The Italian tenor Giuseppe Di Stefano (born 24 July 1921) is a famous opera singer whose career spanned from the late 1940s to the early 1970s. He is best known for his long association with Maria Callas, with whom he performed and recorded many times and with whom he was briefly romantically involved.

Di Stefano was born in Motta Santa Anastasia, a village near Catania, Sicily. He was the only son of a carabiniere turned cobbler and his dressmaker wife. Di Stefano was educated at a Jesuit seminary and briefly contemplated entering the priesthood.

Di Stefano made his operatic debut in 1946 in Reggio Emilia as Des Grieux in Massenet's Manon, the role with which he made his La Scala debut the following year. He made his debut with the Metropolitan Opera in 1948 as the Duke in Rigoletto, and he went to perform regularly in New York for many years. In 1957, Di Stefano made his British debut at the Edinburgh Festival as Nemorino in L'Elisir d'Amore and his Royal Opera House, Covent Garden debut in 1961 as Cavaradossi in Tosca.

As a singer, Di Stefano was admired for his excellent diction unique timbre and passionate delivery and particularly for his sweet silky soft tones. In his Metropolitan radio debut in Faust he attacked the high C forte and then softened to a pianissimo. Rudolf Bing said this was the most beautiful sound he ever heard come out of a human throat. In spite of his incredible technique, allergies and his taking on heavier roles not really suited for a lyric tenor, by the mid 1960s had all but ended his brilliant operatic career. In 1973, he accompanied Maria Callas on her final recital tour, an undertaking that was eventually aborted in 1974 due to the vocal shortcomings of both singers. His final operatic role was as the aged emperor in Turandot in July 1992.

In December, 2004, Di Stefano was critically injured in his home in Diani, Kenya after a brutal beating by unknown attackers. The retired singer was ambushed in his car with his wife as they prepared to drive from their villa in Diani, a coastal resort near Mombasa on the Indian Ocean. As if December 7, the singer was still unconscious a week after the attack and being fed intravenously, with doctors hopeful of recovery after several operations. He has since been flown to Milan Italy, is out of a coma and is improving.(Dec. 18, 2004)

External link

• Opera star critical after attack in Kenya (http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/news/story/0,11711,1367319,00.html) (the Guardian)

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