MUSIClassical ALLEGRO
Topic: MILESTONES 2008
Russian opera singer Artur Eizen, an ``outstanding bass and magnificent actor'' at the Bolshoi Theater for 46 years, has died in his native Moscow at age 80, the Bolshoi said on its Web site. Eizen established his reputation in 1956, singing the role of Don Basilio in a Bolshoi production of Rossini's opera ``The Barber of Seville.'' His large repertoire also included such roles as Don Bartolo in Mozart's ``The Marriage of Figaro,'' Prince Bolkonsky in Prokofiev's ``War and Peace'' and Ivan Khovansky in Mussorgsky's ``Khovanshchina.'' MORE | WEB LINKS | SHOP Artur Eizen
PYONGYANG -- The New York Philharmonic performed "The Star-Spangled Banner" for North Korea's communist elite on Tuesday -- a feat of musical diplomacy aimed at improving ties with the isolated nuclear-armed country that considers the U.S. its mortal enemy. The Philharmonic is the first major American cultural group to perform in the country and the largest delegation from the United States to visit its longtime foe. The unprecedented concert represents a warming in relations between the nations. 
2008 is the 50th anniversary of the death of Ralph Vaughan Williams, one of the greatest of the 20th-century composers who gave British music a golden age unparalleled since the 17th century. Vaughan Williams wrote music shaped by his love of British folk tunes and the great Renaissance composers which is none the less strikingly original and unmistakably of our time. 
Roger Louis Voisin, who at 17 became the youngest musician ever to join the Boston Symphony Orchestra, has died after a long illness. He was 89. Voisin, who died Wednesday, 13 FEB 2008, at a Newton nursing home, was a member of the BSO's trumpet section from 1935 to 1973 and was principal trumpet from 1950 to 1965. He was born in Angers, France, before moving to Boston at age 11. Voisin received much of his early training from his father, Rene, also a member of the BSO. 
Internationally renowned Danish soprano Inga Nielsen has died of cancer in Copenhagen at the age of 61, hospital sources and her family said Monday, 11 FEB 2008. Born on June 2, 1946, Nielsen, who died Sunday evening at the Gentofte hospital in northern Copenhagen, had for the past 30 years belonged to the international opera elite and was especially famous for her interpretations of Mozart. Nielsen, who released her first Danish record at the tender age of nine, hit the world stage in 1975 when she joined the Frankfurt opera. She stayed there for five years before going freelance and was subsequently hailed for performances on opera stages around the world, including in Berlin, Vienna, Rome, Paris, London and New York. 
The Brazilian's Rich Legacy Has Been Too Long Forgotten Here
Symphony No. 2 in E minor, Op. 27, was written by Russian composer Sergei Rachmaninoff in 1906–07. The premiere was conducted by the composer himself in St. Petersburg on 8 February 1908. Its duration is approximately 60 minutes when performed uncut; cut performances can be as short as 35 minutes. The score is dedicated to Sergei Taneyev, a Russian composer, teacher, theorist, author, and pupil of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky....