Tenor Lando Bartolini has Died, Aged 87

Bartolini was best known for his roles in the operas of Verdi and Puccini

The Italian tenor Lando Bartolini was born in Prato, Italy, in 1937. After winning the Mario Lanza award in 1968, he attended Philadelphia’s Academy of Vocal Arts, studying voice with Nikos Moschonas. He made his operatic debut that same year as Luigi in Puccini’s Il Tabarro.

In 1973, he debuted in the title roles of Mascagni’s Iris and Cavalleria rusticana at  Barcelona’s Gran Teatre del Liceu and the New York City Opera, where he was a member from 1976 to 1979, while also becoming a naturalized American. Additionally, he was a member of the Saint Gallen Opera.

Following his Italian debut at Milan’s La Scala in more title roles in the early 1980s, Bartolini received invitations from opera theaters in Vienna, Paris, Munich, Hamburg, Lisbon, Tokyo, Sydney, Berlin, plus London’s Royal Opera House and Arena di Verona. In the U.S., he performed with the Metropolitan Opera and the Chicago Lyric Opera.

His most notable role was as Calaf in Puccini’s Turandot, which he sang over 200 times in 30 different international productions, including those in Beijing in 1999, and in Athens in 2003.

“Lando was an extraordinary tenor possessed of a secure spinto voice of a burnished bronze color with a ringing upper register which served the Italian repertoire very well particularly Verdi’s Trovatore Forza and Radames and Puccini’s Turandot,” wrote Robert Lombardo of Lombardo Associates on Facebook. “It was a pleasure to watch Lando’s career grow and expand. For a while Lando and his family lived in Englewood NJ before returning to Prato in the 1980s. I saw and heard him last at an Academy of Music Anniversary Gala with Renata Scotto, Riccardo Muti and the Philadelphia Orchestra in the early 2000s sounding great!”

Our condolences to Mr. Bartolini’s family, friends, and colleagues.