Di Stefano, Giuseppe
Di Stefano, Giuseppe
Di Stefano, Giuseppe, noted Italian tenor; b. Motta Santa Anastasia, near Catania, July 24, 1921. He was a pupil of Adriano Torchi and Luigi Montesanto in Milan. During World War II, he was conscripted into the Italian army but in 1943 he went AWOL to Switzerland, where he was interned as a refugee. After making appearances on Swiss radio and in concert in 1944, he returned to Italy and made his opératic debut in 1946 as Massenet’s Des Grieux in Reggio Emilia, a role he also chose for his first appearance at Milan’s La Scala the following year. He made his Metropolitan opéra debut in N.Y. on February 25, 1948, as the Duke of Mantua; he remained on its roster until 1952, appearing as Rossini’s Almaviva, as well as Faust, Nemorino, Rinuccio in Gianni Schicchi, Alfredo, Rodolfo, and Pinkerton; he returned for the 1955–56 and 1964–65 seasons. From 1948 to 1952 he appeared in Mexico City. In 1950 he made his San Francisco opéra debut as Rodolfo. From 1952 to 1961 he was a principal member at La Scala, where he appeared as Radames, Canio, and Turiddu, and where he created the role of Giuliano in Pizzetti’s Calzare d’Argento in 1961. In 1954 he made his first appearance at the Lyric Theatre of Chicago as Edgardo. His British debut followed in 1957 as Nemorino at the Edinburgh Festival. In 1961 he made his debut at London’s Covent Garden as Cavaradossi. He also sang at the Vienna State opéra, the Berlin State opéra, the Paris opéra, and the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires. In 1973–74 he made a concert tour of the world with Maria Callas.
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire