György Melis

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György Melis (born July 2, 1923 in Szarvas ; † November 27, 2009 in Budapest ) was a Hungarian opera singer with a baritone voice .

Life

György Melis completed a vocal training from 1944 to 1949 at the Franz Liszt Music Academy in Budapest. In 1949 Melis was signed to the Hungarian State Opera in Budapest, of which he remained a permanent member of the ensemble until his death in 2009.

Guest performances have taken Melis to numerous large opera houses and to the most important music festivals. In 1961 he sang the title role in Don Giovanni by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart at the Glyndebourne Festival . This role was one of his special highlights. In 1963 and 1964 he also made guest appearances with Don Giovanni at the Vienna State Opera . In 1966 he was also heard as Don Giovanni at the Komische Oper Berlin under the direction of Walter Felsenstein . There is a performance recording of this production on East German television (in German). In 1973 he sang another of his great opera roles at the Edinburgh Festival , the title role in Bluebeard's Castle by Béla Bartók . In this role he also appeared in 1989 at the Covent Garden Opera in London and at the Vienna State Opera. In 1987 Melis made a guest appearance with the ensemble of the Hungarian State Opera at the Wiesbaden State Theater . There he also sang the title role in Don Giovanni with great success . In 1991 he sang the pig farmer Zsupan in the operetta Der Zigeunerbaron by Johann Strauss in Budapest , and in 1993 Tiborc in the opera Bánk bán by Ferenc Erkel .

Melis also had guest contracts with the Berlin State Opera , the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels and with other theaters in Europe .

Melis was artistically active as a singing teacher and singer until shortly before his death. In 2009 he celebrated his 60th stage anniversary at the Hungarian State Opera. A souvenir volume with biographical notes and numerous photos of his stage roles was also published on the occasion.

Melis has received several awards for his artistic merits. In 1959 he received the title of "Honored Artist of the Hungarian People's Republic". In 1962 he was awarded the Kossuth Prize .

repertoire

At the beginning of his career, Melis also sang the lyrical baritone part, such as Figaro in The Barber of Seville by Gioachino Rossini , but very quickly took over the dramatic Italian operatic roles of Giuseppe Verdi ( Germont-père , Posa , Rigoletto , Jago ) and the big character roles like Gianni Schicchi by Giacomo Puccini and Falstaff by Giuseppe Verdi. Melis also sang the title roles in Eugen Onegin by Peter Tchaikovsky and in Háry János by Zoltán Kodály . Melis was also active as a concert singer , he sang oratorios and especially songs by Béla Bartók and Zoltán Kodály. He also performed Hungarian gypsy music .

Filmography

1966: Don Giovanni (theater recording)

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Chronicle of the Vienna State Opera 1945–1995, Verlag Anton Schroll & Co., Vienna and Munich 1995, p. 510.
  2. ↑ Mozart: Don Giovanni at Arthaus Musik ( Memento of the original from December 20, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Background information on the DVD release of this Felsenstein production from 1966.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.crotchet.co.uk
  3. ↑ Adieu to a public favorite obituary in: Pester Lloyd of November 27, 2009
  4. ↑ György Melis tribute to a singer legend  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Homepage Kulturu.hu from November 16, 2009@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / kultura.hu  
personal data
SURNAME Melis, György
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Hungarian opera singer (baritone)
DATE OF BIRTH July 2, 1923
PLACE OF BIRTH Szarvas
DATE OF DEATH November 27, 2009
Place of death Budapest