Peter Pears had been specifically composed for the soprano voice. For Pears, Britten composed one of his most popular works, the Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings (1943). In early 1943 Pears joined Sadler's Wells Opera Company. His roles included Tamino in "The Magic Flute", Rodolfo in "La bohème", the Duke in "Rigoletto", Alfredo in "La traviata", Almaviva in "The Barber of Seville", Ferrando in "Così fan tutte" and Vašek in "The Bartered Bride". His growing operatic experience and expertise affected the composition of Britten's opera "Peter Grimes". The composer had envisaged the central figure, based on Crabbe's brutal fisherman, as a
Grimes Poznikov lost what scraps remained of his life. He died on October 27, 2005, on a sidewalk near Cesar Chavez and Bayshore Freeway, of alcohol poisoning. Poznikov was survived by his sister, Jenny Predpelski of Overland Park, KS; girlfriend, Susan "Harmony" Tanner; and two brothers, Greg Poznik of Madison, Wis., and Sam Silver of Aurora, Colo. "Broken Jukebox: a short opera about Grimes Poznikov" for soprano, baritone, chorus, string quintet, trumpet and piano premiered January 2008 at College of Marin. Grimes Poznikov Grimes Poznikov (August 5, 1946 – October 27, 2005), known as "The Human Jukebox," was a fixture of San