Aria of the Week #72: "He was despised" by G. F. Handel.
Performed by Hilary Summers.
Score: IMSLP
Uploaded by askim925.
Performed by Hilary Summers.
Score: IMSLP
Uploaded by askim925.
 Anastasia Konstantinovna Prikhodko is a Ukrainian folk rock and traditional pop singer, known for her deep contralto. She won the Russian Star Factory contest in 2007 and represented Russia in the Eurovision Song Contest on May 16, 2009 in Moscow, where she finished 11th. Prikhodko has an unusually deep contralto vocal range. Combining this with her folk vocal training, her repertoire comprises atypical songs in a minor key with a touch of folk style, performed in Ukrainian and Russian. Prikhodko composes some of her songs herself. She plays the flute, the guitar and the pianoforte, with the latter as her favourite instrument. Prikhodko pays great attention to criticism, and always tries to improve herself accordingly. Prikhodko gave birth to her daughter, Nana, on On Easter Sunday April 4, 2010.  This week's Contralto Update features Ursula Boese. Ursula Boese had an extensive career both on the Opera stage and the concert circuit. Her repertoire raged from Bach and Handel to Wagner and Menotti, and everything in between. Check out her pages and the video below.  Aria of the Week #71: "L'occhio, il labbro, il seno, il core" by A. Vivaldi. Performed by Sara Mingardo. Score: None Uploaded by oltre il barocco.  Svetlana Vinnik was the finalist in the Ukranian TV show "X Factor 2" and the show "Star Ring." She possesses a rare and unique tone and appearance, and has Spanish roots. During her solo career, Svetlana has released four original songs, including "Heart", which were a hit on radio stations in Ukraine and the Russian Federation, and she has produced her first music video for the song "I called."  Sharmay Musacchio, Contralto Sharmay Musacchio, the American Dramatic Contralto with "fantastic acting chops and a rich contralto voice that luxuriates in the lower register" will take on the role of Eunice Hubbel in Fresno Grand Opera's production of A Streetcar Named Desire this Sunday 15th Feb. Sharmay has already performed this role with Townsend Opera, to rave reviews, on the 23rd and 25th of January this year.
Sharmay will sing alongside tenor Robert Norman, who will play her on-stage husband, Steve Hubbel, and Barihunk Dan Kempson, who will take on the role of Stanley Kowalski. Tickets can be purchased at the Fresno Opera Website.  This weeks Contralto Update features Guadalupe Larzabal. Buenos Aires born Contralto Guadalupe Larzabal made her debut as an opera singer in 2001 in "Les mamelles of Tiresias” by Francis Poulenc. More recently, in 2013 she performed as the contralto soloist in the opera "Dionysos" by Wolfgang Rihm, and she made her debut in Argentina in the role of Azucena in Verdi's "Il Trovatore." Check out her page and the video below.  Aria of the Week #70: "Das Abschied" from Das Lied von der Erde by G. Mahler. Performed by Anna Larsson. Score: IMSLP (Pg 65) Uploaded by anttiantti41.  Helen Kate Shapiro (born 28 September 1946) is an English pop/Jazz singer and actress. She is best known for her 1960s UK chart toppers, "You Don't Know" and "Walkin' Back to Happiness". In 1961, aged fourteen, she had a UK No. 3 hit with her first single, "Don't Treat Me Like a Child" and two number one hits in the UK, "You Don't Know" and "Walkin' Back to Happiness". The latter did not top the UK chart until 19 October 1961, by which time Shapiro had reached 15, on 26 September. She had a No. 2 in 1962 with "Tell Me What He Said", achieving her first four single releases in the top three of the UK Singles Chart. Most of her recording sessions were at EMI's studios at Abbey Road in north west London. Her mature voice made her an overnight sensation, as well as the youngest female chart topper in the UK. Shapiro's final UK Top Ten hit single was with the ballad "Little Miss Lonely", which peaked at No. 8 for two weeks in 1962. Shapiro's recording manager at the time was Norrie Paramor. Before she was sixteen years old, Shapiro had been voted Britain's "Top Female Singer". The Beatles' first national tour of Britain, in the late winter/early spring of 1963, was as her supporting act. During the course of the tour, the Beatles had their first hit single and John Lennon and Paul McCartney wrote the song "Misery" for her, but Shapiro did not record the composition. In 1995, during a This is Your Life highlighting her life and career, Shapiro revealed, "It was actually turned down on my behalf before I ever heard it, actually. I never got to hear it or give an opinion. It's a shame, really." Shapiro lip-synched her then-current single, "Look Who It Is", with three of The Beatles (John Lennon, Ringo Starr and George Harrison) on the British television programme Ready Steady Go!. In 1962, Shapiro played the lead female role in Richard Lester's movie, It's Trad, Dad!, which co-starred another early 60s hitmaker, Craig Douglas. On 31 December 1969, Shapiro appeared on the BBC/ZDF co-production Pop Go The Sixties, singing "Walkin' Back to Happiness". By the time she was in her late teens, her career as a pop singer was on the wane. With the new wave of beat music and newer female singers such as Dusty Springfield, Cilla Black, Sandie Shaw and Lulu, Shapiro appeared old-fashioned and emblematic of the bee-hived, pre-Beatles, 50s era. As her pop career declined, Shapiro turned to cabaret appearances, touring the workingmen's clubs of the North East of England. Her final cabaret show took place at Peterlee's Senate Club on 6 May 1972, where she announced she was giving up touring as she was "travel-weary" and had had enough of "living out of a suitcase". Later, after a change of mind, she branched out as a performer in stage musicals, jazz (being her first love musically), and more recently gospel music. She played the role of Nancy in Lionel Bart's musical, Oliver! in London's West End and appeared in a British television soap opera, Albion Market, where she played one of the main characters until it was taken off air in August 1986. Between 1984 and 2001, she toured extensively with legendary British jazz trumpeter Humphrey Lyttelton and his band, whilst still performing her own jazz and pop concerts. Her one woman show "Simply Shapiro" ran from 1999 to the end of 2002, when she finally bade farewell to show business in order to concentrate on her Gospel Outreach evenings. Her autobiography, published in 1993, was entitled Walking Back to Happiness. She appeared as a guest on BBC Radio 4's 'The Reunion' in August 2012. In March 2013 she appeared on BBC Radio 3's 'Good Morning Sunday' and recounted her life growing up as a Jew in the 1950s in London, her musical career and her belief in Jesus as Messiah since 1987. In 1989 Shapiro performed the first of many Gospel Evenings at which she sings a selection of worship songs followed by her telling of her faith in Yeshua, Jesus. In November 2013 she made her first appearance as part of the Messianic Gospel group "Hebron" alongside Simon Elman and Chrissy Rodgers. The event was held at Hamworthy Social Club in Wimborne, Dorset. From Wikipedia.  This week's Contralto Update features Angela Riefenthaler. Angela is a member of the Volksoper Wein Choir. In 2012, she performed in the Volks Oper Wein production of Madame Pompadour as Léonie. From October 2014, Angela will be studying for a Master's degree at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna for vocal pedagogy with Prof. Vierlinger. Check out her page and the video below. |
Dramatic ContraltosMeredith Arwady
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