Enrico Di Giuseppe
Encyclopedia
Enrico Di Giuseppe was a celebrated Italian-American opera
tic tenor
who had an active performance career from the late 1950s through the 1990s. He spent most of his career performing in New York City, juggling concurrent performance contracts with both the New York City Opera
(NYCO) and the Metropolitan Opera
during the 1970s and 1980s. In the latter part of his career he was particularly active with the New York Grand Opera.
Possessing a lyric tenor voice with a bright timbre and easy upper extension, Di Giuseppe excelled in the Italian repertory. He was particularly successful in tackeling the bel canto
repertoire, notably partnering Beverly Sills
in productions of Donizetti
's Anna Bolena
, Maria Stuarda
, and Roberto Devereux
, as well as Bellini
's I puritani
at the NYCO. Di Giuseppe performed in similar repertoire at the Met opposite other notable bel canto interpreters like Dame Joan Sutherland
, Marilyn Horne
and Renata Scotto
.
, in 1932. His first musical experience was with the clarinet
, which he played in school. He attended the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music
, where he studied with Richard Bonelli
. After service with the United States Army Field Band, he went on to study at The Juilliard School under Hans Heinz.
He made his formal debut in the summer of 1959, as the Chevalier des Grieux in Jules Massenet
's Manon
, with The Experimental Opera Theatre of America (affiliated with the New Orleans Opera
Association), conducted by Renato Cellini
and directed by Armando Agnini
. In 1960 he made his debut with the Philadelphia Grand Opera Company
as Rodolfo in Giacomo Puccini
's La bohème
opposite Margarita Zambrana as Mimì. He sang with the PGOC several more times during the 1960s and 1970s, including portraying Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly
(1963), Count Almaviva in Il barbiere di Siviglia (1963, 1975), Cassio in Otello
(1964), Alfredo in La traviata
(1970), and the title role in Faust
(1974).
In 1962 Di Giuseppe made his debut with the San Francisco Opera
as Mario Cavaradossi in Puccini's Tosca
with Giulia Barrera in the title role and Chester Ludgin
as Scarpia. He returned to that house two years later to sing Rodolfo to Lee Venora
's Mimì. Among Di Giuseppe's other early professional opportunities were stints touring with Boris Goldovsky
's New England Opera Theater
and with the fledgling, and short-lived, Metropolitan Opera National Company (MONC). While working for the MONC on a 1966 production of Rossini's La cenerentola
, he met his wife, soprano
Lorna Ceniceros. Lorna was playing the role of Clorinda in the production and Enrico was portraying Ramiro.
(NYCO) and at the Metropolitan Opera
. He made his NYCO debut in 1965 as Michele in Gian Carlo Menotti
's The Saint of Bleecker Street
. He returned in 1967 for what was possibly his greatest success, the difficult, "tenor-altino" role of the Astrologue in Rimsky-Korsakov
's The Golden Cockerel
, opposite Norman Treigle
and Beverly Sills
, conducted by Julius Rudel
and directed by Tito Capobianco
. He would go on to perform twenty-six roles at City Opera over sixteen years, in operas such as The Barber of Seville
, The Magic Flute
, Der Rosenkavalier
, Cavalleria rusticana
, Tosca
, Manon, Gianni Schicchi
, Madama Butterfly
, Faust
, Capriccio
, La traviata
, La bohème
, La Cenerentola
, Lucia di Lammermoor
, Rigoletto
, Un ballo in maschera
, Roberto Devereux, Don Giovanni
(directed by Frank Corsaro
), Maria Stuarda, Anna Bolena, I puritani, La fille du régiment, Attila
, The Makropulos Case, and Mefistofele
.
Di Giuseppe's Metropolitan Opera
debut took place less than five years after his NYCO debut, in a 1969 concert in Central Park as Alfredo. His first appearance on the actual stage of the Metropolitan Opera House
was on January 1, 1970, opposite Martina Arroyo
in Madama Butterfly. He was seen there, until 1986, in Cavalleria rusticana, The Barber of Seville, Werther
(replacing Franco Corelli
), Rigoletto, La fille du régiment (opposite Sutherland), La bohème, La traviata, Un ballo in maschera, La sonnambula
, Faust, L'elisir d'amore
, L'italiana in Algeri
(with Horne), Der Rosenkavalier, Don Pasquale
, Così fan tutte
, Le siège de Corinthe
, Adriana Lecouvreur
(opposite Scotto), Samson et Dalila
(as The Philistine Man, with Jon Vickers
in the name part), and Rigoletto.
