Franco Calabrese

Franco Calabrese (22 July 1923 in Palermo – 13 November 1992 in Lucca)^[1] was an Italian bass singer.

Biography

Calabrese grew up in Lucca, graduating from the Boccherini Institute In 1947. He made his stage debut at the Teatro Comunale in Florence.^[2] In 1952, he debuted at La Scala as Angelloti in the famous de Sabata Tosca.^[3]

He was particularly renowned for his Mozart and Rossini roles, and notably those of Don Alfonso in Cosi fan tutte and the Count Almaviva in The Marriage of Figaro.^[4] Calabrese appeared in this latter role in the noted 1955 recording, with Sesto Bruscanini, Graziella Sciuti and the Glyndebourne Festival Orchestra, under the baton of Vittorio Gui.^[5]

After retiring from singing, he taught stagecraft at the same Boccherini Institute in Lucca,^[2] where his students included, among others, Graziano Polidori, Giancarlo Ceccarini, Francesco Facini and Enrico Facini.

Discography (Incomplete)

• Tosca, with Maria Callas and Giuseppe di Stefano. Victor de Sabata cond. at La Scala, EMI, 1952^[3]
• The Marriage of Figaro, with Sesto Bruscanini and Graziella Sciuti. Vittorio Gui cond. at Abbey Road Studios, His Master's Voice, 1955^[5]
• La traviata, with Anna Moffo and Richard Tucker. Fernando Previtali cond. at The Rome Opera, RCA, 1960^[6]
• La bohème, with Mirella Freni and Luciano Pavarotti. Thomas Schippers cond. at the RAI Auditorium in Rome, 1969^[7]