Boris Carmeli (23 April 1928 – 31 July 2009) was a Polish operatic basso profondo known for his "fervent rich hued tones"[2] and extensive repertory of more than 70 operas and 60 oratorios.

In addition to the classical bass repertoire, he performed contemporary music including major works by Krzysztof Penderecki[4] and Karlheinz Stockhausen.

Once again, the family escaped, taking flight to France, then Italy, where they lived in a series of increasingly remote mountain villages.

Suffering from an earache, Carmeli, then 15 years of age, descended into the town of Valdieri during daylight hours in search of medicine.

[6] With the help of Astorre Mayer, paper mill owner and the honorary Israeli consul in Milan, Carmeli was able to extend his studies.

[6] Carmeli studied bel canto with Ubaldo Carrozzo and Giovanni Binetti in Milan, then at the Conservatorio Rossini in Pesaro, and finally with Maria Cascioli in Rome.

[3] Carmeli went on to perform in world-renowned opera houses with most of the leading conductors of his day, including Herbert von Karajan, Zubin Mehta, Leonard Bernstein, Riccardo Muti, Lorin Maazel, John Barbirolli, Yehudi Menuhin and Mstislav Rostropovich.

In contemporary music, he also created the role of 9th anchoret at the 1973 Salzburg Festival in the world premiere of Orff's De temporum fine comoedia.

[8] Carmeli created the North character in Stockhausen's Sirius in 1978, a composition commissioned by the West German government to celebrate the United States Bicentennial, and dedicated to "American pioneers on earth and in space".

[8] In 1997, Carmeli premiered the narrator role in Penderecki's Seventh Symphony "Seven Gates of Jerusalem", commissioned to commemorate the city's third millennium.

Penderecki, with whom Carmeli had a close friendship and working relationship, wrote the part for him in Hebrew based on Chapter 37 of the Book of Ezekiel.

[9] A critic reviewing the WERGO recording, the first of Penderecki's original version,[11] wrote, "The importance of Boris Carmeli's contribution to this work can't be over-emphasized: the basso's speaking voice is eerie and quite unique...

In 1961, on a trip to perform at the San Francisco Opera, he met and married Sonja Moser, a Swiss woman working in the fashion industry.