Samuel Ramey
Also Known As: not available
Biography: From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Samuel Edward Ramey (born March 28, 1942) is an American operatic bass. At the height of his career he was greatly admired for his range and versatility, having possessed a sufficiently accomplished bel canto technique to enable him to sing the music of Handel, Mozart and Rossini, yet with power enough to handle the more overtly dramatic roles in Verdi and Puccini.
Department: Acting
Place of Birth: Colby, Kansas, USA
Birthday: March 28, 1942
Adult: No
Gender: Male
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Stravinsky: The Rake’s Progress
Overview: The Rake's Progress is an English-language opera from 1951 in three acts and an epilogue by Igor Stravinsky. The libretto, written by W. H. Auden and Chester Kallman, is based loosely on the eight paintings and engravings A Rake's Progress (1733–1735) of William Hogarth, which Stravinsky had seen on 2 May 1947, in a Chicago exhibition. Filmed in Aix-en-Provence, 1992.
Genres: Music
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1992-01-01
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New York City Opera: The Barber of Seville
Overview: Performed at the Lincoln Center. Conducted by Sarah Caldwell. The staging and costuming explicitly telegraphed the characters. For example, Rosina (Beverly Sills) has a gown with feathers and her room resembles a birdcage complete with a swing, telegraphing her as being confined like a bird.. Figaro (Alan Titus) looks like a barber pole, while the notary (Michael Rubino) has an inkwell on his hat. Dr. Bartolo (Donald Gramm) wears two pillars that are cracked after his plans to marry Rosina are thwarted. Tenor Henry Price as Almaviva sports books in his disguise as a student.
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1976-11-03
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On the Town
Overview: A concert performance of Leonard Bernstein's "On the Town" performed at the Barbican Centre in London in 1993, conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas and hosted by Betty Comden and Adolph Green
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1993-12-22
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Puccini: Turandot
Overview: Franco Zeffirelli's magnificient staging of Puccini's final opera - a fairy tale set in a mythical China - is one of the most popular in the Met repertory. In this Live in HD production, Maria Guleghina takes on the title role and Marcello Giordani is Calaf, the unknown prince. Marina Poplavskaya and Samuel Ramey co-star, and Andris Nelsons conducts in his Met debut.
Genres: Music
Original Language: it
Release Date: 2009-11-07
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Faust
Overview: 1995 recorded performance of Charles Gounod's Faust at the Grand Théâtre de Genève, with conductor John Nelson.
Genres: Music
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1995-01-01
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Nabucco
Overview: Nabucco - live from Metropolitan Opera, June 2002. On its surface, Nabucco is about the epic struggle of Zaccaria and the Jews suppressed by Babylon’s King Nebuchadnezzar and his vengeful daughter, Abigaille. But to Italians fighting for their freedom from Austria, Verdi’s first great opera was an inspiring call to arms.
Genres: Drama Music
Original Language: it
Release Date: 2001-04-26
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Don Giovanni
Overview: Every woman wants him, every man wants to be him: Mozart’s version of the irresistible rogue who brings excitement with him and leaves destruction it his wake has always attracted top singing actors, as in this performance brilliantly led by James Levine. Samuel Ramey is Don Giovanni, pursued by the incandescent Karita Mattila (Donna Elvira) in her Met debut season and role, and by the white-hot avenging fury of Carol Vaness (Donna Anna.) Ferruccio Furlanetto delivers a masterful comic turn as the Don’s servant, Leporello.
Genres: Music Drama
Original Language: it
Release Date: 1990-04-05
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Semiramide
Overview: In ancient Babylon, SEMIRAMIDE (Anderson) encourages her lover Assur (Ramey) to murder her husband, King Ninus. Her son, Ninius, disappears, believed dead, and Semiramide rules in her own right. 15 years later, as the opera opens, she is about to announce the name of her successor. Idreno (Olsen) and Assur are the leading candidates for the throne and the hand of Princess Azema (Shin), but Semiramide has taken a fancy to young Arsace (Horne), her victorious military leader who has been summoned back to Babylon. Only the high priest Oroe (Cheek) knows that Arsace is actually Ninius, spirited away to safety after the coup. As the queen announces Arsace as her successor, the ghost of her husband appears from his tomb, demanding that Arsace punish the late king’s murderers... Filmed at New York's Metropolitan Opera, John Copley's production of Rossini's last, longest and most elaborate dramatic opera brings together what many consider the definitive contemporary cast.