After the mid 1980s, Di Giuseppe was no longer appearing with either City Opera or the Met; he made his final Met appearance in 1986. In the following years, he regularly performed with the New York Grand Opera.
, Cincinnati Opera
, Dallas Opera
, the Houston Grand Opera
, and the Pittsburgh Opera
among others. In 1973 he made his only appearance with the Philadelphia Lyric Opera Company
as Tonio in La fille du régiment
opposite Sills as Marie. He appeared in the Opera Company of Philadelphia
's (OCP) very first season in January 1976 as Pinkerton to the Cio-cio-san of Atsuko Azuma. He returned to the OCP once more in 1980 to portray Nadir in Georges Bizet
's Les pêcheurs de perles
with Faye Robinson as Leïla.
Outside of the US, Di Giuseppe made appearances with Ottawa Opera, the Canadian Opera Company
, Vancouver Opera
, and the Palacio de Bellas Artes
in Mexico City
. He also performed the role of Don José in Ireland in 1984 and made several appearances in operas in Asia from 1983 to 1985.
and The Juilliard School. At the age of 73, the tenor succumbed to cancer, in Voorhees
, New Jersey
, on December 31, 2005. His wife Lorna Ceniceros survived him, along with a son and a brother.
, Paul Plishka
, and James Levine
conducting his first operatic recording. In 2009, Deutsche Grammophon
published it on compact disc.
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
tic tenor
Tenor
The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...
who had an active performance career from the late 1950s through the 1990s. He spent most of his career performing in New York City, juggling concurrent performance contracts with both the New York City Opera
New York City Opera
The New York City Opera is an American opera company located in New York City.The company, called "the people's opera" by New York Mayor Fiorello La Guardia, was founded in 1943 with the aim of making opera financially accessible to a wide audience, producing an innovative choice of repertory, and...
(NYCO) and the Metropolitan Opera
Metropolitan Opera
The Metropolitan Opera is an opera company, located in New York City. Originally founded in 1880, the company gave its first performance on October 22, 1883. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager...
during the 1970s and 1980s. In the latter part of his career he was particularly active with the New York Grand Opera.
Possessing a lyric tenor voice with a bright timbre and easy upper extension, Di Giuseppe excelled in the Italian repertory. He was particularly successful in tackeling the bel canto
Bel canto
Bel canto , along with a number of similar constructions , is an Italian opera term...
repertoire, notably partnering Beverly Sills
Beverly Sills
Beverly Sills was an American operatic soprano whose peak career was between the 1950s and 1970s. In her prime she was the only real rival to Joan Sutherland as the leading bel canto stylist...
in productions of Donizetti
Gaetano Donizetti
Domenico Gaetano Maria Donizetti was an Italian composer from Bergamo, Lombardy. His best-known works are the operas L'elisir d'amore , Lucia di Lammermoor , and Don Pasquale , all in Italian, and the French operas La favorite and La fille du régiment...
's Anna Bolena
Anna Bolena
Anna Bolena is a tragedia lirica, or opera, in two acts by Gaetano Donizetti. Felice Romani wrote the Italian libretto after Ippolito Pindemonte's Enrico VIII ossia Anna Bolena and Alessandro Pepoli's Anna Bolena, both telling of the life of Anne Boleyn...
, Maria Stuarda
Maria Stuarda
Maria Stuarda is a tragic opera, , in two acts, by Gaetano Donizetti, to a libretto by Giuseppe Bardari, based on Friedrich Schiller's 1800 play Maria Stuart....
, and Roberto Devereux
Roberto Devereux
Roberto Devereux is a tragedia lirica, or tragic opera, by Gaetano Donizetti...
, as well as Bellini
Vincenzo Bellini
Vincenzo Salvatore Carmelo Francesco Bellini was an Italian opera composer. His greatest works are I Capuleti ed i Montecchi , La sonnambula , Norma , Beatrice di Tenda , and I puritani...
