Ruggiero Orofino
Orofino worked for the railway before studying voice. He started his career at La Scala, as a chorister. From 1963, he was a soloist, primarily in comprimario roles at La Scala; from 1965 (Don Carlo in Dublin), he sang leading parts, both in Italy (La Scala, Rome, Parma, Modena, Florence, Bologna) and in Germany, where he was very busy and successful in West and above all in East Berlin (Staatsoper). As a guest, he appeared at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, at the Vienna Staatsoper, in Frankfurt, Dresden, Leipzig, Hamburg, Munich, Cologne, Stuttgart, Düsseldorf, Amsterdam, Budapest, Caracas, Brussels or at the Paris Opéra. He sang a wide repertory from Alfredo to Grigorij, from Manrico to Lohengrin, from Pinkerton to Tambourmajor. He gave up his career in 1985, and lived in Berlin up to the venerable age of almost 99 years. Orofino certainly had a huge and ringing voice, but the manner he used it was anything but delicate, and his musicality was approximate at best.
L'elisir d'amore – Milano, Greco Oratorio San G. Bosco, 4 February 1957 Cavalleria rusticana – Cesena, Bonci, 15 September 1963 C'era una volta (composer: Andreoli) – Milano, dell'Arte, 21 December 1963 Miseria e nobiltà (composer: Napoli, role: Un signore) – Milano, Piccola Scala, 26 March 1964 Katerina Ismailova (Il cocchiere) – Milano, Scala, 16 May 1964 Lucia di Lammermoor (Normanno) – Milano, Scala, 23 June 1964 Turandot (Principe di Persia) – Moscow, Bolshoj, 5 September 1964 Il barbiere di Siviglia (Capo delle guardie) – Moscow, Bolshoj, 17 September 1964 Don Carlo – Dublin, Gaiety, 18 May 1965 La forza del destino – Milano, Scala, 7 December 1965 Aida – Berlin, Deutsche Oper, 15 January 1966 Il trovatore – Frankfurt, Städtische Bühnen, 27 March 1966 La traviata – Freiburg, Stadthalle, 21 August 1966 Rigoletto – Genova, Margherita, 28 September 1966 Tosca – Düsseldorf, Deutsche Oper, 29 November 1966 Madama Butterfly – Parma, Regio, 7 January 1967 Turandot – Roma, dell'Opera, 22 January 1967 Ernani – Roma, dell'Opera, 30 March 1967 La bohème – Berlin, Staatsoper, 14 January 1968 Macbeth – Modena, Comunale, 29 January 1968 Una notte a Venezia (i.e. Eine Nacht in Venedig) – Berlin, Staatsoper, 5 December 1968 Lohengrin – Firenze, Comunale, 5 December 1971 Boris Godunov – Berlin, Staatsoper, 25 April 1972 Un ballo in maschera – Milano, Scala, 18 April 1973 Andrea Chènier – Caracas, Municipal, 23 May 1973 Der Rosenkavalier – Berlin, Staatsoper, 8 July 1973 Její pastorkyňa (Laca) – Milano, Scala, 6 April 1974 Norma – Milano, Scala, 14 February 1975 Die Fledermaus (Alfred) – Berlin, Staatsoper, 13 July 1975 Moses und Aron – Milano, Scala, 5 February 1977 Simon Boccanegra – Bremen, Staatsoper, 7 March 1978 Wozzeck (Tambourmajor) – Milano, Scala, 16 May 1979
Reference 1: Daniele Rubboli Ruggiero Orofino, il tenore di Barletta, Schena Editore, Fasano 2003 Reference 2: Kutsch & Riemens |
