opera

Magdalena Kožená (b. 1973) is a Czech mezzo-soprano. She was born in Brno in 1973. After having studied at the Brno Conservatoire and at the College of Performing Arts in Bratislava, she graduated in 1995. In 1996-97 she was a member of the Vienna Volksoper. Miss Kožená’s recordings include Bach arias, Handel’s Roman Motets and Italian Cantatas and “Messiah” with Marc Minkowski for DG/Archiv, and her first solo recital disc (Dvořák, Janáček and Martinů with Graham Johnson - Gramophone Solo Vocal Award, 2001) for Deutsche Grammophon, with whom she has signed an exclusive contract.

See also: Gilbert & Sullivan Arthur Sullivan (1842-1900) was one of the foremost English composers of operetta in his day. He was born in London to a bandmaster, and had a knack for music innately. He studied music at Leipzig Conservatory, in Germany, where he met Franz Liszt and Edvard Grieg. Sullivan was a collaborator with William Schwenk Gilbert the playwright on many endeavors. He rose to instant fame with his "Savoy Operas": The The Pirates of Penzance (1878), Princess Ida (1884), and most popularly of all, The Mikado (1885), plus much more.

Elīna Garanča (born September 16, 1976) is a Latvian mezzo-soprano. Born into a musical family in Riga, Garanča entered the Latvian Academy of Music in 1996 to study singing with Sergej Martinov. She continued her studies in Vienna with Irina Gavrilovici and in the United States with Virginia Zeani. Garanča began her professional career at the Südthüringisches Staatstheater in Meiningen and later worked at the Frankfurt Opera. In 1999 she won the Mirjam Helin Singing Competition in Helsinki, Finland

José Plácido Domingo Embil (born 21 January 1941), better known as Plácido Domingo, is a Spanish tenor, known for his versatile and strong voice, possessing a ringing and dramatic tone throughout its range. In March 2008, he debuted in his 128th opera role, giving Domingo more roles than any other tenor. In addition to his singing roles, he has also taken on conducting opera and concert performances, as well as serving as the General Director of the Washington National Opera in Washington, D.C. and the Los Angeles Opera in California.