's I puritani
I puritani
I puritani is an opera in three acts by Vincenzo Bellini. It was his last opera. Its libretto is by Count Carlo Pepoli, based on Têtes rondes et Cavaliers by Jacques-François Ancelot and Joseph Xavier Saintine, which is in turn based on Walter Scott's novel Old Mortality. It was first produced at...
at the NYCO. Di Giuseppe performed in similar repertoire at the Met opposite other notable bel canto interpreters like Dame Joan Sutherland
Joan Sutherland
Dame Joan Alston Sutherland, OM, AC, DBE was an Australian dramatic coloratura soprano noted for her contribution to the renaissance of the bel canto repertoire from the late 1950s through to the 1980s....
, Marilyn Horne
Marilyn Horne
Marilyn Horne is an American mezzo-soprano opera singer. She specialized in roles requiring a large sound, beauty of tone, excellent breath support, and the ability to execute difficult coloratura passages....
and Renata Scotto
Renata Scotto
Renata Scotto is an Italian soprano and opera director.Recognized for her sense of style, musicality and as a remarkable singer-actress, Scotto is considered one of the preeminent singers of her generation, specializing in the bel canto repertoire with excursions into the verismo and Verdi...
.
Early life and career
Di Giuseppe was born in Philadelphia, PennsylvaniaPennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
, in 1932. His first musical experience was with the clarinet
Clarinet
The clarinet is a musical instrument of woodwind type. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and uses a single reed...
, which he played in school. He attended the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music
Curtis Institute of Music
The Curtis Institute of Music is a conservatory in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that offers courses of study leading to a performance Diploma, Bachelor of Music, Master of Music in Opera, and Professional Studies Certificate in Opera. According to statistics compiled by U.S...
, where he studied with Richard Bonelli
Richard Bonelli
right|thumb|Bonelli, ca. 1940sRichard Bonelli was an American operatic baritone active from 1915 to the late 1970s.-Life and career:...
. After service with the United States Army Field Band, he went on to study at The Juilliard School under Hans Heinz.
He made his formal debut in the summer of 1959, as the Chevalier des Grieux in Jules Massenet
Jules Massenet
Jules Émile Frédéric Massenet was a French composer best known for his operas. His compositions were very popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and he ranks as one of the greatest melodists of his era. Soon after his death, Massenet's style went out of fashion, and many of his operas...
's Manon
Manon
Manon is an opéra comique in five acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Henri Meilhac and Philippe Gille, based on the 1731 novel L’histoire du chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut by the Abbé Prévost...
, with The Experimental Opera Theatre of America (affiliated with the New Orleans Opera
New Orleans Opera
Opera has long been part of the musical culture of New Orleans, Louisiana. Operas have regularly been performed in the city since the 1790s, and for the majority of the city's history since the early 19th century, New Orleans has had a resident company regularly performing opera in addition to...
Association), conducted by Renato Cellini
Renato Cellini
Renato Cellini was a celebrated Italian opera conductor. His father was Enzio Cellini, who was a stage director who worked with Arturo Toscanini.- Metropolitan Opera :...
and directed by Armando Agnini
Armando Agnini
- Metropolitan Opera :Born in Naples, Italy, he went to the United States at the age of eighteen. He was associated with companies in Boston and Montreal, and made his debut with the Metropolitan Opera with a production of I puritani , in 1919...
. In 1960 he made his debut with the Philadelphia Grand Opera Company
Philadelphia Grand Opera Company
The Philadelphia Grand Opera Company was the name of four different American opera companies active at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania during the twentieth century. The last and most well known of the four was founded in November 1954 with the merger of the Philadelphia Civic...
as Rodolfo in Giacomo Puccini
Giacomo Puccini
Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini was an Italian composer whose operas, including La bohème, Tosca, Madama Butterfly, and Turandot, are among the most frequently performed in the standard repertoire...
's La bohème
La bohème
La bohème is an opera in four acts,Puccini called the divisions quadro, a tableau or "image", rather than atto . by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, based on Scènes de la vie de bohème by Henri Murger...
opposite Margarita Zambrana as Mimì. He sang with the PGOC several more times during the 1960s and 1970s, including portraying Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly
Madama Butterfly
Madama Butterfly is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini, with an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. Puccini based his opera in part on the short story "Madame Butterfly" by John Luther Long, which was dramatized by David Belasco...
