Rolando Panerai

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Rolando Panerai (born on October 17, 1924) italian baritone, particularly associated with the Italian repertory, he enjoyed a long and distinguished career in both comic and dramatic roles.

[edit] Biography

Rolando Panerai was born in Ciampi Bisenzio, near Florence, Italy. He studied with Frazzi in Florence and Armani and Giulia Tess in Milan. Panerai made his debut as the pharaon in Rossini's Mosè in Egitto at the Teatro di San Carlo of Naples in 1947. Other important debut were as Simon Boccanegra in Bergamo and as Sharpless in Madama Butterfly at La Scala in Milan both in 1951. He sang in many rarely performed Verdi opera such as Giovanna d'Arco, La Battaglia di Legnano, Aroldo, on radio broadcast for RAI in 1951, to commemorate Verdi's 50th death anniversary. Later roles included the great Verdi baritone roles such as Rigoletto, di Luna in Il Trovatore, Germont in La Traviata, Amonasro in Aida. He also enjoyed considerable success in comic roles making a specialty of such roles as Figaro in Nozze di Figaro, Leporello in Don Giovanni, both Guglielmo and Alfonso in Cosi fan tutte, roles he often sang at both the Aix-en-Provence and Salzburg festivals. He also excelled as Figaro in Il barbiere di Siviglia, as both Belcore and Dulcamara in Elisir d'amore, Malatesta and the title role in Don Pasquale.

Panerai left an impressive discography, often partnering with Maria Callas and Giuseppe di Stefano, as in Il Trovatore, Cavalleria rusticana, Pagliacci, La Bohème. He also recorded a notable Madama Butterfly, opposite Renata Scotto and Carlo Bergonzi, and La Traviata, opposite Beverly Sills and Nicolai Gedda.

Rolando Panerai has a dark and vibrant voice, and has enjoyed a remarkably long and distinguished career singing Germont as recently as the year 2000 in a French televised production of La Traviata next to Jose Cura and Eteri Gvazava, his voice in very good shape for a man of 76.

[edit] Sources

• Alain Pâris, Dictionnaire des interprètes et de l'interpretation musicale au XX siècle (2 vols), Ed. Robert Laffont (Bouquins, Paris 1982, 4th Edn. 1995, 5th Edn 2004). ISBN 2-221-06660-X
• D. Hamilton (ed.),The Metropolitan Opera Encyclopedia: A Complete Guide to the World of Opera (Simon and Schuster, New York 1987). ISBN 0-671-16732-X
• Roland Mancini and Jean-Jacques Rouveroux, (orig. H. Rosenthal and J. Warrack, French edition), Guide de l’opéra, Les indispensables de la musique (Fayard, 1995). ISBN 2-213-01563-6