Music History on March 11

1851 Giuseppe Verdi's opera "Rigoletto" premieres in Venice

1893 Future Tango icon Carlos Gardel and his mother, Berthe Gardès emigrate to Buenos Aires, Argentina

1959 Lorraine Hansberry's stage drama "A Raisin in the Sun", 1st Broadway play by a black woman, starring Ruby Dee and Sidney Poitier, opens at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre, NYC; later transfers to the Belasco Theatre; runs for 530 performances

1968 Dmitri Shostakovich completes his 12nd string quartet

1968 Episode of "The Monkees" TV show features musician Frank Zappa posing as Mike Nesmith and vice versa, debating qualities of each other's music

1968 Otis Redding is the first person in the US to posthumously receive gold record for his single "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay"

1970 12th Grammy Awards: Aquarius; Crosby Stills & Nash; Peggy Lee win

1971 Jim Morrison leaves for Paris to re-orient himself emotionally and creatively, and to avoid the jail sentence given to him in Miami, Florida. He never returns to the US.

1991 Janet Jackson signs $40M 3 album deal with Virgin records

2008 Plácido Domingo named "The King of Singers" in BBC Music Magazine, based on voting by 16 renowned opera critics for the April 2008 issue

2022 American rapper Lil Durk releases his 7th studio album "7220", debuts at #1 on the US Billboard 200 chart