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He didn't record much at all -- a marvelous 1963 album for Almanac, reissued on Chris Strachwitz's Arhoolie label, remains his principal recorded legacy -- but barrelhouse pianist Robert Shaw helped greatly to establish a distinctive regional style of pounding the 88s around Houston, Fort Worth, and Galveston during the 1920s and '30s. Those decades represented Shaw's playing heyday, when he forged a stunning barrelhouse style of his own in the bars, dancehalls, and whorehouses along the route of the Santa Fe Railroad. Shaw got around -- in 1933, he had a radio program in Oklahoma City. But by the mid-'30s, Shaw relegated his playing to the back burner to open a grocery store. Mack McCormick coaxed him back into action in 1963 and the results as collected on Arhoolie were magnificent; "The Cows" was a piece of incredible complexity that would wilt anything less than a legitimate ivories master. Shaw continued to perform stateside and in Europe intermittently during the 1970s, turning up unexpectedly in California in 1981 to help Strachwitz celebrate Arhoolie's 20th anniversary. ~ Bill Dahl

One of the youngest of America's major orchestras, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra began in 1945 as the Atlanta Youth Symphony, created by members of the Atlanta Music Club to give high-quality performance opportunities to young musicians in the Atlanta area. Over its history, the ensemble has grown from a community orchestra of volunteers and part-time employees to a world-class ensemble with a reputation for musical excellence. The orchestra has recorded over 100 albums, has won a total of 27 Grammy Awards, and performs more than 200 concerts a year. Contralto and conductor Nathalie Stutzman has been the orchestra's music director since 2022. She made her recording debut as the director of the Atlanta Symphony in 2024 with the album Dvorák: Symphony No. 9 "From the New World"; American Suite.

Under the direction of the gifted conductor and teacher Henry Sopkin, the Atlanta Youth Symphony became the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra in 1947. Although still in its fledgling years, the orchestra flourished under Sopkin's leadership, expanding its repertoire, increasing its programs for young players, and improving the level of musicianship among its members. As it grew, the orchestra was able to attract world-renowned soloists such as Glenn Gould and Isaac Stern, which further enhanced its reputation as a top-notch regional orchestra. In 1964, the Atlanta Symphony, still an organization of part-time musicians, became a founding member of the Atlanta Arts Alliance, which later became the internationally acclaimed Woodruff Arts Center.

When Sopkin announced his retirement in 1966, an arduous search began to find a replacement for this talented and visionary conductor. The job was offered to Robert Shaw, who initially turned down the position because he felt he was not well-versed enough in orchestral repertoire to "stay ahead of the musicians." When he finally accepted the music director's position in 1967, it was obvious that he was equal to the challenge. Shaw immediately expanded the Atlanta Symphony, created the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chorus, and raised the expected level of musicianship to a new and highly professional standard. He also began to organize significant tours for the orchestra, which brought national recognition and recording opportunities to the group. Under Shaw's leadership, the orchestra performed for the inauguration of President Jimmy Carter in 1977 and became the first American orchestra to release a commercial digital recording for Telarc in 1978.

The Atlanta Symphony made numerous recordings, won 15 Grammy Awards, and toured internationally under Shaw's direction. In 1988, Shaw retired from his position as music director. Following Shaw's retirement, Yoel Levi became the third music director in the orchestra's history. A conductor of international reputation, Levi continued the tradition of musical excellence for which the orchestra became known. In 1995, the Atlanta Symphony celebrated its 50th anniversary season with two nationwide television broadcasts and a successful tour of the northeastern United States. The orchestra performed for the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in 1996, which was viewed by more than 3.5 billion people worldwide.

In 2001, Robert Spano became music director, with Donald Runnicles as principal guest conductor. Spano instituted the "Atlanta School of Composers" scheme, which championed the works of contemporary composers such as Christopher Theofanidis, Jennifer Higdon, and Michael Gandolfi. Spano's reign, which ended with the conclusion of the 2020-2021 season, saw an increased interest in the orchestra with higher donations and ticket sales. Early in the following season, the Atlanta Symphony announced contralto and conductor Nathalie Stutzman would assume the music directorship at the start of the 2022-2023 season. In 2024, Stutzman made her recording debut as the Atlanta Symphony's director with a recording of music by Dvořák on the Erato label. ~ Corie Stanton Root

