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This ‘cloak of angels’ was worn by Melba to perform before Tsar Alexander III in St Petersburg in 1891. Together with Polish opera singers Jean and Edouard de Reszke, she had been commanded by the Tsar to perform in several operas at his Imperial…

Melba’s star status was reflected in the high quality of her opera costumes. This sumptuous purple velvet robe was created by the House of Worth, the leaders of Parisian haute couture. Trimmed with ermine and lined with cream floral silk damask, this…

Ernest Thesiger was one of the closest of the many artist and musician friends that Grainger made, especially in the first decades of his career. Thesiger was an aspiring painter when he made this drawing, and later became a stage and film actor.…

Melba premiered in the title role of Herman Bemberg’s opera Elaine in London in 1892. This portrait by Frank Haviland was published in The Illustrated London News in June 1908 as part of his series of theatrical celebrities and marked Melba’s 20th…

In 1905 Grainger presented his first Royal Command Performance before Queen Alexandra at Buckingham Palace, London. Performances for European royalty soon followed, including the King and Queen of Denmark in Copenhagen in 1905, and the King and Queen…

During his years living in the United States, Grainger performed for three presidents: Woodrow Wilson, Calvin Coolidge and Theodore Roosevelt. Grainger received this memento from the First Lady of the United States in recognition of his performance…

Grainger was the first pianist of international renown to perform at a moving picture theatre. The Capitol Theatre in New York, where Grainger played in 1921, was the largest cinema in the world at the time. Between 17 and 23 April, Grainger played…