Paolo Ananian

A bass of Armenian descent, born in Constantinople, whose career was spent mainly at the Metropolitan Opera. After seasons at Monte Carlo from 1905, where he sang in the first performance of Massenet's Thérèse, he made his Met debut in November 1908 as Wagner in Faust, and in 1909 sang Antonio in Le nozze di Figaro under Mahler. He stayed, with breaks, until 1935, singing in the world premieres of Gianni Schicchi, Wolff's L'oiseau bleu and Taylor's The King's Henchman, and in the American premieres of works by Thuille, Wolf-Ferrari, Charpentier and Pizzetti.