Founded as a modest youth orchestra in 1945, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra developed in four decades into one of the most polished of America's regional orchestras. Its recordings for Telarc early in the digital era made it the darling of audiophiles and by the end of the 20th century, its excellent principal players and ensemble sound could compare to the best in North America. Similarly, the Atlanta Symphony Chorus is ranked among the best choirs attached to American orchestras, comparable to those of the Chicago and San Francisco symphonies. Henry Sopkin founded what was initially the Atlanta Youth Symphony at the end of World War II, and spent the next two decades patiently developing it into a professional orchestra. In 1966, the baton passed to Robert Shaw, until then primarily known as a choral conductor. Shaw further professionalized the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and established what is now its 200-member chorus in 1970. Within two years of Shaw's arrival, the orchestra musicians became full-time players (although the chorus would always remain volunteer) and, at Shaw's instigation, the group moved into a new concert hall. In 1978, Robert Woods, president of the new, little audiophile label Telarc and a longtime Shaw fan, established a long-term relationship with the Atlanta Symphony. Although the orchestra's first Telarc releases were strictly orchestral, the chorus was soon brought on board and Shaw and Telarc would eventually record nearly every work for chorus and orchestra in the standard repertory. Shaw retired after 21 years, though remaining on as music director emeritus and conductor laureate until his death in 1999. Yoel Levi took over the orchestra in 1988, further refining the orchestra and proving its ability in repertory without chorus. Under Shaw and Levi, the orchestra won 18 Grammys; this annual success stirred a minor controversy in the late '80s. Prominent individuals in the Grammy nomination process were based in Atlanta and although nobody was accused of malfeasance, critics did suggest that civic boosterism and sheer habit had as much to do with the classical Grammys as artistic merit. Levi left the 95-member orchestra in 2000 and was replaced by the well-regarded Robert Spano the following year. Harking back to its origins, the Atlanta Symphony still supports a youth orchestra. It also presents an ambitious package of concerts and other annual events in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr., and maintains outreach programs for Atlanta's African-American community.

Augér performed in both opera and Lieder, but as her career evolved, she began to focus her musical energies on the latter, preferring the intimacy of recitals to the bustle involved in staged operatic performances. Her voice was sweet-toned and pure, but also capable of a good deal of warmth and expressiveness. She was also noted as a teacher. Renée Fleming, who was one of her students, said that had she lived longer, should would undoubtedly have become one of the great Lieder teachers. Her early death cut her career short, but she left a wide recorded legacy.

She graduated from the University in California in 1963, having studied not only voice but piano and violin. After graduating, she moved to Chicago where she studied with Ralph Errole. Returning to Los Angeles, she won the I. Victor Fuchs Competition, and with it, an audition for the Vienna State Opera, where Josef Krips, the director, offered her a contract, despite her lack of stage experience. She made her operatic debut in 1967 there, as the Queen of the Night in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, and made her Salzburg Festival debut in 1969. In 1970, Erik Werba invited her to perform the soprano part of Hugo Wolf's Italienisches Liederbuch in a series of performances which he was producing at Wolf's own summer house. She began to focus more and more of her attention on Lieder, oratorio, and church music, and so she left the Vienna State Opera in 1974. By that point her 1975 La Scala and 1978 Met debuts were almost like afterthoughts, as she was starting to turn away from the operatic world. She came to worldwide fame when she sang Mozart's Exultate, jubilate at the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of York in 1986, which was seen by an estimated television audience of 300 million. (The couple left the selection of music and performers up to Simon Preston, director of music at the Westminster Abbey.) In 1993, she died of cancer.

Fortunately, she made a number of recordings during her career of Lieder, sacred music, and opera. She made an excellent Constanze in the Böhm Die Entführung aus dem Serail (DG 429 868-2), and also recorded a very fine sampling of Handel and Bach arias (Delos 3026). Her collection of Schumann Lieder on Berlin Classics (0021862BC) shows her sensitivity to nuance and emotional expressiveness.

