Peter Dvorský
Dvorský is the one starting "zefiro, zefiro", Hurný echoes "zefiro, torna"; further on, Hurný is the "true" tenor, and Dvorský takes the part of the baritenore.
I would like to thank André Wium for the recording (Turandot). I would like to thank Thomas Silverbörg for the recording (Macbeth). Peter (actually Petr) Dvorský, studied singing at the Bratislava conservatory with Ida Černecká. He started to sing at the Slovak National Theatre in Bratislava in 1972, while still a student. He made his debut in Evgenij Onegin (as Lenskij). On the way to the top he collected more than a few singing competitions. In 1973 he was the winner of a singing competition named after Mikuláš Schneider-Trnavský in Trnava; in 1974 he won the Chajkovskij International Competition in Moscow; in 1975 he won the International Competition in Geneva; and in 1976 he received the title of Laureate at the International Tribune of Young Performers (UNESCO) at the Bratislava Music Festival. After that he went to study at Milan's La Scala with Renata Carosio and Giuseppe Lugga. Then his career began: Vienna Staatsoper (Der Rosenkavalier), Munich (Rigoletto), Cologne and the MET (La traviata), Bolshoj Moscow and Zürich (Werther), Rodolfo (La bohème) at La Scala with Ileana Cotrubas under Carlos Kleiber, Arena di Verona as Alfredo (La traviata) with Katia Ricciarelli as Violetta. As Rodolfo he appeared also at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden with Mirella Freni as Mimì (1980), who was also his partner at the tour of La Scala to Japan in 1981. Ten years later came Gustavo in Un ballo in maschera, Houston Grand Opera, Don Alvaro in La forza del destino, Vienna State Opera, Maurizio in Adriana Lecouvreur at La Scala and Puccini's Tosca (Cavaradossi) at the Salzburg Festival. His was a so-called "sunny tenor", characterized by soft, elastic tone, warm timbre and musicality. It shines with high tones, displaying both lyrical charm and drama. The cities he toured include Munich, Köln, London, Kyiv, Linz, Verona, Zürich, Moscow, Tokyo, Dortmund, Las Palmas, Barcelona, Madrid, Paris, Florence, Venice, Prague, Chicago, Monte Carlo, Houston, Macerata, Bologna, Catania etc. He was also very involved every year with the "International Music Festival of Peter Dvorský" in the Czech town of Jaroměřice nad Rokytnou. His repertoire consists of: Puccini – Tosca (Cavaradossi), Madama Butterfly (Pinkerton), La bohème (Rodolfo), Manon Lescaut (des Grieux), Verdi – La forza del destino (Don Alvaro), Un ballo in maschera (Riccardo), Macbeth (Macduff), Mascagni – Cavalleria rusticana (Turiddu), Leoš Janáček - Její pastorkyňa (Laca), Leoncavallo – Pagliacci (Canio), Cilea – Adriana Lecouvreur (Maurizio), Chajkovskij - Evgenij Onegin (Lenskij), Donizetti – L'elisir d'amore (Nemorino), Lucia di Lammermoor (Edgardo), and oratorios by Antonín Dvořák – Requiem, Stabat mater, and Verdi – Requiem.
I wish to thank Michal Pekárek for the picture, recording and biographical notes.Peter Dvorský was a big promise that would never be redeemed. His very first Slovak radio recordings were extraordinarily beautiful (cf. the above Monteverdi duet), and he never again lived up to them: by the time he became famous, his timbre was still beautiful, but his voice was stiff and often lacked in color, he pushed, and his musical interpretations were often close to non-existent. And he didn't last: in the 1990s, his activity diminished since he had to cancel many of his scheduled performances, and I don't think he sang in public after 2000. After his career, he was an theater director, first of the opera house in Košice (2006–10), then of the one in Bratislava (2010–12).
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