Benito Maresca

14 July 1939 São Paulo – 11 June 2011 São Paulo

Maresca graduated from the Santana Conservatory of Music in his native São Paulo, in the class of Marcel Klass.
He began his career in 1955 in small concerts in churches and schools. On 27 October 1962, Benito Maresca sang Pinkerton in a production of Madame Butterfly at the Teatro Lírico de Equipe under its artistic director Emerson Eckmann. In 1964, Maresca got his big debut at the Theatro Municipal de São Paulo in Lucia di Lammermoor, as Arturo.
He sang in Cavalleria rusticana, Madama Butterfly or La bohème in various Brazilian cities: Rio de Janeiro, Blumenau, Santa Catarina, Curitiba, Porto Alegre.
On 11 July 1970, the Teatro Lírico de Equipe, in collaboration with the Municipality of São Paulo, performed twelve scenes from Il Guarany by Carlos Gomes, commemorating the centenary of the world premiere at La Scala in Milan. Benito Maresca sang Pery. The same year, he sang Manrico and Don Alvaro (the other tenor role in Il Guarany) under baton of Armando Belardi.
In 1971 at the initiative of businessman Alfredo Gagliotti, opera singers from Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, again under the baton of Armando Belardi, presented the opera at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples. In August, September and October 1971, Maresca also participated in productions of La bohème and Cavalleria rusticana at the Teatro Eliseo in Rome.
In September 1974, Il Guarany was presented in Palermo at the Teatro Massimo; Maresca sang Pery, and also gave four performances of . The same year, he sang Rodolfo in La bohème at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, with José van Dam. Maresca performed in many major opera houses (Wien, Graz, München, Frankfurt, Mannheim, Stuttgart, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Köln, Stockholm, Toronto...), and in 26 countries total. He had a repertoire of 64 operas, oratorios and masses.

Repertory
Norma, Il Guarany, Salvator Rosa, Lo schiavo, Lucia di Lammermoor, Fedora, Pagliacci, Cavalleria rusticana, La Gioconda, Gianni Schicchi, La bohème, Madama Butterfly, Tosca, Il tabarro, Manon Lescaut, Turandot, Aida, Alzira, Don Carlo, La forza del destino, Macbeth, Nabucco, Rigoletto, La traviata, Il trovatore, Andrea Chénier
Reference 1: Maresca's YouTube page by Fabio Siniscarchio
Reference 2: Kutsch & Riemens
Reference 3: Brazilian liner notes for the recording of Salvator Rosa

