Rolando Panerai

Rolando Panerai

Rolando Panerai (17 October 1924 – 23 October 2019) was an Italian baritone. He was born in Campi Bisenzio, near Florence, Italy.

Panerai made his stage debut in 1947 in Naples at the Teatro di San Carlo. Other debuts, both in 1951, were as Simon Boccanegra in Simon Boccanegra in Bergamo and as Sharpless in Madama Butterfly at La Scala in Milan.

He sang in many rarely performed Verdi operas on radio broadcast for RAI in 1951 (to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Verdi's death), such as Giovanna d'Arco, La battaglia di Legnano, and Aroldo.

Later roles included most of the great Verdi baritone roles, particularly the title character in Rigoletto, the Count of Luna in Il trovatore, Giorgio Germont in La traviata, Marquis of Posa in Don Carlos,and Amonasro in Aida.

Panerai died on 23 October 2019 in Florence of a heart attack at the age of 95.