A native of Sicily (I think of Enna), Franco Castellana won a singing competition in Enna in 1963 and made his debut in 1964,
as Rodolfo at the Teatro Nuovo in Spoleto, with Renato Bruson as Marcello.
He would sing main roles such as Rodolfo, Arturo (La Fenice, January/February 1969, with Cristina Deutekom), Duca or
Pinkerton, with particular success at the open air festival at the Castello di Lombardia in Enna. He also sang at the radio
both in Italy and in Switzerland, and made a few anonymous recordings for the low-budget LP series "Teatro dell'Opera Lirica".
At the Rome opera, he appeared in smaller roles (Beppe, Arvino in I lombardi alla prima crociata and some of the
innumerable tiny parts in Shostakovich's Nos/The nose).
In 1971, he joined the troupe of La Scala as a comprimario, while continuing to sing leading roles at small theaters: in Bra,
in Cuneo or in Savigliano. In 1977, he said good-bye to his solo career as Andres in Wozzeck at La Scala, interpolating a
high C on his last solo evening. Then he entered the Scala choir, where he became quite an institution and sang on until 1999.
After retiring, he took part in the administration of La Scala's in-house pension fund.
Reference 1, reference 2, reference 3: Franco Castellana's Facebook page, reference 4
