1. Boris Carmeli was a Polish operatic basso profondo known for his "fervent rich hued tones" and extensive repertory of more than 70 operas and 60 oratorios.
21 Facts About Boris Carmeli
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Boris Carmeli appeared at international music festivals, on Italian television, and in many opera films.
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Boris Carmeli's older brother Pinkas was born in 1921.
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Boris Carmeli worked in a music shop, learned Hebrew and began piano and singing lessons.
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Boris Carmeli chose the Italian option and set off with $400 from his father.
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Boris 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.
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Boris Carmeli made his professional debut in 1956 at a music festival in Bologna's Arena Faenza.
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Boris Carmeli performed the role of the philosopher Colline in Puccini's La boheme.
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Boris 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.
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Boris Carmeli appeared at La Scala in Mozart's Great Mass in C minor in 1960 and in Schonberg's Die Jakobsleiter in 1962.
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Boris Carmeli appeared as Moloch in the European premiere of Penderecki's Paradise Lost conducted by the composer at La Scala in 1979.
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Boris 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".
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Boris Carmeli appeared in world premieres of contemporary Italian operas by Bruno Bartolozzi, Salvatore Allegra and Luciano Chailly.
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In 1997, Boris Carmeli premiered the narrator role in Penderecki's Seventh Symphony "Seven Gates of Jerusalem", commissioned to commemorate the city's third millennium.
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Penderecki, with whom Boris Carmeli had a close friendship and working relationship, wrote the part for him in Hebrew based on Chapter 37 of the Book of Ezekiel.
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Until his death in 2009, Boris Carmeli took part in almost every listed production of the work.
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Boris Carmeli was scheduled to reprise the part in Poland in August 2009, but died shortly before the event.
18.
Boris Carmeli was a frequent guest artist at international music festivals such as Berliner Festwochen, Wiener Festwochen, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Sagra Musicale Umbra in Perugia, and the Festival d'Aix-en-Provence, among others.
19.
Boris Carmeli sang on Italian television and starred in a number of opera films, including Puccini's Turandot with Birgit Nilsson from La Scala, The Life of Puccini, and Rossini's La scala di seta.
20.
Boris Carmeli provided the singing voice for the character Ilya Ziloev in Fellini's 1983 film And the Ship Sails On.
21.
Boris Carmeli lived in Italy for most of his post-war life.