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Biography
Giuseppe Campora (30 September 1923 - 5 December 2004), was an Italian operatic tenor. Campora was one of the greatest Puccinian tenors of his generation. With his striking blue eyes and histrionic talent, his unique connection with his audience was much talked about during his lifetime. Campora enjoyed successes in all the major theatres of Italy (including Maurizio in Adriana Lecouvreur with Magda Olivero at the Teatro alla Scala, 1958), as well as at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, where his performances of the 1950s and 1960s are still fondly remembered. In fact, he was the Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor, in Maria Callas's only Met broadcast, in 1956. In 1973, he debuted at the New York City Opera as the Chevalier des Grieux, in Manon. In 1980, he was heard at the San Diego Opera in Die Fledermaus, opposite Dame Joan Sutherland and Beverly Sills, in their only joint appearance.
Campora was a celebrity in his native town of Tortona (Piedmont); his death produced glowing obituaries in every newspaper in that region.
His discography includes recordings of La forza del destino (1952), La Gioconda (1952), Madama Butterfly (with Renata Tebaldi, 1952), Simon Boccanegra (with Victoria de los Ángeles, Tito Gobbi and Boris Christoff, 1957), Tosca (with Tebaldi and Enzo Mascherini, 1952) and La traviata (1952).
