Mario Sammarco

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Mario Sammarco (December 13, 1868 - January 24, 1930) was an Italian operatic baritone.

He was born in Palermo, Sicily, where he made his operatic début as Valentine in Les Huguenots. In New York he was hired by Oscar Hammerstein I for his Manhattan Opera Company as a replacement for Maurice Renaud. He soon became the principal baritone for that company. He had a relatively smooth career until he met up with a disapproving Mary Garden in a Chicago Tosca in 1913. She requested that he be replaced, but after he named some of his former distinguished and uncomplaining Tosca partners, notably Emmy Destinn, the performances went on to critical success.