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November 8 — On This Day in Opera

This page lists notable events in opera history that happened on November 8, including world premieres, composer births, deaths, and important milestones.

← November 7 | November 9 →

Premieres & milestones

1823 Premiere
La Scala premiere of Rossini's "Tancredi" (Milan production).
Wikipedia — Tancredi (Rossini)
1827 Premiere
World premiere of Halévy & Rifaut's opéra comique "Le Roi et le batelier" at the Opéra-Comique, Paris.
Wikipedia — Le Roi et le batelier
1833 Premiere
Opening/first performance day of St. Petersburg's Mikhailovsky Theatre.
KGiOP St. Petersburg archive; Petersburg24 guide
1867 Premiere
First performance of the Kyiv Opera troupe; debut with Verstovsky's "Askold's Tomb" (Old Style Oct 27).
Wikipedia — National Opera of Ukraine
1909
Boston Opera House (Huntington Ave.) opens with Ponchielli's "La Gioconda" starring Lillian Nordica.
Wikipedia — Boston Opera House (1909)
1957 Premiere
All 13 scenes of Prokofiev's "War and Peace" first performed together (Stanislavski–Nemirovich-Danchenko Theatre, Moscow).
Wikipedia — War and Peace (opera)
1991 Premiere
U.S. premiere of Henze's "Das verratene Meer" at San Francisco Opera.
Wikipedia — Das verratene Meer

Births & deaths

1867 Born
Birth of Russian tenor Ivan Yershov.
History of the Tenor — Ivan Yershov
1909 Born
Birth of Italian opera conductor Alberto Erede (Genova).
Wikipedia — Alberto Erede
1921 Born
Birth of American bass Jerome Hines (Hollywood), long-time Metropolitan Opera principal.
Wikipedia — Jerome Hines
1942 Born
Birth of German dramatic soprano Astrid Schirmer (Berlin).
Wikipedia — Astrid Schirmer
2003 Died
Death of American operatic tenor and director Michael Pollock.
Wikipedia — Michael Pollock (tenor)

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