Kathleen Ferrier (1912–1953) was an English contralto who achieved an
international reputation as a stage, concert and recording artist. Her
early death from cancer, at the height of her fame, was a considerable
shock to the music world. Ferrier began singing professionally in 1937,
after winning a singing competition. During the Second World War she
performed regularly with the Council for the Encouragement of the Arts
(CEMA); her career developed considerably after the conductor Malcolm
Sargent recommended her to the influential Ibbs and Tillett concert
management agency. In 1946 she made her stage debut as Lucretia in the
Glyndebourne Festival premiere of Benjamin Britten's opera The Rape of
Lucretia. A year later she sang Orfeo in Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice;
these were her only two operatic roles. As a recitalist she became
known internationally through her three tours of the United States and
her many visits to continental Europe. She continued to perform and
record after being diagnosed with breast cancer in March 1951. Her
final public appearance was as Orfeo, at the Royal Opera House in
February 1953; she died in October that year. Among her many memorials,
the Kathleen Ferrier Cancer Research Fund was launched in May 1954; the
Kathleen Ferrier Scholarship Fund, administered by the Royal
Philharmonic Society, makes annual awards to aspiring young
professional singers.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kathleen_Ferrier>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1519:
Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés established a settlement in Mexico,
naming it "Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz" ("Rich village of the True
Cross").
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veracruz%2C_Veracruz>
1889:
Over 50,000 people rushed to claim a piece of the available two million
acres (8,000 km2) in the Unassigned Lands, the present-day U.S. state
of Oklahoma, entirely founding the brand-new Oklahoma City.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oklahoma_City>
1911:
Tsinghua University , one of the leading universities in mainland
China, was founded, funded by an unexpected surplus in indemnities paid
by the Qing Dynasty to the United States as a result of the Boxer
Rebellion.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsinghua_University>
1945:
About 600 prisoners of the Jasenovac concentration camp in the
Independent State of Croatia revolted, but only 80 managed to escape
while the other 520 were killed by the Croatian Ustaše regime.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jasenovac_concentration_camp>
2004:
Flammable cargo exploded at Yongcheon Station in Ryongchon, North
Korea, killing 160 people.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryongchon_disaster>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
crosswordese (n):
The jargon of crossword puzzle answers, classically consisting of rare,
archaic, or dialectal words
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/crosswordese>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
11px
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--Vladimir Nabokov
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Vladimir_Nabokov>