Oreste Kirkop
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Oreste Kirkop was born in Ħamrun (Malta) in 1923. Oreste made his operatic debut in 1945 as Turiddu in Cavalleria Rusticana. He continued singing opera with visiting Italian companies and appeared in concert with Tito Gobbi and Maria Caniglia.
In 1950 he moved to the United Kingdom and sang principal tenor roles with the Carl Rosa Opera Company, later with Sadlers Wells (1952) singing Turiddu, Mario Cavaradossi, and Rodolfo in Luisa Miller. He appeared on BBCTV as Canio in I Pagliacci.
In 1954 Kirkop made his Covent Garden debut as the Duke in Rigoletto and later as Rodolfo in La Boheme. A contract with Paramount Pictures led to the leading role of Francois Villon in the 1956 film version of The Vagabond King, but that turned out to be his only motion picture; it was not well received.
He sang opera at Las Vegas and the Hollywood Bowl and appeared on NBCTV in pioneering productions of Madame Butterfly, La Traviata and Rigoletto.
In 1958 he returned to Covent Garden. Oreste Kirkop retired in 1960 and died in his native island, Malta, in 1998.
 |
This Malta-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
 |
This article about an opera singer is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
