Gregory Kunde (February 24, 1954,Kankakee, Illinois) is an American operatictenor particularly associated with French and Italianrepertoire. After singing the bel canto repertory of Donizetti, Bellini, and Rossini for more than 25 years, Kunde has turned primarily to the verismo roles of Verdi and Puccini. He has sung professionally for nearly 50 years.
Kunde studied choral conducting and voice atIllinois State University before making his professional debut in 1978 at theLyric Opera of Chicago, as Cassio inOtello, later singing Prunier inLa rondine, and Vanya inKatya Kabanova. He appeared at theOpéra de Montréal as Tybalt inRoméo et Juliette, and as Arturo inI puritani, oppositeLuciana Serra, which revealed his affinity for thebel canto repertory and the extent of his upper register, reaching a high F (above the tenor high C) infalsettone. He made his debut at theMetropolitan Opera in New York as theunderstudy for the role of des Grieux inMassenet'sManon opposite sopranoCatherine Malfitano in 1987, replacing the indisposedDénes Gulyás for one performance.[1] He next returned to the Metropolitan Opera in 2000, again stepping in for an indisposed colleague for one performance ofRossini'sLa cenerentola. In 2006 he again replaced an ill colleague for the Met's production ofBellini'sI puritani opposite sopranoAnna Netrebko,[2] and most recently in 2019 for their production ofSaint-Saën'sSamson et Dalila, a series of performances with which he received critical acclaim.[3][4]
In Europe Kunde has performedLes Huguenots,A Life for the Tsar,Anna Bolena, at thePesaro Festival in 1992 as Idreno inSemiramide, and in 1993 as Rinaldo inArmida oppositeRenée Fleming.
Kunde's debut as Verdi’sOtello opened the season in 2012 at Venice’sLa Fenice. He has since performed the role in more than thirty venues worldwide. He is the only tenor to have performed the roles of Rossini’sOtello and Verdi’s Otello in the same season, doing so in 2012 and in 2015. His other roles have includedAndrea Chénier, Calaf in Puccini’sTurandot,Énée in Berlioz’sLes Troyens,Peter Grimes,Samson in Saint-Saëns’sSamson et Dalila, Jean de Leyde of Meyerbeer’sLe prophète, des Grieux inManon Lescaut of Puccini,Mitridate, re di Ponto, Rodrigo inLa donna del lago, Arnold inGuillaume Tell, Ernesto inDon Pasquale, Nadir inLes pêcheurs de perles,Roméo inRoméo et Juliette, and Enée inLes Troyens.
Kunde's recordings includeBenvenuto Cellini and Gérald inLakmé, oppositeNatalie Dessay.
He resides in Rochester, New York, with his wife Linda, and his daughter Isabella.
Hector Berlioz,Benvenuto Cellini, Gregory Kunde,Benvenuto Cellini,Patrizia Ciofi, Teresa,Laurent Naouri, Balducci,Joyce DiDonato, Ascanio,Jean-François Lapointe, Fieramosca, Renaud Délègue, Le Pape Clément VII, Choeur de Radio France, Orchestre National de France, conducted by John Nelson, 3 CD Erato Warner classics 2004
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