Genres: Drama Music
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1990-12-22
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Mefistofele
Overview: 1989 recording of the San Francisco Opera production of Mefistofele: Boito's retelling of Goethe's Faust
Genres: Music
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1989-01-01
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Les contes d'Hoffmann - Teatro alla Scalla
Overview: Jacques Offenbach's opera Les contes d'Hoffmann (The Tales of Hoffman) shown in the Teatro alla Scalla
Genres: Music
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1996-11-17
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Il viaggio a Reims
Overview: The historic 1984 revival performance of Il viaggio a Reims was the first time in over 150 years the opera was performed. Set in a luxurious hotel in Plombières-les-Bains, the opera follows a diverse group of aristocratic characters as they gather to celebrate the coronation of King Charles X of France. Amidst the festivities, wacky antics ensue, romantic entanglements unfold, and the characters face various comedic and dramatic challenges, showcasing Rossini's masterful blend of music, comedy, and drama.
Genres: Music
Original Language: it
Release Date: 1984-01-01
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Macbeth
Overview: This production of Giuseppi Verdi's opera based on Macbeth, the famed play by William Shakespeare, is a musical succès d'estime but falls short in the cinematic arena. Shirley Verrett stars as the murderous and ambitious Lady Macbeth, Leo Nucci co-stars as her similarly ambitious but slightly more scrupulous husband, who has the good grace to feel some horror at his deeds before he does them. The entire opera was filmed inside a Belgian castle, and some of the smaller parts are obviously lip-synched to pre-recorded music.
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: it
Release Date: 1987-04-17
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Don Giovanni
Overview: Live performance from Salzburger Festspiele in 1987. Herbert von Karajan conducting the Wiener Philharmoniker and Wiener Staatsopernchor. Stage director Michael Hampe. Starring Samuel Ramey and Anna Tomowa-Sintow.
Genres: Music
Original Language: it
Release Date: 1987-07-18
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Don Carlo
Overview: This opera was filmed live at La Scala in 1992. The all-star cast includes Luciano Pavarotti, Samuel Ramey, aolo Coni, Daniela Dessi, Luciana d'Intio, and Alexander Anismov. Riccardo Muti conducts.
Genres: Music
Original Language: it
Release Date: 1992-12-01
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Carmen
Overview: This all-star cast is framed by Peter Hall’s gritty, realistic production and conducted by James Levine, who brings out all the surging emotion and gripping drama in Bizet’s score. At the center of the story is Agnes Baltsa, whose smoky mezzo is tailor-made for the gypsy Carmen, an independent woman who glories in obeying only her own rules, but who is haunted by fate. Superstar tenor José Carreras is Don José, the solider from a small town who catches Carmen’s eye and is destroyed by his growing obsession with her. Samuel Ramey is the charismatic matador Escamillo, who lures Carmen away from Don José with tragic result. Leona Mitchell is Micaëla, the simple girl from Don José’s hometown who cannot save him. March 21, 1987 Matinee Broadcast.
Genres: Music
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1988-12-12
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Attila
Overview: Live from La Scala 1991
Genres: Music
Original Language: it
Release Date: 1991-07-04
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The Metropolitan Opera: Puccini's La Rondine
Overview: This elegant romance is the least-known work of the mature Giacomo Puccini . The story concerns a kept woman who defies convention to chase a dream of romantic love with an earnest, if naïve, young man. This Met Opera production features the dynamic soprano Angela Gheorghiu and Frenchborn tenor Roberto Alagna performing the roles of Magda and Ruggero, it blooms into its rightful place in the glorious Puccini canon. La Rondine (The Swallow) was commissioned by Vienna s Carltheater in 1913. Due to the impending outbreak of World War I, premiered in 1917, at the Opéra de Monte-Carlo with Gilda Dalla Rizza and Tito Schipa. Set in a Parisian salon, it is the story of Magda, the glamorous mistress of wealthy banker Rambaldo. Her yearning for romantic love compels her into the arms of the ardent and adoring young Ruggero.
