The Italian tenor Giorgio Merighi has died at the 80 years on Jan. 12, 2020.

Born on Feb. 20, 1939, the tenor studied at the Conservatorio Gioachino Rossini di Pesaro and went on to make his debut in 1962 as Riccardo in “Un ballo in Maschera” alongside Renato Bruson at the Spoleto Festival.

That debut would lead him to Bilbao for his debut in 1964 in “Macbeth” and “La Gioconda” and later to the Teatro alla Scala in the world premiere of Hindemith’s  “Cadillac.” He would also sing at the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, Wiener Staatsoper, Teatro Comunale di Firenze, Dallas Opera, Royal Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Sferisterio di Macerata, and the Arena di Verona.

He also went on to make his Metropolitan Opera debut where he sang his farewell with Plácido Domingo conducting his Radames in “Aida.”

His repertoire included the works of Verdi, Puccini, Ponchielli, Bellini, Meyerbeer, and Mercadante.

Merighi went on to perform with some of the leading singers of his generation including Giangiacomo Guelfi, Ivo Vinco, Leyla Gencer,  Giuseppe Taddei, Matteo Manuguerra, Nicola Zaccaria, Rolando Panerai, Maria Guleghina, Piero Cappuccilli, Cornell MacNeil, Ileana Cotrubaș, Katia Ricciarelli, Leonie Rysanek, Fiorenza Cossotto, Birgit Nilsson, Anna Tomowa-Sintow, Ghena Dimitrova, Roberto Scandiuzzi, and Paata Burchuladze.

Merighi left a number of great recordings including Mercadante’s “Il reggente” with Maria Chiara and Meyerbeer’s “Roberto il diavolo” with Boris Christoff, Renata Scotto, Verdi’s “Ernani” with Mara Zampieri and Piero Cappuccilli.