Bel Canto (band)
Bel Canto is a Norwegian music duo, originally a trio, fronted by vocalist Anneli Drecker, and signed originally to Crammed Discs.
Biography
The group's first two records were licensed to Nettwerk Records Records in Canada and its second album was licensed to IRS/MCA Records. Its style evolved over time from an ethereal dreampop sound to synth-based pop influenced by world music. The group won the Spellemannprisen award twice, in 1992 and 1996.
During the years from 1985 to 2009, Bel Canto occasionally took breaks in order for Anneli Drecker to pursue a solo career and to perform with other bands and artists, as well as performing in films and theater plays. Nils Johansen composed music for film and television as well as working and performing with his other band, Vajas. Despite these hiatuses, Bel Canto still performs together, 24 years after the band was founded.
In 2007 Bel Canto continued to work together, both by writing new material and by doing more gigs. At the same time, both Drecker and Johansen continued on other projects, Johansen with Vajas and Drecker on her solo work. Side-Line reported in March 2007 that Bel Canto would start work on a new album.
Bel canto
Bel canto (Italian for "beautiful singing" or "beautiful song", pronounced [bɛl ˈkanto]), along with a number of similar constructions ("bellezze del canto"/"bell'arte del canto"), is a term relating to Italian singing. It has several different meanings and is subject to a wide variety of interpretations.
The words were not associated with a "school" of singing until the middle of the 19th century, when writers in the early 1860s used it nostalgically to describe a manner of singing that had begun to wane around 1830. Nonetheless, "neither musical nor general dictionaries saw fit to attempt [a] definition [of bel canto] until after 1900". The term remains vague and ambiguous in the 21st century and is often used to evoke a lost singing tradition.
History of the term and its various definitions
As generally understood today, the term bel canto refers to the Italian-originated vocal style that prevailed throughout most of Europe during the 18th century and early 19th centuries. Late 19th- and 20th-century sources "would lead us to believe that bel canto was restricted to beauty and evenness of tone, legato phrasing, and skill in executing highly florid passages, but contemporary documents [those of the late 18th and early 19th centuries] describe a multifaceted manner of performance far beyond these confines." The main features of the bel canto style were:
Bel canto (disambiguation)
Bel canto is an opera term that literally means "beautiful singing".
Bel Canto may also refer to:
Bel Canto (opera)
Bel Canto is an opera by composer Jimmy López. Based on the 2001 novel of the same name by Ann Patchett, the work uses a libretto by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Nilo Cruz. The libretto is sung in Spanish, English, Japanese, Russian, German, French, Latin, Italian, and Quechua. It was commissioned by the Lyric Opera of Chicago as part of the Renée Fleming initiative.Sir Andrew Davis is scheduled to conduct, and director Kevin Newbury will stage the work. The cast will include Danielle de Niese as Roxane Coss, J’nai Bridges as Carmen, Jeongcheol Cha as Hosokawa, and Andrew Stenson as Gen.
Performance history
Pre-production
The opera has undergone several revisions and rewrites as a result of numerous work sessions between composer Jimmy López, librettist Nilo Cruz, director Kevin Newbury, conductor Sir Andrew Davis, and creative consultant Renée Fleming. A workshop took place on July 8–11, 2014 where four out of a total of six scenes were rehearsed with members of The Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center. A select group of donors and members of the press were invited to attend the last day of the workshop on July 11, 2014. The creative team (this time with soprano Danielle de Niese, bass-baritone Jeongcheol Cha, and pianist Adam Nielsen) met for a final work session and workshop on December 7–9, 2014 at Opera America's National Opera Center. The tech rehearsals took place on the week of July 20, 2015 and the Lyric Opera Chorus began rehearsals in late July under the supervision of chorus master Michael Black.
