Anthony Amato

Anthony Amato ( Antonio Amato ; born July 21, 1920 in Minori , Italy , † December 13, 2011 in New York ) was the founder and director of Amato Opera , which was considered the smallest opera in the world.

Amato came to the United States with his parents when he was seven. During the Great Depression , he left school to become a butcher. But he admired opera and occasionally appeared as a tenor in regional opera companies. In 1943 he got to know King Sally when he was performing Rudolf Friml's operetta The Vagabond , whom he married in 1945.

During this time he gave opera workshops at the American Theater Wing , and in 1948 he and his wife founded the Amato Opera to give the graduates the opportunity to perform . This opened with a performance of Gioacchino Rossini's The Barber of Seville improvised in the basement of Our Lady of Pompeii Church in Greenwich Village in New York, followed by a double performance of Cavalleria rusticana and Pagliacci . The actors were initially paid in kind, and later received a fee of ten dollars per performance. The opera itself changed venues several times and in 1963 found its final address at 319 Bowery Street .

A number of successful singers such as George Shirley , Neil Shicoff and Mignon Dunn began their careers in this smallest opera in the world , and there were also highly acclaimed New York premieres such as Arrigo Boito's unfinished opera Nerone . The Amatos have received numerous honors, including the American Cultural Roundtable and the Italian Heritage and Cultural Committee, as well as being inducted into the City Lore's Peoples' Hall of Fame . The PBS made the documentary Amato: A Love Affair with Opera .

Sally Amato died in 2000, and Anthony Amato continued to run the opera house on his own. In 2009 he announced its closure. The last performance on May 31, 2009 was Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro . The Amore Opera was later founded by the singers and collaborators of Amato .

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• New York Times, December 14, 2011 - Anthony Amato, Founder of Amato Opera, Is Dead at 91
• Anthony Amato in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Superconductor - Obituary: Anthony Amato (1920-2011)