Luciano Pavarotti, born on Oct. 12, 1935, is a pop culture icon. He was also a great tenor. Pavarotti’s initial dreams were to be a football / soccer player, though he would eventually dedicate himself to singing. It is interesting to note that the great tenor struggled to find his voice early on in his career, constantly switching teachers and {…}
Leyla Gencer is one of the greatest, if not the greatest, singer to come out of Turkey. Born on Oct. 10, 1928, the soprano grew up in a rather stable family, though she would lose her father a young age. While she did attend the Istanbul Conservatory, she dropped out and started to study privately. She made her operatic debut {…}
Giuseppe Verdi is Italy’s composer. Few composers have ever attained the legendary status of the man from Busetto, who created a plethora of operas throughout his career that remain fixtures of the standard repertoire today. Born on Oct. 9 (or was it 10?), 1813, Verdi would become the textbook example of how to achieve everlasting greatness when you put in {…}
Irene Dalis is one of those artists that has a strong career, but often flies under the radar during conversations about all-time greats. The mezzo-soprano, born on Oct. 8, 1925, grew up in California. After her studies, she earned a Fulbright scholarship and went to Europe to develop her singing career. Her career took off when she was offered a {…}
Many Mexican tenors have managed successful careers in recent years. Francisco Araiza was among the most influential. Born in Mexico City on Oct. 4, 1950, Araiza was the song of a tenor and seemed well on his way to an early music education. He studied voice while studying business administration and made the switch completely under the encouragement of soprano {…}
As far as bass-baritones go, few have the magnetic personality or onstage charisma of Italian Ruggero Raimondi. Born on Oct. 3, 1941, Raimondi was prodigious, his voice already mature by his teen years. At 15, he auditioned for maestro Francesco Molinari-Pradelli and a year later was admitted into the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory in Milan. He would win the National Competition {…}
Fritz Wunderlich is one of the most tragic figures in all of opera. Born on Sept. 26, 1930, he would never reach his true potential as an opera star, dying nine days before what would have been his 36th birthday. And yet, in that short span, the German tenor achieved what most artists achieve over the course of a full {…}
Cornell MacNeil, born on Sept. 24, 1922, would become one of the great American baritones in history. The Minnesota native always had an interest in a musical career but struggled with asthma through the age of 20. During the Second World War, he worked as a lathe operator before going on to study with baritone Fredrich Schorr. He would start {…}
The opera world is filled with great tragedies throughout its history. The story of Ettore Bastianini is easily one of the saddest. Born on Sept. 24, 1922, Bastianini would go on to become one of the greatest baritones of all time. His voice was beloved by all. He began his training as a bass, singing his first concerts in 1940 {…}
Vladimir Chernov was born on Sept. 22, 1954, in a small town near Krasnodar. He kicked off his training with Mikhail Chugenov and then went to the Tchaikovsky Conservatory. In 1982, he was sent to the Accademia della Scala where he studied with Giulietta Simionato. He won a plethora of special awards in competitions throughout the 1980s, but his career {…}
Andrea Bocelli, born on Sept. 22, 1958, has already solidified his status as one of the most famous tenors in history. Bocelli was born in Italy and had eyesight problems from his birth, eventually becoming completely blind by the age of 12 after suffering an accident during a soccer match. Despite that challenge, he showed great passion for music from {…}
