Problem: Given the question: A friend asked me to answer this question: What is the first name of the person who who had not previously attempted an opera, was initially skeptical, assuming that Sellars was proposing a satire?, using the article: In 1983, theater and opera director Peter Sellars proposed to American composer John Adams that he write an opera about Nixon's 1972 visit to China. Sellars was intrigued by Nixon's decision to make the visit, seeing it as both "a ridiculously cynical election ploy ... and a historical breakthrough". Adams, who had not previously attempted an opera, was initially skeptical, assuming that Sellars was proposing a satire. Sellars persisted, however, and Adams, who had interested himself in the origin of myths, came to believe the opera could show how mythic origins may be found in contemporary history. Both men agreed that the opera would be heroic in nature, rather than poking fun at Nixon or Mao. Sellars invited Alice Goodman to join the project as librettist, and the three met at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. in 1985 to begin intensive study of the six characters, three American and three Chinese, upon whom the opera would focus. The trio endeavored to go beyond the stereotypes about figures such as Nixon and Chinese Chairman Mao Tse-tung and to examine their personalities.As Adams worked on the opera, he came to see Nixon, whom he had once intensely disliked, as an "interesting character", a complicated individual who sometimes showed emotion in public. Adams wanted Mao to be "the Mao of the huge posters and Great Leap Forward; I cast him as a heldentenor". Mao's wife, on the other hand, was to be "not just a shrieking coloratura, but also someone who in the opera's final act can reveal her private fantasies, her erotic desires, and even a certain tragic awareness. Nixon himself is a sort of Simon Boccanegra, a self-doubting, lyrical, at times self-pitying melancholy baritone."Goodman explained her characterizations: A writer tends to find her characters in her self, so I can tell you ... that Nixon, Pat, Mme. Mao, Kissinger and the chorus were all 'me.' And the inner lives of Mao and Chou En-Lai, who I couldn't find in myself at all, were drawn from a couple of close acquaintances., what would be the answer ?
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The answer is:
John

Problem: Given the question: A friend asked me to answer this question: What is the first name of the person who had seen at least one ship pass in the distance during his ordeal?, using the article: Dorian's lifeboat was the smallest of the ship's boats and, with 26 crew and 5 passengers on board, had only a few inches of freeboard. In worsening weather, Dorian improvised a rough sea anchor, which enabled the boat to ride the waves through the night and following day without being swamped. In the late afternoon of September 28 they sighted a distant sail, which proved to be the Canadian bark Huron, bound for Quebec. As they rowed towards their rescuer, they passed Peter McCabe, still clinging to the makeshift raft, the only one of its 72 occupants to have survived the night; he, too was taken on board Huron. McCabe later recalled that he thought he was within ten minutes of death when he was rescued.On the following day Huron encountered another sailing ship, the Lebanon, heading for New York. Dorian, the five passengers and twelve of the crew chose to transfer to Lebanon. The other crewmen, possibly anticipating a hostile reception in their home port, chose to remain with Huron and proceed to Quebec, where she arrived on October 13.The ordeal of Captain Luce, and others who survived on assorted wreckage, lasted for two days. Around noon on September 29, the sailing ship Cambria, out of Glasgow and heading for Quebec, spotted Francois Jassonet, the Vesta fisherman who had been rescued by the Arctic after the collision. In the following few hours, Cambria picked up nine more survivors; these included Luce and two companions, the only survivors of the eleven who had found refuge on the remains of the paddlebox. The last to be picked up by Cambria was James Smith, a businessman from Scotland, who had survived on a raft constructed from planking and a tin-lined wicker basket. He had seen at least one ship pass in the distance during his ordeal, and had almost given up hope when Cambria arrived. Once satisfied there were no further survivors in the area, Cambria continued its journey to Quebec. Luce spent much of the voyage preparing a report of the disaster, ready to wire to Edward Collins in New York..., what would be the answer ?
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The answer is:
James

Problem: Given the question: A friend asked me to answer this question: What is the last name of the person who took vocal lessons with J.E. Hutchinson?, using the article: Kathleen Mary Ferrier, CBE (22 April 1912 8 October 1953) was an English contralto singer who achieved an international reputation as a stage, concert and recording artist, with a repertoire extending from folksong and popular ballads to the classical works of Bach, Brahms, Mahler and Elgar. Her death from cancer, at the height of her fame, was a shock to the musical world and particularly to the general public, which was kept in ignorance of the nature of her illness until after her death. The daughter of a Lancashire village schoolmaster, Ferrier showed early talent as a pianist, and won numerous amateur piano competitions while working as a telephonist with the General Post Office. She did not take up singing seriously until 1937, when after winning a prestigious singing competition at the Carlisle Festival she began to receive offers of professional engagements as a vocalist. Thereafter she took singing lessons, first with J.E. Hutchinson and later with Roy Henderson. After the outbreak of the Second World War Ferrier was recruited by the Council for the Encouragement of Music and the Arts (CEMA), and in the following years sang at concerts and recitals throughout the UK. In 1942 her career was boosted when she met the conductor Malcolm Sargent, who recommended her to the influential Ibbs and Tillett concert management agency. She became a regular performer at leading London and provincial venues, and made numerous BBC radio broadcasts. In 1946, Ferrier made her stage debut, in the Glyndebourne Festival premiere of Benjamin Britten's opera The Rape of Lucretia. A year later she made her first appearance as Orfeo in Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice, a work with which she became particularly associated. By her own choice, these were her only two operatic roles. As her reputation grew, Ferrier formed close working relationships with major musical figures, including Britten, Sir John Barbirolli, Bruno Walter and the accompanist Gerald Moore. She became known internationally through her three tours to the United..., what would be the answer ?
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The answer is:
Ferrier