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{{short description|American opera singer}}

factoids

| birth_place = Chicago, Illinois| origin = Broadway, New York City20113001|08}} | death_place = Bloomington, Indiana| genre = Opera| occupation = Operatic bass| instrument = Voice| years_active = 1948–2006 RCA Red Seal>RCA Victor| associated_acts = | website = | module = | module2 = | module3 = }}Giorgio Tozzi (January 8, 1923 – May 30, 2011) was an American operatic bass and actor. He was associated with the Metropolitan Opera for many years and sang principal bass roles in nearly every major opera house worldwide.

Career

Tozzi was born George John Tozzi in Chicago, Illinois.NEWS,www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-passings-20110603,0,6506656,full.story,www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-passings-20110603,0,6506656,full.story," title="web.archive.org/web/20131207034405www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-passings-20110603,0,6506656,full.story,">web.archive.org/web/20131207034405www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-passings-20110603,0,6506656,full.story, dead, December 7, 2013, Opera singer and Broadway performer, The Los Angeles Times, June 3, 2011, June 5, 2011, He studied at DePaul University with Rosa Raisa, Giacomo Rimini and John Daggett Howell. He later studied singing in New York City with Beverley Peck Johnson.NEWS,www.nytimes.com/2001/01/22/arts/beverley-peck-johnson-96-voice-teacher.html, Beverley Peck Johnson, 96, Voice Teacher, The New York Times, January 22, 2001, Anthony Tommasini, Anthony Tommasini, He made his professional debut in the Broadway production of Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia in 1948 as Tarquinius. His signature roles included Figaro in Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro, Philip II in Verdi’s Don Carlos, Hans Sachs in Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, and Méphistophélès in Gounod’s Faust.{{Citation|title=Faust|url=https://www.metopera.org/season/on-demand/opera/?upc=811357010365|access-date=2017-12-20}}In 1957 he portrayed the title role in a nationally broadcast performance of Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov with the NBC Opera Theatre.NEWS,www.nytimes.com/1961/03/19/archives/bass-on-the-rise-giorgio-tozzi-is-that-rarity-in-opera-circles-a.html?sq=%2522Andrew+McKinley%2522&scp=67&st=p, Bass on the Rise; Giorgio Tozzi is that rarity in opera circles, a basso who has become well-known., The New York Times, March 19, 1961, Raymond Ericson, Raymond Ericson, In 1958, he created the role of The Doctor in Barber’s Vanessa. In July 1958, Tozzi also recorded an album alongside Dame Julie Andrews in the operetta Rose Marie. The album was conducted by Lehman Engel, with the New Symphony Orchestra of London. Tozzi was the recipient of three Grammy Awards: in 1960 the Grammy Award for Best Classical Performance, Operatic or Choral for The Marriage of Figaro with Erich Leinsdorf; in 1961 the Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording for Puccini’s Turandot, with Erich Leinsdorf; and in 1963 the Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording for Sir Georg Solti’s recording of Verdi’s Aida (with Leontyne Price and Jon Vickers). Tozzi also sang the bass part in the recording of Sir Thomas Beecham’s version of Handel’s Messiah for RCA Victor in 1959.After dubbing the singing voice for the character of Emile de Becque (portrayed by Rossano Brazzi) in the 1958 film version of South Pacific, Tozzi spent many years playing the role of de Becque himself in various revivals and road tours of the show, including one at Lincoln Center in the late 1960s. In a return to live national television in 1964, he collaborated with the conductor Alfredo Antonini in the role of Herod in CBS Television’s adaptation of Hector Berlioz’s oratorio L’enfance du Christ. In 1980, Tozzi earned a Tony Award nomination for Best Leading Actor in a Musical for his work as Tony in The Most Happy Fella.WEB,www.imdb.com/title/tt0780509/, L’enfance du Christ, 20 December 1964, 18 November 2017, www.imdb.com, WEB,www.imdb.com/name/nm0870366/, Giorgio Tozzi, IMDb, 18 November 2017, Tozzi was a professor at The Juilliard School, Brigham Young University, and Indiana University. He served as Distinguished Professor of Voice at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music from 1991 until he retired in 2006.WEB,music.indiana.edu/giving/scholarships/scholarships-tozzi.shtml, Endowments & Scholarships: Giving: Jacobs School of Music: Indiana University Bloomington, indiana.edu, IU Office of Creative Services, iuweb @, music.indiana.edu, 2017-12-20, Tozzi also acted on television and appeared on several TV shows in the 1970s and 1980s, including The Odd Couple, Baretta, Kojak, and Knight Rider.WEB,www.bruceduffie.com/tozzi.html, Giorgio Tozzi Interview with Bruce Duffie, Bruceduffie.com, 2011-06-02, 2020-04-23, In 1997, Tozzi published a novel, The Golem of the Golden West.{{OL book|id=OL10470583M|cname=The Golem of the Golden West by Giorgio Tozzi}}

Personal life

Tozzi was twice married. He first married Catherine Dieringer, who died in 1963; in 1967 he married Monte Amundsen, a singer, with whom he had a son and a daughter.WEB,www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/culture-obituaries/music-obituaries/8575890/Giorgio-Tozzi.html, Obituary: Giorgio Tozzi, The Daily Telegraph, 14 June 2011, 2016-04-11, Tozzi died on May 30, 2011, in Bloomington, Indiana, aged 88, of a heart attack. He was survived by Amundsen, their children, Eric Tozzi and Jennifer Tozzi Hauser, and three grandchildren.NEWS,www.operanews.com/operanews/templates/content.aspx?id=20139, Bass Giorgio Tozzi, 88, an Artist Beloved by Met Audiences for More than Two Decades, has Died, Opera News, F. Paul, Driscoll, May 31, 2011, June 1, 2011, NEWS,www.nytimes.com/2011/06/02/arts/music/giorgio-tozzi-esteemed-bass-at-the-met-dies-at-88.html, Giorgio Tozzi, Esteemed Bass at the Met, Is Dead at 88, Margalit Fox, The New York Times, June 2, 2011,

Partial filmography

• South Pacific (1958) – Emile De Becque (singing voice)
• Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (1971) – Hans Sachs
• Shamus (1973) – Dottore

References

{{Reflist}}

External links

• Interview with Giorgio Tozzi by Bruce Duffie, January 17, 1988
• JOURNAL, Bernheimer, Martin, Giorgio Tozzi, Opera News, 67, 1, July 2002, 46–50,
• {{Discogs artist|Giorgio Tozzi}}
• {{IBDB name}}
• {{IMDb name|id=0870366}}

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