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There is no significant change to the travel situation around travelling abroad. The Government in the form of the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office [FCDO] is still advising people to avoid all but essential travel to many countries on the basis of Covid-19 risks. There is, of course, much hope and speculation about steps which may be taken about reduced quarantining, Covid-19 tests at airports [costing about £100.00 per person]. But at present there is nothing concret
More >On the 22nd of June the 'Concert for the Biocene' was broadcast by streaming, in which the UceLi Quartet performed Puccini's 'Crisantemi' from Barcelona's Teatro de Liceu...for an audience of 2,292 plants. What seems like a slightly bizarre idea to begin with, is actually very beautiful. The music and imagery reminding us of the early days of the lockdown, as the natural world flowed into the places deserted by humans. The plants were subsequently delivered to 2,292 health professionals, speci
More >Although we cannot visit the Wexford Festival in person this October, the spirit which enabled a small provincial town to create a world-renowned opera festival will prevail. Under the guidance of Wexford Festival Opera’s Artistic Director, ROSETTA CUCCHI, for this year only, Wexford Festival Opera will present to a reimagined, online-streamed Festiva. ‘Waiting for Shakespeare …The Festival in the air’ will run for eight consecutive days, from Sunday, 11 October until
More >A giant in the world of opera, one of a tiny group of composers who set the supreme standard by which the art of opera is judged. Just consider. Of his 28 operas about a dozen form the backbone of the standard operatic repertoire.
Born in a village in the rural depths of what is now the province of Parma, Verdi received his earliest musical education from church organists in Roncole & Busseto.
He married in 1938, aged 25, and moved to Milan where, in 1839, he completed his first opera, Oberto.
Early personal tragedies followed: his first child, daughter Virginia died in infancy, their second child also. His wife Margherita died in 1840 aged 26.
Devastated and dispirited by these personal losses Verdi found solace in his work and through the 1840s and the 1850s,'60s and '70s he composed Nabucco, Rigoletto, Il trovatore, La traviata, Don Carlos, and Aida, amongst others.
Of course, more great works followed right through until old age [Messsa da Requiem, Otello, Falstaff].
Verdi died on 27 Janaury 1901 in Milano.
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