Page "Franco Corelli" Paragraph 5

While singing at the Rome Opera, Corelli also made numerous appearances with other opera houses both in Italy and internationally.

He made his first appearance at La Scala in Milan in 1954, as Licinio in Spontini's La vestale opposite Callas's Giulia for the opening of the 1954-1955 season.

He returned several more times to that house over the next five years, singing opposite Callas in productions of Fedora ( 1956 ), Il pirata ( 1958 ) and Poliuto ( 1960 ).

He also notably portrayed the role of Dick Johnson in a highly celebrated performance of La fanciulla del West at La Scala in 1956, opposite Gigliola Frazzoni and Tito Gobbi, which was broadcast live on Italian radio.

Other important debuts for Corelli soon followed, including his first appearances at: the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in Florence and the Arena di Verona Festival in 1955 ; the Vienna State Opera, as Radamès, and the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, in London, as Cavaradossi, in 1957 ; the Teatro Nacional de São Carlos in Lisbon, the Lyric Opera of Chicago and the San Francisco Opera in 1958 ; and the Berlin State Opera in 1961.

Among the many triumphs of the decade for Corelli were two highly celebrated performances at the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples, a 1958 appearance as Don Alvaro in La forza del destino opposite Renata Tebaldi as Leonora and a 1959 performance of Maurizio in Adriana Lecouvreur opposite Magda Olivero in the title role.