Vincenzo Salvatore Carmelo Francesco Bellini was a Italian opera composer, who was known for his long-flowing melodic lines for which he was named "the Swan of Catania". Many years later, in 1898, Giuseppe Verdi "praised the broad curves of Bellini's melody: 'there are extremely long melodies as no-one else had ever made before'."
Ruggero Leoncavallo was an Italian opera composer and librettist. Although he produced numerous operas and other songs throughout his career it is his opera Pagliacci (1892) that remained his lasting contribution, despite attempts to escape the shadow of his greatest success.
Francesco Cilea was an Italian composer. Today he is particularly known for his operas L'arlesiana and Adriana Lecouvreur.
La Scala is an opera house in Milan, Italy. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and was originally known as the Nuovo Regio Ducale Teatro alla Scala. The premiere performance was Antonio Salieri's Europa riconosciuta.
Francesco Cavalli was an Italian composer of the early Baroque period. He took the name "Cavalli" from his patron, Venetian nobleman Federico Cavalli.
An impresario is a person who organizes and often finances concerts, plays, or operas, performing a role in stage arts that is similar to that of a film or television producer.
Carlo Bergonzi was an Italian operatic tenor. Although he performed and recorded some bel canto and verismo roles, he was above all associated with the operas of Giuseppe Verdi, including many of the composer's lesser known works he helped revive. He sang more than forty other roles throughout his career.
Gino Vanelli was an Italian operatic baritone who had an active international career from 1917 until his retirement in 1955. He made several recordings for HMV and Columbia Records, including complete recordings of the operas La boheme, Pagliacci, and Madama Butterfly.
Pier Miranda Ferraro was an Italian operatic tenor who had an active international opera career from 1951 through 1981. He particularly excelled in the dramatic Italian repertoire with his signature role being the title role in Giuseppe Verdi's opera Otello. Other important roles in his performance repertoire included Radames in Verdi's Aida, Alvaro in La Forza del Destino, and des Grieux in Giacomo Puccini's Manon Lescaut. He also found success in the German repertoire portraying Wagnerian heroes. Although he was a gifted singer and had a highly impressive list of performance credits, he never achieved the international recognition enjoyed by his most important contemporaries, such as Franco Corelli or Mario Del Monaco. After retiring from the opera stage in 1981 he took up a second highly successful career as a voice teacher.
Riccardo Stracciari was a leading Italian baritone. His repertoire consisted mainly of Italian operatic works, with Rossini's Figaro and Verdi's Rigoletto becoming his signature roles during a long and distinguished career which stretched from 1899 to 1944.
Štefan Margita is a Slovak opera singer who has had an active international career since 1981. He began his career singing mostly roles from the lyric tenor repertoire but in recent years he has tackled a number of dramatic tenor roles. His career has taken him to the stages of many of the world's best opera houses, including La Scala, the Royal Opera, London, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Liceu, and the Opéra Bastille. Margita has had his debut performance at the Metropolitan Opera in November 2009 as Luka Kuzmič in Leoš Janáček's From the House of the Dead.
Vincenzo La Scola was an Italian tenor and flute player who had a successful international opera career for more than 25 years. He was particularly admired for his portrayals in operas by Giuseppe Verdi, Giacomo Puccini, Gaetano Donizetti, and Vincenzo Bellini. He also achieved success as a crossover artist, particularly in his many collaborations with singer-songwriter Cliff Richard and for his solo crossover album for EMI, Vita Mia (1999). In 2000 he was made a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, and from 2004 until his sudden death in 2011 he served as principal teacher and artistic director of the Accademia Verdi Toscanini in Parma.
Gaetano Bavagnoli (1879–1933) was an Italian conductor who was particularly known for his work within the field of opera. He was mainly active within Italy's major opera houses during the first third of the 20th century; although he did conduct at important international stages like the Metropolitan Opera in New York City and the Royal Opera House in London as well. He also worked as a voice teacher and was notably the instructor of opera singers Emanuel Kopecky, Lina Pagliughi, and Aureliano Pertile.
Carlo Meliciani was an Italian operatic baritone who had an active international career from the mid-1950s through the late 1970s. From 1959 to 1979 he was on the roster of singers at La Scala in Milan. Although he sang a wide repertoire, he was particularly known for his portrayal of roles from the operas of Giuseppe Verdi. He notably recorded the part of Don Carlo in Ernani in 1969 with Plácido Domingo in the title role.
Gottardo Aldighieri was an Italian operatic baritone who had a major opera career in Italy from 1858 to 1885. He possessed a powerful and beautiful voice and appeared on the stages of most of Italy's great opera houses. He sang a broad repertoire which encompassed works by Italian, French, and German composers. His vocal range was wide, which enabled him to tackle some tenor roles during his career, although he mostly stayed within the baritone repertory. The composer Luigi Arditi devoted his famous waltz song, Il bacio, to him. He was married to the soprano Maria Spezia-Aldighieri, who also had an important opera career in Italy. He is the great grandfather of singer George Aaron.
Alessandro Sanquirico was an Italian scenic designer, architect, and painter. He began his career in conjunction with leading artists of the time such as Paolo Landriani, Giovanni Pedroni, Giovanni Perego, and Georgio Fuentes. Additionally, he studied architecture and perspective with Giuseppe Piermarini, the architect of the La Scala opera house.
Vincenzo Negrini was an Italian bass-baritone opera singer. Born in Cesena, he sang leading bass and baritone roles in Italy's major opera houses and created several roles in early 19th-century operas, most notably Oroveso in Bellini's Norma and Folco in Donizetti's Ugo, conte di Parigi. Severe heart disease caused him to retire from the stage in June 1840. He died in Milan two months later at the age of 35.
Vincenzo Galli was an Italian opera singer and impresario. Considered an outstanding basso buffo singer, he created many roles on Italian stages, including in two of Donizetti's operas: Ivano in Otto mesi in due ore and Cesare Salzapariglia in Le convenienze ed inconvenienze teatrali. Luigi Ricci composed the role of Michelotto in his opera Chiara di Rosembergh specifically for Galli's voice.
The Teatro Carcano is a theatre in Milan, Italy, located at 63 Corso di Porta Romana. Although now exclusively devoted to plays and dance, it served as an opera house for much of the 19th century and saw the premieres of several important operas. Completed in 1803, the theatre was commissioned by the Milanese aristocrat and theatre-lover Giuseppe Carcano and originally designed by Luigi Canonica. Over the succeeding two centuries it has undergone several restructurings and renovations and for a time in the mid-20th century functioned as a cinema.
Pio Botticelli was an Italian bass-baritone active in the opera houses of Italy from 1810 until the mid-1840s. Amongst the numerous roles he created in world premieres were Pietro il Grande in Donizetti's Il falegname di Livonia and The Caliph in Pacini's La schiava in Bagdad. He also sang the role of Leucippo in the Austrian premiere of Rossini's Zelmira.
