Ermanno Mauro

Mauro, Ermanno

Ermanno Mauro. Tenor, b Trieste 29 Jan 1939, naturalized Canadian 1963. He emigrated to Canada in 1958 and studied with Jean Létourneau in Edmonton before enrolling in 1964 at the Royal Cons Opera School (University of Toronto Opera Division), where his teachers were George Lambert, Herman Geiger-Torel, and Ernesto Barbini. He created the role of Naisi in Willan's Deirdre in the Royal Cons Opera School production in April 1965. When the Manrico in the COC's 1967 production of Il Trovatore became ill in mid-performance, Mauro was asked to step out of the chorus and sing the remainder of the performance, which he did to critical acclaim. He became house tenor at Covent Garden later in 1967 and remained there until 1972.

Between 1972 and 1990 Mauro performed in Canada with the Vancouver Opera, the COC, the Edmonton Opera, the Southern Alberta Opera (Calgary Opera), the Pacific Opera, and the Manitoba Opera, and with such European and US opera companies as the Netherlands State, the Vienna State, and those in Brussels, Frankfurt, Los Angeles, Dallas, San Francisco, Tulsa, Miami, and San Diego. He made his New York debut 3 Feb 1975 as Calaf in Turandot with the New York City Opera. He made an unofficial Metropolitan Opera debut 6 Jan 1978, when he replaced Jon Vickers in I Pagliacci, singing Canio to Louis Quilico's Tonio, and made his official debut there 25 Jan 1978 as Radames in Aida. He made his debut at La Scala in the spring of 1978 and that same year sang Turiddu at the Royal Opera, Covent Garden. During the 1978-9 season he sang at both the Metropolitan Opera and the New York City Opera, and during the 1978 season he was teamed again with Quilico opposite Renata Scotto in the Metropolitan production of La Gioconda. In 1982, when he sang Norma in San Francisco with Joan Sutherland and Marilyn Horne, he was described by the local press as 'the most exciting tenor on the scene' (quoted in Music, Feb 1984). Mauro has carefully husbanded his voice throughout his career, and in 1990, noting that the nature of his roles had changed as his career matured, Mauro reduced the number of his annual performances from 80 in the 1970s and 1980s to 50. At the same time, he abandoned the Tales of Hoffmann and Romeo and Juliet and other youthfully romantic repertoire for operas such as Aida, Turandot, and particularly Otello.

Mauro has appeared frequently in concert, singing with such orchestras as the Scottish National, the Welsh Philharmonic, the London SO, and the TS, and has been heard on the BBC and on CBC radio and TV.