Giacomo Aragall

Jaume Aragall i Garriga (Catalan pronunciation: [ˈʒawmə əɾəˈɣaʎ]; born 6 June 1939), better known as Giacomo Aragall, is a Spanish operatic tenor, considered one of the best ever, not just for the beauty of his voice but also for the wonderful way of singing and acting.

He made his debut in L'amico Fritz by Pietro Mascagni at La Scala when aged 23, the youngest tenor to make his debut there. He appeared in operas by Mascagni, Puccini, Donizetti, Bellini, Verdi, Massenet, Cilea, Gounod, Hindemith and Haydn. He also performed on all of the leading opera stages throughout the world such as in Milan, Rome, Berlin, the United States and Paris.

Aragall was born on 6 June 1939 in Barcelona. He became a member of the Choir of the Basilica of Santa Maria del Mar at the age of nine, and at the age of 19 he began his singing studies under the direction of Professor Jaime Francisco Puig. He made his debut at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in the 1961-1962 season in the roles of Arlecchino in Pagliacci by Ruggero Leoncavallo and Arturo in Lucia di Lammermoor by Gaetano Donizetti. Thanks to the economic support of the Board of Proprietors of the Gran Teatro del Liceu, he went to Milan to complete his studies with Professor Vladimiro Badiali. Within a few months he had won the first prize and the Gold Medal in the world famous International Competition “Voci Verdian” at Busseto.

Giacomo Aragall’s debut in a leading role was at the Gran Teatro La Fenice, Venice on 24 September 1963, in Verdi's opera Gerusalemme. The same year, at the age of 23, he debuted in Palermo and at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan, the youngest tenor ever to make his debut, in the operas L'amico Fritz by Pietro Mascagni, La bohème by Giacomo Puccini and Hindemith's Cardillac. In the nine months since his arrival in Milan, Aragall had embarked on a fully fledged international career. In the 1963-1964 season he returned to the Gran Teatro del Liceu, as first tenor. During the same season he performed in Venice, Genoa, Palermo, Parma, Modena, Naples, Rome, Turin and again at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan, in a production of Bellini's I Capuleti e i Montecchi, in which he sang the role of Romeo with Renata Scotto as Giuletta and Luciano Pavarotti as Tebaldo. This was the first time Romeo had ever been sung by a tenor, since the role was originally written for Giuditta Grisi and performed by a mezzo-soprano. Luciano Pavarotti missed a cue, saying "I was so caught up in the beauty of Aragall's voice".

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