The Italian baritone Angelo Romero, celebrated for his interpretations of Figaro in The Barber of Seville, has died at the age of 86. During a career spanning more than five decades, he appeared in more than 150 operatic roles and became one of the best-known interpreters of Rossini’s comic baritone repertoire.
Italian baritone Angelo Romero has died at the age of 86. Born in Cagliari, Sardinia, he made his operatic debut in 1966 as the title character in Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo, launching a career that would take him to leading opera stages in Italy and abroad.
Romero became particularly associated with Figaro in Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia, a role he performed more than 600 times and which remained the defining part of his career. Trained as an actor before pursuing opera, he was admired for his stage presence as well as his vocal versatility, qualities that also led to several collaborations with film and theatre director Luchino Visconti.
Over the course of his career, Romero sang more than 150 operatic roles across the works of Rossini, Donizetti, Verdi and Puccini. His repertoire included Figaro in Le nozze di Figaro, Malatesta in Don Pasquale, Falstaff, Marcello in La bohème, Belcore and Dulcamara in L’elisir d’amore, Rodrigo in Don Carlo and Lescaut, among many others.
He also appeared in a number of commercial recordings and video productions alongside artists including Mirella Freni, Plácido Domingo, Margaret Price, Alfredo Kraus and Franco Corelli.
After retiring from the stage in the 1990s, Romero devoted much of his time to teaching, directing and mentoring young singers, continuing to promote the Italian bel canto tradition. In 2017, the municipality of Capoterra honoured him with a lifetime achievement award in recognition of his contribution to opera.
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