(1963), Count Almaviva in Il barbiere di Siviglia (1963, 1975), Cassio in Otello
Otello
Otello is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Arrigo Boito, based on Shakespeare's play Othello. It was Verdi's penultimate opera, and was first performed at the Teatro alla Scala, Milan, on February 5, 1887....
(1964), Alfredo in La traviata
La traviata
La traviata is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi set to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. It is based on La dame aux Camélias , a play adapted from the novel by Alexandre Dumas, fils. The title La traviata means literally The Fallen Woman, or perhaps more figuratively, The Woman...
(1970), and the title role in Faust
Faust (opera)
Faust is a drame lyrique in five acts by Charles Gounod to a French libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré from Carré's play Faust et Marguerite, in turn loosely based on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust, Part 1...
(1974).
In 1962 Di Giuseppe made his debut with the San Francisco Opera
San Francisco Opera
San Francisco Opera is an American opera company, based in San Francisco, California.It was founded in 1923 by Gaetano Merola and is the second largest opera company in North America...
as Mario Cavaradossi in Puccini's Tosca
Tosca
Tosca is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It premiered at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome on 14 January 1900...
with Giulia Barrera in the title role and Chester Ludgin
Chester Ludgin
-Biography:Chester Ludgin was a native of Brooklyn, New York. He made his professional debut in 1956 with The Experimental Opera Theatre of America , as Baron Scarpia in Giacomo Puccini's Tosca, conducted by Renato Cellini and directed by Armando Agnini...
as Scarpia. He returned to that house two years later to sing Rodolfo to Lee Venora
Lee Venora
Lee Venora is an American operatic soprano and stage actress. She was highly active with the New York City Opera between 1957 and 1967 and was also a regular performer at the San Francisco Opera between 1961 and 1966. She also appeared in a few Broadway musicals, Lincoln Center Revivals, and...
's Mimì. Among Di Giuseppe's other early professional opportunities were stints touring with Boris Goldovsky
Boris Goldovsky
Boris Goldovsky was a Russian conductor and broadcast commentator, active in the United States. He has been called an important "popularizer" of opera in America...
's New England Opera Theater
New England Opera Theater
The New England Opera Theatre was an American opera company that was active from 1945 to 1985. Founded by Boris Goldovsky in January 1945, the company was originally based in Boston, Massachusetts. It was initially established under the sponsorship of the New England Conservatory as a training...
and with the fledgling, and short-lived, Metropolitan Opera National Company (MONC). While working for the MONC on a 1966 production of Rossini's La cenerentola
La Cenerentola
La Cenerentola, ossia La bontà in trionfo is an operatic dramma giocoso in two acts by Gioachino Rossini. The libretto was written by Jacopo Ferretti, based on the fairy tale Cinderella...
, he met his wife, soprano
Soprano
A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...
Lorna Ceniceros. Lorna was playing the role of Clorinda in the production and Enrico was portraying Ramiro.
Working in New York City
Di Giuseppe is one of the few opera singers to have had lengthy overlapping careers at both the New York City OperaNew York City Opera
The New York City Opera is an American opera company located in New York City.The company, called "the people's opera" by New York Mayor Fiorello La Guardia, was founded in 1943 with the aim of making opera financially accessible to a wide audience, producing an innovative choice of repertory, and...
(NYCO) and at the Metropolitan Opera
Metropolitan Opera
The Metropolitan Opera is an opera company, located in New York City. Originally founded in 1880, the company gave its first performance on October 22, 1883. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager...
. He made his NYCO debut in 1965 as Michele in Gian Carlo Menotti
Gian Carlo Menotti
Gian Carlo Menotti was an Italian-American composer and librettist. Although he often referred to himself as an American composer, he kept his Italian citizenship. He wrote the classic Christmas opera, Amahl and the Night Visitors, among about two dozen other operas intended to appeal to popular...
