- Giacomo Aragall
Jaume Aragall i Garriga better known as Giacomo Aragall is a Spanish/Catalan
tenor , born inBarcelona ,Spain on6 June 1939 .After his initial studies in Barcelona under Jaime Francisco Puig, Giacomo Aragall travelled to
Milan on a scholarship from the Liceu to study with Maestro Vladimir Badiali. He soon won the Voci Verdi competition inBusseto and, in the same year (1963), made his Italian stage debut atTeatro La Fenice in Verdi's "Gerusalemme" and his debut at La Scala in the title role of Mascagni's "L'amico Fritz ". He also sang Il Cavaliere inPaul Hindemith 's Cardillac, in January 1964 and Rodolfo in "La bohème ".The following seasons saw him back at the Liceu with Rodolfo and, in quick succession, at opera houses in Budapest, Venice,
Genoa , Palermo, Parma,Modena , Naples, Rome and Turin.In 1966 he sang Romeo in a memorable performance of Bellini's "
I Capuleti e i Montecchi " at La Scala, oppositeRenata Scotto and the youngLuciano Pavarotti . The Romeo part is more often performed by a mezzo-soprano, a notable example beingAgnes Baltsa on theEMI recording conducted byRiccardo Muti .For several important international debuts, Aragall sang the role of the Duke of Mantua in Verdi's "
Rigoletto " (Verona, 1965, Covent Garden, theMetropolitan Opera , both 1968, and San Francisco 1973).Since then, Aragall has appeared in the most important houses in the world in operas including "
Lucia di Lammermoor ", "Madama Butterfly ", "La Favorita", "La Traviata ", "Werther ", "Faust", "Tosca ", "Manon ", "Don Carlo ", "Adriana Lecouvreur ", "Un Ballo in Maschera" and "Simon Boccanegra ". His repertoire also includes such rarities asMassenet 's "Esclarmonde ", which he recorded withJoan Sutherland andDonizetti 's "Caterina Cornaro ", withMontserrat Caballé He has received a number of honours, including the title of "Kammersänger" at the
Wiener Staatsoper . Known for his especially beautiful voice, Aragall's singing and recording career was somewhat limited due to media shyness and stage nerves.In 1994, he founded the
Concurso Internacional de Canto Jaume Aragall , an international singing competition.External links
* [http://www.concursaragall.com/ Concurso Internacional de Canto Jaume Aragall]
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