Frank Lopardo
Frank Lopardo (born 23 December 1957) is an American operatic tenor who was born in Brentwood, New York. He specialized in the repertoire of Mozart and Rossini early in his career and has since transitioned to the works of Puccini, Verdi, Donizetti, and Bellini.
Early Years
Lopardo began his musical training at Queens College, CUNY before moving on to the Juilliard School. It was at Queens College that he first met Dr. Robert White. Dr. White currently serves on the staff at the Juilliard School.[1]
Career
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Lopardo made his North American debut as Tamino in Die Zauberflöte with Opera Theater of St. Louis. He has a long-standing relationship with The Metropolitan Opera in New York, where he has performed over 180 times since his debut in 1989 in the role of Almaviva in Il barbiere di Siviglia.[2] He has since performed there as Tamino, Rodolfo in La bohème, Alfredo in La traviata, the Duke in Rigoletto, Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor, Tonio in La fille du régiment, Nemorino in L'elisir d'amore, Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni, Idreno in Semiramide, Ferrando in Così fan tutte, and Fenton in Falstaff. He has made appearances with the various North American opera houses, including Lyric Opera of Chicago, Los Angeles Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Dallas Opera, Canadian Opera Company, San Francisco Opera, and Santa Fe Opera.
In Europe, Lopardo has also found great success since performances as Fenton at Teatro di San Carlo in Naples marked his debut on that continent. He has sung as Edgardo, Rodolfo, the Duke, and Lenski in Eugene Onegin at the Opéra National de Paris, and at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden he has sung Lindoro in L'italiana in Algeri. He has sung at the Vienna State Opera, the Salzburg Festival, the Grand Théâtre de Genève, the Glyndebourne Opera Festival, Teatro alla Scala, De Nederlandse Opera, Teatro Real in Madrid, Teatro Comunale Florence, and the Aix-en-Provence Festival, among others.
Throughout his career, Lopardo has sung with orchestras throughout the world. He has performed the Verdi Requiem with London Symphony Orchestra and the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, the Mozart Requiem with the Berlin Philharmonic at la Scala in Milan; Berlioz' Requiem and Carmina Burana with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Beethoven's Ninth Symphony with the San Francisco Symphony, Rossini's Stabat Mater with the Philadelphia Orchestra. He has sung the Dvořák Requiem with the Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra.
Awards
In 1983, Lopardo won first prize in the Liederkranz Foundation competition.[3] He was awarded an honorary doctorate from Queens College, Aaron Copland School of Music, in 1992, and in 2005 won a Grammy Award for Best Choral Performance for a recording of the Berlioz Requiem, performed with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus and conducted by Robert Spano.[4]
Discography
- Requiem (Mozart), with Riccardo Muti. EMI Records, 1987
- L'italiania in Algeri (Rossini), with Claudio Abbado. Deutsche Grammophon, 1987
- Don Giovanni (Mozart), with Riccardo Muti. EMI Records, 1990
- Great Mass in C minor (Mozart), with Leonard Bernstein. Deutsche Grammophon, 1991
- Falstaff (Verdi), with Sir Colin Davis. BMG Music, 1991
- Il signor Bruschino (Rossini), with Ion Marin. Deutsche Grammophon, 1991
- Il barbiere di Siviglia (Rossini), with Claudio Abbado. Deutsche Grammphon, 1992
- Semiramide (Rossini), with Ion Marin. Deutsche Grammophon, 1992
- Carmina Burana (Orff), with André Previn. Deutsche Grammophon, 1992
- Don Pasquale (Donizetti), with Roberto Abbado. BMG Music, 1993
- Idomeneo (Mozart), with James Levine. Decca Records, 1993
- Così fan tutte (Mozart), with Sir George Solti. Decca Records, 1993
- La traviata (Verdi), with (Sir George Solti). Decca Records, 1994
- Requiem (Berlioz), with Robert Spano. Telarc Records, 2003
- Imelda de' Lambertazzi (Donizetti), with Mark Elder. Opera Rara, 2006
- Ninth Symphony (Beethoven), with Franz Welser-Möst. Deutsche Grammphon, 2007