Kelemen, Zoltân

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Kelemen, Zoltân

Kelemen, Zoltân, Hungarian bass; b. Budapest, March 12, 1926; d. Zürich, May 9, 1979. He was educated at the Budapest Academy of Music and at the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome. He made his operatic debut in Augsburg (1959). After singing in Wuppertal, he joined the Cologne Opera (1961); also appeared at Bayreuth (from 1962) and Salzburg (from 1966). On Nov. 22, 1968, he made his Metropolitan Opera debut in N.Y. as Alberich in Das Rheingold, a role he repeated for his debut performance at London’s Covent Garden (1970). Among his best roles were Osmin, Leporello, the Grand Inquisitor, Dulcamara, Falstaff, and Gianni Schicchi.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire

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