Nicola Filacuridi
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Nicola Filacuridi (born in 1922) is an Egyptian-born Italian operatic tenor.
Filacuridi was born in Alexandria, Egypt into a family of Italian origin. He first studied in his native city and made his debut at the Cairo Opera in 1945, as Turridu in Cavalleria rusticana. Shortly after this, he left for Italy to continue his studies with Federico del Cupulo.
He made his Italian stage debut in Savona, as Alfredo, in 1949. The following year, he appeared at the Rome Opera as Maurizio in Adriana Lecouvreur. He then sang at all the major opera houses of Italy, Trieste, Venice, Parma, Turin, Florence, Naples, etc. He made his La Scala debut in 1953, in a contemporary work Leonore 40/45 by Rolf Liebermann, and took part in the premiere of the Dialogues of the Carmelites in 1957. He also sang in Paul Hindemith 's Mathis der Maler in 1958. Throughout the 1950s he was very active singing on Italian radio and television (RAI) appearing notably in productions of Lucia di Lammermoor, opposite Anna Moffo, La traviata, opposite Rosanna Carteri and Carlo Tagliabue, and Adriana Lecouvreur, opposite Marcella Pobbé and Fedora Barbieri.
He also began making guest appearances outside Italy, notably at the Monte Carlo Opera, at La Monnaie in Brussels, the Vienna State Opera, the Royal Opera House in London, and the festivals of Aix-en-Provence and Glyndebourne. He also appeared in Spain, Portugal, Argentina, Brazil, the Dallas Opera and the Sydney Opera House.
Filacuridi sang a wide range of roles in operas such as; Rigoletto, Un ballo in maschera, La bohème, Tosca, Les contes d'Hoffmann, Louise, Werther, Idomeneo, and Lohengrin. He also created roles in contemporary works such as Il Capelli di Paglia di Firenze by Nino Rota and La Guerra by Renzo Rossellini. He sang some 65 roles throughout his career.
