Ronald Naldi

Ronald Naldi is an American lyric tenor whose over 40-year career has brought him to the stages of the Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Arena di Verona, L'Opéra Français, Salzburger Landestheater, and New Jersey State Opera, under the baton of maestri James Levine, Valery Gergiev, James Conlon, David Robertson, Leonard Slatkin, Joseph Colaneri, Charles Mackerras, Vincent LaSelva, Christopher Keene, Alfredo Silipigni, Thomas Booth, Lukas Foss, Nello Santi, and Eduardo Müller, and alongside singers Placido Domingo, Luciano Pavarotti, Leo Nucci, James Morris, and Samuel Ramey, to name a few.

Naldi's repertory comprises over 100 operatic roles in 6 languages, as well as an extensive song repertory in the American, English, French, German and Italian literature.

Naldi has sung over 250 performances at the Metropolitan Opera since his debut there in 1983, including Ismaele in Nabucco, Tschekalinsky in The Queen of Spades, and Vitek in the Met premiere of Leos Janacek's The Makropulos Case. The 2006-2007 season found him in multiple performances, most notably as Zorn in Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg and Bruno in I Puritani, aside Anna Netrebko. In '07-'08, he sang in productions of Macbeth, War and Peace, Otello, and The Gambler, as well as a Boston production of Les Troyens with James Levine and the BSO. In his 16th consecutive season at the Met (2008-2009), he will appear in Lucia di Lammermoor, The Magic Flute, Il Trovatore, and Salome.

Naldi has appeared with the festivals of Spoleto (Italy), Waterloo, and Caramoor, and toured China, Egypt, the Arab Emirates, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka with the Ambassadors of Opera. He has performed with over 25 symphony orchestras and has an extensive repertory of more than 30 oratorios. With St. Luke’s Chamber Ensemble, he has sung over 200 performances of the chamber operas of Haydn, Mozart, Offenbach, Rieti, Bakst, Fioravanti, and Rossini.

He is a member of the Italian-American Hall of Fame, and the tenor soloist and artist-in-residence in Ocean Grove, New Jersey, where he recently completed his 35th consecutive season.

Education

Naldi studied voice at Indiana University (Bloomington), earning his Bachelor's and Master's degrees in five years, and subsequently received a Fulbright scholarship to study in Rome. He has been a student of Charles Kullman, Margaret Harshaw, Luciano Francardi, Luigi Ricci, Carol Bayard, and William Riley.

From 1966 to 1973, he was a professor of voice at Memphis State University (now the University of Memphis).

Discography

His most recent recordings, on Romeo Records, are entitled "O Sole Mio" (2003) and "Torna a Surriento" (2004). Each features Neopolitan and Italian songs with orchestrations by John Colaiacovo. The latter won a critics' choice award from Gramophone (magazine).

Links

* [http://www.romeorecords.com/pages/RomeoRecords-7226.htm Romeo Records Torna a Surriento page]