Mezzo-soprano Delores Ziegler gradually built her career, first in concert work then in opera, though largely basing her activity in the U.S. After her 1981 European debut in Bonn, however, she became an international presence, centering many of her engagements in Germany, Italy, and England. She eventually debuted at the Met, and then appeared at most of the major opera houses in the U.S., including the Lyric Opera in Chicago and the San Francisco Opera. Ziegler is probably best known for her numerous portrayals of Dorabella in Mozart's Così fan tutte. In fact, she has recorded the role on CD probably more than any other mezzo, having appeared in three separate efforts led by, respectively, Bernard Haitink (EMI), Nikolaus Harnoncourt (Teldec), and Riccardo Muti (Sony). Ziegler has hardly been typecast in this or any of a number of Mozart roles she has sung; however, her repertory takes in Bizet (Carmen), Richard Strauss (Octavian in Der Rosenkavalier), Rossini (Rosina in The Barber of Seville) and many others from Monteverdi, Bellini, Verdi, Gounod, and contemporary composers like Jens-Peter Ostendorf, whose opera Murieta was premiered with Ziegler in a lead role (Teresa). Ziegler's recordings are available on DG, Telarc, New World Records, and the labels mentioned above.

Delores Ziegler was born in Atlanta, GA, on September 4, 1951. After studies at the University of Tennessee, she became active in concert work. In 1978-1979 she trained for the stage through the Santa Fe Opera's apprentice program. Meanwhile, she debuted in a pair of Verdi roles in 1978: Flora in La Traviata at the Knoxville Opera and Maddalena in Rigoletto at the Saint Louis Opera.

Following her acclaimed 1981 European debut in Bonn as Dorabella, she began regularly appearing overseas, with notable debuts at Cologne (1982), La scala (1984), and Glyndebourne (1984), where she again portrayed Dorabella.

Ziegler debuted at the Met in 1990 singing Siebel in Gounod's Faust. The following year she debuted at the San Francisco Opera in the trouser role of Romeo in Bellini's I Capuleti e i Montecchi. By this time Ziegler's recordings were drawing acclaim, as with the 1990 J.S. Bach Mass in B minor and the 1991 Mahler Eighth Symphony, both led by Robert Shaw on Telarc. In the new century Ziegler has remained active in opera and concert work, but is devoting much time to teaching as a faculty member at the New England Conservatory of Music.

Jerry Hadley was one of the most thoughtful singers of the late 20th century, exploring a wide range of repertoire with a special interest in contemporary works. Hadley began his career with a voice ideal for Mozart and bel canto, possessing a warmly lyrical timbre that earned him acclaim as one of the most beautiful voices since Fritz Wunderlich. Venturing into heavier roles early in his career took a noticeable toll on his voice, but Hadley's musicianship and high standards for performance served to make him one of the most interesting tenors of his generation. Hadley was interested in singing from an early age, and as a youth performed as a member of the touring show Up with People. He went to the University of Illinois to study music, where a friend persuaded him to audition for a performance of The Magic Flute. Landing the role of Tamino and enjoying great success with it, Hadley was further persuaded to take up an operatic career. Hadley's debut was at the Sarasota Opera as Lionel in von Flotow's Martha in 1978. In 1979, Hadley began a long association with the New York City Opera at the invitation of Beverly Sills, debuting as Arturo in Lucia di Lammermoor. His stage debut was not an auspicious one dramatically: Arturo appears on stage for only about 15 minutes, but being unfamiliar with the staging, Hadley found himself catching his sword on a chair and dragging it across the stage before he could disentangle it. He also succeeded in setting his plumed hat on fire, and was on the receiving end of chorus member's sword that intruded upon an area that could have led to some unexpected high notes. These were only the most notable mishaps.

His accident-prone New York debut notwithstanding, Hadley sang roles such as Pinkerton, Des Grieux (Massenet), Tom Rakewell, and Faust (Gounod) at the NYCO. His European debut was in 1982 as Nemorino at the Vienna State Opera, the same year that Hadley won the Richard Tucker Competition. In 1983, Hadley made his Glyndebourne debut as Idamante in Mozart's Idomeneo, followed by his Covent Garden debut the next year as Fenton in Falstaff. Hadley's Metropolitan Opera debut was in 1987 as Des Grieux; however, such roles as Offenbach's Hoffmann called for a technique that often "drew on capital," and this began to exact a price on Jerry Hadley's vocal flexibility and stamina in the later 1980s. By the end of the decade, Hadley's pitch was not as secure as it had been, and there was a rawness in his voice that had not been there before, but these years did witness some of his finest and most lasting achievements. In 1989, he had a superb turn in the title role of Leonard Bernstein's revision of the opera Candide, and his recording of Show Boat in the restored scoring by John McGlinn was one of Hadley's most highly praised, and best-selling, recordings. Throughout the following decade, Hadley remained very visible, appearing with frequency in opera galas on American public television and recording for RCA Victor.

