Renato Cellini
Encyclopedia
Renato Cellini was a celebrated Italian opera conductor. His father was Enzio Cellini, who was a stage director who worked with Arturo Toscanini
.
, and where he debuted conducting Don Carlos, on April 9, 1952, with Jussi Björling
, Eleanor Steber
and Regina Resnik
in the cast. The following year, he led Aïda (with Herva Nelli
and Jean Madeira
) and La forza del destino (with Zinka Milanov
and Mario del Monaco
). In 1954, he conducted La forza again (now with Nelli and Leonard Warren
), and a double-bill of Cavalleria rusticana and Pagliacci.
Association, where he debuted with La bohème (staged by Armando Agnini
). While there, he founded The Experimental Opera Theatre of America (1954-60), in association with the New Orleans Opera. It was "designed to give young singers an opportunity to be heard in opera." These young singers included Harry Theyard
, Mignon Dunn, Norman Treigle
, John Reardon
, Audrey Schuh
, André Turp
, Chester Ludgin
, John Macurdy
, Stanley Kolk, Ara Berberian
, Enrico di Giuseppe
, Ticho Parly
, and Benjamin Rayson.
While in New Orleans, Cellini conducted performances of many operas, including Otello (with Ramón Vinay
and Nelli), Tosca (with Inge Borkh
and Robert Weede
), Lakmé, Amelia al ballo (with Schuh), Elektra, L'amore dei tre re, Falstaff (with Warren), Werther, La cenerentola, Boris Godunov (with Boris Christoff
), Il trovatore, Turandot, Norma, Don Giovanni (with Treigle), Tannhäuser, La Gioconda, Manon (with Phyllis Curtin
and Nicolai Gedda
), Un ballo in maschera, Orfeo ed Euridice, Der Rosenkavalier, Rigoletto (with Cornell MacNeil
), and La forza del destino (with Eileen Farrell
and Richard Cassilly
).
During the decade Cellini led the New Orleans Opera, many national and international stars made their local debuts with the company. These included Luigi Alva
(as Almaviva in Il barbiere di Siviglia), Giuseppe Campora
(as Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor), Lisa della Casa
(as the Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier), Plácido Domingo
(as Lord Arturo Bucklaw in Lucia), Gedda (as des Grieux), Louis Quilico
(as Lescaut), Cesare Siepi
(as Don Giovanni) and Beverly Sills
(the Heroines of Les contes d'Hoffmann).
In 1964, due to failing health, Cellini conducted for the last time, for a performance of Aïda. He died on March 25, 1967 (Holy Saturday
), in New Orleans, at the age of fifty-four, and is buried in Metairie Cemetery
. In 2004, his widow, Pinuccia, moved from New Orleans to Tennessee.
Arturo Toscanini
Arturo Toscanini was an Italian conductor. One of the most acclaimed musicians of the late 19th and 20th century, he was renowned for his intensity, his perfectionism, his ear for orchestral detail and sonority, and his photographic memory...
.
Metropolitan Opera
Cellini went to the United States in 1947, when he joined the staff of the Metropolitan OperaMetropolitan 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...
, and where he debuted conducting Don Carlos, on April 9, 1952, with Jussi Björling
Jussi Björling
Johan Jonatan "Jussi" Björling was a Swedish tenor. One of the leading operatic singers of the 20th Century, Björling appeared frequently at the Royal Opera House in London, La Scala in Milan, and the Metropolitan Opera in New York City as well as at other major European opera...
, Eleanor Steber
Eleanor Steber
Eleanor Steber was an American operatic soprano. Steber is noted as one of the first major opera stars to have achieved the highest success with training and a career based in the United States.-Biography:...
and Regina Resnik
Regina Resnik
Regina Resnik is an American operatic singer.Regina Resnik, the American mezzo-soprano, started a dramatic career ten months after earning her B.A. in Music at Hunter College. The role was Lady Macbeth under Fritz Busch in December, 1942 with the New Opera Company. A few months later, she sang...
in the cast. The following year, he led Aïda (with Herva Nelli
Herva Nelli
Herva Nelli was an Italian-born operatic soprano.-Biography:Named after the French socialist Gustave Hervé, she was born in Florence, where she attended a convent school...
and Jean Madeira
Jean Madeira
Jean Madeira was an American mezzo-soprano, particularly known for her work in late-romantic German repertoire such as the operas of Richard Wagner and Richard Strauss...
) and La forza del destino (with Zinka Milanov
Zinka Milanov
Zinka Milanov was a Croatian-born operatic spinto soprano who had a major career centred on the New York Metropolitan Opera.-Biography:...
and Mario del Monaco
Mario del Monaco
Mario Del Monaco was an Italian tenor who is regarded by his admirers as being one of the greatest dramatic tenors of the 20th century....
). In 1954, he conducted La forza again (now with Nelli and Leonard Warren
Leonard Warren
Leonard Warren was a famous American opera singer. A baritone, he was a leading artist for many years with the Metropolitan Opera in New York.-Biography:...
