Franco Lo Giudice

Franco Lo Giudice (14 March 1893 - 8 August 1990) was an Italian tenor who had a successful international opera career during the first half of the twentieth century. He was an important exponent of the works of Riccardo Zandonai, notably starring in the world premieres of his operas I cavalieri di Ekebù (1925) and Giuliano (1928). His voice is preserved on a number of recordings made with the HMV, Parlophone, and Pathé record labels. Music critic Alan Blyth described him as a "fiery, strong tenor" who "excelled in verismo parts."

Born in Paternò, Lo Giudice was the older brother of tenor Silvio Costa Lo Giudice and a distant cousin of Portuguese soprano Maria Giudice. He studied singing with Beniamino Carelli at the Conservatory of San Pietro a Majella in Naples, Matteo Adernò in Catania, and with Antonio Savastano, Luigi Lucenti, and Luigi Di Cagno in Milan. His studies were interrupted in 1914 when he was drafted into the Italian Army following the outbreak of World War I. His first public performances were given during the war, singing in concerts for Italian soldiers. He served in the military for the duration of the war, and then continued with further opera studies at its conclusion in 1918.

Lo Giudice made his operatic debut in 1919 as Gastone in La traviata at the opera house in Livorno. In 1920 he sang Dick Johnson in Giacomo Puccini's La fanciulla del West at the opera house in Tortona. In 1922 he made his first appearance at the Teatro di San Carlo as Prince Vasiliy Ivanovich Shuysky in the Naples premiere of Boris Godunov with Sigismondo Zalewsky in the title role. That same year he had a major triumph at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome singing the title role in Umberto Giordano's Andrea Chénier. He made a number of appearances at the Anfiteatro Gangi in Catania in 1922-1923, including Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor, Gastone, and Turiddu in Cavalleria rusticana. In 1924 he made his debut at the Teatro Regio in Turin as Romeo in Riccardo Zandonai's Giulietta e Romeo opposite Hina Spani as Giulietta. He returned to that house several times through 1935, singing such roles as Giannetto Malaspini in La cena delle beffe and Pollione in Norma among others.

...
Wikipedia