Riccardo Stracciari

Riccardo Stracciari (1876, Bologna - 1955, Rome) was the Italian baritone par excellence of the first half of the twentieth century, the most famous Figaro of The barber of Seville Rossini - who sang more than 1000 performances - and Rigoletto de Verdi.

He made his debut in 1899 in the Teatro Comunale (Bologna) and in La Boheme de Puccini in Rovigo. It debuted in La Scala in 1904.

His international career flourished at Covent Garden in 1905, at the Metropolitan Opera in 1906, as Germont at La traviata where he sang Ashton, Rigoletto, Amonasro, Valentin, Marcello, and Di Luna; at the Lyrical Opera of Chicago, the Opera of San Francisco, Opera of Paris, Teatro Real of Madrid and the Colon Theater of Buenos Aires between 1913 and 1928 with Claudia Muzio, Beniamino Gigli and Tito Schipa.

He retired in 1944 to become a teacher, among his disciples Boris Christoff, Raffaele Arié and Paolo Silveri.

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