), and a double-bill of Cavalleria rusticana and Pagliacci.
New Orleans Opera
In 1954, Cellini was appointed General Director and Conductor of the New Orleans OperaNew 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, where he debuted with La bohème (staged 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...
). While there, he founded The Experimental Opera Theatre of America (1954-60), in association with the New Orleans Opera. It was "designed to give young singers an opportunity to be heard in opera." These young singers included Harry Theyard
Harry Theyard
Harry Theyard , tenor, is a native of New Orleans and is a 1957 graduate of Loyola University of the South, where he studied under Dorothy Hulse, who was also the teacher of Audrey Schuh and Charles Anthony...
, Mignon Dunn, 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....
, John Reardon
John Reardon
John Reardon is a Canadian former all-star college football player for Mount Allison University . He started acting in 2001 and has appeared in several TV shows and movies, such as Tru Calling as Randall Thompson, White Chicks as Heath, Scary Movie 4 as Jeremiah and Merlin's Apprentice as...
, Audrey Schuh
Audrey Schuh
Audrey Schuh was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, on , and studied both music and medical technology at Loyola University of the South, where she studied with Dorothy Hulse, who was also the pedagogue of Harry Theyard and Charles Anthony...
, André Turp
André Turp
André Turp was a Canadian tenor, particularly associated with the French and Italian repertories.- Life and career :...
, 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...
, John Macurdy
John Macurdy
John Macurdy is an esteemed American operatic bass. Among his teachers was the contralto Elisabeth Wood, who was also the pedagogue of Norman Treigle.- Début in New Orleans :...
, Stanley Kolk, Ara Berberian
Ara Berberian
Ara Berberian was an American operatic bass singer.Berberian made his debut in 1958 with the Turnau Opera in Woodstock, New York, as Don Magnifico in Rossini's La Cenerentola. He made his Metropolitan Opera debut in 1979 as Zacharie in Giacomo Meyerbeer's Le prophète...
, Enrico di Giuseppe
Enrico Di Giuseppe
Enrico Di Giuseppe was a celebrated Italian-American operatic 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 and the Metropolitan...
, Ticho Parly
Ticho Parly
Ticho Parly was a Danish Heldentenor who sang leading roles in most of the major opera houses of Europe as well as the United States, including the Metropolitan Opera, where he debuted in 1966 as Tristan opposite Birgit Nilsson in Tristan und Isolde.-Biography:Parly was born in Copenhagen on July...
, and Benjamin Rayson.
While in New Orleans, Cellini conducted performances of many operas, including Otello (with Ramón Vinay
Ramón Vinay
Ramón Vinay was a famous Chilean operatic tenor with a powerful, dramatic voice. He is probably best remembered for his appearances in the title role of Giuseppe Verdi's tragic opera Otello....
and Nelli), Tosca (with Inge Borkh
Inge Borkh
Inge Borkh is a German soprano.Borkh was born Ingeborg Simon in Mannheim, Germany, in 1921. She was initially an actress and had some training in dance, both of which served her well in opera: she became known both for her voice and for her dramatic intensity - the "singing actress" exemplified,...
and Robert Weede
Robert Weede
-Biography:Born Robert Wiedefeld in Baltimore, Maryland, Weede studied voice at the Eastman School of Music and in Milan. He made his Metropolitan Opera debut in 1937, as Tonio in Pagliacci...
), Lakmé, Amelia al ballo (with Schuh), Elektra, L'amore dei tre re, Falstaff (with Warren), Werther, La cenerentola, Boris Godunov (with Boris Christoff
Boris Christoff
Boris Christoff was a Bulgarian opera singer...
), Il trovatore, Turandot, Norma, Don Giovanni (with Treigle), Tannhäuser, La Gioconda, Manon (with Phyllis Curtin
Phyllis Curtin
Phyllis Curtin is an American classical soprano who had an active career in operas and concerts from the early 1950s through the 1980s. She was known for her creation of new roles such as the title role in the Carlisle Floyd opera Susannah, Catherine Earnshaw in Floyd's Wuthering Heights, and in...
and Nicolai Gedda
Nicolai Gedda
Nicolai Gedda is a Swedish operatic tenor. Having made some two hundred recordings, Gedda is said to be the most widely recorded tenor in history...
), Un ballo in maschera, Orfeo ed Euridice, Der Rosenkavalier, Rigoletto (with Cornell MacNeil
Cornell MacNeil
Cornell MacNeil , was an American operatic baritone known for his exceptional voice and long career with the Metropolitan Opera, which spanned 642 performances in twenty-six roles. F...
), and La forza del destino (with Eileen Farrell
Eileen Farrell
Eileen Farrell was an American soprano who had a nearly 60 year long career performing both classical and popular music in concerts, theatres, on radio and television, and on disc. While she was active as an opera singer, her concert engagements far outnumbered her theatrical appearances...
and Richard Cassilly
Richard Cassilly
Richard Cassilly was an American operatic tenor who had a major international opera career between 1954 and 1990...
).
