Gianni Raimondi

Born in Bologna, Raimondi studied at the Conservatorio Giovanni Battista Martini in his native city with Antonio Melandri, and Gennaro Barra-Caracciolo and in Mantua with Ettore Campogalliani.

[1] After singing throughout Italy (notably in Florence, in a rare 1952 revival of Rossini's Armida, opposite Maria Callas), he made guest appearances in Nice, Marseille, Monte-Carlo, Paris, and London.

In particular he was much appreciated for his skill with high-lying lyric tenor roles such as Arnoldo in Rossini's Guglielmo Tell, Arturo in Bellini's I Puritani, Fernando in yet another Donizetti piece, La favorita, Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor, and the Duke in Rigoletto.

In 1963 he was Rodolfo to Mirella Freni's Mimí in Franco Zeffirelli's legendary production of La bohème, with Herbert von Karajan conducting.

Among his live performances, his L'amico Fritz with Freni, Rolando Panerai, and Gavazzeni on the podium (La Scala, 1963) well demonstrates the dramatic and vocal effect that he had on the stage.