Conductor Richard Hickox dies suddenly

Opera Australia has been shocked by the sudden death of British conductor Richard Hickox, the company's music director. Hickox, 60, suffered a heart attack in London. The news was still filtering out tonight to members of Opera Australia. A shocked Murray Black, The Australian's Sydney opera and classical music critic, said one of Hickox's legacies would be his versatility as a conductor.

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Italian tenor Gianni Raimondi has died at age 85

Raimondi, who sang with diva Maria Callas and other opera legends, has died aged 85, Milan's La Scala opera house said Friday. Raimondi died on Sunday, 19 OCT 2008, at his home in Pianoro near Bologna in central Italy. La Scala said in in a statement that he had requested that his death not be announced until after his private funeral. La Scala described Raimondi, who was born in 1923, as having "one of the biggest voices of his time." Raimondi gave 270 performances, including a standout display in Luchino Visconti's 1956 version of Giuseppe Verdi's "La Traviata". He appeared in Vienna, Berlin, London and New York and worked with Callas and orchestra great Herbert von Karajan at La Scala.

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Tenor Mark Lundberg dies at 50

Lundberg's management company says the singer died Friday, 15 August 2008, in Long Island after a brief illness. The cause of death wasn't released. Lundberg made his debut in Brussels in the 2006-07 season as Tristan in "Tristan und Isolde." He sang bass and baritone for many years before making the transition to dramatic tenor roles. Lundberg was to perform the role of Samson in "Samson & Dalila" with the Pitsburgh Opera later this year. Officials there say he competed at the regional finals of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions as a bass, baritone and tenor.

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