's The Saint of Bleecker Street
The Saint of Bleecker Street
The Saint of Bleecker Street is an opera in three acts by Gian Carlo Menotti to an original English libretto by the composer. It was first performed at The Broadway Theatre in New York City on December 27, 1954. David Poleri and Davis Cunningham alternated in the role of Michele, and Thomas...
. He returned in 1967 for what was possibly his greatest success, the difficult, "tenor-altino" role of the Astrologue in Rimsky-Korsakov
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov was a Russian composer, and a member of the group of composers known as The Five.The Five, also known as The Mighty Handful or The Mighty Coterie, refers to a circle of composers who met in Saint Petersburg, Russia, in the years 1856–1870: Mily Balakirev , César...
's The Golden Cockerel
The Golden Cockerel
The Golden Cockerel is an opera in three acts, with short prologue and even shorter epilogue, by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. Its libretto, by Vladimir Belsky, derives from Alexander Pushkin's 1834 poem The Tale of the Golden Cockerel, which in turn is based on two chapters of Tales of the Alhambra by...
, opposite Norman Treigle
Norman Treigle
Norman Treigle was an American operatic bass-baritone, who was acclaimed for his great abilities as a singing-actor, and specialized in roles that evoked villainy and terror....
and Beverly Sills
Beverly Sills
Beverly Sills was an American operatic soprano whose peak career was between the 1950s and 1970s. In her prime she was the only real rival to Joan Sutherland as the leading bel canto stylist...
, conducted by Julius Rudel
Julius Rudel
Julius Rudel is an American opera and orchestra conductor who emigrated to the United States from Austria at the age of 17 and studied conducting at the Mannes College of Music in New York City. He then forged a 35-year career with the New York City Opera, from 1944 to 1979, and was the Music...
and directed by Tito Capobianco
Tito Capobianco
Tito Capobianco is a noted stage director of opera.He made his official debut with Aïda, at the Teatro Argentino, La Plata, in 1953, then worked at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires...
. He would go on to perform twenty-six roles at City Opera over sixteen years, in operas such as The Barber of Seville
The Barber of Seville
The Barber of Seville, or The Futile Precaution is an opera buffa in two acts by Gioachino Rossini with a libretto by Cesare Sterbini. The libretto was based on Pierre Beaumarchais's comedy Le Barbier de Séville , which was originally an opéra comique, or a mixture of spoken play with music...
, The Magic Flute
The Magic Flute
The Magic Flute is an opera in two acts composed in 1791 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. The work is in the form of a Singspiel, a popular form that included both singing and spoken dialogue....
, Der Rosenkavalier
Der Rosenkavalier
Der Rosenkavalier is a comic opera in three acts by Richard Strauss to an original German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. It is loosely adapted from the novel Les amours du chevalier de Faublas by Louvet de Couvrai and Molière’s comedy Monsieur de Pourceaugnac...
, Cavalleria rusticana
Cavalleria rusticana
Cavalleria rusticana is an opera in one act by Pietro Mascagni to an Italian libretto by Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti and Guido Menasci, adapted from a play written by Giovanni Verga based on his short story. Considered one of the classic verismo operas, it premiered on May 17, 1890 at the Teatro...
, Tosca
Tosca
Tosca is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It premiered at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome on 14 January 1900...
, Manon, Gianni Schicchi
Gianni Schicchi
Gianni Schicchi is a comic opera in one act by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Giovacchino Forzano, composed in 1917–18. The libretto is based on an incident mentioned in Dante's Divine Comedy. The work is the third and final part of Puccini's Il trittico —three one-act operas with...
, Madama Butterfly
Madama Butterfly
Madama Butterfly is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini, with an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. Puccini based his opera in part on the short story "Madame Butterfly" by John Luther Long, which was dramatized by David Belasco...
, Faust
Faust (opera)
Faust is a drame lyrique in five acts by Charles Gounod to a French libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré from Carré's play Faust et Marguerite, in turn loosely based on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust, Part 1...
, Capriccio
Capriccio (opera)
Capriccio is the final opera by German composer Richard Strauss, subtitled "A Conversation Piece for Music". The opera received its premiere performance at the Nationaltheater München on October 28, 1942. Clemens Krauss and Strauss himself wrote the German libretto...
