Benvenuto Franci
Enzo de Muro Lomanto
Andrey Labinsky
Pia Tassinari
Nicolae Herlea
Emmy Destinn
Domenico Viglione Borghese
Mariano Stabile
Giuseppe Bellantoni
Tito Schipa
Ferruccio Tagliavini
Rudolf Gerlach-Rusnak
Peter Lindroos
Herbert Ernst Groh
Julius Patzak
Renata Scotto
Juan Diego Flórez
Magda Olivero
Artists

Biographies

  • Benvenuto Franci

    Benvenuto Franci

    Benvenuto Franci born on July 1st 1891 in Pienza (Siena), was another pupil of the Accademia Santa Cecilia in Rome (Antonio Cotogni and Enrico Rosati were his teachers). In 1918 his debut in opera took place at Rome`s Teatro Costanzi in the role of Gianetto in …

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  • Else Gentner-Fischer

    Else Gentner-Fischer

    Else Gentner-Fischer was born on September 5th 1883 in Frankfurt am Main where she also began and finished her vocal studies. At the local Opera House she made her operatic debut in 1905 and in the same year married the tenor, Karl Gentner (1876-1922) who, like …

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Articles, Interviews & Memories

  • San Diego Opera presents Gilbert and Sullivan's THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE in October, 2017. Photo by Jeff Roffman for The Atlanta Opera.

    Sitting Down with Greer Grimsley & Luretta Bybee

    San Diego opera opens its 2017/2018 season on Saturday October 14th with Gilbert and Sullivan’s comic opera, or operetta, Pirates of Penzance. Bass-Baritone Greer Grimsley will be the Pirate King and Mezzo-Soprano Luretta Bybee will be Ruth, a pirate maid. Grimsley and Bybee are real-life …

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  • David Bennett

    Sitting down with San Diego Opera’s David Bennett

    In early 2014, San Diego Opera surprised everyone with an announcement that the company was closing at the end of that season. In the past, the opera had featured stars like Joan Sutherland

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Focus Feature

Le Postillon de Lonjumeau

Le postillon de Lonjumeau 1836

The history of opera is littered with shipwrecks which sail with great success when first launched only to sink into oblivion for one reason or another. Some are lost forever and some are re-floated only to sail out briefly before returning to dry-dock. It seems that ‘Le Postillon de Lonjumeau’ has become something of a pleasure boat which is only given the odd cruise in its home waters of France, kept afloat almost solely by its famous tenor aria of the same title. It is an aria full of verve, humour, melody requiring great vocal skill.

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