Franco Calabrese (22 July 1923 in Palermo – 13 November 1992 in Lucca)[1] was an Italian bass singer.
Biography
editCalabrese grew up in Lucca, graduating from the Boccherini Institute In 1947. He made his stage debut at the Teatro Comunale in Florence.[2] In 1952, he debuted at La Scala as Angelloti in the famous de Sabata Tosca.[3]
He was particularly renowned for his Mozart and Rossini roles, and notably those of Don Alfonso in Cosi fan tutte and the Count Almaviva in The Marriage of Figaro.[4] Calabrese appeared in this latter role in the noted 1955 recording, with Sesto Bruscanini, Graziella Sciuti and The Glyndebourne festival orchestra, under the baton of Vittorio Gui.[5]
After retiring from singing, he taught stagecraft at the same Boccherini Institute in Lucca,[2] where his students included, among others, Graziano Polidori, Giancarlo Ceccarini, Francesco Facini and Enrico Facini.
Discography (Incomplete)
edit- Tosca, with Maria Callas and Giuseppe di Stefano. Victor de Sabata cond. at La Scala, EMI, 1952[3]
- The Marriage of Figaro, with Sesto Bruscanini and Graziella Sciuti. Vittorio Gui cond. at Abbey Road Studios, HMV, 1955[5]
- La traviata, with Anna Moffo and Richard Tucker. Fernando Previtali cond. at The Rome Opera, RCA, 1960[6]
- La bohème, with Mirella Freni and Luciano Pavarotti. Thomas Schippers cond. at the RAI Auditorium in Rome, 1969[7]
References
edit- ^ "Voci maschili (C – D) – Archivio del Canto" (in Italian). Retrieved 2021-06-16.
- ^ a b "Marco Del Bucchia Editore - Erba d'Arno - 21.03.2010". www.delbucchia.it. Retrieved 2021-06-16.
- ^ a b House, The Royal Opera. "Puccini: Tosca CD (Victor de Sabata)". The Royal Opera House. Retrieved 2021-06-16.
- ^ "Franco Calabrese- Bio, Albums, Pictures – Naxos Classical Music". www.naxos.com. Retrieved 2021-06-16.
- ^ a b "Review". Gramophone. Retrieved 2021-06-16.
- ^ Verdi, Giuseppe; Moffo, Anna; Tucker, Richard; Merrill, Robert; Reynolds, Anna; Previtali, Fernando (1999), La traviata, Teatro dell'opera (Rome, Italy), New York, NY: RCA, retrieved 2021-06-16
- ^ "La Bohème Discography". opera.stanford.edu. Retrieved 2021-06-16.
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