Tajo, Italo
Tajo, Italo
Tajo, Italo, Italian bass and teacher; b. Pinerolo, April 25, 1915; d. Cincinnati, March 29, 1993. He studied at the Turin Cons. He made his operatic debut as Fafner at the Teatro Regio in Turin in 1935; then was a member of the Rome Opera (1939-8) and of La Scala in Milan (1940-41; 1946-56). He made his U.S. debut in Chicago in 1946. On Dec. 28, 1948, he appeared at the Metropolitan Opera in N.Y. as Don Basilio in II Barbiere di Siviglia; remained on its roster until 1950; also sang with the San Francisco Opera (1948-50; 1952-53; 1956); then appeared on Broadway and in films. In 1966 he was appointed prof, at the Univ. of Cincinnati Coll.-Cons. of Music. He returned to the Metropolitan Opera after an absence of 30 years in 1980, and delighted audiences in buffo roles; made his operatic farewell there as the Sacristan in Tosca on April 20, 1991. He was equally adept in dramatic and buffo roles from the standard repertory, and also proved himself an intelligent interpreter in contemporary operas by Milhaud, Malipiero, Pizzetti, and Nono.
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire