Silvio Costa Lo Giudice

Silvio Lo Giudice was a younger brother of Franco Lo Giudice (there were ten more siblings), born in Paternò (Sicily) on October 5th, 1895. Like his brother, he studied voice near his home town, in Catania, with Matteo Adernò. Silvio Lo Giudice's original intention was to become an operetta singer, and he made his debut as such in 1919 at the Teatro Olympia in Catania. He proved very successful in this genre, and got a contract with the well-known Lombardo-Caramba operetta company as their first tenor. With that company, he ventured as far as Buenos Aires (Teatro Coliseo, 1924, his partner was Ines Lidelba).

In order not to be confused with his already successful "operatic" brother, he chose "Arturo Masi" as his pseudonym in those early years. It was Franco who convinced Silvio to try his voice in opera, in 1925.

Silvio would do it under his real name, but adding their mother's last name, thus becoming Silvio Costa Lo Giudice. His operatic debut took place in Monza in Manon Lescaut. His career was by no means less successful than his brother's. His repertory ranged from Elvino in Sonnambula to Calaf in Turandot, which is a quite extraordinary range indeed. He was married to soprano Maria Laurenti.

1926:
- Teatro Regio, Torino: Manon Lescaut (replacing Lauri-Volpi)
- Trieste: Traviata
- Teatro Dal Verme, Milano: Anima allegra (by Vittadini)

1928:
- Bologna: Resurrezione (by Alfano)
- Como: Resurrezione and Manon Lescaut

1930: Zadar (Croatia): Sonnambula
- Trieste: Turandot
- Arena, Verona: Boris Godunov

1931:
- La Scala, Milano: Boris Godunov (with Shaljapin)

1933:
- Teatro Bellini, Catania: La farsa amorosa (by Zandonai)
- Teatro Sociale, Trento: La farsa amorosa
- Teatro Argentina, Rome: Pinotta (by Mascagni), a great success for Costa Lo Giudice

1934:
- La Scala, Milano: Dibuk (by Rocca)

1935:
- Teatro Donizetti, Bergamo: Paolo e Virginia (by Gianandrea Gavazzeni, better known as a conductor than as a composer) – world premiere (with Maria Laurenti)

1936:
- Teatro Verdi, Pisa: La farsa amorosa
- Teatro Regio, Torino: Turandot
- La Scala, Milano: Gioconda

1937:
- La Scala, Milano: Mosé

1938:
- La Scala, Milano: Madama Butterfly
- Castello Sforzesco, Milano: Maristella (by Pietri)

1939:
- Teatro San Carlo, Naples: Malato immaginario (by Jacopo Napoli)
- Castello Sforzesco, Milano: Madama Butterfly

1940:
- Teatro Bellini, Catania: La vedova scaltra (by Wolf-Ferrari)

After World War II, he sang in Mefistofele and in Madama Butterfly in Trieste. His last performance took place in 1954 (Cavalleria rusticana in Genova). Later he lived in Palermo, then in Rome, where he died on October 10th, 1982.

He was definitely more elegant and a less veristic singer than his brother. He made records in the 1930s for Columbia.

Reference 1
Reference 2: Le voci dell'Etna, Edizioni TimaClub