Renato Capecchi

Renato Capecchi (born Cairo, November 6, 1923; died Milan, June 30, 1998) was an Italian baritone, actor, and opera director.

He sang in the Italian premiere of Shostakovich's ''The Nose'' and Prokofiev's ''War and Peace'', and in the world premieres of Gian Francesco Malipiero's ''La donna è mobile'', Giorgio Federico Ghedini's ''Billy Budd'' and ''Lord Inferno'', and Sylvano Bussotti's ''L'ispirazione.''

In 1951, Capecchi made his New York Metropolitan Opera debut as Germont in ''La traviata'' and sang regularly in leading roles there until 1954. After a period of singing primarily in European opera houses, he returned to the Metropolitan Opera in 1975 where he specialized in smaller comic roles in otherwise tragic operas such as the Sacristan in ''Tosca'' and Benoit and Alcindoro in ''La bohème''.

Amongst the productions Capecchi directed were ''The Daughter of the Regiment'' at New York City Opera (1985), ''Così fan tutte'' in Susa, Italy (1978), and the US premiere of Giuseppe Gazzaniga's ''Don Giovanni Tenorio, ossia Il convitato di pietra'' with the San Francisco Opera Merola Opera Program, in Saratoga, California (1977).

Recordings are available of him as Figaro (Mozart and Rossini), Dandini, Riccardo, Rigoletto, Belfiore, Melitone, Ford, Jago, Scarpia, and, in an Italian translation-performance of ''Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg'', Beckmesser. There is a DVD of Capecchi as Don Bartolo with Jennifer Larmore as Rosina in ''The Barber of Seville'' staged at Netherlands Opera in a 1992 production by Dario Fo.

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