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  • La Fenice

    This clip of the Orchestra & Chorus at La Fenice in Venice gives you a good look at the stunning interior of the theatre. A visit should be on every opera lover's "bucket list"! · Built in 1792 to replace the Teatro San Benedetto which destroyed by fire in 1774, La Fenice means "the phoenix" in Italian  · The venue burned down again in 1836, but was quickly rebuilt by Tommaso and Giovanni Battista Meduna to open its doors on the evening of 26 December

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  • Music in the time of Coronavirus

    In these difficult and worrying days, its heartening to know that people are still making music. Thank heavens for Smartphones! Made with videos made at home with smartphones, 75 members of Salerno's Pop Choir and Junior Pop Choir, including 22 sopranos, 24 contralto, 15 tenors and 14 basses sing the Hymn of Mameli a capella. The choir Il Coro is directed by Maestro Ciro Caravano, known to the public as one of the singers and arranger of the vocal group "Neri per Caso".

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  • Marvellous Madrid

    SJH - London

    Hi Andrew,    This is just a quick note to thank you for another brilliant holiday.  The last minute addition of a third person to the party and a change in the booking names was handled with aplomb and lack of fuss. We went to Spain to support GB in the Davis Cup (tennis) and had hoped to squeeze in an opera but the dates for the opera weren’t suitable so your recommendation of Corral de Lo Moreira (Tablao Flamenco and Restaurant) was an inspiration. All three of our party

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See more Featured Composers

Featured Composer

Giuseppe Verdi [1813-1901]

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.

  • La Scala Milan
  • Stats Opera
  • Metropolitan Opera New York
  • Vienna State Opera
  • Paris National Opera
  • Deutche Opera Berlin
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