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About Carlo Bergonzi
Artist Biography
Although only a passable actor of average looks—his words—Italian tenor Carlo Bergonzi had a graceful musical expression that made him the 20th century’s supreme interpreter of Verdi. Born the son of a cheesemaker near Parma in 1924, Bergonzi sang children’s operatic roles before studying voice as a baritone at the Conservatorio di Musica Arrigo Boito di Parma. He spent three years in a German concentration camp for anti-Nazi activities and, after returning home in 1945, made his baritone debut in 1948. Realising he was better suited to tenor roles, Bergonzi retrained and made a second debut in 1951 at Bari’s Teatro Petruzzelli, singing the title role of Umberto Giordano's Andrea Chénier. A master of long, supple lines, Bergonzi would eventually record every major Verdi role, as captured on the 1976 Philips compilation Verdi: 31 Tenor Arias. An international star, he sang more than 300 times with New York’s Metropolitan Opera until the ’80s, when he transitioned to the sort of recital work heard on 1988’s Vocal Recital. Bergonzi could frequently be found in his Busseto restaurant “I Due Foscari”, its name a nod to Verdi, until his death in 2014.
Hometown
Vidalenzo, Polisene Parmense, Italy
Genre
Classical
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