Marcello Giordani | |
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 Giordani as Verdi'sErnani | |
| Born | Marcello Guagliardo (1963-01-25)25 January 1963 Augusta, Italy |
| Died | 5 October 2019(2019-10-05) (aged 56) Augusta, Italy |
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Marcello Giordani (bornMarcello Guagliardo; 25 January 1963 – 5 October 2019) was an Italian operatictenor who sang leading roles of the Italian and French repertoire in opera houses throughout Europe and the United States. He had a distinguished association with the New YorkMetropolitan Opera, where he sang in over 240 performances from the time of his debut there in 1993. He founded the Marcello Giordani Foundation to help young opera singers.
Giordani was born on 25 January 1963 in the small town ofAugusta, Sicily. His father, a former prison guard, was the owner of a major gasoline station in the town, and his mother was a housewife.[1] He showed a talent for singing at an early age and took private lessons in Augusta as well as singing in a church choir. When he was nineteen, he quit his job at a bank.[2][1] He studied voice first in Catania and from 1983 inMilan[3] with Nino Carta.[2] Giordani made his professional operatic debut in 1986 as the Duke inRigoletto at theFestival dei Due Mondi inSpoleto.[4][5] His debut atLa Scala came two years later when he sang Rodolfo inLa bohème.[3] He went on to sing throughout Italy and Europe, and in 1988, he made his American debut singing Nadir inLes pêcheurs de perles withPortland Opera,[5] a company with which he frequently appeared early in his career. Engagements with several other American opera companies followed, includingSan Francisco Opera,Seattle Opera,Los Angeles Opera and theOpera Company of Philadelphia. He performed at theVienna State Opera first in 1992 as Sänger inDer Rosenkavalier by Richard Strauss, and appeared there in 14 roles in 72 performances.[4] Giordani made hisMetropolitan Opera debut in 1993 as Nemorino in a Parks performance ofL'elisir d'amore oppositeMaria Spacagna as Adina.[6] His first performance on the actual stage at theMetropolitan Opera House was on 11 December 1995 as Rodolfo toHei-Kyung Hong's Mimì withCarlo Rizzi conducting.[2][6]
In 1994, vocal problems that began to surface in the previous years became more acute. He began to retrain his voice with Bill Schuman[2] in New York but did not cancel his engagements.[7] In 1995 he sang Alfredo inLa traviata atCovent Garden underSir Georg Solti, whose guidance he credited as a great help in the rebuilding of his career. In 1997, Giordani again sang at Covent Garden under Solti (as Gabriele Adorno inSimon Boccanegra), in what turned out to be the final opera performances that Solti would ever conduct.[1] His career at the Met, which had initially been sporadic, began to flourish. He sang over 240 performances with the company, in 27 roles,[1][5] including the leading tenor roles in the Met's premieres ofBenvenuto Cellini andIl pirata.[2] He also sang in the Met's season opening performances in both 2006 (Pinkerton inMadama Butterfly) and 2007 (Edgardo inLucia di Lammermoor), and on 18 September 2008, he was the tenor soloist in the Met's performance of Verdi'sRequiem in memory ofLuciano Pavarotti.[6] A reviewer forThe New York Times wrote that he sang Pinkerton "with full-bodied Italianate passion; warm, rich tone; and clarion top notes".[1]
Amongst the other opera houses and festivals where Giordani performed during his career were theOpernhaus Zürich,Vienna State Opera,Opéra National de Paris,Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona,Deutsche Oper Berlin,Houston Grand Opera,Maggio Musicale Fiorentino,Teatro dell'Opera di Roma,Teatro Regio di Parma,Teatro Regio di Torino,Teatro Massimo Bellini di Catania,Arena di Verona, theVerbier Festival, and theFestival Puccini inTorre del Lago.[2] In August 2008, Giordani appeared in concert withSalvatore Licitra andRamón Vargas inBeijing'sGreat Hall of the People during the first week of the2008 Olympic Games.[2] 2008 also saw his appointment as artistic director for Musical Events atCittà della Notte, a new arts center near Augusta.[2] In December 2008 he gave his firstmaster classes there.[8]
In 2010, Giordani created the Marcello Giordani Foundation to help young opera singers at the beginning of their careers.[5] The first annual Marcello Giordani Vocal Competition was held in Sicily in 2011.[4]
Giordani met his wife, Wilma, when he was singing inLucerne in 1988. They married two years later. The couple and their two sons lived in New York and Sicily.[1] Giordani died of a heart attack at his home in Augusta on 5 October 2019 at the age of 56.[9][3]
Giordano made DVD recordings of complete operas, and recorded tenor recitals on CD, including:[3]
