Alvaro Bandini

born 25 March 1910 Ghezzano

Picture of Alvaro Bandini
After studies with maestro Masi in Pisa, Bandini made a very early debut in 1930 as Nemorino at the Teatro Duse in Bologna. In 1931, he had considerable success as Turiddu and Duca at the Petruzzelli in Bari, and as Duca in Pisa. He spent the next few years with guest appearances and touring opera companies in France, Switzerland, Malta and Indonesia (!).

In 1939, he was hired by the Teatro Municipal in Rio de Janeiro (debut role: Rodolfo), and from 1940 onwards, he lived in Buenos Aires and sang at the Teatro Colón, making guest appearances throughout South America (a very successful one at the Solís in Montevideo in 1943).

After WWII, he seems to have sung only comprimario parts, and the very few documents of his voice are from that period, all live recordings from the Colón: tiny roles in Samson et Dalila and Der Rosenkavalier (too tiny to give any real impression of his singing), and one end-of-career (1958) excursion into the (high) baritone repertory, as Morales in Carmen.

Reference: Kutsch & Riemens

Bandini as a baritone
I wish to thank Daniele Godor for the picture.

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