, La traviata
La traviata
La traviata is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi set to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. It is based on La dame aux Camélias , a play adapted from the novel by Alexandre Dumas, fils. The title La traviata means literally The Fallen Woman, or perhaps more figuratively, The Woman...
, La bohème
La bohème
La bohème is an opera in four acts,Puccini called the divisions quadro, a tableau or "image", rather than atto . by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, based on Scènes de la vie de bohème by Henri Murger...
, La Cenerentola
La Cenerentola
La Cenerentola, ossia La bontà in trionfo is an operatic dramma giocoso in two acts by Gioachino Rossini. The libretto was written by Jacopo Ferretti, based on the fairy tale Cinderella...
, Lucia di Lammermoor
Lucia di Lammermoor
Lucia di Lammermoor is a dramma tragico in three acts by Gaetano Donizetti. Salvadore Cammarano wrote the Italian language libretto loosely based upon Sir Walter Scott's historical novel The Bride of Lammermoor....
, Rigoletto
Rigoletto
Rigoletto is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi. The Italian libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on the play Le roi s'amuse by Victor Hugo. It was first performed at La Fenice in Venice on March 11, 1851...
, Un ballo in maschera
Un ballo in maschera
Un ballo in maschera , is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi with text by Antonio Somma. The libretto is loosely based on an 1833 play, Gustave III, by French playwright Eugène Scribe who wrote about the historical assassination of King Gustav III of Sweden...
, Roberto Devereux, Don Giovanni
Don Giovanni
Don Giovanni is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and with an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It was premiered by the Prague Italian opera at the Teatro di Praga on October 29, 1787...
(directed by Frank Corsaro
Frank Corsaro
Frank Corsaro is one of America's foremost stage directors of opera and theatre. His Broadway productions include The Night of the Iguana ....
), Maria Stuarda, Anna Bolena, I puritani, La fille du régiment, Attila
Attila (opera)
Attila is an opera in a prologue and three acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Temistocle Solera, based on the play Attila, König der Hunnen by Friedrich Ludwig Zacharias Werner. Initially, Verdi had enlisted Francesco Maria Piave to prepare the libretto, after Verdi's own scenario...
, The Makropulos Case, and Mefistofele
Mefistofele
Mefistofele is an opera in a prologue, four acts and an epilogue, the only completed opera by the Italian composer-librettist Arrigo Boito.-Composition history:...
.
Di Giuseppe's Metropolitan Opera
Metropolitan Opera
The Metropolitan Opera is an opera company, located in New York City. Originally founded in 1880, the company gave its first performance on October 22, 1883. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager...
debut took place less than five years after his NYCO debut, in a 1969 concert in Central Park as Alfredo. His first appearance on the actual stage of the Metropolitan Opera House
Metropolitan Opera House (Lincoln Center)
The Metropolitan Opera House is an opera house located on Broadway at Lincoln Square in the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. Part of the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, the theater opened in 1966. It replaced the former Metropolitan Opera House at Broadway and 39th St...
was on January 1, 1970, opposite Martina Arroyo
Martina Arroyo
Martina Arroyo is an operatic soprano of Puerto Rican and African-American descent who had a major international opera career during the 1960s through the 1980s...
in Madama Butterfly. He was seen there, until 1986, in Cavalleria rusticana, The Barber of Seville, Werther
Werther
Werther is an opera in four acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Édouard Blau, Paul Milliet and Georges Hartmann based on the German epistolary novel The Sorrows of Young Werther by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe....
(replacing Franco Corelli
Franco Corelli
Franco Corelli was a famous Italian tenor who had a major international opera career between 1951 and 1976. Associated in particular with the spinto and dramatic tenor roles of the Italian repertory, he was celebrated universally for his powerhouse voice, electrifying top notes, clear timbre, a...
), Rigoletto, La fille du régiment (opposite Sutherland), La bohème, La traviata, Un ballo in maschera, La sonnambula
La sonnambula
La sonnambula is an opera semiseria in two acts, with music in the bel canto tradition by Vincenzo Bellini to an Italian libretto by Felice Romani, based on a scenario for a ballet-pantomime by Eugène Scribe and Jean-Pierre Aumer called La somnambule, ou L'arrivée d'un nouveau seigneur.The first...
