Kenneth Sakos

Sakos, Kenneth

Kenneth (b Kyriabos) Sakos (b Tsakos). Tenor, b Neapolis, Laconia, Greece ca 1903, d Kitchener, Ont, 26 Feb 1960. He arrived in Renfrew, Ont, as a young man and settled in Kitchener in 1925. He studied there with J.G. Galloway and in Toronto with Giuseppe Carboni. He studied further in Italy and sang 1929-34 in Italian and Greek opera houses. After his Toronto debut in 1935, Lawrence Mason hailed him as the best Canadian tenor since Edward Johnson. In 1936 he appeared as Canio in the Opera Guild of Toronto production of Pagliacci in May and sang opera excerpts with the Promenade Symphony Concerts in June. Sakos toured in 1936 with the San Carlo Opera Company, sang 1937-8 with the Chicago Civic Opera Co, and appeared in concerts, but in 1939 he retired to assist his brother in running a restaurant in Kitchener. His voice has been described as lyrical, easy, sweet, and brilliant. His opera scores and books were donated to the Kitchener Public Library in 1972.