Ramón Vinay

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Ramón Vinay (August 31, 1911 – January 4, 1996) was a famous Chilean operatic tenor.

[edit] Biography

Vinay started his career as a baritone, switched to tenor and eventually gravitated back to baritone roles. Born in Chillán, Chile, he is best known for his Otello in Verdi's opera of the same name, which, for a time, he made his own. He performed the role in a complete performance of the opera conducted by Arturo Toscanini on radio in 1947, with Giuseppe Valdengo, Herva Nelli, Nan Merriman, and the NBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus. This performance was subsequently issued by RCA Victor on both LP and CD. In recent years, it has appeared on other compact disc labels, notably the Guild label. Many critics consider it the best Otello ever recorded. Vinay was also the first tenor to sing the role on television. That was in 1948, in the very first complete performance of an opera telecast from the Met. He also sang it at La Scala, in Salzburg, and at Covent Garden. In all, he performed it hundreds of times. He is the only opera singer to sing both the roles of Otello and Iago in Verdi's opera. However, his repertoire was ample and also included Wagnerian roles, as well as Don José in Carmen and Samson in Saint-Saëns's Samson et Dalila.

[edit] Selected Recordings

Bizet - Carmen (Stokowski/Heidt, Pease, M. Koshetz) - Eklipse

Saint-Saëns - Samson et Dalila (Cellini/Stevens) - VAI

Verdi - Otello (Toscanini/Nelli, Valdengo) - RCA

Verdi - Otello (Busch/Albanese, Warren) - Preiser Arkadia

Verdi - Otello (Furtwängler/Martinis, Schöffler) - EMI

Verdi - Otello (Cleva 1950/1951/excerpts/Steber, Guarrera) - Preiser

Wagner - Lohengrin (Sawallisch/Thomas, Silja, Varnay, Crass) - Philips
Wagner - Parsifal (Krauss/Mödl, London, Weber, Uhde, Greindl) - Arlecchino
Wagner - Parsifal (Knappertsbusch/Mödl, Fischer-Dieskau, Greindl) - Myto

Wagner - Der Ring des Nibelungen (Keilberth/Mödl, Resnik, Hotter, Windgassen, Uhde, Weber) - Melodram

Wagner - Der Ring des Nibelungen (Krauss/Varnay, Hotter, Resnik, Greindl, Malaniuk) - Gala

Wagner - Tannhäuser (Keilberth/Brouwenstijn, Fischer-Dieskau, Greindl)- Melodram

Wagner - Tristan und Isolde (Jochum/Varnay, Neidlinger, Weber, Malaniuk) - Melodram
Wagner - Tristan und Isolde (Karajan/Mödl, Weber, Hotter, Malaniuk) - Myto
Recital live (Arias by Verdi, Leoncavallo, Saint-Saëns, Wagner, duets with Ljuba Welitsch) - Melodram
Four Famous Met-Tenors of the Past (Peerce, Björling, Tucker) - Preiser - LV
Met - 100 Singers - RCA