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Roberta Peters (May 4, 1930 – January 18, 2017) was an American coloratura soprano.

One of the most prominent American singers to achieve lasting fame and success in opera, Peters is noted for her 35-year association with the Metropolitan Opera Company in New York, among the longest such associations between a singer and a company in opera. She was awarded the National Medal of Arts in 1998.

  WIKIPEDIA NYTimes Obit

VIDEO: The outstanding American soprano Roberta Peters (Bronx born, Roberta Peterman) in a series of clips from some of her most memorable operatic performances.

Anton Nanut (13 September 1932 – 13 January 2017) was a Slovenian conductor.

From 1981 to 1999 Nanut served as the chief conductor of the RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra. He was a professor of conducting at the Ljubljana Academy of Music and the artistic leader of the Slovene Octet in its most productive years. Nanut collaborated with over 200 orchestras and had made over 200 recordings with a variety of labels. Among the concerts that he valued most was a concert with the RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra in the Carnegie Hall, his concerts with Staatskapelle Dresden, with the Berlin RIAS and with Saint Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra. He was a chief conductor of the Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra and has conducted nearly all the Italian symphony orchestras (especially Orchestra Di Padova e del Veneto).
  WIKIPEDIA

 VIDEO: Anton Nanut: Ljubljana Radio Symphony Orchestra - Pjotr Iljitsch Tschaikowski: 1812 Overture, Op. 49 

"Robert" Stuart Hamilton,(September 28, 1929 – January 1, 2017)

"Robert" Stuart Hamilton, CM, Hon. LL.D, A.R.C.T. (September 28, 1929 – January 1, 2017) was an award-winning Canadian pianist, operatic vocal coach, radio broadcaster, artistic director, and producer based in Toronto. Perhaps best known as the longtime quiz master for CBC Radio’s Saturday Afternoon at the Opera, he taught opera repertoire and diction at the University of Toronto. Hamilton has also received international acclaim as a panelist for the Metropolitan Opera Quiz from New York.
  WIKIPEDIA

Georges Prêtre ( 14 August 1924 – 4 January 2017) was a French orchestral and opera conductor.

Prêtre was born in Waziers (Nord), and attended the Douai Conservatory and then studied harmony under Maurice Duruflé and conducting under André Cluytens among others at the Conservatoire de Paris. Amongst his early musical interests were jazz and trumpet. After graduating, he conducted in a number of small French opera houses sometimes under the pseudonym Georges Dherain. His conducting debut was at the Opéra de Marseille in 1946. He also conducted at the opera houses in Lille and Toulouse. His Paris debut was at the Opéra-Comique in Richard Strauss's Capriccio. He was director of the Opéra-Comique 1955–1959. He conducted at the Lyric Opera of Chicago 1959–1971. He was conductor, 1959, and music director 1970–1971, at the Paris Opéra. He was principal conductor of the Vienna Symphony 1986–1991. WIKIPEDIA VIDEO: Georges Prêtre conducts Ravel's Boléro Rai National Symphony Orchestra (Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della Rai) at his first symphonic concert. Turin, 1994

 

Death of British pianist Anthony Goldstone

Anthony Goldstone was born in Liverpool, England, on July 25, 1944. He studied music at the Royal Manchester College of Music, where his most important piano teacher was Derrick Wyndham. He had later studies with Maria Curcio. Goldstone debuted in Manchester in 1965 with the RMCM Orchestra under John Barbirolli. Two years later Goldstone won prizes at international piano competitions in Munich and Vienna. Goldstone's London debut was at Wigmore Hall in 1969. In 1973 Goldstone was made a fellow at the RMCM, and by this time he was busy touring both as a soloist and duo pianist. At the 1976 London Promenade Concerts, he appeared at the popular Last Night concert in a performance of Britten's Diversions for piano, left hand, which was broadcast over the BBC. The Piano at the Carnival In 1978 Goldstone founded the Musicians of the Royal Exchange and has since served as the ensemble's director and pianist.

Miriam Pirazzini (21 August 1918 – 26 December 2016) was a well-known Italian mezzo-soprano.

She made her formal debut in Rome, in 1944, as Laura Adorno in La Gioconda. For the next twenty years, she was one of Italy's foremost mezzo-sopranos. Pirazzini was born in Castelfranco Veneto, Treviso, Veneto in 1918. Opposite Maria Callas, Pirazzini appeared as Amneris in Aïda, at Rovigo (1948), Reggio Calabria (1951) and the Verona Arena (directed by G.W. Pabst, 1953); in the oratorio San Giovanni Battista at Perugia (1949); as Azucena in Il trovatore at the Teatro dell'Opera, Rome (1953); and Néris in Médée in Venice (1953), as well as on the first studio recording of Cherubini's masterpiece. She was also the Adalgisa (replacing the indisposed Fedora Barbieri) in the infamous Norma at Rome in 1958, when the performance was cancelled after Callas sang Act I and felt unable to continue; she kept the role partnering Anita Cerquetti, who replaced Callas for the remaining performances. WIKIPEDIA

 VIDEO: Miriam Pirazzini sings "Stride la vampa" from Il Trovatore by Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901) Orchestra -Sinfonica della RAI Roma