Antonio Cortis

A Spanish tenor, born at sea and known as the Spanish Caruso. He worked up from comprimario parts to leading roles in Spain and South America, where Caruso himself encouraged him in 1917. From 1920 he spent three years at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome, where in 1922 he created Luigi in the second version of Il tabarro, and sang with the Chicago Civic Opera from 1924 to 1932. His one Covent Garden season, in 1931, brought his Calaf. He founded a singing school at Valencia in 1940.