Dante Ranieri

Dante Ranieri was born in Buenos Aires. At the age of 16, he received his piano degree and began his singing studies with Italian tenor Emilio Livi. In 1969, he made his debut at the Teatro Argentino in La Plata, in the local premiere of Puccini's Manon Lescaut. Since that moment, he was been permanently associated with that theater and also toured Argentina with its company. At the Teatro Argentino, he interpreted roles in operas such as Il barbiere di Siviglia, La traviata, Rigoletto, Un ballo in maschera, Don Carlo, La bohème, Lucia di Lammermoor, L'elisir d'amore, Manon, and in operettas such as Der Graf von Luxemburg and Die Fledermaus.

It was with Die Fledermaus that he made his debut at the Teatro Colón and then entered its company in 1974. He appeared at that theater until 1994, having a major career there. He performed in Salome, Die Frau ohne Schatten, Boris Godunov, L'ajo nell imbarazzo, La sonnambula, La traviata, Rigoletto, Lucia di Lammermoor, Roméo et Juliette, Manon, Le nozze di Figaro, L'elisir d'amore, Il turco in Italia, Amelia al ballo, Les contes d' Hoffmann et cetera. He appeared in all the provinces of the country and performed for prestigious musical institutions such as Amigos de la Música, the Wagnerian Association, the Argentinian Mozarteum, Buenos Aires Festivals and Ars Musicalis. He also appeared in Verdi's I masnadieri at the Teatro Coliseo in Buenos Aires. Abroad, he performed in Bolivia, Uruguay, Paraguay, Chile, Brazil, Venezuela, the United States of America (at the American Opera Center, New York) and Spain.

In 1984 the Verdi Association in Buenos Aires awarded him the prize of best tenor of the season for his work in Massenet's Manon. With reference to chamber music, he devoted himself to reviving several composers' little known titles. In 1986 he recorded "Tosti inedito" ("Never played Tosti"), an album containing unknown songs by this Italian composer.

As a professor, he taught repertoire at the Superior Institute of Art of the Teatro Colón. In 1990, he was in Taiwan teaching a course of repertoire and interpreting the Italian and French repertoire and went on a concert tour. In 1992, he founded and directed "Medellin's Musical April" and was in charge of the above mentioned courses at Antioquia University.

I wish to thank Thomas Silverbörg for the Roméo et Juliette recording.

I wish to thank Roberto Falcone for the biographical information and the "Tu seconda" recording.

I wish to thank Danilo Serrano for the Elisir d'amore and "Perché mai se son tradito" recordings.