Aria

An aria ([ˈaːrja]; Italian: air; plural: arie [ˈaːrje], or arias in common usage, diminutive form arietta [aˈrjetta]) in music was originally any expressive melody, usually, but not always, performed by a singer. The term became used almost exclusively to describe a self-contained piece for one voice, with or without orchestral accompaniment, normally part of a larger work. The typical context for arias is opera, but vocal arias also feature in oratorios and cantatas, sharing features of the operatic arias of their periods.

Origins of the term

The term, which derives from the Greek and Latin 'aer' (air) first appeared in relation to music in the 14th century when it simply signified a manner or style of singing or playing. By the end of the 16th century, the term 'aria' refers to an instrumental form (cf. Santino Garsi da Parma lute works, 'Aria del Gran Duca' ). By the early 16th century it was in common use as meaning a simple setting of strophic poetry; melodic madrigals, free of complex polyphony, were known as madrigale arioso.

Aria Resort and Casino

Aria Resort and Casino is a luxury resort and casino, part of the CityCenter complex on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. Aria consists of two curved glass and steel highrise towers adjoined at the center. It opened on December 16, 2009 as a joint venture between MGM Resorts International and Infinity World Development. At 4,000,000 sq ft (370,000 m²) and 600 ft (180 m) in height, it is the largest and tallest structure at CityCenter.

The resort's 61 and 51-story towers contain an American Automobile Association five diamond hotel with 4,004 guest rooms and suites, 16 restaurants, 10 bars and nightclubs, and a casino with 150,000 sq ft (14,000 m²) of gaming space. It also has a 215,000 sq ft (20,000 m²) pool area with 50 cabanas, an 80,000 sq ft (7,400 m²) salon and spa, a 300,000 sq ft (28,000 m²) convention center and a 1,800-seat theater which is hosting Zarkana by Cirque du Soleil.

Among the most notable aspects of Aria is its incorporation of technology in the exterior and interior design of the hotel, specifically for the reduction of energy consumption. It is the largest hotel in the world to have earned LEED Gold certification. On account of its smart rooms which automatically adjust curtains, turn off unused lights and electronics, and regulate the temperature when a guest enters or leaves a room, Aria was described in Popular Mechanics as possibly "the most technologically advanced hotel ever built".

Aria (comics)

Aria is a comic book metaseries published by Image Comics, written by Brian Holguin and drawn by Jay Anacleto. Its central concept is that 'mythic beings exist in the modern world,' a premise seen in numerous works of dark contemporary fantasy. There have been several Aria miniseries written over the course of 1999–2003, which have been collected in trade paperbacks.

Aria (1999)

The story opens in a New York bookshop, specializing in the esoteric. The shopowner, a sardonic young woman named Kildare, over the course of a day deals with a woman who found a sword in her flat, two goths who want to drink absinthe, and a man looking for a bargain-basement love potion. After work, she goes back to her flat, where she is greeted by a talking mirror and a fishtank full of tiny merpeople...

She goes to a club which caters to an unusual clientele, where it becomes apparent that the woman is a Fae noble. She meets a man named Pug, later revealed to be a dwarf, and the bartender Dion, who is none other than the Greek god Dionysus. On the way home, she is attacked by a group of shadowy creatures.

Romani people

The Romani (also spelled Romany; /ˈroʊməni/, /ˈrɒ-/), or Roma, are a traditionally itinerant ethnic group living mostly in Europe and the Americas, who originate from the northwestern regions of the Indian subcontinent, specifically from Northern India, presumably from the northwestern Indian states Rajasthan,Haryana and Punjab. The Romani are widely known among English-speaking people by the exonym and racial slur "Gypsies" (or "Gipsies"), which, according to many Romani people, connotes illegality and irregularity. Other exonyms are Ashkali and Sinti.

Romani are dispersed, with their concentrated populations in Europe — especially Central, Eastern and Southern Europe including Turkey, Spain and Southern France. They originated in Northern India and arrived in Mid-West Asia, then Europe, around 1,000 years ago, either separating from the Dom people or, at least, having a similar history; the ancestors of both the Romani and the Dom left North India sometime between the sixth and eleventh century.

Gypsy (Of a Strange and Distant Time)

"Gypsy (Of a Strange and Distant Time)" is a 1969 song by the progressive rock band The Moody Blues, from their album To Our Children's Children's Children, a concept album about space travel. Due to its long name, the song is often referred to on compilation albums as simply "Gypsy."

The song lyrics, related to the album's space travel theme, describe a traveller who is "travelling in panic all direction blind, aching for the warmth of a burning sun, freezing in the emptiness of where he'd come from." The lyric suggests that the traveller may never be returning home to earth as she is "Left without a hope of coming home."

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Gypsy (musical)

Gypsy is a 1959 musical with music by Jule Styne, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and a book by Arthur Laurents. Gypsy is loosely based on the 1957 memoirs of Gypsy Rose Lee, the famous striptease artist, and focuses on her mother, Rose, whose name has become synonymous with "the ultimate show business mother." It follows the dreams and efforts of Rose to raise two daughters to perform onstage and casts an affectionate eye on the hardships of show business life. The character of Louise is based on Lee, and the character of June is based on Lee's sister, the actress June Havoc.

The musical contains many songs that became popular standards, including "Everything's Coming up Roses", "Together (Wherever We Go)", "Small World", "Some People", "Let Me Entertain You", "All I Need Is the Girl", and "Rose's Turn". It is frequently considered one of the crowning achievements of the mid-20th century's conventional musical theatre art form, often called the "book musical".

Gypsy has been referred to as the greatest American musical by numerous critics and writers, among them Ben Brantley ("what may be the greatest of all American musicals...") and Frank Rich. Rich wrote that "Gypsy is nothing if not Broadway's own brassy, unlikely answer to 'King Lear.'" Theater critic Clive Barnes wrote that "'Gypsy' is one of the best of musicals..." and described the character of Rose as "one of the few truly complex characters in the American musical...."