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The German-born Italian bass, Boris Carmeli, was born as Norbert Wolfinger to Hermann and Genya Wolfinger. He was raised in Brussels, Belgium and fled to France with his family at the outbreak of World War II. He was briefly interred in the Gurs internment camp in 1940. He first went to Italy in August 1943, after the Italian withdrawal from France. He was deported from Italy to Auschwitz. After the end of World War II, his parents and brother immigrated to Palestine-Eretz Israel after the war, and Boris himself stayed in Italy after deciding to train his voice. This he did first with Ubaldo Carrozzo and Giovanni Binetti in Milan, then at the Conservatorio Rossini in Pesaro, finally with Maria Cascioli in Rome.
Boris Carmeli's debut took place in 1956 at the Festival in Arena Faenza in Bologna as Colline in Puccini’s La Bohème. He was discovered by Tullio Serafin, who first brought him to La Scala in Milan. With a repertoire of over seventy operas and sixty oratorios, his credits are as distinguished as they are lengthy. He had a successful career at the important Italian stages: at Milan’s La Scala, at the opera houses of Rome, Florence, Bologna, Naples, Palermo, Parma, Genoa, Turin, Venice and at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino. He has appeared regularly in the major opera houses in the world, such as Paris, Vienna, Berlin, Munich, Hamburg, Köln, Madrid, Tokyo, Osaka, Rio de Janeiro, Amsterdam, Brussels, Bordeaux, Nice, Marseille, Rouen and Geneva. In North America he could be heard at the opera houses of Boston, New Orleans, Philadelphia and San Francisco, and was a sought-after participant for international festivals such as those of Salzburg, Holland, the Berliner Festwochen, Wiener Festwochen, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Sacra Musicale Umbra in Perugia, and Aix-en-Provence, among others. He performed frequently in Israel.
Apart from the classical bass repertoire Boris Carmeli dedicated himself gladly to the contemporary music works. Thus he sang at the Salzburg Festival of 1973 in the premiere of De temporum fine comoedia by Carl Orff (the role of Anachoreten). He appeared in 1984 at the same festival in a concert performance of Fr. Schreker’s Die Gezeichneten. He sang in the European premiere of Penderecki’s Paradise Lost under the direction of the composer at Milan's La Scala and at the Vatican for the Pope. He participated also in premieres of contemporary Italian operas by Bartoluzzi, Allegra and Chailly.
Boris Carmeli has performed with virtually all the leading conductors of our day, including Herbert von Karajan, Carlo Maria Giulini, Mehta, Bertini, Leonard Bernstein, Ahronovitch, Sergiu Celibidache, Albrecht, Caridis, Ceccato, Muti, Lorin Maazel, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Kubelik, Hermann Scherchen, John Barbirolli, Yehudi Menuhin, Antal Doráti, Ernest Ansermet, Markevitch, Prêtre, Semkow, Richter, Penderecki, Eugen Jochum, Skrowaczewski, Rostropovich, Chailly, Dutoit, Maga, Zagrosek, Zinman, Macal, Frühbeck de Burgos, and Kord. He continued his concert appearances until the beginning of the 1990’s.
Boris Carmeli frequently appears on Italian television and has starred in many opera films, including Puccini’s Turandot with Birgit Nilsson at La Scala, The Life of Puccini and Rossini’s La Scala di Seta. His recordings appeared on DGG (Sirius by Stockhausen, De temporum fine comoedia). Telefunken-Decca (Die Verurteilung des Lukullus by Dessau), RCA (La Scala di seta by Rossini), MRF (Le Prophète by Meyerbeer), Fonit Cetra (Works by J.S. Bach). |
