Edward Johnson (singer)

Edward Johnson as Pelléas in Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande (1925)

Edward Johnson , pseudonym Edoardo di Giovanni (born August 22, 1878 in Guelph ; † April 20, 1959 ibid) was a Canadian opera singer (tenor) and director.

Life

Johnson made his first musical experiences as an amateur musician in his hometown. At the age of twenty he went to New York to study music and also traveled to London, where he performed with the contralto Edith Miller and met his future wife Beatrix de Veiga . In 1902 he returned to the United States and performed there a. a. in Boston in Reginald De Kovens Maid Marian and on Broadway in Oscar Straus ' A Waltz Dream (1908).

On the recommendation of Enrico Caruso , Johnson went to Florence in 1909 and studied with Vincenzo Lombardi . In 1912 he made his debut as an opera singer under the name Edoardo di Giovanni in Padua in Andrea Chénier . In 1914 he made his debut at La Scala in Milan . He sang world premieres of works by Ildebrando Pizzetti and Franco Alfano and premieres of Wagner's Parsifal and Giacomo Puccini's Il tabarro and Gianni Schicchi .

In 1919 he returned to the USA. Here he was first tenor at the Chicago Opera until 1922 , then at the Metropolitan Opera until 1935 . In 1935 he succeeded Herbert Witherspoon as general manager of the Metropolitan Opera. In 1950 he retired from the opera and returned to Canada. Here he taught at Toronto's Royal Conservatory of Music and at the University of Western Ontario, and in 1957 founded the Edward Johnson Foundation to support music education.

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personal data
SURNAME	Johnson, Edward
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Giovanni, Edoardo di (pseudonym)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Canadian opera singer (tenor) and director
DATE OF BIRTH	August 22, 1878
PLACE OF BIRTH	Guelph
DATE OF DEATH	April 20, 1959
Place of death	Guelph