During the decade Cellini led the New Orleans Opera, many national and international stars made their local debuts with the company. These included Luigi Alva
Luigi Alva
Luis Ernesto Alva y Talledo, better known as Luigi Alva is a Peruvian operatic tenor, active in the third quarter of the 20th century. He was admired for his purity of tone, the elegance of his phrasing and the clarity of his diction...
(as Almaviva in Il barbiere di Siviglia), Giuseppe Campora
Giuseppe Campora
Giuseppe Campora , was an Italian operatic tenor. Campora was one of the greatest Puccinian tenors of his generation...
(as Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor), Lisa della Casa
Lisa Della Casa
Lisa Della Casa is a Swiss soprano most admired for her interpretations of major heroines in major operas by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Richard Strauss, of German lieder, and for her great beauty. She was dubbed “the most beautiful woman on the operatic stage”...
(as the Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier), Plácido Domingo
Plácido Domingo
Plácido Domingo KBE , born José Plácido Domingo Embil, is a Spanish tenor and conductor known for his versatile and strong voice, possessing a ringing and dramatic tone throughout its range...
(as Lord Arturo Bucklaw in Lucia), Gedda (as des Grieux), Louis Quilico
Louis Quilico
Louis Quilico, CC was a Canadian opera singer. One of the leading dramatic baritones of his day, he was an ideal interpreter of the great Italian and French composers, especially Giuseppe Verdi. He was often referred to as "Mr Rigoletto" in reference to the Verdi opera...
(as Lescaut), Cesare Siepi
Cesare Siepi
Cesare Siepi was an Italian opera singer, generally considered to have been one of the finest basses of the post-war period. His voice was characterised by a deep, warm timbre, and a ringing, vibrant upper register. On stage, his tall, striking presence and elegance of phrasing made him a natural...
(as Don Giovanni) 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...
(the Heroines of Les contes d'Hoffmann).
In 1964, due to failing health, Cellini conducted for the last time, for a performance of Aïda. He died on March 25, 1967 (Holy Saturday
Holy Saturday
Holy Saturday , sometimes known as Easter Eve or Black Saturday, is the day after Good Friday. It is the day before Easter and the last day of Holy Week in which Christians prepare for Easter...
), in New Orleans, at the age of fifty-four, and is buried in Metairie Cemetery
Metairie Cemetery
Metairie Cemetery is a cemetery in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. The name has caused some people to mistakenly presume that the cemetery is located in Metairie, Louisiana, but it is located within the New Orleans city limits, on Metairie Road .-History:This site was previously a horse...
. In 2004, his widow, Pinuccia, moved from New Orleans to Tennessee.
Studio discography (complete operas)
- Verdi: Rigoletto (Berger, Merriman, Peerce, Warren, Tajo; 1950) RCA Victor
- Verdi: Il trovatore (Milanov, Barbieri, Björling, Warren, Moscona; 1952) RCA Victor
- Mascagni: Cavalleria rusticana (Milanov, Björling, Merrill; 1953) RCA Victor
- Leoncavallo: Pagliacci (de los Ángeles, Björling, Franke, Warren, Merrill; 1953) RCA Victor
Approved "live" discography
- Verdi: Falstaff (della Chiesa, Schuh, Turp, Warren, Torigi; 1956) VAI
- Verdi: La traviata: excerpts (Kirsten, Hayward, MacNeil; 1958) VAI
- Puccini: La bohème (Albanese, Schuh, di Stefano, Valdengo, Treigle; 1959) VAI
- Puccini: Madama Butterfly (Kirsten, Barioni, Torigi; 1960) VAI
- Saint-Saëns: Samson et Dalila (Stevens, Vinay, Berberian; 1960) VAI
- Ponchielli: La Gioconda (Milanov, Kramarich, Gismondo, Bardelli, Wilderman; 1960) VAI
- Verdi: La forza del destino: excerpts (Farrell, Cassilly; 1963) VAI
- Mascagni: Cavalleria rusticana (Milanov, Gismondo, Rayson; 1963) VAI
External links
- Renato Cellini conducting an excerpt from La bohème (with Licia AlbaneseLicia AlbaneseLicia Albanese is an Italian-born American operatic soprano. Noted especially for her portrayals of the lyric heroines of Verdi and Puccini, Albanese was a leading artist with the Metropolitan Opera of New York from 1940 to 1966...
, Patrice MunselPatrice MunselPatrice Munsel is an American coloratura soprano, the youngest singer who ever starred at the Metropolitan Opera, nicknamed "Princess Pat"....
, Giuseppe di StefanoGiuseppe Di StefanoGiuseppe Di Stefano was an Italian operatic tenor who sang professionally from the late 1940s until the early 1990s. He was known as the "Golden voice" or "The most beautiful voice", as the true successor of Beniamino Gigli...
and Leonard WarrenLeonard WarrenLeonard Warren was a famous American opera singer. A baritone, he was a leading artist for many years with the Metropolitan Opera in New York.-Biography:...
, 1951, audio only).