São Paulo

Lucia di Lammermoor at the Theatro Municipal, 21/30 August 1964, as Arturo with Niza de Castro Tank, Bruno Lazzarini, Costanzo Mascitti, José Perrotta, Geraldo Chagas, Armando Belardi
Cavalleria rusticana at the Theatro Municipal, 22/29 November 1965, with Gloriá Queiroz, Andrea Ramus, Odete Violani, Lygia Lacerda, Armando Belardi
Madama Butterfly at the Theatro Municipal, 1966, with José Perrotta, Edoardo Guarnieri, Atzuko Azuma, Andrea Ramus, Glóri Queiroz, Geraldo Chagas, Paulo Adonis, Luiz Orefice
Die keusche Susanne at the Teatro das Nações on 9/10/11/12/14/15/16/17/18/19/21/22/23/24/25/26/28/29 June – 11/2/3/5/7/8/9/10/12/13/14/15/16/17/19/20/21/22/23/24/26/27/28/29/30/31 July – 2/3/4/5/6/7 August 1966 (two performances on Sundays), with Ilda Hasson, Jayme Costa, Cavgnoli Neto, Maria Antal
Lucia di Lammermoor at the Theatro Municipal, 14/15 October 1966, as Arturo with Niza de Castro Tank, Andrea Ramus, Mario Rinaudo, Ayrton Nobre, Teresa Boschetti, João Calil, Armando Belardi
La traviata at the Theatro Municipal, 1966
La bohème at the Theatro Municipal, 25 November 1967, with Agnes Ayres, Marta Baschi, Costanzo Mascitti, José Perrotta, Andrea Ramus, Armando Belardi
Cavalleria rusticana at the Theatro Municipal, 16/20 October 1968, with Marta Rose, Costanzo, Mascitti, Lydia Fiori/Teresa Boschetti, Teresa Boschetti/Luana Strocoki, Diogo Pacheco
Il Guarany at the Theatro Municipal, 9/11 September 1970, as Don Alvaro with Sergio Albertini, Costanzo Mascitti, Wilson Varrara, Benedito Silva, Andrea Ramus, Assadu Kiultzian. Armando Belardi
Lucia di Lammermoor at the Theatro Municipal, 23/25 September 1970, as Arturo with Niza de Castro Tank, Ruggero Bondino, Costanzo Mascitti, Mario Rinaudo, Assadur Kiultzian, Alberto Paoletti
O sonho de anchieta (by Spartaco Rossi) at the Auditorio do Museu de Arte, 12/13 August 1972, with Wilson Carrara, Spartaco Rossi
Lo schiavo at the Theatro Municipal (concert), 15/16 December 1974, with Renata Lucci, Fernando Teixeira, Paulo Adonis, Niza de Castro Tank, Andrea Ramus, Benedito Silva, Luiz Orefice, Armando Belardi
Tosca at the Theatro Municipal, 17/19/21 August 1977, with Marisa Galvany, Gian Piero Mastromei, Paulo Adonis, Assadur Kiultzian, Michelangelo Veltri
Salvator Rosa at the Theatro Municipal, 9/11/14 September 1977, with Nina Carini, Paulo Fortes, Edilson Costa, Ruth Staerje, Simon Blech
Otello at the Theatro Municipal, 1977, as Cassio with James McCracken
Lo schiavo at the Theatro Municipal, 21/23/25/27 September 1979, with Leila Guimarães, Fernando Teixeira, Amin Feres, Luiz Orefice, David Machado
Werther at the Theatro Municipal, 6/9/11 December 1979, with Alicia Nafé, Beatriz Pazos, Fernando Teixeira
Tosca at the Theatro Municipal, 23/24/25/26/27/28/29/30 October 1982, sharing with Maurizio Frusoni (who sang the first night) and Antonio Lotti, with Mabel Veleris/Isabel Gentile/Norma Cresto, Gabriele Floresta/Rio Novello
Tosca at the Theatro Municipal, 9/10/11/12/12/14/15 March 1983, sharing with Maurizio Frusoni (who sang the first night) and Claudimir Aére, with Mabel Velreis/Neyde Thomas, Lino Puglisi/Rio Novello, Wilson Carrara, Andrea Ramus, Assadur Kiultzian, Tullio Colacioppo
Turandot at the Circulo Militar, 1985
Manon Lescaut at the Sala Cidade (concert), 25/26/27/28 September 1986, with Luiza de Moura/Rosa Mazzolla, Andrea Ramus/Luis Orefice, Wilson Carrar/Carlos Augusto Vial, Tullio Colacioppo/Luiz Fernando Malheiro
Andrea Chénier at the Sala Cidade, 24/25/26/27 April 1987, sharing with Antonio Lotti, with Céline Imbert/Berenice Pace, Andrea Ramus/Luiz Orefice, Tullio Colacioppo
Die Fledermaus at the Theatro Municipal, 13/15/16/18/19 November 1990 with Patricia Endo, Marcus Pavan, Martha Herrm, Regina Elena Mesquita, Andrea Ramus, Luiz Orefice, João Malatian, Claudia Riccitelli, Carlos Augusto Carvalho, Jamil Maluf/Luiz Gustavo
Tosca at the Shopping Center Iguatemi, 22/23/24 October 1991, with Berenice Pace, Andrea Ramus, Wilson Carrara, João de Braz, Tullio Colacioppo
Il tabarro at the Theatro Municipal, 17/19/20/22/23/25/26 November 1992, sharing with Claudimir Aére, with Monica Martins/Eloisa Baldin, Andrea Ramus, Alessandro Sangiorgi
Il cappello di paglia di Firenze (by Nino Rota) at the Teatro Paulo Eiró, 3/5/7/9 October 1993, with Katia Guedes, Sandro Christopher, Jamil Maluf/Luiz Gustavo Petri
Carmen at the Theatro Municipal (concert), 26/27/28/29/30/31 July 1994 – 2/3 August 1994, sharing with Edmund Barham (who sang the first night), with Jadranka Jovanovic/Graciela Alperyn, Rosana Lamosa/Claudia Riccitelli, Boris Martinovic/Thomas Potter, Isaac Karabtchevsky
Pedro Malazarte (by Camargo Guarnieri) at the Theatro São Pedro, 29 April 2000, with Sandro Bodillon, Edinéa de Oliveira, Milton Coatti, Lutero Rodrigues

Napoli

Il Guarany at the Teatro San Carlo, 1971, with Andrea Ramus

Wien, Staatsoper

Cavalleria rusticana, 31 January 1975, with Grace Hoffman, Hilde Rössel-Majdan, Reid Bunger, Axelle Gall, Hans Swarowsky
Madama Butterfly, 12 February 1975, with Lotte Rysanek, Unni Rugtvedt, Horst Nitsche, Eberhard Waechter, Heinz Wallberg
Cavalleria rusticana, 6 June 1975, with Grace Hoffman, Unni Rugtvedt, Reid Bunger, Rohangiz Yachmi, Anton Guadagno
Cavalleria rusticana, 25 September 1976, with Hanna Janku, Margarita Lilowa, Kostas Paskalis, Gertrude Jahn, Giuseppe Patané
Madama Butterfly, 2 October 1976, with Atsuko Azuma, Gertrude Jahn, Murray Dickie, Hans Helm, Giuseppe Patané
Cavalleria rusticana, 30 November 1976, with Franca Mattinucci, Margarethe Bence, Franco Bordoni, Gertrude Jahn, Borislav Iwanow

Parma, Teatro Regio

Alzira, 8 February 1981, with Franco Federici, Garbis Boyagian, Walter Brighi, Alfonso Marchica, Keiko Kataoka, Rina Pallini, Bruno Bulgarelli, Edwin Scholz
Otello, 11/15/19/23/29 January 1983, as Cassio with Vladimir Atlantov, Maria Chiara/Stefka Evstatieva, Jurij Mazurok, Desdemona Malvisi/Rina Pallini, Günter Neuhold

Scheveningen

La fanciulla del West at the Circustheater, 22 October 1981, with Karan Armstrong, Henk Smit, Pieter van den Berg, Willy Caron, Max van Weegberg, Bohumil Gregor

In RA format

Benito Maresca sings

Il Guarany: Sento una forza indomita, with Aurea Gomes

Benito Maresca sings

Il Guarany: Vanto io pur

Benito Maresca sings

Tosca: Gente là dentro! ... Non la sospiri, with Adelaide Negri and unknown baritone