Jerry Hadley was a champion of 20th century music, both operatic and in the popular realm. In 1997, he created the title role of Myron Fink's The Conquistador, and in 1999, that of John Harbison's The Great Gatsby; Hadley also created the tenor lead in Paul McCartney's Liverpool Oratorio and headed up the cast of the premiere recording of the long delayed opera Desire under the Elms by Edward Thomas. He recorded an exemplary Sam in Carlisle Floyd's Susannah and his final recording, in the cast of Leos Janácek's opera Jenufa led by Bernard Haitink, won a Grammy. While some of the albums Hadley made with his name above the title were of mixed quality, Standing Room Only, a vividly characterized collection of songs from musicals, remains perhaps the best of them. Hadley maintained an extremely scrupulous attitude toward performing; he once stated that he would not record a role unless he had sung it on-stage, and wrote the English-language translation for his recording of Lehár's The Land of Smiles. After the success of Jenufa, Hadley began to work considerably less, struggled against mounting financial troubles, and battled severe depression. On June 10, 2007, Jerry Hadley shot himself with an air rifle in an apparent suicide attempt, and died a week later. ~ Uncle Dave Lewis

One of the most versatile artists of the 20th century's second half, baritone (or bass baritone) Tom Krause excelled in music from Bach to Britten, Mozart to Searle. Though not exceptionally large or sensuous, Krause's cleanly produced instrument never issued unpleasant sounds, and the singer's refined artistic instincts conspired to keep his work at a high level. Even in situations calling for a greater weight of voice than he really commanded, his clear diction and canny sensitivity to the right accents enabled him to give the impression of authority.

Krause intended to pursue a career in medicine in his native city, but found that a taste for light music and later, an interest in singing, were moving him toward a musical career. He entered the Vienna Music Academy in 1956, and upon completion of his studies there, made his debut in 1959 at Berlin's Städtische Oper. The role was Escamillo, an impersonation he was to record on two subsequent occasions. Early international exposure came through the Kurwenal he recorded with Solti and Birgit Nilsson. Numerous engagements followed at opera houses and concert stages throughout Middle Europe, and in 1962, Krause became a member of the company at Hamburg where he endeared himself to the public in Wagner, Verdi, and (especially) Mozart roles. After only five years, he was made a Kammersänger. For his home theater, he participated in the premieres of Ernst Krenek's Der Goldene Bock in 1964 and Humphrey Searle's Hamlet in 1968. Meanwhile, Krause had made his Bayreuth debut as the Herald in Lohengrin (1962) and the following year appeared at the Glyndebourne Festival for the first time as the Count in Strauss' Capriccio.

In the United States, Krause took part in the American premiere of Britten's War Requiem and made his Metropolitan Opera debut as Mozart's Almaviva on October 11, 1967. In six seasons, Krause was heard in 43 performances, including three other roles: Malatesta, Guglielmo, and Escamillo. The later was captured on disc together with Marilyn Horne's Carmen and James McCracken's massive Don José, all under Leonard Bernstein's revisionist eye. Chicago heard Krause as Guglielmo on-stage at the Lyric Opera and as a moving Christus in the Chicago Symphony Orchestra performances of Bach's St. Matthew Passion under Solti. Krause later participated in Solti's recording of the work.

Krause's Salzburg debut came in 1968 when he sang the title role in Don Giovanni, beginning a productive relationship with the festival. Thirty years after his first appearance, he sang in Salzburg's widely praised production of Messiaen's Saint François d'Assise. Paris heard Krause for the first time in 1973; La Scala welcomed him two years later. While heard to best advantage on-stage in Mozart, Krause made effective studies of such other roles as Pizzaro, Golaud, Amfortas, and portrayed a light-voiced but vivid Amonasro.

During his lengthy career, Krause made many studio recordings with first-class collaborators. His Pizzaro with Nilsson, McCracken, and a hard-driving Lorin Maazel is intimidatingly nasty. His numerous Bach recordings reveal a mellifluous voice and sympathetic interpretation joined with stylistic keenness. Both of his recorded Escamillos, if not the last word in bravura, show both dramatic flair and the ability to truly voice the many low-lying phrases. Finally, Krause's many recordings of German lieder and Scandinavian and Russian songs are the work of an insightful, engaging artist.