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right Frank Guarrera (December 3, 1923 – November 23, 2007) was an Italian-American lyric baritone who enjoyed a long and distinguished career at the Metropolitan Opera, singing with the company for a total of 680 performances. He performed 35 different roles at the Met, mostly from the Italian and French repertories, from 1948 through 1976. His most frequent assignments at the house were as Escamillo in Georges Bizet's ''Carmen'', Marcello in Giacomo Puccini's ''La Bohème'', Valentin in Charles Gounod's ''Faust'', and Ping in Puccini's ''Turandot''.〔(Metropolitan Opera archives )〕 He was also an admired interpreter of Mozart roles, establishing himself in the parts of both Guglielmo and Don Alfonso in ''Così fan tutte'' and Count Almaviva in ''Le nozze di Figaro''. Most of the roles he portrayed were from the lyric repertoire, such as the title role in Tchaikovsky's ''Eugene Onegin'', but he also sang some heavier roles at the Met like Amonasro in ''Aïda'', Jack Rance in ''La fanciulla del West'' and Il conte di Luna in ''Il trovatore''. Although Guarrera did not possess as large of a voice as some of his fellow Met baritones, such as Leonard Warren and Robert Merrill, he managed to carve out a highly successful career for himself at the house through his charismatic stage presence, good looks, and well-focused lyrical tone. He sang at the Met during a "golden age of baritones" whose members also included Robert Weede, Tito Gobbi, Cornell MacNeil, Sherrill Milnes and Anselmo Colzani. ''The Times'' said that, "Frank Guarrera was a rare all-rounder, a singer whose competence, versatility, intelligence, good stage presence and the absence of inflated ideas of his own importance made him a valued colleague and the kind of stalwart company member that opera managers dream about."〔 == Early life and career == Frank Guarrera was born in Philadelphia to parents of Sicilian origin. He was first exposed to opera at the Victor Café in South Philadelphia, and his earliest performance experiences were made with his high school's choir. He began his musical studies at the Curtis Institute of Music in his native city, where he was a pupil of Richard Bonelli and Eufemia Giannini-Gregory. He spent two years serving in the United States Navy during World War II, and then returned to the Curtis Institute to complete his studies. Guarrera made his professional debut as Silvio in ''I Pagliacci'', at the New York City Opera in 1947. That same year he appeared at the Tanglewood Music Festival as the voice of the Oracle of Neptune in Mozart's ''Idomeneo''. Shortly after, he won the Metropolitan Opera's ''Auditions of the Air'' which led to his being offered a Met contract by then general manager Edward Johnson. The competition win also brought him to the attention of conductor Arturo Toscanini, who invited Guarrera to make his La Scala debut as Fanuel in Arrigo Boito's ''Nerone'' in 1948. Guarrerra said of the experience of singing ''Nerone'' for the first time, "For all I knew, it could have been by Beethoven. I was taken to Toscanini's studio at NBC. That was Studio 8H, the famous one, and of course his dressing room was like a huge apartment. We walked into this gorgeous living room with a grand piano, and there he was, this little guy, with his pince-nez glasses. After some small talk in Italian, he put his hand on my shoulder and asked me to sing. So I unbuttoned my collar -- I had no fear whatsoever -- and I sang. Later, Toscanini's son, Walter, spoke to me. 'Well, Mr. Guarrera, my dad would like to invite you to sing at La Scala. Will you be able to make it? Are you busy?' And that's how I made my debut in Milan. I sang the last two acts of Nerone, fully staged, under Toscanini, in a program that opened with the Mefistofele prologue. The bass playing the devil was a young man named Cesare Siepi. Little did I know that someone recorded that performance. But this thing exists, and if you play it at the right speed, it's not bad."〔 Following ''Nerone'', Guarrera sang in two more productions at La Scala in 1948, Zurga in a new production of ''Les Pêcheurs de Perles'' with Onelia Fineschi, and Manfredo in ''L'amore dei tre re'' with Clara Petrella and Nicola Rossi-Lemeni.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Frank Guarrera」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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