Otoniel Gonzaga (singer)

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Otoniel Gonzaga (born July 31, 1942 - † January 13, 2018 in Vienna ) was an American opera singer ( tenor ).

Life

Origin and education

Gonzaga was of Filipino descent. His mother Anita Gonzaga was a mezzo-soprano and performed as a concert singer. His father Eduardo Gonzaga was a physician who specialized in ophthalmology . At Central Philippine University , Otoniel Gonzaga first studied medicine up to an intermediate diploma. In 1963 the Gonzaga family moved to the United States. Gonzaga then studied singing at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia with Richard Lewis , Margaret Harshaw and John Lester. In his sophomore year, he won first prize in the Marian Anderson Voice Competition. His stage career began in the United States in 1967. a. at student performances at the Curtis Institute of Music. His stage career in Europe included several permanent engagements and numerous guest contracts. His career in Europe began at the ARD International Music Competition in Munich , where he took third place.

Engagements

In 1973 he made his debut at the Stadttheater Trier , to which he was engaged after winning, and of which he was a permanent member of the ensemble until 1977. This was followed by engagements at the Stadttheater Augsburg (1977–1979), at the Frankfurt Opera House (1979–1988) and at the Cologne Opera (1988/89 season). Fixed guest performance contracts he went u. a. with the Stuttgart State Opera (1979–1981), the Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz in Munich (1980–1984) and the Vienna Volksoper , where he has been heard regularly since 1984 with parts from opera and operetta .

He made his debut at the Vienna Volksoper in November 1984 as Rosillon in Lehár's opera Die Meridian Widow . Other roles were there u. a. the title role in Hoffmanns Erzählungen (1987–1993, in a total of 17 performances), Rodolfo in La Bohème (season 1995/96, in a total of 8 performances), Luigi in Der Mantel (1986–1994, in a total of 12 performances) and Bárinkay in Der Zigeunerbaron (1987–2000, in a total of 22 performances). Prince Sou Chong in the Lehár operetta The Land of Smiles , which he sang in 80 performances there between 1985 and 1999, was considered to be his most important role at the Vienna Volksoper . At the Vienna Volksoper he also appeared as Tamino and 1st Armored Man ( Die Zauberflöte ) and Kaiser Altoum ( Turandot ). In November 2014 Gonzaga also took his leave from the stage of the Vienna Volksoper as Altoum.

Guest performances

Gonzaga had other guest engagements at the Gran Teatre del Liceu (1975), at the Staatstheater Wiesbaden (1984, as Froh in Das Rheingold ), at the Frankfurt Opera (1985/86 season, as Froh in Ruth Berghaus ' Ring production), at the Stadttheater Bern (1986), at the Saarbrücken State Theater (1986, as Manrico in Il trovatore ), at the Nuremberg Opera House (February 1988, as Duke in Rigoletto ), at the Basel Theater (1990, as Dimitri in Boris Godunow ) and at the Bergen Opera House (1993, as Calaf in Turandot ).

He also sang as a guest at the opera houses of Berlin, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Hanover, Graz (as Florestan in Fidelio ), Antwerp, Genoa (1986), Madrid, Zurich and Glasgow. In 1992 he was a guest at the Mörbisch Operetta Festival as Bárinkay. In 1993 he made a guest appearance at the Frankfurt Opera House as Riccardo in Un ballo in maschera .

In the USA he performed in Boston, Cincinnati (1990 as Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor , 1994 as Manrico), Cleveland, Columbus, Miami (as Cavaradossi in Tosca ), Milwaukee (1997 as Alfredo in La Traviata ) and Philadelphia. He made his New York City Opera debut as Foresto in the Verdi opera Attila . He made his debut at the San Francisco Opera in 2005 as Florestan.

Gonzaga was the first Otello at the Prague Opera after the so-called " fall of the iron curtain ". In 1995 he sang Manrico in concert performances with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra in Tel Aviv , Jerusalem and Haifa . In June 1995 he sang in Beijing on the occasion of the celebrations for the 20th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and the Philippines. In 2002 he performed as Calaf in Anchorage , Alaska . Gonzaga was also the first and so far only Filipino tenor to sing Otello.

Honors and private matters

In 2001 he received an honorary doctorate from Central Philippine University . He was also awarded the Presidential Order of Merit for Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Music in the Philippines.

Gonzaga settled permanently in Vienna after completing his official stage career. Occasionally he also appeared at song recitals and concerts, among others. a. 2012 in the district museum Hietzing . Gonzaga died in Vienna in January 2018 at the age of 75.

repertoire

Gonzaga's repertoire comprised around 70 major operatic roles and numerous operetta roles from the so-called “golden” and “silver” operetta era. At the beginning of his career he sang the lyric tenor class with roles such as Tamino, Ferrando in Così fan tutte , Count Almaviva in The Barber of Seville and the title role in Faust . He later took on the youthful-dramatic tenor roles in the operas of Verdi and Puccini (Riccardo, Manrico, Cavaradossi, Luigi) in his repertoire. Don José in Carmen was also one of his special brilliant roles . In several productions he took on the hero tenor role of Otello; so he made guest appearances in this role in Germany, a. a. at the Aachen Theater (1989/90 season, in a production by Roland Velte ) and at the Bielefeld Theater (2001).

His operetta roles included Prince Sou-Chong in particular, whom he sang in over 30 different productions in more than 500 performances. He also appeared in the operetta as Camille de Rosillon, Bárinkay, Symon ( The Begging Student ) and as the title hero in the Lehár operetta Paganini .

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f US tenor Otoniel Gonzaga died at the age of 75 . Obituary. Österreichischer Rundfunk from January 15, 2018. Accessed January 21, 2018.
  2. ↑ a b c d e f The Filipino-American tenor Otoniel Gonzaga is dead: tenor for opera and operetta . Obituary. Südwestrundfunk from January 15, 2018. Accessed January 21, 2018.
  3. ↑ a b c d tenor Otoniel Gonzaga . In: Manila Standard, January 6, 1980. Retrieved January 21, 2018
  4. ↑ a b tenor Otoniel Gonzaga died . Obituary on Klassik.com of January 16, 2018. Retrieved January 21, 2018.
personal data
SURNAME Gonzaga, Otoniel
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American opera singer (tenor)
DATE OF BIRTH July 31, 1942
DATE OF DEATH January 13, 2018
Place of death Vienna , Austria