, Faust, L'elisir d'amore
L'elisir d'amore
L'elisir d'amore is an opera by the Italian composer Gaetano Donizetti. It is a melodramma giocoso in two acts...
, L'italiana in Algeri
L'italiana in Algeri
L'italiana in Algeri is an operatic dramma giocoso in two acts by Gioachino Rossini to an Italian libretto by Angelo Anelli, based on his earlier text set by Luigi Mosca...
(with Horne), Der Rosenkavalier, Don Pasquale
Don Pasquale
Don Pasquale is an opera buffa, or comic opera, in three acts by Gaetano Donizetti. The librettist Giovanni Ruffini wrote the Italian language libretto after Angelo Anelli's libretto for Stefano Pavesi's Ser Marcantonio ....
, Così fan tutte
Così fan tutte
Così fan tutte, ossia La scuola degli amanti K. 588, is an opera buffa by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart first performed in 1790. The libretto was written by Lorenzo Da Ponte....
, Le siège de Corinthe
Le siège de Corinthe
Le siège de Corinthe is an opera in three acts by Gioachino Rossini to a French libretto by Luigi Balocchi and Alexandre Soumet, based on Maometto II by Cesare della Valle...
, Adriana Lecouvreur
Adriana Lecouvreur
Adriana Lecouvreur is an opera in four acts by Francesco Cilea to an Italian libretto by Arturo Colautti, based on the play by Eugène Scribe and Ernest Legouvé...
(opposite Scotto), Samson et Dalila
Samson and Delilah (opera)
Samson and Delilah , Op. 47, is a grand opera in three acts and four scenes by Camille Saint-Saëns to a French libretto by Ferdinand Lemaire...
(as The Philistine Man, with Jon Vickers
Jon Vickers
Jonathan Stewart Vickers, CC , known professionally as Jon Vickers, is a retired Canadian heldentenor.Born in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, he was the sixth in a family of eight children. In 1950, he was awarded a scholarship to study opera at The Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto...
in the name part), and Rigoletto.
After the mid 1980s, Di Giuseppe was no longer appearing with either City Opera or the Met; he made his final Met appearance in 1986. In the following years, he regularly performed with the New York Grand Opera.
Work as a freelance artist
While working primarily in New York City, Di Giuseppe did occasionally appear as a guest artist with other opera companies musical ensembles. He mostly was active in the United States, singing with such companies as Baltimore Opera, the Opera Company of BostonOpera Company of Boston
The Opera Company of Boston was an American opera company located in Boston, Massachusetts that was active during the late 1950s through the early 1990s. The company was founded by American conductor Sarah Caldwell in 1958 under the name Boston Opera Group. At one time, the touring arm of the...
, Cincinnati Opera
Cincinnati Opera
Cincinnati Opera is an American opera company based in Cincinnati, Ohio and the second oldest opera company in the United States .-History:...
, Dallas Opera
Dallas Opera
The Dallas Opera is an opera company located in Dallas, Texas . The company was founded in 1957 as the Dallas Civic Opera by Laurence Kelly and Nicolà Rescigno, both of whom had been active with the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the first as administrator, the second as artistic director.-The company's...
, the Houston Grand Opera
Houston Grand Opera
Houston Grand Opera Houston Grand Opera was founded in 1955 through the joint efforts of Maestro Walter Herbert and cultural leaders Mrs. Louis G. Lobit, Edward Bing and Charles Cockrell...
, and the Pittsburgh Opera
Pittsburgh Opera
Pittsburgh Opera is an American opera company based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It is one of two opera companies in the city, the other being Opera Theatre of Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh Opera gives performances in several venues, primarily at the Benedum Center, with other performances at the...
among others. In 1973 he made his only appearance with the Philadelphia Lyric Opera Company
Philadelphia Lyric Opera Company
The Philadelphia Lyric Opera Company was an American opera company located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania that was active between 1958 and 1974. The company was led by a number of Artistic Directors during its history, beginning with Aurelio Fabiani. Other notable Artistic Directors include Julius...
as Tonio in La fille du régiment
La fille du régiment
La fille du régiment is an opéra comique in two acts by Gaetano Donizetti. It was written while the composer was living in Paris, with a French libretto by Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges and Jean-François Bayard.La figlia del reggimento, a slightly different Italian-language version , was...
opposite Sills as Marie. He appeared in the Opera Company of Philadelphia
Opera Company of Philadelphia
The Opera Company of Philadelphia is an American opera company in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and is the city's only company producing grand opera. The organization produces four fully staged opera productions annually, encompassing works from the seventeenth through the 21st century...
