Albums by Rolando Panerai
ALBUMPaisiello: Il barbiere di SivigliaGraziella Sciutti, Nicola Monti, Rolando Panerai, Renato Capecchi, Mario Petri, Virtuosi Di Roma & Renato Fasano
ALBUMRossini: L'Italiana in AlgeriCoro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Paolo Montarsolo, Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Silvio Varviso, Luigi Alva, Teresa Berganza, Fernando Corena, Miti Truccato Pace, Rolando Panerai & Giuliana Tavolaccini
ALBUMShakespeare in Music, Vol. 6 (Recordings 1956)Fedora Barbieri, Nicola Zaccaria, Herbert von Karajan, Philharmonia Orchestra, Luigi Alva, Mario Borriello, Tito Gobbi, Nan Merriman, Anna Moffo, Rolando Panerai, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf & Tomaso Spataro
ALBUMShakespeare in Music, Vol. 7 (Recordings 1956)Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Rolando Panerai, Herbert von Karajan, Philharmonia Chorus, Philharmonia Orchestra, Tito Gobbi, Tomaso Spataro, Nicola Zaccaria, Luigi Alva, Fedora Barbieri, Mario Borriello, Nan Merriman & Anna Moffo
ALBUMVerdi: FalstaffHerbert Karajan, Philharmonia Orchestra, Nan Merriman, Luigi Alva, Roberto Benaglio, Philharmonia Chorus, Tito Gobbi, Tomaso Spataro, Rolando Panerai, Mario Borriello, Nicola Zaccaria, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Anna Moffo & Fedora Barbieri
ALBUMGian Carlo Menotti: Amelia al Ballo [Opera Buffa in One Act] (1954)Margherita Carosio, Rolando Panerai, Giacinto Prandelli, La Scala Theater Orchestra, Nino Sanzogno, La Scala Theatre Chorus & Vittori Veneziano
ALBUMClaudio Monteverdi: L’Incoronazione di Poppea (1954), Volume 1Carlo Bergonzi, Maria Vitale, Rolando Panerai, Oralia Dominguez, Anna Maria Canali, Vincenzo Maria Demetz, Mario Petri, Enzo Guagni, Elvina Ramella, RAI Lyric Orchestra, Milan & Nino Sanzogno
Artist Biography
In a career spanning over 60 years, the venerable Rolando Panerai not only was one of the most admired and popular baritones of his time but one of the most versatile.
Panerai was born in the Italian town of Campi Bisenzio, near Florence, on October 17, 1924. After studying with Vito Frazzi in Florence and with Giulia Tess in Milan, he won first prize in the Spoleto-based Adriano Belli Competition. He debuted in 1946 in Florence, singing Enrico Ashton from Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor. Panerai's La Scala debut came in 1951 when he sang the High Priest with great success. In his early career, Panerai not only distinguished himself with memorable performances, but he took chances: when he sang Ruprecht from Prokofiev's The Fiery Angel at the 1955 Venice music festival, it was the first stage performance of the opera, a work virtually unknown at the time, even in Russia. Other important debuts followed, including at Salzburg (1957), San Francisco (1958), and Covent Garden (1960). By 1970, he was a well-known recording artist and had worked with numerous celebrated conductors like Serafin, Sabata, Giulini, and Karajan, and would sing under Muti, Sawallisch, and many others from the younger generations.
Though he lacked a measure of power in his voice, he always possessed an attractive tone and excellent dramatic skills. Panerai appeared in most of the major operatic venues in the world and on numerous recordings, again in varied repertory that bespoke his seemingly inherent versatility. Witness the disparate roles he sang: the High Priest from Saint-Saëns' Samson et Dalila, Paolo (Verdi's Simon Boccanegra), Ford (Verdi's Falstaff), Svejk (Guido Turchi's Il buon soldato Svejk), Mathis (Hindemith's Mathis der Maler), and many more, including Mozart's and Rossini's Figaro. He sang in more than 150 operas and, not surprisingly, with many of the operatic greats, including Callas, Tebaldi, Corelli, Bergonzi, di Stefano, Pavarotti, and countless others. As Panerai entered the new century, he was not as active as in the past, but still appeared regularly on the stage, including at the Paris Opera, Glyndebourne, and Frankfurt Staatsoper. In June 2000, the indefatigable Panerai appeared in the Zubin Mehta-led international television broadcast production of Verdi's La Traviata singing Giorgio Germont. Even later, he performed Gianni Schicchi in Genoa at the age of 87.
Panerai died at the age of 95 in late 2019, while still living near Florence. His recorded legacy is on a variety of labels, including EMI and Decca. Older performances have been reissued on Opera d'Oro, Urania, Andante, and several other labels. ~ Robert Cummings
Hometown
Campi Bisenzio
Genre
Classical