Genres: Music
Original Language: it
Release Date: 2009-01-10
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Metropolitan Opera Gala James Levine's 25th Anniversary
Overview: This tribute to James Levine, first shown on PBS, was only part of that glorious evening. Here we have the whole performance, up to three hours. I could not stop watching these discs. Let me say this much; Levine has done for the Met, making it the premier opera house in the world, what Karajan did with the Berlin, making it one of the finest orchestras ever. So sit back and enjoy.
Genres: Music
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1996-04-27
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Amadeus
Overview: Disciplined Italian composer Antonio Salieri becomes consumed by jealousy and resentment towards the hedonistic and remarkably talented young Viennese composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
Genres: History Music Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1984-09-19
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Turandot - Wichita Grand Opera
Overview: Wichita Grand Opera opens a new production of Puccini’s masterpiece Turandot on Friday, August 28, 2015, at 7pm in WGO’s home theater of Century II Concert Hall in Wichita, Kansas. WGO makes its debut at Overland Park’s Carlsen Center with a second performance of the production on Sunday, August 30, 2015 at 3pm. The cast features stars from the world’s most prestigious opera houses, and will be conducted by European maestro Martin Mazik. The production is directed by American director Shayna Leahy, with sets designed by Margaret Ann Pent and executed by European scenic artist Stefan Pavlov, costumes by Charles Caine and John Leymeyer, and lighting by Sean Roberson.
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2015-09-28
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I Lombardi - The Met
Overview: James Levine’s love for this seldom-heard score infuses every measure of Verdi’s music. Superstar Luciano Pavarotti heads the cast as the Muslim warrior prince Oronte who converts to Christianity out of love for the Italian Giselda (Lauren Flanigan)—before dying of the wounds he received in battling the Crusaders. Samuel Ramey is the Crusader-turned-hermit Pagano. Mark Lamos’s striking production has sets by John Conklin and costumes by Dunya Ramicova.
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1993-12-21
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Verdi Macbeth Chailly
Overview: Claude D'Anna's film of Verdi's Macbeth is a gloomy affair, stressing the descent into madness of the principal villains. It's acted by the singers of the Decca recording of the opera (with two substitutions of actors standing in for singers) and the lip-synching is generally unobtrusive. The musical performance is superb, conducted by Riccardo Chailly with admirable fire, and sung by some of the leading lights of the opera stages of the 1980s. Shirley Verrett virtually owned the role of Lady Macbeth at the time, and she delivers a terrific performance, the voice equal to the role's wide register leaps and it's suffused with emotion, whether urging her husband on to murder or maddened by guilt in the Sleepwalking Scene. Leo Nucci's resonant Macbeth may lack the ultimate in vocal color and steadiness (his last notes of the great aria Pietà, rispetto, amore are wobbly) but he compensates with intensity in both singing and acting.
Genres: Music
Original Language: it
Release Date: 1987-01-01
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Natalie Dessay & Rolando Villazón - Massenet: Manon
Overview: Natalie Dessay and Rolando Villazón bring Jules Massenet's classic opera to the stage in this dazzling production. In 18th-century France, Manon (Dessay) faces life as a nun, despite catching the eye of many men. When she meets the handsome but penniless des Grieux (Villazón), she falls deeply in love. The pair elopes, but their future together is threatened by outside forces.
Genres: Music
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 2007-06-12
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Bluebeard’s Castle / Erwartung (The Met)
Overview: Bela Bartok's and Arnold Schoenberg's haunting excursions into the nightmare of the unconscious.
Genres: Music
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1989-03-31
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Don Quichotte
Overview: Don Quichotte (Don Quixote) is an opera in five acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Henri Caïn. It was first performed on 19 February 1910 at the Opéra de Monte-Carlo.
Genres: Music
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2000-01-01
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