istoryworld
Events relating to opera
Benjamin Britten's opera Peter Grimes has its premiere in London, at the Sadler's Wells theatre
Sadler's Wells Ballet moves to the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden (and is known from 1956 as the Royal Ballet)
Bulgarian bass Boris Christoff makes his debut in Puccini's La Bohème in Reggio Calabria
Capa, Cartier-Bresson and others found Magnum, a cooperative of leading photographers running their own picture agency
Francis Poulenc makes an opera of Guillaume Apollinaire's play Les Mamelles de Tirésias ('The Breasts of Tiresias')
The Rake's Progress, with music by Igor Stravinsky and libretto by W.H. Auden and Chester Kallman, has its premiere in Venice
Hans Werner Henze's first full-length opera, Boulevard Solitude, has its premiere in Hanover
William Walton's opera Troilus and Cressida has its premiere at Covent Garden
Michael Tippett's first opera, A Midsummer Marriage, has its premiere at Covent Garden
Hans Werner Henze's opera The Stag King has its premiere in Berlin
Danish architect Jørn Utzon wins the competition to design Sydney Opera House
Arnold Schoenberg's opera Moses and Aaron, incomplete at his death, has its premiere in Zurich
Australian soprano Joan Sutherland becomes a star overnight with her performance at Covent Garden in Lucia di Lammermoor
Achmed Sukarno assumes dictatorial powers, operating an Indonesian policy officially known as Guided Democracy
20-year-old Spanish tenor Placido Domingo sings his first major role, as Alfredo in La Traviata in the Mexican city of Monterrey
Italian tenor Luciano Pavarotti makes his operatic debut in Reggio Emilia, as Rodolfo in La Bohème
Harold Macmillan, in hospital for a prostate operation, resigns as UK prime minister
Maria Callas gives her last performance, as Tosca at Covent Garden in London
Michael Tippett's opera The Knot Garden has its premiere at Covent Garden
Peter Maxwell Davies's opera Taverneris performed at Covent Garden
The Sydney Opera House opens with a performance by Australian Opera of Prokofiev's War and Peace
David Hockney begins a new career as a set designer, with The Rake's Progress by Stravinksky at Glyndebourne
Hungarian composer György Ligeti's opera Le Grand Macabre has its premiere in Stockholm
The small firm of Microsoft wins the contract to provide the operating system of the IBM personal computer
Karlheinz Stockhausen's Thursday from Light, the first of a seven-part opera cycle, is performed in Milan
