b Hartford,
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Elizabeth Forbes
(b 1780; d after 1833). Italian bass . He sang in Italy from about 1807, then appeared at the Théâtre Italien, Paris (1815). Engaged at the King’s Theatre, London, he made his début as Count Almaviva, then sang Don Giovanni (1817), Dr Bartolo in Il barbiere di Siviglia...
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David Cummings
(b Budapest, Dec 22, 1903; d Vienna, Sept 28, 1977). Hungarian mezzo-soprano . She studied with Mme Charles Cahier and Georges Anthes. After her début at the National Theatre, Budapest, she sang at the Vienna Staatsoper from 1921 (début as Carmen), appearing there regularly until 1961. At Salzburg she was heard from ...
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Elizabeth Forbes
(b Libiče nad Doubravkou, Oct 13, 1817; d Sedmihorsky, Dec 11, 1864). Bohemian tenor. After studying in Vienna, he made his début there in 1845 as Flotow’s Alessandro Stradella at the Hofoper, where he was engaged until his death. The first Viennese John of Leyden (Le prophète...
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David Cummings
(b Denver, 1938). American mezzo-soprano . She studied at the Eastman School, Rochester, and inCologne. After her stage début (Cologne, 1962, as Fyodor in Boris Godunov) she appeared widely in Germany, notably at Hamburg, Frankfurt, Mannheim and Düsseldorf. In 1968 she sang Ophelia in the Hamburg première of Searle’s ...
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Elizabeth Forbes
(b Västerås, July 13, 1909; d Jan 11, 1989). Swedish tenor. He studied in Stockholm, making his début there in 1938 as Fenton (Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor) at the Royal Opera where he was engaged until his retirement in 1963. At first he sang lyrical parts such as Tamino, Ferrando, Nicias (...
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Elizabeth Forbes
(b Lösen, Blekinge, March 30, 1941). Swedish soprano. She studied in Stockholm, joining the Royal Opera in 1964. She created roles in Blomdahl’s Herr von Hancken (1965), Gunnar Bucht’s Tronkrärna (1966) and Maurice Karkoff’s Gränskibbutzen (1975) and sang Lulu in the Swedish première of Berg’s opera (...
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Elizabeth Forbes
(b Pinnaroo, South Australia, July 30, 1953). Australian soprano . After appearing in Australia she joined Opera Factory Zürich, with whom she made her London début in 1980 as Galatea. With Opera Factory London (1982–92) she has sung Pretty Polly (Punch and Judy), Lucy (The Beggar’s Opera), Denise (The Knot Garden), Juno and Callisto, Gluck’s Iphigenia, Fiordiligi, Donna Anna, Countess Almaviva and Poppaea, and took part in the première of Osborne’s Hell’s Angels (1986). For ENO she sang Monteverdi’s Eurydice and Hope (1983) and Queen Tye (Akhnaten), which she had already sung at Houston and for New York City Opera (1984), and created Oracle of the Dead/Hecate in The Mask of Orpheus (1986). She sang the Queen of Night for WNO (1986), Musetta for Opera North (1988) and Jo Ann in Tippett’s ...
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George Leotsakos
[Yiannis, Giannis]
(b Athens, Jan 21, 1881; d Piraeus, Dec 5, 1943). Greek baritone. He studied at the Lottner Conservatory in Athens and later with the soprano Nina Phoka. He made his début with the Elliniko Melodrama, probably in 1906, and it was on tour with this company (reportedly in 1910) that he first sang Rigoletto, which was to become his greatest role. After further study in Milan on a scholarship in 1920, he repeated the role in 1922 at the Teatro Massimo, Palermo, opposite Toti dal Monte’s Gilda. He was engaged at the Teatro Carcano, Milan, for the 1923–4 season and then appeared with an Italian opera group in Egypt before returning to Greece in 1924, where he continued to sing with the Elliniko Melodrama for the next 15 years. His roles included Enrico Ashton, Gounod’s Valentin, Ernani, Scarpia, Rossini’s Figaro, Amonasro, Escamillo, Marcello, Luna, and King Alfonso. He also created roles in some of the most important new works of the Greek repertory, among them Th. Sakellaridis’s ...
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David Cummings
(b Budapest, Nov 6, 1903; d London, Jan 31, 1978). Hungarian soprano . She studied at the Budapest Academy and made her début in Vienna in 1926 as Leonora (La forza del destino). She remained in Vienna until 1938, achieving success in roles as diverse as Pamina, Tosca, Elsa, Eva, Octavian, Marguerite and Aithra in ...