Franco Pagliazzi was born on 8th April 1937 in Florence. He initially studied singing in Florence and then under Ettore Campogalliani in Mantova, participating in the 1960 AS.LI.CO competition in Milano, the 1962 Voci Verdiane competition in Busseto and then becoming a prize winner at the 1963 International Singing Competition in Sofia and taking the first prize at the G. B. Viotti Singing Competition in Vercelli in 1964. He made his concert debut in 1959 in Prato and his opera debut in 1960 as baritone (as Un converso in Cherubini’s Elisa in Florence)
He visited Ireland to sing with the DGOS during the Spring 1967 season in both Dublin and Cork, singing Rodrigo in “Don Carlo” in Dublin and Enrico in “Lucia di Lammermoor” in Dublin & Cork also adding Marcello in “La Boheme” for the visit to Cork. Miraculously, due to Pagliazzi himself, privately-recorded fragments of his Enrico in Dublin and Marcello in Cork have recently come to light and can be heard.
There was also plenty of time for socialising in-between the rehearsals and performances of the Spring 1967 season – and even a visit (or maybe even two) to Dublin Zoo where he posed alongside the wildlife!
In January 1968, he participated in a complete LP recording of “Il Trovatore” on the Supraphon label which was later reissued as part of the “Le Grandi Opere Liriche” series by Fratelli Fabbri Editori throughout Italy in 1969. The recording sessions, which took place in Prague, also featured other singers who appeared with the DGOS – notably Linda Vanja, Eftimios Michalopoulus and (in the small role of Ruiz) Ernesto Veronelli.
Il Trovatore with Franco Pagliazzi – 1968 (Studio)
Studio recording of IL TROVATORE by Giuseppe Verdi recorded in Studio Domovina, Praga 8/15 January 1968: Manrico: GAETANO BARDINI / Leonora: LINDA VAJNA / Conte di Luna: FRANCO PAGLIAZZI / Azucena: MARIA GRAZIA ALLEGRI / Ferrando: EFTIMIOS MICHALOPOULOS / Ruiz: ERNESTO VERONELLI / Ines: ANNA MARIA BIXIO / PKO – PRAGA CHAMBER ORCHESTRA / CZECH PHILHARMONIC CHORUS (M°del Coro Josef Veselka) / c. INO SAVINI
His first farewell to the stage took place in 1974 with his final appearance as a baritone – as Marcello in Puccini’s “La bohème” in Napoli; but by 1976, he was back appearing in opera once again – this time as a dramatic tenor (he appeared under the name Marc Alexander between 1978 and 1984). He had already successfully auditioned for Napoleone Annovazzi (during 1983) with a view to assuming the title role in Verdi’s “Otello” – indeed, he had already signed a contract for performances with Alessandro Cassis as Iago; but Gianandrea Gavazzeni (who was at that time mentoring Cassis) forbade him to sing the role and so the promised performances never materialised and Annovazzi made a repertoire change from “Otello” to “Aida” in which Pagliazzi had been scheduled to appear with the DGOS once again – as Radames – in 1984 (see booking flyer at foot of page), but last-minute illness prevented this from happening. From 1990 he became a voice teacher notably between 2001 to 2006 in Moscow; in 1998 he gave his final concert in Kagoshima, but was still to be heard on occasion singing [tenor] comprimario parts like Altoum in Puccini’s “Turandot” in Moscow as late as 2002. Franco Pagliazzi passed away suddenly, on the morning of the 11 May 2018, aged 81.
We are indebted to Franco Pagliazzi’s son, the conductor Alessandro Pagliazzi, for photographs and recordings which we have added to the archive of Opera in Ireland; further information on Franco Pagliazzi can be found here.
Cork 1967 – Maura O’Connor and Stella Byrne from DGOS Chorus with Bruno Rufo and Franco Pagliazzi posing outside Cork Opera House front entrance.
The Spring 1967 season – like many of the Dublin opera seasons before and after it – proved a lively time on the social front: there was an almost unspoken expectation that it was beholden upon the local choristers and representatives of the opera company to make the visiting foreign artists as welcome as possible and to lay on opportunities for them to sample Irish culture at its finest – so days out were organised around the busy schedule of rehearsals and performances – adopted foreign visitors were introduced to the delights of the surrounding Irish countryside and the local social scene to make them feel more “at home”. One particular manifestation of this was a party – one of many – that took place on 4th June 1967; but on this particular occasion John Brady was primed with his trusty reel-to-reel tape recorder to preserve the off-stage occasion for posterity. Franco Pagliazzi was amongst the revellers on that occasion, and like visitors Bruno Rufo and Ernesto Vezzosi (and local singers Ann Moran, Philip Byrne and other assembled choristers) contributed songs and music to suit the occasion. it provides a precious informal glimpse into the offstage world of the visiting professional singers – and the evident delight of the locals! The miracle is that they can still be overheard so many decades later.
A DGOS Party on 4th June 1967
Featuring off-stage informal contributions from visiting singers Franco Pagliazzi, Bruno Rufo and Ernesto Vezzosi as well as local singers Ann Moran, Philip Byrne and other members of the chorus – and even Col. Bill O’Kelly!
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Opera in Ireland 