Cestari studied at the Conservatorio Benedetto Marcello in Venice, graduating in 1948. He was obviously not entirely happy with
the results, and added further studies in Florence, Milano and Siena, while at the same time already singing on the radio. In
the 1950s, also his stage career took steam: Rodolfo and Alfredo in Venice (1954 and 1955, respectively), Pinkerton in Fidenza
(1954) and at the Teatro Massimo in Palermo (1956), Duca in Rovigo...
In 1961, he stopped singing, and sold insurance policies instead. Surprisingly, his comeback was lucky enough to make him
arrive at La Scala (debut: Manrico, 1965) as well as at the Arena di Verona (debut: Radames, 1972), the Regio in Torino, the
Pergola in Florence, the Petruzzelli in Bari. Abroad, he sang in Antwerp, Nîmes, Lugano, Detmold, Bonn, Malta, Bucarest...
But a good deal of his performances still took part in the Italian provinces.
After his career, he became a successful voice teacher, numbering Maurizio Saltarin
and Paolo Gavanelli among his students.
Reference 1 and picture source (bottom two), reference 2: Il Basso Adige, March
2012
