Italian tenor Giuseppe Giacomini died on 28 July at the age of 80. Born in 1940, Giacomini made his professional debut in 1966 in Vercelli, as Pinkerton in Madame Butterfly.
His first engagement outside Italy was in 1970 in Berlin, where he sung the lead tenor role in Manon Lescaut. He sang also in Paris, Lisbon and Vienna, at the Staatsoper in Munich, in Buenos Aires, at the Met in New York. Giacomini also was applauded at Italy’s top houses – La Scala, Teatro San Carlo in Naples, Teatro Regio in Turin and Opera di Roma.
The tenor sang well into the 2000s and celebrated his 60th birthday at the Covent Garden in Tosca and in 2010 toured China with the Shanghai Philharmonic.
Giacomini left several recordings including a La Forza del Destino from the Metropolitan Opera, Cavalleria Rusticana with Jessye Norman, Norma with Renata Scotto, and Otello with Margaret Price. He also sung a very individual Cavaradossi in Riccardo Muti’s Philadelphia recording.