's (OCP) very first season in January 1976 as Pinkerton to the Cio-cio-san of Atsuko Azuma. He returned to the OCP once more in 1980 to portray Nadir in Georges Bizet
Georges Bizet
Georges Bizet formally Alexandre César Léopold Bizet, was a French composer, mainly of operas. In a career cut short by his early death, he achieved few successes before his final work, Carmen, became one of the most popular and frequently performed works in the entire opera repertory.During a...
's Les pêcheurs de perles
Les pêcheurs de perles
Les pêcheurs de perles is an opera in three acts by the French composer Georges Bizet, to a libretto by Eugène Cormon and Michel Carré. It was first performed on 30 September 1863 at the Théâtre Lyrique in Paris, and was given 18 performances in its initial run...
with Faye Robinson as Leïla.
Outside of the US, Di Giuseppe made appearances with Ottawa Opera, the Canadian Opera Company
Canadian Opera Company
The Canadian Opera Company is an opera company in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the largest opera company in Canada and the third largest producer of opera in North America. The COC performs in its own opera house, the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts.-History:For 40 years until...
, Vancouver Opera
Vancouver Opera
Vancouver Opera is the second largest performing arts organization in British Columbia and the largest opera company in western Canada.It performs in the Queen Elizabeth Theatre accompanied currently by the Vancouver Opera Orchestra, one of two specialized opera orchestras in Canada...
, and the Palacio de Bellas Artes
Palacio de Bellas Artes
The Palacio de Bellas Artes is the most important cultural center in Mexico City as well as the rest of the country of Mexico...
in Mexico City
Mexico City
Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...
. He also performed the role of Don José in Ireland in 1984 and made several appearances in operas in Asia from 1983 to 1985.
Trivia
In the Paramount film, Foul Play (1978), a scene from The Mikado was seen. The tenor portrayed Nanki-Poo, and the scene was conducted by Rudel.Later life
Following his retirement, Di Giuseppe taught at Florida State UniversityFlorida State University
The Florida State University is a space-grant and sea-grant public university located in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. It is a comprehensive doctoral research university with medical programs and significant research activity as determined by the Carnegie Foundation...
and The Juilliard School. At the age of 73, the tenor succumbed to cancer, in Voorhees
Voorhees Township, New Jersey
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 28,126 people, 10,489 households, and 7,069 families residing in the township. The population density was 2,424.0 people per square mile . There were 11,084 housing units at an average density of 955.2 per square mile...
, New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
, on December 31, 2005. His wife Lorna Ceniceros survived him, along with a son and a brother.
Recordings
He can be heard as Pollione in Bellini's Norma (1973), on ABC Records, with Sills, Shirley VerrettShirley Verrett
Shirley Verrett was an African-American operatic mezzo-soprano who successfully transitioned into soprano roles i.e. soprano sfogato...
, Paul Plishka
Paul Plishka
Paul Plishka is a Ukrainian-American bass opera singer.Mr Plishka comes from Old Forge, Pennsylvania and Paterson, New Jersey; his parents were American-born children of Ukrainian immigrants...
, and James Levine
James Levine
James Lawrence Levine is an American conductor and pianist. He is currently the music director of the Metropolitan Opera and former music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Levine's first performance conducting the Metropolitan Opera was on June 5, 1971, and as of May 2011 he has...
conducting his first operatic recording. In 2009, Deutsche Grammophon
Deutsche Grammophon
Deutsche Grammophon is a German classical record label which was the foundation of the future corporation to be known as PolyGram. It is now part of Universal Music Group since its acquisition and absorption of PolyGram in 1999, and it is also UMG's oldest active label...
published it on compact disc.
External links
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v20EEY_Scl4 YouTube: Enrico Di Giuseppe in an excerpt from Macbeth (1984).