Giovanni Malipiero

Giovanni Malipiero (April 20, 1906 – April 10, 1970) was an operatic tenor who enjoyed a prominent career on stage and on radio in his native Italy during the 1930s and 1940s.

Malipiero was born in Padua, Italy, where he also studied singing. Lonigo, near Vicenza, was the scene of his professional debut in 1930, as the Duke of Mantua in Verdi's Rigoletto. The following year he sang the same role at the Teatro Ponchielli in Cremona. This performance marked the true start of his career as a leading artist.

The fine quality of Malipiero's lyric voice soon attracted the attention of impresarios, and he was invited to sing at principal venues throughout Italy, including the Teatro Costanzi in Rome, La Fenice in Venice and the Verona Arena. Other major Italian cities that heard him sing were Naples, Parma, Turin and Genoa, and he travelled also to Monaco.

In 1937, he made the first of what would prove to be many appearances at Italy's foremost opera house, the Teatro alla Scala in Milan, as Ramiro in Rossini's La cenerentola. Nine years later, following World War II, he took part in an historic concert held to mark the re-opening of La Scala, performing under the baton of Arturo Toscanini.

Much admired in parts written by the bel canto composers Rossini, Donizetti and Bellini, Malipiero was also acclaimed for his performances in Verdi's La traviata, Falstaff and Rigoletto. Other Italian operas in which he sang with considerable successes included Puccini's La bohème, Manon Lescaut and Gianni Schicchi, and Boito's Mefistofele. He did not ignore French music, either. During the 1930s and 1940s he appeared, for instance, in Offenbach's Les Contes d'Hoffmann, Gounod's Faust, and Massenet's Werther and Le jongleur de Notre-Dame.

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