Borgioli, Dino

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Borgioli, Dino

Borgioli, Dino, Italian tenor; b. Florence, Feb. 15, 1891; d. there, Sept. 12, 1960. He studied in Florence with Eugenio Giachetti. In 1914 he made his operatic debut as Arturo in I Puritani at Milan’s Teatro Corso; appeared in various Italian opera houses, including Milan’s La Scala (debut as Ernesto in Don Pasquale, 1918). After singing with Melba on her farewell tour of Australia (1924), he made his first appearance at London’s Covent Garden as Edgardo in 1925, continuing to sing there until 1939. In 1932 he sang Cavaradossi in San Francisco, a role he again sang in Chicago in 1933. On Dec. 31, 1934, he made his Metropolitan Opera debut in N.Y. as Rodolfo, but sang with the company for only that 1 season. In 1937 he sang Ottavio at the Glyndebourne Festival. From 1939 he taught voice in London, eventually retiring to Florence. His roles in operas by Mozart and Rossini were particularly esteemed.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire