André Burdino

However, he wanted to become a sculptor. He moved to Paris to work at a sculptor workshop in Boulogne-sur-Seine to learn the trade. During a performance of Manon at the Opéra-Comique, he realized that he wanted to be a singer.

Burdino studied singing with the Archimbaud brothers. He went to auditions, but the war put a stop to his career.

He is drafted in 1915 as a medic and is sent to Verdun. He is discharged in 1917 and starts again to study singing.

He made his debut in 1918 at the Théâtre Moncey in Paris as Ange Pitou in La fille de Madame Angot.

This is the start of a long career, singing both in French and Italian. He married the soprano Elen Dosia, singing many times with her, especially in the US.

He retired in 1955 at sixty-four years old, after marrying a younger woman. His spouse had a store in the XV arrondissement in Paris. He worked there for the next 23 years. He finally retired when he was eighty-five years old. He moved to Le Cannet. He died in his Saint-Cloud flat at the age of 96.

With Vina Bovy, he is hired at the Vieux Théâtre in Pau for the 1921/22 season, singing forty performances.

1929

Covent Garden debut as Roméo at Covent Garden (he will sing there for six years).
Debut in Czechoslovakia: Prague, Bratislava. (From 1929 to 1938, he sang regularly in Belgrade, Zagreb, Prague, Brno, Bratislava, Mariánské Lázně, and Karlovy Vary.)
Sang also in Lyon, Montpellier and Italy.

1930

France: Avignon, Tours, Grenoble, Bordeaux, Lyon, Toulon, Marseille, Paris, Opéra-Comique.
Antwerp, Ghent, Vienna, Algiers and Tunis.

1931

Belgium: Théâtre Français in Antwerp, where he sang until 1933.
Lyon: Lohengrin.
Stadttheater in Graz, Volksoper and Staatsoper (José on 2 July and Rodolfo on 5 July) in Vienna, Karlovy Vary, Zagreb (Carmen, Werther), Covent Garden.

1932

On January 9th, he made his debut at the Opéra in Roméo et Juliette.
Antwerp: Roméo et Juliette, as well.
For the first time, he appears in concert in Lyon and Paris (Gaveau). He will give concerts until 1950.
Prague (Werther, Manon, La bohème and Carmen).
Marseille, Bordeaux (Roméo), Grenoble (Le jongleur de Notre-Dame), Toulon (Werther, Carmen, Manon, Tosca, La bohème, Rigoletto, Roméo and Lakmé), Algiers, Tunis, Oran, Casablanca, and Eastern Europe.

1933–35

Marseille, Opéra-Comique, Aix-les-Bains, Reims, Nantes, Toulouse, Lyon, Bordeaux, Marseille, Liège, Vienne, Antwerp, Charleroi, Liège, Mons, Namur, Spa, Verviers.
At the Théâtre Antique d'Orange, he adds Orphée by Gluck to his repertory.
Concert at the Salle Rameau in Lyon.
At the Theatre de la Gaîte-Lyrique on 29 October, he sang in the premiere of Schön ist die Welt (La chanson du bonheur) by Franz Lehár. He will sing it 120 times.
Berlin, Tosca around May/June 1934.

1936

Marseille: April, October, November, December.
Opéra: La traviata, Rigoletto and Lohengrin.
Oostende, Prague, Reims, Toulouse, Nice, Toulon, Marseille, Bordeaux, Lille, Montpellier, Lyon, Vichy.
Concert at the Salle Pleyel in Paris.

1937

London: Les contes d'Hoffmann, Orphée, Carmen, Tosca, Roméo et Juliette, La traviata.
Bucharest, Sofia, Budapest, Prague.
Burdino made his US and Canadian debuts during a five-week tour with Elen Dosia.
Chicago, Civic Opera: La traviata, Manon, Lakmé and Mignon.

1938–40

He sang in the USA during those three years: Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, Baton Rouge; plus in Canada (Montréal).
Chicago Civic Opera: Les contes d'Hoffmann, La traviata, Lakmé, Manon, Roméo, Carmen.
At the Monnaie until the German invasion.

1941

During the war, he is hired by the Opéra-Comique for the 1940–42 seasons, but having refused to create Palestrina at the Opéra before a German audience, he is fired. He then sang in Bordeaux, Besançon, Dijon, Saint-Étienne, Saint-Chamond, Marseille (Werther, Carmen, La damnation de Faust, Grisélidis, Pagliacci, Les contes d'Hoffmann, Lohengrin).

1942–1949

Bordeaux, Lyon, Besançon, Dijon, Rouen, Saint-Étienne, Saint-Chamond, Nice, Opéra (Aïda 1949).
Ghent, Liège, Verviers (Les contes d'Hoffmann), La Monnaie (Roméo, Faust), Genève, Lausanne, Bern, Saarbrücken and Tunis.

1950

Manila (recitals in September), Metz, Rouen, Nice, Bordeaux (Lohengrin), Marseille (Pagliacci, his last).

1951–54

Lille (Le roi d'Ys), Marseille (Hérodiade, March 1951), Opéra-Comique (Werther, Madama Butterfly, Louise).

1955

Opéra-Comique (Madama Butterfly, six times), Monnaie (Carmen on 4 December, last performance).

His partners included: Martha Angelici, Maryse Beaujon, Géori Boué, Vina Bovy, Yvonne Brothier, Marthe Chenal, Marie Delna, Marcelle Denya, Renée Doria, Elen Dosia, Germaine Feraldy, Fanny Heldy, Suzanne Juyol, Victoria de los Angeles, Grace Moore, Eide Noréna, Germaine Pape, Lily Pons, Gabrielle Ritter-Ciampi, Bidu Sayão, Ninon Vallin, Geneviève Vix, José Beckmans, René Bianco, Ernest Blanc, Jean Borthayre, Roger Bourdin, Paul Cabanel, Michel Dens, Xavier Depraz, Cesare Formichi, André Huc-Santana, Marcel Journet, Jean-Émile Vanni-Marcoux, Robert Massard, Camille Maurane, Pierre Nougaro, André Pernet, Ezio Pinza, Léon Ponzio, Lawrence Tibbett, Humbert Tomatis, ...

Conductors he sang under included: Ernest Ansermet, Thomas Beecham, André Cluytens, Pierre Dervaux, Georges Lauweryns, Ettore Panizza, Paul Paray, Wilfrid Pelletier, Henri Tomasi, Albert Wolff...
Reference: www.encyclo.voila.fr (defunct)