Italian tenor Franco Bonisolli was
born in Rovereto, Italy, on 25 May 1938, and commenced his
vocal studies under the tenor Alfredo Laretto. In 1961 he
won the International Song Contest at Spoleto and made his
professional debut shortly after as Ruggiero in Puccini's
La Rondine at the Teatro Nuovo of Spoleto in 1962. In 1963,
after his Alfredo at the Festival of Spoleto, he was invited
by the composer Gian Carlo Menotti to sing the Prince in
Prokofiev's "L'Amour
des trois oranges," yet again in Spoleto, which helped
forwarding his career and he soon apppeared in roles such
as Nemorino of 'Elisir d'amore, Rodolfo in La Bohème,
the duke in Rigoletto, Des Grieux in Manon, Offenbach's Hoffmann,
Giacomo in 'La Donna del Lago (Rossini) and Cleomene in Rossini's
'L'Assedio di Corinto, this latter part to much success at
his La Scala debut in 1969.
By the turn of the new decade he had also become a member
of the Vienna State Opera (1968), starred at the San Francisco
Opera in 1969 and then he debuted at the Met as Almaviva
(Il Barbiere di Siviglia) in 1971 with subsequent performances
as Faust (Gounod), the duke in Rigoletto and La Traviata's
Alfredo, although his American debut had been at the Dallas
Civic Opera in November 1965, where he sang the role of Alfredo
in La Traviata, to Montserrat Caballé's Violetta.
From New York he travelled to opera houses in Bordeaux, Lyon,
Toulouse, Dallas, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Hamburg and
Bruxelles.
In 1974 he was successful at the Opera of Paris in Verdi's
I Vespri Siciliani and towards the 80's there was a gradual
change of repertory with Bonisolli's successful approach
to the more taxing Verdian tenors as Manrico in Il Trovatore
and Alvaro in La Forza del Destino. He eventually also assumed
the role of Otello and Giordano's Andrea Chenier, both of
which he recorded, as well as a fine Canio in Pagliacci (recorded
for HMV). He created somewhat of a scandal in Vienna in 1978
when he abondoned the cast of Il Trovatore under Karajan
during a rehearsal were the public had been admitted entry,
and left the stage in fury (he was later substituted by Domingo).
Bonisolli had previously recorded Il Trovatore under Karajan
for EMI in 1977.
During the 80's he made apperances in Monte Carlo (Faust,
Gounod 1981) at the Berlin Opera (La Fanciulla del West,
1982), the festivals of Verona (Il Trovatore, 1985; La Gioconda
1986; Aida and Turandot 1988-89), and he made his Covent
Garden debut as Calaf (Turandot) in 1987.
During the 90's performances have been less frequent but
Bonisolli still performs into his 60's (Fedora and Il Trovatore
at the Staatsoper in Vienna October 1999 and February 2000
respectively).
He passed away on 30 October 2003 at only 65 years of age.
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