Alain Vanzo

Alain Vanzo (born April 2, 1928 in Monte Carlo , † January 27, 2002 near Paris ) was a French opera singer ( tenor ) and composer .

Life

Vanzo was born to an Italian father. He was self-taught and sang in the church choir at a young age . He also taught himself to play the piano. In 1954 Vanzo took part in a singing competition in Cannes , which he won. This was the starting point for his career as a lyric tenor.

Vanzo was hired by the Grand Opéra in Paris . From 1954 to 1957 he sang rather small roles there. In 1957 he achieved his breakthrough with the role of Edgardo in Gaetano Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor . Vanzo became one of the leading French tenors. In the following years guest performances at all the major opera houses in the world followed. Undisputed starring role Vanzos was the nadir in Georges Bizet's Les pêcheurs de perles . Vanzo's career as a singer lasted until the late 1980s.

Besides being a singer, Vanzo also excelled as a composer . He wrote several songs and two major works:

• the operetta Pêcheur d'Etoile (premiered in 1972 in Lille )
• the lyrical drama Les Chouans (premiered in Avignon in 1982 )

Vanzo died in 2002 at the age of 73.

literature

• Karl-Josef Kutsch , Leo Riemens : Large singer lexicon . Unchanged edition. KG Saur, Bern, 1993, second volume M – Z, Sp. 3063 f., ISBN 3-907820-70-3

Web links

• Works by and about Alain Vanzo in the catalog of the German National Library