François Gatto

Nobody has ever written the biography of François Gatto so far; this first attempt is all bits and pieces, and certainly far from complete.

In the season 1946/47, Gatto belonged to the Opéra de Marseille, and sang a guest in Casablanca, and in Avignon (Cavaradossi). He returned to Avignon in November 1947 as Canio, and was not well-received. Nonetheless, in November and December 1949, he was there again, as des Grieux, Nadir and Werther. Immediately after that, in January and February 1950, Gatto was crazily busy: while belonging to the Opéra de Lyon in that season, he was also a member of the opera theater in Lille and sang Vincent and Don José there, while appearing, as a guest, as Faust in Dijon, as Pinkerton in Avignon, and as Nadir in Mulhouse. Small wonder that, after even repeating "Salut, demeure" in Dijon, he seemed tired for the rest of the performance. In December of the same year, he was in Mulhouse again to sing Duca.

In January 1952, he sang Don José in Tours. On 26 October 1952, he appeared as Nadir in Nîmes – the last performance before the theater there burned down Later in the 1950s, he was a member of the Capitole de Toulouse, and a very regular guest in Geneva: as Nadir (with Michiko Sunahara and René Bianco) in spring 1954, as Don José in October 1954 and in February 1957, and as Hoffmann in summer 1955 as well as in March 1956.

In the season 1955/56, he returned also to Mulhouse, this time as Werther; he repeated the same part there in the season 1960/61, alternating with Pierre Fleta. In the season 1964/65, he sang in Tours: Grigorij (!), Werther, Duca and Canio. In 1965/66, he was a member of the troupe in Limoges. His career lasted into the 1970s, although no longer in main roles: in Tours, he sang Carmagnola in Offenbach's Brigands in January 1971, and Schmidt in Werther in February 1972.

References:
- Annuaire de la Société historique et littéraire de Colmar, 1957
- La Bourgogne Républicaine, 17 January 1950
- Bulletin du Musée Historique de Mulhouse, 1962
- Le Croix du Nord, 24 February 1950
- La Gazette Provençal, 22 November 1947, 3 November 1949, 15/28 December 1949 & 25 January 1950
- Journal de Genève, 22/31 March 1954, 5/27 October 1954, 31 August 1955 & 8/16 March 1956
- Nemausensis
- Opéra de Tours
- Le Petit Marocain, 24 October 1946
- Le Républicain du Haut-Rhin, 20 January & 3 December 1950
- La Sentinelle, 6 February 1957

I want to thank Georges Cardol for the picture and recording.