Franco Tagliavini (Novellara 1934 - 2010)

Of peasant origin, as a boy he started working as a helper in a dairy area, but his innate passion for music, encouraged in this also by his father, romances lover and melodies, brought him to sing in the music of the village choir , directed by the maestro C. Confetta, realizing immediately that the vocal quality of his pupil, the music theory teaches.

They were economically difficult times, but the family at great sacrifice sent him to study in Milan, where he had the chance to meet the great soprano and voice teacher Zita Fumagalli Riva. Mrs. Zita, as Franco affectionately called the teacher, hosted him at his home and she studied singing at the Music High School "G.B.Viotti" of Vercelli; interrupted study, to serve in the military at that time lasted 18 months, having on his return, start again.

In 1961 he won the competition AsLiCo, making his debut in the role of Canio in the opera "Pagliacci" by Leoncavallo, at the Teatro Nuovo in Milan, a role he has not sung, but where was noted his musicality by the conductor. In the years 1962-63 sings in provincial theaters in the following works: Nabucco, Madame Batterfly, Tosca, La Bohème, Cavalleria rusticana, Mephistopheles. In April 1962, stands out the debut in Catania in Tosca with Gigliola Frazzoni and Piero Cappuccilli, in November of the same year Clara Petrella chose him for the role of Cavaradossi in Puccini Theater in Milan.

In 1964 he began his international career with the debut in San Francisco and Los Angeles, the United States, continued then in the major theaters of the world (from the Teatro alla Scala in Milan, the Metropolitan Opera, the San Carlo in Naples at Covent Garden London, the Opera of Rome to the Deutsch Oper Berlin and the Vienna State Opera, the Paris Opera to the Bolshoi in Moscow and then again in Tokyo, Johannesburg, Bilbao, Budapest, Rio de Janeiro, Cairo, Brussels, Geneva, Zurich, Edinburgh, Bordeaux, Lyon, Lille, Monte Carlo), having as a great partner of the great voices of his time (from Tebaldi to Johan Sutherland, from Birgit Nilson Regine Crespin, from Virginia Zeani Antonietta Stella, from Monserrat Caballé to Raina Kabaivanska; from Fiorenza Cossotto to Shirley Verrett).

Remember that the vast Magda Olivero held it to "baptism" nell'Adriana Lecouvreur in Como.

Among the male performers were its partners Tito Gobbi, Nicolai Ghiaurof, Marti Talvela, Dietrich Fisher-Diskau, Jose Van Dan, Renato Bruson, Piero Cappuccilli, Peter Glossop, Giuseppe Taddei, Sherill Milnes; between conductors include Antonino Votto, Gianandrea Gavazzeni, Lorin Maazel, Claudio Abbado, Jorge Pretre, Vittorio Gui. He worked with famous directors such as Giorgio De Lullo, Pier Luigi Pizzi, Franco Zeffirelli, Mauro Bolognini, Franco Enriquez, Barlog, Strehler.

In his city, Reggio Emilia, Teatro Municipale R. Valli, remember two memorable performances of "Adriana Lecouvreur" by Cilea in 1968 and "Tosca" by Puccini in 1971.

After 27 years of successful career, no more enduring the stress of the stage that influenced on his vocal performance, he decided to put a full stop to his career and retire to his native country, hosting in his home the teacher Zita Fumagalli. A Franco Tagliavini is called the Circle of Friends of opera Novellara, who in his name, has promoted many cultural and musical events; on the other hand, the same tenor participated in the cultural life of his country, as vice president of the cultural circle Omnibus, although he never loved not appear.

In 2000, during a lyrical afternoon sponsored by the "Club Amici della Lirica"

Excellent condition