Antonio Nardelli

La traviata in Gent
Duca di Mantova in Gent
Enzo in La Gioconda, wearing Tito Schipa's necklace

La favorite in Gent
with his wife Marian Balhant in La bohème in Gent
as Dick Johnson in Gent
as Turiddu in Gent

Biography
After winning a singing contest organized by Radio Roma in 1949, and after first stage experiences in Italy (he debuted as Pinkerton in Lecce 1949), France, Malta, the Netherlands and Hungary, Nardelli in 1953 settled in Belgium, where he would spend most of his life and career, first in Gent, then at the Monnaie in Brussels. He also married a Belgian soprano, Marian Balhant.

His most important roles were Edgardo, Faust (Gounod), Fernand (Favorite), Duca di Mantova, Rodolfo, Cavaradossi and Andrea Chénier; later on, he would add heavier repertory like Alvaro or Dick Johnson, earning praise for tackling that change prudently and without damaging his voice.

After the end of his singing career, he returned to his original profession as a potter.

Nardelli's career at the Théâtre de la Monnaie:
Andrea Chénier – title role, 7 performances (1956-1957)
La bohème – Rodolfo, 14 performances (1955-1960)
Cavalleria rusticana – Turiddu, 8 performances (1955-1958)
Faust – title role, 6 performances (1955-1957)
Madame Butterfly – B.F. Pinkerton, 7 performances (1955-1958)
Les pêcheurs de perles – Nadir, 3 performances (1956-1957)
Rigoletto – Duca, 10 performances (1955-1957)
Tosca – Cavaradossi, 5 performances (1955-1957)
La traviata – Alfredo, 12 performances (1955-1957)

Source: Claude-Pascal Perna's extraordinary website Musica et Memoria

as Riccardo
La Wally in Gent
Manon Lescaut in Gent

The biographical informations and almost all of the pictures have been provided by Christian Torrent: thank you. Source for quite many of them is the eminent collection of Claude-Pascal Perna of Musica et Memoria fame.

I want to thank Georges Cardol for the picture (top) and recordings.